Archives for the 'Cinematography' Category
The Power of Green Screens
Watch and be amazed at just how far technology has come.
Widescreen vs. Full Screen
A video showing the true beauty of widescreen film vs. the destruction of film known as pan & scan.
Forced Perspective
Forced perspective is a technique that employs optical illusion to make an object appear farther, closer, larger or smaller than it actually is. It is used primarily in photography, filmmaking and architecture. It manipulates human visual perception through the use of scaled objects and the correlation between them and the vantage point of the spectator or camera.
For a full explanation, read the Wikipedia page. Below are two videos showing forced perspective in the Lord of the Rings films and a music video that uses forced perspective in a very creative way.
Building a Prosumer Camera Rig
Part 1 of 3
The Rule of Thirds
If there are only a couple things you remember from reading this blog, the rule of thirds should be one of them. It is an incredibly useful and easy rule.
The rule of thirds is a compositional rule in photography and film. The rule states that an image can be divided into nine equal parts by two equally-spaced horizontal lines and two equally-spaced vertical lines. The four points formed by the intersections of these lines can be used to align features in the shot. Aligning a shot with these points creates more tension, energy and interest than simply centering it.
Here is a video to help you understand the concept:
How to White Balance
An important step in film making that every person should know is the process of white balancing a shot.
What is White Balance you ask? To put it simply, it’s the process of telling the camera what the color white looks like, so the camera will adjust the other colors accordingly. This way you will get a nice shot that isn’t too yellow or too blue… it’s as natural looking as possible.
To white balance you follow these steps:
Get great footage by knowing your gear!
“A well-placed cheap microphone will get you better audio than a poorly placed expensive microphone.” - My sound professor at Los Angeles Mission College uttered does words, more or less, during one of his always entertaining and informative lectures. And he’s 100% right. Just because you have the best, most expensive equipment doesn’t mean your film is automatically going to be great.
Canon HV20 High Definition Camcorder
I recently purchased the Canon HV20 High Definition Camcorder and I am really satisfied by its quality! For only $749.99 you can own this year’s best reviewed camcorder — in fact it won four awards from Camcorderinfo.com — Best HDV, Best High Definition, Best Under $1,000 and Best of the Year! Anywhere you look, this camcorder gets tons of praise! You really can’t go wrong. If you do purchase one make sure to sign up at HV20.com, a great community of helpful HV20 owners.
The ultimate Cinematography resource
If you have any questions about cinematography such as lighting, lenses and camera suggestions then you must check out the awesome Cinematography.com where 16,000 members, of which a big portion are actual working professional cinematographers, are waiting and willing to help you out! Definitely sign up and participate in the community.
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