Making Better Movies with Moviestorm Vol 1: Basic Camerawork

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LONG SHOTS VS CLOSEUPSFilm the scene using entirely long shots. You should be able to see the head and feet of your target character at alltimes.Film it again, but this time start with a master shot and then use close and medium shots only. Do not frame belowthe chest at any point after the master shot.Finally, film the scene with a combination of long and close shots to get a feel of how to mix them.ReviewHow does the shot size affect the storytelling?Is it clear to the viewer who is the focal point at any one time?Does the viewer have an awareness of the space and the relative location of thecharacters?How do you edit the scene differently? Do you cut in the same places? If you usemore camera movement, how does this affect the flow of the scene?What scenes work better with long shots, and what work better with close shots?How many setups do you need? What effect will this have on shooting schedule?Follow-up exercisesRepeat this with as many scenes as possible until you develop an instinctive feel for appropriate shot sizes. Filmingaction scenes is a particular challenge.10
USING CU/ECU - TELEPHOTO VS CLOSE CAMERATechniqueExperiment with two different ways of shooting close shots.When you film a close shot on an actor, you have two options: move the camera in close, or stay further back anduse a long lens. While you may be guided by your DoP or be constrained by physical or technical limitations, theygive quite different results, as the shots below illustrate. As the director, you need to be aware of the visualimplications of the lens selection.In isolation, either type of shot can work well and look good, but you need to see them within the context of the filmto tell which will work better for the specific scene. (This is a good case for using pre-visualization rather than justrelying on a hand-drawn storyboard.)Note that this exercise does not replicate physical issues with real cameras, such as the problems of focus when anactor is extremely close to the lens.Left: standard lens setting. You can see most of the rear character's upper body, and some background detail.Center: long lens. The character behind is now almost as large in the frame as the foreground character, andthere is almost no background visible. Right: wide angle lens. There is a lot of background visible, but theforeground character appears distorted. This can be a useful visual effect for some scenes.Use a short dialog scene involving two or more characters. Use a medium sizeinterior set or an exterior set. Choreograph the scene using no charactermovement, but add in gestures so that they are acting naturally. Even thoughthe body movement can't be seen, it will present the challenge of keeping thecharacters' heads in shot.11
Page 2 and 3: CONTENTSFOREWORD ..................
Page 6 and 7: EXERCISESHow to use this bookThe bo
Page 8 and 9: STATIC VS MOVING CAMERASFirst film
Page 12 and 13: USING CU/ECU - TELEPHOTO VS CLOSE C
Page 14 and 15: EXTENDED SHOT DURATIONFilm the enti
Page 16 and 17: EMPHASIS ON DIFFERENT CHARACTERSFil
Page 18 and 19: CONVERSATIONFilm the scene with a t
Page 20 and 21: TELEPHONEFilm the conversation thre
Page 22 and 23: FOLLOWING WALKSFilm the character w
Page 24 and 25: WALKING OFF - OUT OF SHOT OR OUT OF
Page 26 and 27: DEPTH OF FIELDShoot and edit the sc
Page 28 and 29: RACK FOCUSFilm the scene with the t
Page 30 and 31: FOREGROUND OBJECTSFilm the scene, u
Page 32 and 33: REVEALSFilm the scene and at the en
Page 34 and 35: POV SHOTSHave one character walk th
Page 36 and 37: IMPLIED VS SEENFilm the scene and s
Page 38 and 39: THE CROWD ILLUSIONFilm the scene, a
Page 40 and 41: CONSTRAINTS ON NUMBER OF CAMERASSho
Page 42: Matt Kelland is one of the founders

Making Better Movies with Moviestorm Vol 1: Basic Camerawork

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