News : ALien

The bulgarian scientist stated that alien have life at the earth.

Visual Storytelling and Storyboards

Objectives

• Learn how visual stories are told.

• Understand the elements of a story.

• Explore industries that use storyboards.

Visual Storytelling

• Visuals establish the setting in which a narrative story takes place.

• Camera framing, angles, and movement allow the audience to become active viewers as they watch the action unfold.

Show Me

• Showing” allows you to mold a message into visual imagery.

• Show the actions of the characters, aesthetics of the locations, and how the characters feel.

Elements of a Story

• Beginning—establishes the location and introduces the main character and conflict of the story

• Middle—where the hero faces

complications and obstacles within the story

• End—where the climax and

resolution of the problem occurs

Storyboards

• A series of sketches that are use

d as a planning tool to visually show how the action of a story unfolds

Purpose of the Storyboard

• Clearly conveys the narrative flow of a story by defining the challenges and problems of a project

• Assists in the timing of a scene

• Assists crewmembers during production for framing the action

Industries That Use Storyboards

• Advertising

• Film

• Animation

• Television

• Multimedia

• Web design

• Government

Summary

• The principals of visual storytelling have been taken to new heights with the emergence of film, television, computers, and animation.

• Stories with structure have a beginning, middle, and end.

• When creating a visual story, you need to show the elements rather than tell it.

– Read screenplays to further your understanding of visual storytelling.

• Storyboards are sketches that visually show how the action of a story unfolds.

Fundamental of shot

Fundamentals of the Shot

Objectives

• Understand the difference between scenes and shots.

• Visualize a scene in terms of framing, angles, and movement.

• Understand illustrating camera and character movement.

What Is a Scene?

• A combination of shots that shoes the action that takes place in one location or setting

What Is a Shot?

• A continuous view filmed from one perspective

Shot Descriptions

• Camera framing

– How close or far a subject is from the camera

• Camera angles

– Angling of the camera from which you view the subject.

• Camera movement

– The movement of the camera forward, backward, left, right, up, and down

Camera Framing

• Extreme long shot

• Long shot

• Full shot

• Medium shot

• Close-up shot

• Establishes the location or setting

• Example: Western landscape

• Shows the location, characters, and action

• Example: soccer field and its players

• Frames the entire height of a person, with the head near the top of the frame and the feet near the bottom

• Frames an individual from either the waist up, or from the knees showing the audience just enough to feel as if they are looking at the whole subject

• Shows a character from the shoulders to the top of the head

Unit Production Manager

Unit Production Manager job describtion
UPM one of [the] element from production part has more to non technical (managerial and budgeting). in pelaksanaa everyday upm cooperate with: production (produser, pa, creative, talent), finance (budget control), general affair, hrd, production facilities (wardrobe, scheduling), broadcast sipport and marketing.
work area
task predominantly organize logistics need all production elements and responsible towards expenditure cost and ascertain that any production expenditure appropriate budget that provided.
1. pre production
- in this stage is upm berkoordinasi with another production team to ascertains tool immediacy, facilities and another production element can be used production unit.
- for production outside studio, upm do foreword research and survey with do transportation arrangement coordination, programme supporter artist player accomodations crew and staff production
- regulate tenancy perlatan and production facilities, when wanted with take outside payment request.
- make break down payment request per week to extradited to part finance. the to it so that part finance can demote principal fund that is wanted to one production.
- co-ordinating delivery and set up tools shooting, like camera, lighting, audio, monitor, sets, scenery, props and another.

2. production
- during production goes on, upm gather and make report related to the task.
- check and supervise all facilities and crew during production.

3. post production
- make financial statement every program (in the form of payment request to reimburse and settlement with invoice enclosed) and after get sanctions from executive producer and production manager, report it to finance part.
- responsible towards facilities return and production device that used.

celebs update

this video shows celebrity news update;

WIRELESS MICROPHONES

Wireless mics, especially to clip on wireless actually has several weakness that can be anticipated previous. several notes necessary we look at:
1). position receiver, best put receiver/audio position mixer in opened space without there hindrance (wall pole, cupboard, etc) can be seen by voice orderer. this will help process balancing/mixing in object that speak.

2). battery stamina. usually when mics in position" on" so battery stamina wireless only around maximal 7 until 8 clocks. except when use battery of a kind lithium so achieve 20 clocks.

3). uhf musical note vhf. when wireless mics has two frequency choices, what uhf or vhf, best choose at frequency stripe vhf. this is to avoid existence interference in frequency that worn, like radio, amateur radio, local television etc.

4). put mics clip on in a line with chin, don't too closed to neck and don't too closed to coat pocket. with will turn on mics in a line with chin so pelafalan kata2x from presentar/reporter will be more clear the articulation.

besides, use kind microphones dynamic and level" polarity" he is unidirectional so that source that enter only one object not disturbed by ambience around object.

insert ; celebrity info

Celebrity News
Artist and the life now be one principal menu at most of all television broadcast in indonesia. although with display and package differ but permanent its contents about around artist life and personage. why does television program like this so mushroom in indonesia? does this there the connection with culture and indonesia society social? among mothers may be our a more regular know term menggunjing. a activity bot intentionally talk about also this somebody shame be done at free time even can also while work. if at in the former fume rural district mothers while chat to look for gray hair at hair often break the rules unregulerly chats.
yes may be that is one of [the] matter why does presentations around gossip selebriti always has onlooker total many so that advertisement even also line up to pair at that program.
actually this phenomenon is ever is debated about bad problem and the good this presentation is even from pervasion aspect often is questioned to what this a journalism cover? even almost ever memfatwa prohibited the law if full matters bot true or gossip and shame spreader and slander merely.
but workers and message hunter selebriti has reason and correction whereof that done that society wants this info and this presentation can be used as mirror or learn another person case and will try to change message display with truth and fact. only god that know
and message in reality selebriti never stop at indonesia television comfort domain.

FILM INDUSTRY

Assessing the Audience
Gaining the market

The success of a film is measured by profit not always by the number of people actually seeing the film although box office receipts are usually given as an indication of a film’s success
Consider the following statistics:
Titanic (1997) $601 million
Star Wars (1977) $461 million
E.T. (1982) $400 million
Forest Gump (1994 ) $330 million
The Lion King (1994 ) $313 million


These are some of the most successful films in history. What is it about them that makes them a success?
The audience
• Films / Movies are targeted to specific audiences.
• The target audience is affected by the ratings films are given by Censorship authorities in the countries the films will be screened.
• Censorship ratings are affected by concepts of:
• “acceptable” language decisions. (Virgin & Mistress were once unacceptable - even for adults.What words do you think are unacceptable?)
• “acceptable” behaviour. (Indian films still forbid kissing or physical contact between sexes. In the 1950-60s men & women slept in single beds, even if married, in USA films.)
• “acceptable” belief - political or religious.



Film Industry
• Film makers also need to consider how far out of the social “comfort zone” their audiences will move.




• If a film is seen to be too far ahead of its time, not easily understood or too threatening to traditional ideas and values it could fail at the box office.
• The aim is to “place” the film in such a manner that the audience will accept the premise even though it may “threaten” traditional values or ideas.
Geography & Demographics
• Film marketing can be tailored to meet the specific target audiences.
eg: The Omega Code had strong Christian concepts. Released in the “Bible Belt” of the USA. Publicised in Churches & Christian TV programmes.
The Shaft films were targeted at black audiences although their appeals cut across race & demographics.
• Market decisions will be made against educational levels of the audience… a film dealing with cultural alienation (The Namesake) will appeal to tertiary educated market while one dealing with animated toys (Toy Story) will appeal to the young children / family market.
• Decisions will be made on possible urban-rural or, in the USA, North-South backgrounds of the audiences.
This can mean that a film with a sexual theme will be more acceptable to (in the USA) will be pitched at educated persons who grew up in the northern states as research would indicate that such a film would not succeed with a less educated small town Southern states audience.
(Age, while a factor, is not such an important determinant as it used to be. )
Some interesting factoids
• Horror films do best in the Mid Western States - North Dakota, Iowa, Nebraska.
• Comedy films do best in the New England States.
Questions
• Check out the theatres where Berkeley & Hoyts place particular films. Do you think that the theatre chains in NZ are influenced by similar concepts about demography & geography?

Predicting success is not easy: e.g: The film Melena received two Academy Awards yet the reviewers panned it as one of the worst they’d seen.
Some audiences reacted adversely to the themes of adolescent sexuality the film dealt with.
On the other hand My Big Fat Greek Wedding and Mrs Palfrey at the Claremont were panned by the critics but became a box office successes
Film Makers will consciously structure and market their films to attract their target audiences as the campaign for the CG film - The 300 demonstrates.
• The box office success of The 300 was seen as a gamble as the audience reaction to such costume action films since the 2000 success of The Gladiator was not good.
e.g: In the USA:
Gladiator grossed $458 million + 5 Oscars.
Troy grossed $133 million.
Alexander grossed $43.3 million.
Kingdom of Heaven grossed $47.4 million.
Changes were made to the script to cater for the possible markets.
• The battle scenes were filmed Matrix style - slow to fast motion action. ( A ballet of death” - Deborah Snyder.)
• The role of Queen Gorgo was enhanced to appeal to the female audience - given a sub-plot about political corruption as well as made a very passionate role beside King Leonidas.
n.b. Advertising was placed in female friendly TV shows rather than the male friendly Super-Bowl.
• Xerxes was pitched as a hero to a possible homosexual audience with his costume & behaviour.
The Film Industry has changed since the 1940s when ticket sales were at a peak.
The number of screens (in the USA ) dropped dramatically in the 1950s as TV grew in popularity.
From the 1970s the number of screens began to increase. In 1970 there were 10,000 screens - in 2001 there were 2001 screens.
The changes have been reflected world wide. But film profits have declined.

• While revenue has increased in the period 1071 - 2001 the number of tickets sold has remained much the same.

• The increase in box office revenue is attributable mostly to increases in the cost of tickets. From approximately $5.60 in 1971 to $10.00+ in 2001.

• From 2005 theatre attendance dropped due to such factors as: poor “theatre experiences”. The screening of commercials, petrol price increases, growing popularity of cable & satellite services, new home theatre technology.
• Theatres have responded by offering new incentives - food & drink service, better seating, greater leg room…. (Check out the marketing by Berkeley and Hoyts Theatre chains in NZ as examples of this.)

There are other factors that have influenced the film industry and the identification of audiences.
1. The star attractiveness and costs.
2. Production costs - settings and locations.
3. Revenue streams other than ticket sales.
Costs as a factor in success:
Remember success of a film is usually measured by profits measured in $c.
• Increasingly films are made outside of Hollywood as U.S. labour and location costs increase. It is cheaper to film in NZ or Australia than it is to film in California.
• Salaries paid to “Stars”. These can exceed $20 million per Star per picture. Studios bargain on the audience interest in the Star will be returned in increased profits. Note: Tom Cruise reportedly had his studio contract terminated as his popularity waned.
Costs as a factor in success:
Other Revenue Streams: Movie attendance is affected by the ticket price - too high a ticket price the lower the audience.
Ancillary Profits come from:
• Network TV rights
• Foreign distribution
• Sales to independent TV stations
• Pay for View TV channels
• Airline in-flight movies
• Music rights for soundtracks
• Merchandise - plastic toys etc.
• Book publishing rights - the book of the film.
• Product placement in the film.

To gauge the market effectiveness of a film Studios will screen a cut to a selected audience then assess their reactions to it.
The analysis of the reactions will determine how the film is cut and or ends.
e.g: The reaction of women to The 300 altered the role and portrayal of Queen Gorgo.

Reactions to endings in Amercian test audiences has forced directors to film alternate endings for films to meet different audience demands are filmed - e.g. American audiences prefer an up beat ending while European audiences accept a more down beat conclusion. The film 28 Days Later has a “happy” ending for the US market while the European version ends more ambiguously.


Other films that have been altered to ensure audience share:
• Sweet Home Alabama originally had Reese Witherspoon apparently being killed after being struck by lighting then, when carried into the wedding reception, looking up and smiling. Cut to finish.
• Fatal Attraction - originally the woman suicides and her husband gets arrested for her murder.
• Blade Runner originally implies that the hero was really a robot.
• Napoleon Dynamite has been filmed with a wedding and the loving couple heading into the sunset.

DOCUMENTARY FILM

Documentary

• Expectations associated with documentary

• Purports to offer factual information

• Various filmic devices associated with documentary

• Often without script or staging

• Camera control

• Controls editing

• Does not control dialogue (usually)

• May or may not control lighting

• Some staging/scripting legitimate

• Staging does not immediately create fiction

• Presentation of factual trustworthiness

• Unreliable documentary still can be a documentary

• Politicized documentaries not necessarily fictional

• Documentary as persuasive

• Present “evidence”

Types of Documentary

• Compilation film—collects images from archival sources

• Interview/talking heads documentary—records testimony about people, places, events, or movements

• Direct-cinema—records ongoing event as it happens with little filmic interference

– Emerged in 1950s and 1960s with rise of portable film equipment

– Cinéma-vérité

• Nature documentary—study of nature and natural world

– Often quite scientific

• Portrait documentary—centers on biography of compelling person

• May mix genres—synthetic documentary

Documentary

• Assumption that fiction presents imaginary places and people

• Fictional films clearly work with factual people and events

– Can often comment on real world

– Can engage “real” world outside world of film

• Spectators’ assumptions about fictional film

• Fictional films can represent/recreate history

• Directors can blur distinction between documentary and fiction film

• Mockumentaries—fake documentaries

– Purport factuality

– Usually clearly fake

– Usually quite humorous

– Imitate conventions of documentary

Categorical Form

• Documentaries tend to follow narrative format

• Categorical form—presenting information via groupings created by individuals or society to organize knowledge

– Some based on scientific research

– Some based on social construction

– Most categories not strict but malleable

– Categories can be ideologically based

• Patterns of development usually quite simple

• Can become quite boring

• Filmmaker needs variation in progression to maintain interest

• Patterned use of film techniques

• May mix other kinds of form, including narrative

• May be ideological

• Simple form used to create complex films

• Filmmaker presents argument about subject

• Goal of persuading audience

– Encourage action on opinion

– Argument made explicit

• Open address of Audience

• Filmic subject not issue of scientific truth

– Various possible opinions

– Filmmaker attempts to present specific opinion as viable and correct

Rhetorical Form

• Filmmaker presents argument about subject

• Goal of persuading audience

– Encourage action on opinion

– Argument made explicit

• Open address of Audience

• Filmic subject not issue of scientific truth

– Various possible opinions

– Filmmaker attempts to present specific opinion as viable and correct

• Often involves appeal to emotions

• Argument/action presented as effectual on our everyday life

• Arguments rarely presented to us as “arguments”

• Arguments from reliable source

– Often reliable people—authority?

• Appeal to commonly held social beliefs

• Use of specific examples

• Use of enthymemes—familiar, easily accepted argumentative patterns

– Often conceal vital premises

• Appeal to viewer’s emotions

– May draw of various filmic conventions

FILM PRODUCTION (Part 3)

Postproduction Phase

l The postproduction phase refers to the period of time after the film is shot, but before it is released in its final form. Postproduction includes:

l Processing and printing of film.

l Transferring sound to “mag stock” – audiotape with sprocket holes.

l Synchronizing picture and sound track.

l Creating an assemblage.

l Creating a “rough cut.”

l Creating a “fine cut” and final audio mix.

l Conforming the original negative (A/B rolling).

l Adding optical effects and transitions.

l Creating a “married” print (joining A/B roll and sound into one final print).

l Processing, Printing, and Transferring.

l The first few steps of postproduction are routine, requiring more technical knowledge than creative decision making:

l Processing: Developing the camera negative.

l Printing: Creating a “work print” for the editor to rearrange.

l Transferring: Rerecording the original audio onto magnetic tape stock so that it can be manipulated and rearranged along with the picture.

l Synchronizing and Assembling.

l Synchronizing

l Because the information for synchronization on the slate is stored at the beginning (“head”) of each take on the picture and sound track, the first task of the edit is to synchronize these before any cuts are made. This cannot be done later because, if cuts are made first, the labels will be lost separated from what they refer to.

l When synchronizing picture with sound, the editor simply aligns the beginning of the sound for a given take with the beginning of the picture, using the sight and sound of the clap slate for a reference point.

l Assembling

l Following the synchronization of the picture and dialog track, the rolls of film are divided up into individual shots and wound onto cores where they are placed in a rough sequence referred to as an “assemblage.”

l Rough Cut to Fine Cut and Final Audio Mix.

l Between the rough cut and the fine cut is where all of the creative decisions are made.

l Rough Cut: Places the film in rough sequence from beginning to end according to the screenplay. Dialog is in place, but sound effects, and music are incomplete.

l Fine Cut: All of the final editing decisions and the final soundtrack mix are complete. The film is ready for laboratory work (negative cutting, effects, married printing).

l Editing is the arrangement of imagery and sounds into a sequence that tells the story of the film.

l An editor may arrange based on different aesthetic styles depending upon the needs of the story. For example:

l Invisible editing.

l Montage editing.

l Invisible Editing.

l Invisible editing is sometimes referred to as “classical editing” and refers to a style that downplays the transitions between shots and keeps the focus of attention on the flow of events in the story. This form of editing works in conjunction with the Master Shot / Cutaway shooting strategy.

l Transitions

l Cut

l Dissolve

l Wipe

l Fade

l Transitions

l Cut

l The cut is the most basic form of a transition and refers to the abrupt ending of one shot that is simultaneous with the beginning of the next shot.

l Transitions

l Dissolves, Wipes, & Fades.

l A dissolve is the gradual replacement of one shot by the next, in which both shots appear overlapping and blended for a brief period. Dissolves can be created “in camera” by double exposing film, but they are more commonly produced by double exposure during printing.

• Wipes also replace one image with another, but they do so “directionally,” by scrolling over one image with another. Wipes can be either vertical or horizontal.

• Fades gradually obliterate the image by overexposing or underexposing until either black or white remains on the screen.

• Unlike the “cut” which, strategically placed, can draw attention away from the transition, dissolves, wipes and fades function as conventions to convey narrative information such as the passage of time, memory, and/or emotion.

• In general, invisible editing works because it takes advantage of the fact that the cognitive resources we devote to attention are limited and our focus on the form/style of a film can easily be diverted to content.

• Montage Editing.

• Pioneered by Soviet filmmakers of the 1920s, montage is a style of editing in which a series of independent images are juxtaposed to create a new context for interpretation. Russian filmmaker, Sergei Eisenstein’s concept of montage resembles the Gestalt Psychology concept that the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. Transitions in montage editing can be guided by multiple strategies including;

• Rhythm (Pacing)

• Shape (Graphic Matching)

• Color

• Expectations (Trajectory)

• Strategies

• “Rhythm” or “pacing” refers to the time intervals between shots and can be manipulated to effect spectator’s subjective sense of time. For example, the final sequence in Birth of a Nation (1915) created a sense of suspense and urgency by accelerating the pace of editing.

• Shape & Color: Abstract qualities of the image such as shape and color can link together otherwise disparate images. The “graphic match” is a technique that connects adjacent images in a montage sequence based on the characteristics of their shape.

• Expectations: Because film is a medium that portrays motion, the speed and direction of motion in a particular shot creates expectations for motion in the next shot. Mentally, we are aware of the “trajectory” of motion and carry through the expectation of that trajectory into the next shot. Thus, instead of cutting on the action and meeting those expectations completely (as in “invisible” editing), a montage transition maintains the motion, but may change the context of that motion.

• Alternatively, a common narrative usage of montage editing is to compress a portion of the larger narrative into a form that conveys elapsing time.

• It is important to note that, although invisible editing and montage editing have been separated into two categories for the sake of analysis, they are no firm boundaries between them. Narrative films make use of both “invisible” and montage transition strategies to achieve the goals of the story.

• Conforming the original negative.

• Once all of the editing decisions have been made, the original “camera” negative is brought to a “negative cutter” who uses cement splices and A/B rolling in order to conform the negative based on the decisions of the final cut of the workprint.

• Creating a married print.

• Once the negative has been conformed to an A/B roll, a married print is created and joined with the final audio mix which is inscribed at the edge of the film optically.

• For the purposes of distribution, an “internegative” is then created from the married print for the sake of striking positive “release” prints that are shipped to theaters.

FILM PRODUCTION (Part 2)

Production Phase
During production, these roles are usually delegated to the production departments listed on the next two slides.
Production Departments
1 Direction
2 Director (oversees all aspects of the production)
3 Assistant Director (works closely with the actors)
4 Camera
5 Cinematographer (oversees camera operation and lighting plan)
6 Camera Operator (operates the camera)
7 Assistant Camera (loads camera, pulls focus)
8 Lighting
9 Cinematographer (oversees camera operation and lighting plan)
10 Gaffer (head electrician)
11 Grip (sets up lights)
12 Sound
13 Sound Mixer (records the sound)
14Boom operator (positions the microphone)
15 Clapper (displays the clap slate for the camera)
16 Talent
17 Actors (perform before the camera)
18 Miscellaneous
19Production Coordinator (scheduling)
20 Continuity “script girl” (watch for continuity errors)
21Make-up Artist (apply make-up to actors)
22Production Assistant (various jobs)
All of the departments and positions described on the last two slides serve one goal: to capture the sound and image necessary to tell the story. Although going into every detail of production is far beyond the scope of this course, let’s consider the “nuts and bolts” that go into filmmaking.
How does the camera work?
• When we are watching a motion picture, we are actually watching a rapid series of still images that are projected in rapid succession on the screen.
• We are able to perceive motion in a film because of the cognitive/perceptual phenomenon known as persistence of vision.
• The motion picture camera is a tool used to rapidly expose a continuous series of film frames to light that is reflected off of objects and focused onto the film by the camera’s lens. The following three slides display diagrams of the inside of a basic motion picture camera.
• As you can see, the film makes its way from the spool into the loop and through the gate. The aperture in the gate is a small square hole that allows light to pass from the lens onto the focal plane of the film. This process is represented in the diagram on the left of the next slide.
•
Shot / Mastershot
The 180 degree rule.
Now that we understand the basic mechanism, let’s consider some of the ways that it can be manipulated during production:
• Types of shots
• Types of angles
• Lens choice
• Movement
• Lighting
. Types of Shots
• There are four basic shot types that are based on the apparent proximity of the subject.
• Long shot
• Full Shot
• Medium shot
• Close up shot

 Types of Shots
• The Long Shot (a.k.a. Establishing Shot)
• In the most pragmatic sense, long shots can be used to establish a location, acquainting the viewer with the onscreen space so that the sequence of shots that follow is not disorienting.
• Long shots can also be used to suggest a wide variety of meanings such as isolation, loneliness, freedom, emotional distance, and more. (Note that interpreting any particular shot or sequence of shots is dependent upon the context of the film.)
• Full and Medium Shots
• Full shots include the entire body of a subject from top to bottom while medium shots generally include the body from the waist up.
• Full and medium shots tend to mimic our point of view when we are engaged in a social encounters.
• The Close-Up Shot
• Close-up shots capture a single object, or feature within the frame. They are commonly used to reveal subtleties and/or create a sense of engagement or intensity.
 Types of Angles
• There are three basic types of angles which refer to the position of the frame with respect to the subject within the frame.
• High Angle
• Low Angle
• Straight-On Angle
• High Angle
• A high angle shot refers to a camera position where the lens aims down at the subject from above. An extreme high angle is sometimes referred to as “bird’s eye view.”
• High angles can be used to reveal the layout of a room or to make a subject appear weak and small. As mentioned previously, however, the context of the scene and the larger film must be taken into account prior to interpretation
• Low Angle
• A low angle shot refers to a camera position where the lens aims up at the subject from below.
• As opposed to the high angle shot, the low angle tends to make the subject appear intimidating and powerful. Again, the larger context of the film must be accounted for.
• Straight-On Angle
• A Straight-On shot refers to a camera position where the lens is aimed directly at the subject.
• Especially when used in conjunction with the full or medium shot, this angle mimics our point of view in a social encounter.
 Lens Choice
• The only function of a lens is to focus the light that is either projected or reflected from the surrounding environment onto the focal plane of the film. However, lenses come in a variety of focal-lengths which make the depicted scene appear at different distances. There are three basic types of lenses:
• Telephoto lens (a “long” lens)
• Wide angle lens (a “short” lens)
• Normal lens
• Zoom lens
• The image on the next slide shows the basic function of a lens.
• Lens choice is guided by two primary and strongly related factors:
• Focal Length: The distance perspective of the lens.
• Depth of Field: The range of distance that can focused in front of the lens.
• Telephoto Lens
• The focal length of a “telephoto” lens results in a magnified perspective, not unlike a telescope, which makes objects appear closer than they actually are when viewed with the naked eye. The telephoto lens has a relatively shallow depth of field, meaning that only a narrow range of space before the lens can be put into focus. It also tends to compress the foreground and background of the field, making images look flat or two-dimensional.

• Wide Angle Lens
• In direct opposition to the telephoto lens, the focal length of the wide angle results in a distanced perspective, which makes things appear further away than they actually are when viewed with the naked eye. The wide angle lens has a relatively deep field, meaning that a vast distance of space before the lens can be put into focus. It also tends to create a more three dimensional effect. An extreme wide angle lens is sometimes referred to as a “fish eye” lens.
• Normal Lens
• The focal length of the “normal” lens is similar to the actual distance of objects in the field of view when viewed with the naked eye.
• Zoom Lens
• The focal length of the “zoom” lens is able to be manipulated while in use, and can range from telephoto focal lengths to wide-angle focal lengths.
• Camera Movement
• Camera movement guides the perspective of the spectator and causes him/her to attend to those events and features which are most important to the narrative and aesthetic of the film. There are five basic forms of camera movement:
• Panning
• Tilting
• Tracking
• Trucking
• Booming
• Crane
• Hand-Held
• Camera Movement
• Panning
• Panning refers to the left to right or right to left movement of the camera as it remains on a single axis. This is demonstrated graphically on the following slide.
• Tilting
• Tilting refers to the down to up or up to down movement of a camera while it remains on a single axis.
• Tracking
• Tracking refers to the sideways movement of the camera as it captures a scene.
• Trucking
• Trucking refers to the forwards or backwards movement of the camera as it captures a scene.

• (These are demonstrated graphically on the following two slides.)
• Booming
• Booming refers to the vertical movement of the camera as it captures a scene.
• Craning
• Crane shots permit a wide range of sweeping motion and height in capturing a shot. This is demonstrated graphically on the next slide.
• Hand-Held
• Just as the name indicates, hand-held camera movement is performed without the assistance of a dolly or tripod. Hand held shots tend to have convey the subjective point of view of a character since they imitate a first-person perspective. Hand held shots are commonly used in “slasher” films to create a feeling of panic.
• Steadicam: A steadicam is camera mount that is attached to the operator’s body. It serves to reduce jerky movements and create the sense of a steady flow through space.
• Lighting
• Lighting refers to how a scene is lit, and, to a large extent, how it is exposed on film. It is among the most complex and important aspects of production and can be divided into two categories based on location and two categories based on style.
• Location (Indoor versus Outdoor lighting)
• Lighting Scheme (High Key versus Low Key lighting)
• Location
• Indoor lighting
• Indoor lighting is generally achieved through the use of specialized lamps with varying characteristics of directionality (focus), throw (distance), and intensity (brightness). There are three lights in a basic lighting setup (also see the next slide):
• Key Light (provides the primary source of illumination)
• Fill Light (illuminates the shadows left by the key light)
• Back Light (separates the foreground from the background)
• Location
• Outdoor Lighting
• Outdoor lighting is generally done with large, powerful lamps known as HMIs.
• In addition to lamps, other devices such as reflectors, flags, and neutral density gel may be used to increase or reduce the intensity of sunlight on various parts of the scene.
• Lighting Scheme
• High Key
• High key lighting is a style in which the ratio of the key light to the fill light is high and, thus, fills in most of the shadows in the scene resulting in a bright, evenly lit image. High key lighting is often used in light-hearted comedies and dramas.
• Lighting Scheme
• Low Key
• In opposition to high key, low key lighting refers to a low ratio of fill to key light, which results in a darker image with more “contrast” and shadows. This scheme is most often associated with film noire crime stories of the 1940s but is also frequently used in horror films and early German expressionist work.
• It is the job of the director and cinematographer to coordinate these elements into a strategy for capturing the action on film. One common and efficient strategy is referred to as Shot / Mastershot or Shooting for Coverage. This technique involves shooting a full shot of the entire scene before moving in closer on a re-shoot to capture more specific cutaway shots that can later be coordinated with the master. (Continued on the next slide.)
• Another strategy that is commonly employed in directing a scene is the 180° rule, which posits that the camera should take angles on only one side of the axis of action. The reason for this is that shooting on both sides of the action changes the background and may disorient the spectator. Adding an establishing shot or tracking the camera across the axis of action can prevent this.
• Sound Recording
• Sound recording is treated separately here because, in traditional film production, it is recorded completely independently from the image. This is known as “double system” sound recording. Generally speaking, there are at least four soundtracks in any feature length narrative film:
• 1 – the sound effects track.
• 2 – the music track.
• 3 – the room tone track.
• 4 – the dialog track.
• Sound Effects
• For the most part, sound effects are obtained separately by a “foley” artist who coordinates sound effects in synchronization with the onscreen action through a process known as “looping” – where a portion of the film is repeatedly played to perfect the timing of the sound effects. This is considered to be part of post-production which we will cover next.
• Alternatively, for low-budget productions, libraries of prerecorded sound effects can be used or sounds can be recorded during production by the sound mixer and boom operator.
• Music
• Film music is either purchased (if it is not in the “public domain”) or scored specifically for the production.
• Music that is scored is done in similar fashion to foley sound in the sense that film is playing during the recording session to enhance timing.
• Room Tone
• Room tone is recorded silence. Normally, once all of the dialog is recorded, the sound mixer asks for about a minute of quiet to record the sound of silence in the particular setting.
• The reason for recording room tone is that all recordings have a low level of “noise” in the background and, during the editing process it is sometimes necessary to fill in gaps so that there is not an abrupt change in the tone of the background noise.
• Dialog
• In order to record dialog in “double system” film production, it is necessary to synchronize the movement of lips with the sound of voices. Simple as this may seem, achieving it requires precision instrumentation.
• Most modern film sound is recorded digitally, but earlier films made use of a “crystal” synchronized analog tape recorded referred to as a “Nagra” (manufacturer’s name) which kept the speed of the tape constant so that no “drifting” occurred between the picture and the sound track.
• The function of the “clap slate” or “sticks” (see the slide after next) is to supply a marking point for when the synchronization between picture and audio begins, allowing the editor to accurately align picture with sound later during post production.
• The first film credited with synchronized sound is The Jazz Singer (1927).
• There are a series of steps that are taken on a film set in order to ensure the proper coordination of picture and sound track:
• 1: The director says “quiet on the set” and “roll sound.”
• 2: The sound mixer says “sound speed” when the tape is running at the correct speed for recording synchronized sound.
• 3: The director calls out “roll camera.”
• 4: The camera operator says “speed” when the film is running at sound speed (24 frames per second).
• 5: The director calls out “slate.”
• 6: The clap slate indicating roll, scene, and take is placed before the camera and read out loud (e.g. “Roll 1, Scene 1, Take 1”).
• 7: The director says “mark.”
• 8: The slate is clapped and removed.
• 9: Finally, the director calls “action” to cue the actors.