In this workshop we were talking about “motivated camera movements” and watched clips from Raiders of the lost ark, Sicario and The Matrix.
Raiders of the Lost Ark - In the scene where Indiana Jones is trying to take the sculpture they use both push in and pull back shots which give the effect of invading personal space, creating tension.
Sicario - When they're filming the characters at the US border they use cross tracking where you do reverse shot (tracking back, then forward). The scene in Sicario has more obvious handheld shots which create another scene of tension that what you get in Raiders of the Lost Ark but is overall not that different.
The matrix - In the office scene where Thomas Anderson escapes they open the scene with a transition, (pan). Balanced time elements, very few cuts, (approximately 15 cuts in 4 minutes), but doesn’t feel like a slow-paced scene because of the tension.
Why move the camera?
- It can create/enhance/emphasise/inflect emotion.
- It can guide your audience's reading of a scene.
- It can also weaken/diffuse or destroy a scene's dramatic potential.
You should ask yourself if the camera moves in relation to someone or something and in support of the storytelling? Don't move because you can, but because you should, in service of the story.
Different camera movements
Track/Dolly in or out - This accentuates depth within a scene by causing objects to move in relative distance to the camera.
Jib/Pedestal up or down - This changes the camera's height, relative to the subject, shifting between neutral (eye-line) low and high angles. (Also achieved on a crane or inclined track.)
Track Dolly/Crab left or right - Lateral movement across a scene a scene or between characters, often combined with a pan to follow action or pivot around something.
Pan left or right - Horizontal rotation around a fixed axis, such as on a tripod. Referred to as a whip pan when performed at speed.
Tilt up or down - Vertical rotation around a fixed axis, such as on a tripod, or shoulder mount.
Dutch angle/Dutch tilt/Canted angle - The camera is set at an angle on its tilt axis, so the horizon can be made to roll left or right.
Exposure triangle
There are three main controls of exposure on a DSLR. These are often expressed as a triangle because all three interrelate to determine the level of exposure.
- Aperture - an opening which dictates the amount of light that can pass to the sensor.
- Shutter speed - the duration of exposure.
- ISO - sensitivity light. The lowest possible ISO is usually preferred to avoid grain/noise.
Light passes through the aperture, then the shutter and lands on the sensor, so all three have a role in setting the exposure.
Depth of Field refers to the distance (in depth from the lens) which is in focus. It is affected by aperture and focal length.
Focal length describes the distance light travels inside the lens to create a focussed image on the sensor. It also tells us the lens angle.
A wide angle lens provides considerable Depth of Field, a pronounced sense of distance between objects composed in depth and a broad horizon. A narrow lens (long lens) on the other hand gives a zoomed in image with a significant reduction in viewing angle, less background, less perceived depth and much shallower Depth of Field.
An example of how different lenses change portrait views:
At the end of the workshop we talked about sound when using DSLR. We listened to what it sounds like when you use a Røde mic and compared it to the DR70 sound kit with boom mic. The sound from the Røde mic was unclear and it picked up a lot of background noise, while the DR70 kit was much more clear.
I originally planned to film this project on the Sony EX, but been leaning more towards using a DSLR for this project after these workshops. The reason is mainly because I will then have more creative freedom in term of swapping lenses as I have a lot of different lenses at my disposal.
The only negative is that that monitoring the sound will be more of a hassle since it will have to be done separately and synced in post.
//Images from Google.com\\
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