Production 

(shooting the footage)

Production is the process of shooting your video. In the "real world", the costs of equipment, technicians, actors and sets can make this incredibly expensive. In your student productions, TIME and OPPORTUNITY are the "expense" - it's important not to waste either! A good director/production crew ensures things move smoothly to make sure there is a minimal cost in both actors, equipment (up to $10k/day) and location rental (it costs $3500 to film in NY City - not including anything other than being there, insurance is an ADDITIONAL $1 MILLION) .

Every Cinematographer is going to ask their Director for the storyboard and create a shot list from it. This is a list of all possible shots from any (set of) camera(s) that will be needed to provide the raw footage for the shoot. The cinematographer is responsible for the technical aspects of the images (lighting, lens choices, composition, exposure, filtration, film selection), but works closely with the director to ensure that the artistic aesthetics are supporting the director's vision of the story being told. The cinematographers are the heads of the camera, gaffers, grips and lighting crews on a set, and for this reason they are often called directors of photography or DPs. 

Here is a summary of all lists that a DP will want to take out into the field with them:

1. Shot List (a list of all shots to be taken and from what cameras)

2. Prop List (a list of all possible items needed for a set of shots, for a particular location)

3. Storyboard

Lengthy - but a must-watch for those interested in film

Lighting

In small productions (like you're doing now) lighting is managed by the the director, who likely is also the cinematographer, the producer, the screenwriter and actor. In reality, the 'lighting folk' are known as gaffers and grips (depending on their job) Lighting plays a critical role in any film production. Without proper lighting the production can come off as amateurish and leave the viewer feeling like they're watching home-movies.

When plotting out lighting, remember - 3point key lighting is a golden rule for most conditions. All it takes is a principal light source (often the sun, or a light fixture), an alternative (a reflective object to redirect light if you can't afford a 2nd light source) and the backfill to give the target of the shot a way of standing out from the background.

The Three Point Lighting Technique is a standard method used in visual media such as video, film, still photography and computer-generated imagery. It is a simple but versatile system which forms the basis of most lighting. Once you understand three point lighting you are well on the way to understanding all lighting.

The technique uses three lights called the key light, fill light and back light. Naturally you will need three lights to utilize the technique fully, but the principles are still important even if you only use one or two lights. As a rule:

• If you only have one light, it becomes the key.

• If you have 2 lights, one is the key and the other is either the fill or the backlight.

Try this lighting simulation to see how 3point lighting can affect your subject.

Sound

Though we might think of film as an essentially visual experience, we really cannot afford to underestimate the importance of film sound. A meaningful sound track is often as complicated as the

image on the screen. The entire sound track is comprised of three essential ingredients:

• the human voice (production sound manager and boom operators on-set)

• sound effects (can be both in studio and on-set)

• music (usually all in the studio)

These three tracks must be mixed and balanced so as to produce the necessary emphases which in turn create desired effects.

Tips Before Heading Into the Field

1. Camera Preparation

• • Check the Batteries & Date

  • Ensure your SD card is empty

    • Make note of WHICH card you're using

    • Label your cards if you plan on switching

  • Check the Camera Settings

ASPECT RATIO

• Wide-screen is the most common format. When selecting this format on our cameras we choose 1920x1080 or 1280x720. We will also choose 24fps, or 30fps. To be honest - people often choose 24fps because it is a traditional filmmaking framerate (the number of frames per second recorded) - however, 30fps is the default for most DSLR's. If you intend on having fast motion sequences you want to slow down, shoot at 60fps instead.

AUTOMATIC SETTINGS

• AUTO FOCUS works well in most cases, but changing the setting to MANUAL FOCUS can ensure your shots STAY in focus if there is positional movement in your shot.

WHITE BALANCE

• As with digital photography, setting white balance ensures proper colours and can pro-actively eliminate "colour casts", manually correcting colour afterwards is a pain.

• Finding the White Balance settings is a big challenge - Consult the PDF manuals in the handouts folder to set the white balance for specific cameras (in the PDF, use EDIT FIND and search for the word "balance")

AUDIO SOURCE

• Be sure to MONITOR the sound using headphones, and adjust settings appropriately. Nothing sucks worse than recording an awesome take that seems like it will be good, only to get back and put on a pair of headphones and realize there's a bunch of tinny noise, or wind etc....

• Use a STANDARD DEFINITION setting (1280x720) for any projects you do in school unless you're submitting to a competition and editing on a "silver tower".

2. Shooting

• Camera Mount

  • Use a Tripod whenever possible

  • Use a "Steadicam" or "Dolly" for traveling camera shots

  • Use Handheld only if necessary

• Composition and Framing

  • Use your storyboards to remind yourself what it is you want the shot to look like

  • Provide about 5 seconds of LEAD IN and leave 5 seconds of LEAD OUT before calling "action"

  • Basic Photography

    • Fill the Frame

    • Keep the Background Simple

    • Arrange proper Lighting

      • Don't shoot with a light source in frame

      • Think of what mood you want and have a light source that reflects that style

• Sound

  • You can edit OUT camera sound and replace it with voice-overs or captions

  • The mic MUST be within a few feet to capture dialogue

  • Some cameras may accommodate external microphones

3. B-roll

"B-Roll" footage is supporting, secondary video footage (or still images) that ILLUSTRATES what your interview subjects or narration are talking about. For instance - if an interviewee is talking about participants in the Terry Fox run, the B-Roll can actually show the people being talked about. The editing can "cut away" from the interview to show the B-Roll. An advanced technique is to allow the AUDIO of the A-Roll to continue overtop the video of the B-Roll, and then allow the video to return to the A-Roll again.

Use of B-Roll has the following advantages:

• It can break a LONG clip up into smaller, more interesting segments

• It can help ILLUSTRATE what's being talked about

• It can disguise "Jump Cuts"

Finally - Remember the importance of the B-roll for shots as simple as this:

Timecode - 16:35 Season 3 Episode 5 Creepy Candy Corollary.

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