Tuesday, February 12, 2013

Camera Work Tips, Silent Film Project

Again, please upload and edit your silent film projects. The deadline for this project is next class. If you finish today, please save your film as an MP4 and also upload your film to Youtube for easy sharing. Please send me the address link through email.

Now that you've had a chance to play around behind a camera, here are a few instructional videos to give you some pointers and hints about your camera work.

Identify and define the following terms from the videos below. Write these in your notebook, as we will refer to them throughout the course:
Extreme long shot, long shot, medium shot, medium-close up, close up, extreme close up; Firehosing, jogging, backlighting, lead/nose room, headroom; pan and tilt, dolly movement, truck or tracking shots, sled and vest system, boom; 180 degree rule; line of action, dynamic shots versus static shots.  
Videos will take about 20-25 minutes.
Important Film Jobs, defined

Take note of these important film jobs:

Cinematographer/Director of Photography (DP): The chief of the camera and lighting crew of a film. The DP makes decisions on lighting and framing of scenes in conjunction with the film's director. Typically, the director tells the DP how they want a shot to look, and the DP chooses the correct aperture, filter, and lighting to achieve the desired effect.

Camera Operator: The camera operator uses the camera at the direction of the cinematographer, director of photography, or the film director to capture the scenes on film. Generally, a cinematographer or director of photography does not operate the camera, but sometimes these jobs may be combined. Various assistants are also named.

Film Editor: The film editor (with help from the director usually) is the person who assembles the various shots into a coherent film. There are often several assistant editors. Various technical responsibilities are referred to as editors such as dialogue editors (who work with dialogue), sound editing, etc.

HOMEWORK: Please watch this documentary film clip (15 minutes) on editing. The Cutting Edge. Read the chapter handout by Louis Giannetti. Finally, prepare your film projects. These are due next class.

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