cinematoqraphy theory and practice - J I /

imagemaking for cinematographers and directors

second edition

blain brown

PARIS • SAN DIEGO • SAN FRANCISCO • SINGAPORE • SYDNEY • TOKYO

E L S E V I E R Focal Press is an imprint of Elsevier

contents Introduction

The Scope of this Book Titles and Terminology

writing with motion Writing with Motion

Building a Visual World The [Conceptual] Tools of Cinematography

The Frame The Lens Light and Color Texture Movement Establishing Point-of-View

Putting It All Together

shooting methods What Is Cinematic?

A Question of Perception Visual Subtext and Visual Metaphor

The Frame Static Frame

Cinema as a Language The Shots: Building Blocks of a Scene Establishing the Geography Character Shots InvisibleTechnique

The Shooting Methods The Master Scene Method Coverage Overlapping or Triple-Take Method In-One Freeform Method Montage

Involving The Audience: POV

visual language More Than Just a Picture

Design Principles TheThree-Dimensional Field

Forces Of Visual Organization Movement in the Visual Field The Rule of Thirds

Miscellaneous Rules of Composition Basic Composition Rules for People

language of the lens The Lens and the Frame

Foreground/Midground/Background Lens Perspective Deep Focus Selective Focus

Image Control at the Lens Lens Height Dutch Tilt

Visual storytelling Visual Metaphor

Telling Stories with Pictures Lighting As Storytelling

Film Noir Light As Visual Metaphor

Light and Shadow / Good and Evil Fading Flashbulbs Visual Poetry

cinematic continuity Shooting For Editing

Thinking about Continuity Types of continuity

The Prime Directive Screen Direction Turnaround

Cheating the Turnaround Planning Coverage

Cuttability The 20% and 30 Degree Rules

Other Issues In Continuity Introductions Other Editorial Issues In Shooting

Jump Cuts The Six Types Of Cuts

The Content Cut The Action Cut ThePOVCut The Match Cut The Conceptual Cut The Zero Cut

lighting basics The Fundamentals of Lighting

What are the Goals of Good Lighting Exposure and Lighting

Some Lighting Terminology Aspects Of Light

Hard Light and Soft Light Direction Intensity Texture Color

Basic Lighting Techniques Back Cross Keys Ambient Plus Accents Lighting with Practicals Lighting through the Window Available Natural Light

Motivated Light Day Exteriors

Fill Silks and Diffusion Open Shade and Garage Door Light Sun as Backlight

Lighting For High Def Video

lighting sources The Tools of Lighting Daylight Sources

HMI Units Xenons

LED Lights Tungsten Lights

Fresnels PARs

HMI PARs Soft Lights

Barger Baglights Color-Correct Fluorescents OtherTypes of Units

Softsun Cycs, Strips, Nooks and Broads Chinese Lanterns and Spacelights Self-Contained Crane Rigs Ellipsoidal Reflector Spots Balloon Lights Handheld Units

Day Exteriors Controlling Light with Grip Equipment

For More Information On Lighting

HD cinematography High Defand Standard Def Analog and Digital Video

Analog Digital Video

Types of Video Sensors Three-Chip vs Bayer Filter Sensors

Digital Video Standard Def High Def

Shooting Formats 2K, 4K and Higher Resolution Formats

Digital Compression RAW

Monitoring On the set The Waveform Monitor and Vectorscope

Waveform Monitors The Vectorscope

Video Latitude Clipping Video Noise and Grain

The Digital Intermediate (Dl) The Video Signal

Interlace Video Progressive Video NTSC and ATSC Colorspace

SDI Setting Up A Color Monitor

Monitor Setup Procedure Camera White Balance

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147 148 148 148 149 150 150 151 151 151 152 152 152 154 155 156 156 156 157 158 159 159 160 160 160 160 161 162 162 162 164

cinematography

vii

Digital Video Encoding Is It Broadcast Quality? Do It in the Camera or in Post?

The Decision Matrix 10 Things to Remember When Shooting HD

Timecode and Edgecode Video Frame Rate Drop-Frame and Non-Drop-Frame 29.97 Video How Drop Frame Solves the Problem To Drop or Not to Drop?

Timecode Slating Tapeless Production

Metadata Tapeless Workflows

Digital File Types Container Files: Quicktime and MXF

Compression and Codecs Intra-frame versus Interframe Compression Bit Depth

MPEG Other Codecs

The Curve Controlling the HD Image

Gain/ISO Gamma Black Gamma/Black Stretch Knee Color Saturation Matrix Color Balance

exposure Exposure: the Easy Way

What Do We Want Exposure to Do for Us? Controlling Exposure The Four Elements of Exposure The Bottom Line How Film and Video Are Different Two Types of Exposure

Light As Energy F/Stops Exposure, ISO, and Lighting Relationships

Inverse Square Law and Cosine Law ISO/ASA

Light and Film The Latent Image Chemical Processing Color Negative Film's Response to Light

Densitometry The Log E Axis

Brightness Perception Contrast

"Correct" Exposure Higher Brightness Range in the Scene

Determining Exposure

165 166 166 167 167 168 168 168 169 170 170 170 171 171 171 172 172 173 173 173 174 176 177 179 180 180 180 180 180 180 180

181 182 182 182 183 185 185 185 186 186 186 187 187 188 189 189 190 190 191 193 194 194 197 198 198

VIM

Video Exposure The Tools

The Incident Meter The Reflectance Meter

The Zone System Zones in a Scene

The Gray Scale Why 18%? Place and Fall Reading Exposure with Ultraviolet

Exposure and the Camera Shutter Speed versus Shutter Angle

era movement Motivation and InvisibleTechnique

Basic Technique Types Of Moves

Pan Tilt Move In/Move Out Zoom Punch-in

Moving Shots Tracking Countermove Reveal Circle Track Moves Crane Moves Rolling Shot

Camera Mounting Handheld Camera Head Fluid Head Geared Head Remote Head Underslung Heads Dutch Head The Tripod High-Hat Rocker Plate Tilt Plate

The Crab Dolly Dolly Terminology Dance Floor Extension Plate Low Mode Front Porch Side Boards Risers Steering Bar or Push Bar

Cranes Crane/Jib Arm Crane Operation Non-booming Platforms Camera on a Ladder Remote on Cranes Technocrane Cranes on Top of Cranes

Car Shots

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209 210 211 212 212 212 212 213 214 214 214 214 214 215 215 216 216 216 216 216 216 216 216 217 217 217 217 218 218 218 219 219 219 220 220 220 220 220 221 221 222 222 222 222 222 223

cinematography

ix

Camera Positions for Car Shots 223 Vehicle to Vehicle Shooting 223

Aerial Shots 224 Mini-Helicopters 224 Cable-Cam 224

OtherTypesOf Camera Mounts 224 Rickshaw, Wheelchair and Garfield 224 Steadicam 225 Low-Mode Prism 225 Crash Cams 225 Splash Boxes 225 Underwater Housings 226

Motion Control 226

color 227 Color In Visual Storytelling 228

The Nature of Light 228 The Tristimulus Theory 228 Functions of the Eye 229

Light and Color 230 Basic Qualities of Color 231

The Color Wheel 232 Color Models 232 Controlling Color 235

Color Temperature 235 Color Balance with Gels and Filters 238

Light Balancing Gels 238 Conversion Gels 239 Light Balancing Gels 241 Color Correction Gels 241

Correcting Off-Color Lights 244 Stylistic Choices in Color Control 244

image control 245 Color Printing 246 Controlling Color and Contrast 247

In the Lab 247 Bleach-Bypass and Other Processes 248

LookUp Tables 254 1D LUTs 255 3D LUTs 256

Camera Filter Types 256 Diffusion and Effects Filters 256 Contrast Filters 258 Effects Filters and Grads 258

ColorTemperatureand Filtration 259 Conversion Filters 261 Warming and Cooling Filters 262

Contrast Control In Black-and-White 262 Polarizers 263 Density Filters 263 IR Filters 264

Controlling The Look Of Your Project 264 Image Control With The Camera 266

Frame Rate 266 Shutter Angle 267 Time Lapse 268

optics & focus Physical Basis Of Optics

Refraction Focus

Mental Focus Circle of Confusion

Depth-of-field Depth-of-Field Calculations How Not to Get More Depth-of-Field Zooms and Depth-of-Field

Macrophotography Close-Up Tools Lens Care Lens adapters for Video

set operations The Shot List The Director Of Photography The Team

Camera Crew Operator First AC Second AC Loader Data Wrangler DIT

Slating Technique TimeCode Slates

Camera Reports Electricians Grips Other Units Coordinating with Other Departments

Set Procedures

technical issues Flicker Filming Practical Monitors

Monitors and MOS Shooting Shooting Process Photography

Greenscreen/Bluescreen Lighting for Bluescreen/Greenscreen

Dimmers Working With Strobes High-Speed Photography Lighting For Extreme Close-Up Underwater Filming Measures of Image Quality Effects Time-Lapse Photography Time Slicing Sun Location With A Compass Transferring Film To Video

Prepping forTelecine Shooting a Gray Card Reference Framing Charts

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287 289 289 291 291 291 291 293 294 294 294 295 296 297 299 300 302 303 305

307 308 310 311 312 312 313 314 317 319 319 320 320 321 326 327 328 331 331 332 334

cinematography

xi

film formats 335 Aspect Ratios 336

Academy Aperture 336 1.66:1 and 1.85:1 336

Wide Screen 336 Alternatives to Anamorphic 337

3-Perf 338 2-PerfTechniscope 338 16mm 340

acknowledgments 343

the cinematography website 343

bibliography 344

index 347

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