Eighth Post- Angles, Shots, and Group Film

 

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Utilizing film stock versus a digital sensor in recording images is the first decision a cinematographer must make. Film stock requires cutting and taping of physical film strips and is purchased by the foot. The stock used to be made of nitrate, a highly flammable ion causing the film strip to burn frequently (Sharman). Film strips now are made of plastic with gelatin and silver halide crystals (Sharman). Light hits the crystals and the crystals darken. Red, green, and blue crystals allow for film colorization. Light can also pass through a camera lens and hit a digital image sensor. Software converts the light bouncing off the sensor into still images, and the images can be stored with a hard drive. I have a new-found appreciation for black-and-white film after reading the text. Black-and-white films are useful for dark subject matters and are prominent for filmmakers aiming for nostalgia. Films without color can be tough to construct because lighting and shadows need to be maintained as if the film had color. Light fixtures in the camera’s frame likely have no effect for the lighting in the film. Motivating the light source and direction refers to light fixtures appearing in the frame, but out-of-camera lights performing the lighting. Hard lighting results in hard-edged shadows and is rather intense and focused on the subject (Sharman). Soft lighting is more diversified and even throughout the frame, and shadows are fuzzier or are not clear. A smaller light source closer to the subject depicts hard light, while a larger light source farther from the subject can signal soft light (Sharman).

Close-up camera shots indicate intimacy with the frame’s subject. Extreme long shots may be shown to convey disconnection between the subject and another person or idea in the film. A medium long-shot shoots from the knees up and a medium shot from the waste up. I think our film would benefit from incorporating many different shots to give the viewer different perspectives of the subject and background. Filming shots with negative space can isolate our subject and question the subject’s fit in relation to the objects composing the rest of the frame. Tilting the camera, or moving the camera up and down from a fixed position, will enable us to highlight top and bottom shots of our object. Panning the camera from side-to-side will allow for more of the background to be seen. Dolly-ins and dolly-outs will contribute to the intimacy or disconnection a viewer may feel with the centerpiece in our film. Editing in film allows unnecessary time and events to be removed and increases the rhythm present. I never realized a shooting ratio of 10 to 1 existed, symbolizing shooting 10 times the amount of film needed for screentime (10 hours shot for one hour of screen-time).

Our group is going to make a film about a chair. We are not sure on the details yet and hope to keep an element of surprise. A cutting-on-action shot switches shots in the middle of an on-screen action. We could have a person about to sit in the chair and then switch to a shot with the person already in the chair. An eyeline match-cut can also serve purpose. The camera is fixated on one of our group members, before immediately switching to a shot of the chair. Jump cuts could be used when the chair moves locations to signify the passage of time. If a person is talking off-camera with the chair as the only subject in camera, we could have the person then come on camera while continuing to talk. The shot without the person to a shot with the person would be a J-Cut. A master-shot will be essential in setting the location of the chair at different points in the film. Coverage shots will establish our group members’ relation to the chair throughout the film. If we have two chairs in the film, we can use cross-cutting shots to go in-between scenes from each chair. A wider lens would enable more of the frame background to be seen with increased space. A telephoto lens is a narrower view making the character or chair feel father away. We can incorporate both lenses into our film for depiction of the chair. The chair can be an imposing force if we place it in the center of the frame. Push-ins and push-outs allow us to come closer to the chair or back away from the chair. Moving closer would signal an impending suspenseful moment and pulling away would indicate status quo.