Filmmaking_for_Photographers
Tags:: Photography Videography
Author:: Philip Bloom
Setup
Stills cameras have much more megapixels than needed for video. So cameras use a variety of methods to reduce the pixels: skipping, binning, cropping, or downsampling. You don’t want cropping.
If you want some pan or tilt in your video you need a fluid head instead of a photo tripod.
Checking balance on a fluid head: you want it to stay still when you let go, and have the center of gravity in the right place.
External recorders often have an advantage because often external recording has a higher quality. If you can both record internally and externally, that’s preferred.
Default shooting is in 8 bits. 10 bits gives you 1024 per tone, 12 bit 4096 bits per tone. B-frame compression is bidirectional prediction; P-frame predicts forward; I-frame doesn’t predict, it’s the best looking image and edits faster but larger size.
Chroma subsampling lunminance:red:blue. Most are 4:2:0. 4:2:2 has a second row of red/blue colors. In any case, it’s now much more important to get the right exposure when shooting.
Key filter is a variable ND. You need it because the shutter speed is incredibly important. You must have these when there’s a lot of light.
Generally we reuse lenses. Biggest problem is focus: a very small throw (eg. 90 deg) so very hard to get critical focus. Follow-focus for big setups. Stills lenses breathe (look like zooming when focusing). Cinema lenses are also parfocal: focus doesn’t change when you change zoom.
If you get zoom lenses, get a constant-aperture.
Usually you don’t need the fastest cards, but sometimes you do. Bloom prefers smaller cards so less can go wrong. Cameras that can do simultaneous recording are great.
Framerate depends on frequency of electricity supply, half of framerate is shutter speed.
Log profile is very flat and good to keep dynamic range. Don’t do it in 8 bit, there’s not enough information. Bring digital sharpening down, you can do it in post. Bring contrast down also in 8 bit.
Audio
Establish sound sources in frame.
Audio from microphones need to be amplified, that happens with the preamps. Those in cameras are usually not that good, so best to use a recorder.
Polar patterns
Cardioid: heart-shaped, good all-round
Supercardioid: like cardioid, a bit less from the side, a bit more in the back
Supercardioid = shotgun: often held by a boom operator, aim at the heart
Always use headphones
Aim shotgun at the mic which reduces plosives and has some leeway for moving subjects
Most stereo microphones have a strong front falloff, so not good for people
Use a second audio track for redundancy: hide lav mic underneath clothes (pay attention to rustling clothes)
Don’t use “auto” to set levels, don’t set them too high (overmodulation) or too low (lots of hiss).
-9dB normal voice
-6dB loud voice
-14dB quiet voice
Tip: use external recorder for main audio and stills cameras for B-roll only
Recorder tips
No MP3, use wav
16 bit
32GB SSD is enough for a day
Keep recording scratch track in-camera to sync up in post
Sound doesn’t have to be pristine, it should sounds real an in the environment
When choosing the background, think of the audio as well. Aim your body in the right direction to block noise.
Record a wild track of ambient sound of 30 seconds, so when you use clean sound you can add some of that non-clean background noise to make it sound consistent.
Foley is overlayed sound. You can record afterwards in a studio, or do another take for visuals (with the microphone in frame)
Sound is as important as the picture.
Exercise: Record a video and recreate audio in foley.
Lighting
The very best light is natural light, especially sunrise and sunset
Three-point lighting, the most fundamental lesson in lighting
Key light: 45 degrees off to the side, big soft light. This angle is very dramatic, for a woman you’ll move it more to the front.
Fill light: very soft, much softer light on the other side.
Backlight: quite harsh light in the back, works very well on darker backgrounds
When model is on the left of frame, light should come from his left
Lighting for a story has no rules. We could fall back on three-point lighting but rarely use it because light is our way of expression.
Position
Three-quarter backlight creates mystery, common in film
Full sidelight is very dramatic. Popular as it resembles light through a window.
1/4 key light position is “natural light
Near fully flat is often used in beauty shoots
Vertically frontal light is uncomfortable for talent, you can use it to resemble headlights for example
Fill/background contrast ratio
Key/fill ratio
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1:1 or 1:2 is common in comedy, females usually look better in less dramatic ratios
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One stop is half the light intensity
Key/background ratio
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Generally, background is at least 1-2 stops less than background
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Human skintones tend to be in the middle gray area. There are brightness areas where it stands out, others where it’s sucked in
Great practice technique (even doing it mentally as you watch films) is to recreate scenes’ lighting
Lighting movement
Move the light along with the camera: expensive, prevents changing light
Work with the existing light and that only: be ahead of what’s going to happen, make the best of it, documentary style
When you’re shooting wide, light doesn’t need to be perfect. In closeups it might be a good way to relight and add light. Just make sure the light is motivated.
Don’t be afraid of different temperature lights. Warm light can be warm. E.g., night scene with 5600K moonlight that looks blue.
Locations
Check if the room works (often they won’t work immediately)
When you start moving, take photos first so you can put it back exactly.
When you see a nice wide shot, check if a tight shot works too.
Be aware of the continuity of natural light.
Nighttime look
Fake fire
Warm light, white balance set to daylight
Exteriors Day (high sun)
With the sun straight on it’s harsh and hard for model
Sub as backlight looks the most flattering
You may need to flag the sun to avoid flares
Worst weather is changing throughout time, often you then just want to take full control yourself. Overcast days are great, get plenty of B-roll of the environment.
Exteriors night
With modern cameras we can see a lot
Neat Video is Philip’s noise reduction software
Pumping up the ISO allows us to work in darkness with a working depth of field
Exercise: recreate lighting of favorite scene
Movement
Movement brings dynamism but unmotivated it’s disorienting
Remember, moves have a beginning, middle and end
Locked off: it’s all about composition and movement within the frame.
Zoom: it’s the move that people cannot do. Used for reframing or effect. Be careful if your lens isn’t parfocal (pretty much every stills lens isn’t).
Pan & whip pan: you need a good fluid head, panning on the head instead of the handle gives smoother results. Whip pan can be used to hide cuts.
Autofocus: when something exits frame you’ll have to hold some button so it keeps focus instead of making the background sharp
Hand-held is easier manual focus. Autofocus is great if there’s faces or tracking things in shot.
Slider shots can be used in interviews or wides and continuously keep going, for example.
When tracking subjects, know what they’ll do because playing catch-up looks bad.
Jibs can make nice cinematic shots, especially establishing. They’re slow, heavy, difficult to move. Use a gentle touch.
Lenses in movement
Long lens makes things move much faster sideways
Front-back movement with a long lens seems slower
Shot types
Full shot / wide: subject fully in frame, subject in relation to environment
Medium wide / medium long: subject cut off just below the knees
Cowboy: from roughtly mid-tights up
Medium: waist-up, one of most common shots used, room for extra person (Two Shot)
Medium close up: chest & shoulders up
Close up: still see full face
Choker: into personal space, from mid-neck, head cut off
Extreme close up: focusing on specific elements in face, “italian shot”
Over the shoulder: used a lot in dialog
Focus pull: move concentration by changing focus
Dutch angle: horror
High angle: viewer can feel empowered
Low angle: weakens viewer’s point of view, subjects more powerful
Challenge: Practice movement, and movement in frame
Sequences
In film, everything we see on screen is a sequence.
To find shots, look with your eyes, not with a camera
If you don’t know the sequence, ask the person you’re filming what they’re doing
Get coverage. Get a whole run of a single standpoint if possible, and repeat for other standpoints.
Start a run wide, usually.
We might want is one more time for sound, with just the microphone really close.
A character most of the time doesn’t have to exit the frame. But good to have both the enter and exit frame on tape.
In-Camera Editing
Philip’s learning: not being patient enough when recording
Practice: every shot is exactly in the order and length as in camera
The establishing shot says: I recognize one landmark, so the next shot is in that location
Breaking the 180 degree rule
Crossing the axis
Have the actor look away, follow his eyes
Cut via a cutaway
Challenge: film a sequence in camera
Story and narrative
Beach house
Was really bad weather, lovely house, bad lighting
Concept: 60s video, model is coming (you need a soul)
Philip writes some notes/ideas in the evening and then switches off
Philip’s lens: SLR Magic MicroPrimes
Handle and cage make a more stable rig
You have to set stabilization lens mm if the lens doesn’t have any electronics
Spec video is work that you do without being paid, great way to start off.
Light through windows usually has a pattern
You always need a back-up plan. Having to come back in better weather if needed is usually built-in to the budget with the client.
Put pieces of grease paper underneath candles to fill the spill
“The best thing about drinking wine on camera is continuity… So pretty much Veronica needs a full glass all the time.”
Philip needed a character to be able to make the connection with the beach: only this way they could’ve moved to outside
The Restaurant
Goal: for people who have researched the restaurant, so they’re convinced to come book
Shots: kitchen preparation, beauty shots of food, interview with the owner, shots of a full restaurant with a lot of happy customers
“Most likely, it’s the food shots that’s going to make the customers come.”
Interview checkboxes: where she’s from (special for her), why the restaurant, what’s so good about the restaurant, things about the food. Just tidbits to cut in between. Cinematic Masterclass has an interview episode. Tips: try to get part of the question in the answer. Warm-up questions.
To this on spec for a restaurant (or another place) to get in on your portfolio
“I do recommend editing stuff relatively quickly.”
Challenge: Go to a local business and make a short video for them, for free.
Post Production
Media management
This is incredibly important
Thinktank memory card pouches
Used = put face down. When using multiple cameras (on big shoots), useful to label used cards
Gnarbox is useful for same-day backups
Have enough cards to last you an entire day, hopefully a few days. You want to deal with your media after.
Always keep two copies minimum when editing. Make sure you have a proper copy.
If you can, use checksumming software that makes sure you copied everything.
99% of mistakes are human.
When editing, make sure your sources are on a fast hard drive.
Label clips in-camera if things get confusing.
Convert video to ProRes because H.265 is horrible to edit with
Tip: set Premiere Pro Auto-Save to another drive or even the cloud
“After you’ve checked, leave it going to two additional hard drives overnight.”
The computer
Calibrate when you have multiple screens.
Everything in the room needs to be as nice as possible, so you can spend weeks in the editing room.
Structure, La Taberna
Find the nicest stuff
Don’t touch your nicest stuff. You can play with it a bit, but what’s important is that you start by creating a structure.
If the person is not in frame, you can cut out all the “uuhm”s
Tip: colorize clips by camera / type of shot
Normally, withing 3-4 seconds of hearing someone you need to see their face. Here she’s in shot for about 3 seconds, which is just long enough. “It’s very deliberate when she’s in vision: at the end of a sentence of when she’s smiling.”
Editing is so much about rhythm
We often put her back in frame when there’s a transition. In the end we only see her for about 12 seconds of the 2 minutes but it feels natural.
Keep ambient sounds to make it feel closer by.
“I do my levels to peak at -6dB, but my actual export peaks at -3dB. There’s no standard on the internet, you’ll hear all sorts of things, but as long as it doesn’t go over 0 you’ll be fine.”
Ducking. You want it to be imperceptible. The key level frame should be halfway through when starting to talk.
Always use a crossfade on audio clips.
“The ability to reframe when you shoot in 4K and only have to deliver in HD is sooo great.”
In-edit cropping of 4K to HD is great especially in interviews.
Sound FX, Music, Beach House
Beach house was much harder to shoot but a lot easier to edit, because it wasn’t shot in documentary-style (rather shot to edit).
“I’ve been using Musicbed for 8 or 9 years.”
Search for music even before filming if your video is music-driven, to get a feel for the edit
Philip has about 170 tracks listed for this project!
Musicbed has specific artists so you can have favorites there.
If you shorten your search to the actual length you want you’re limiting yourself a lot, better to cut it.
Music makes or breaks the video. It takes a long time to find the right track.
Remix Editing in Audition
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Open track in multitrack
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Select song > Properties > Enable Remix
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Se target duration
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Boom
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Play around with parameters, or add in some manual edits