New Roles

In doing this new project, I have decided to take on new roles for myself to try and test our different people. My current editor, Sukhveer, did some impressive grip-work for a couple of shots in the last project, and so I want to try him as that, keeping myself as just the DP(For those of you that don't know, DP means Director of Photography). I will also be trying to act, since I have experience in European martial arts.

One of our actors for the last project, Jarod Wiggins, will also be taking the role of choreographer, and has been working with me every weekend in planning the fight scene. As of right now, it looks like it's going to be focused on action shots with little plot, so that there's little pressure on me to get in dialogue and an actual story.  For this project there will only be two actors, myself and Jarod, and so it should be interesting. Jarod has had experience choreographing fights for commercials before, and I have acted in theatrical productions for festivals, which gives both of us some amount of experience in acting. Next time, I hope to post a tutorial on how to do something.

The New Project

This semester I really want to strive to create a product that is presentable. For the last project, I tried doing something completely new, which was great, but ultimately it ended in disaster. It actually got to the point where I just called off the entire thing. This time, i'm working on grounds that are more familiar and so hopefully it'll go better.

This time around, we will be filming at daytime, which is a huge relief. The worst thing about the last project was having to try and figure out solutions for the poor lighting. We also have a longer pre-production time, in which we are already choreographing everything and planning out most of the shots and scouting for locations to film. Overall, I have high hopes for the project, and will be glad to see it on finishing day. On my next blog post I will return to giving tutorials, and will give further updates when I have them. Farewell, pretty people.

New Year, New Project!

Last year, I set out with the goal of teaching people how to go about filming while also doing a film by myself. As much as pride goes against this statement, I have got to say: I did a pretty terrible job. This year, I hope to renew my efforts with flaming charisma and present an end product that is actually worth showing. I am trying to get another project that is easier to complete with the equipment and experience I have, and I'm hoping it centers around martial arts.

Ah, martial arts. How I love thee.

This time around I have someone who actually knows how to, and has choreographed fight scenes for commercials and so hopefully, this time around I actually do some good. I will also be trying to post lessons that are a little bit more helpful, because I feel like many of my lessons came off as me spewing poo. With that, I bid everyone adieu. Fare the well!

A Reflection of My Blog

What have I done?
Over the period of half a year, I attempted to create a blog that was centered around cinematography. At the same time, I tried to undergo an ambitious short film to experience problems I'd never encountered before.

My Best Post and Why it's Good
My best post was the lesson I did on cinematic continuity and exposure, because of how thorough I covered the basics of that topic. I felt that that was where I did the best in explaining a principle of cinematography.

What I should Improve on
In the future, I am going to undertake less ambitious projects to attempt to try to get a wider range of examples out in a shorter amount of time. I will also try to post lessons that are more thorough and helpful.

What I've Learned About Myself as a Learner
I've learned that I learn better by doing things and I learn best by doing things with other people. I also need a schedule to follow or else I tend to get lazy and unproductive.

Where I'd Like To Go
I'd really like to start on new projects an really start producing work that is decent, instead of trying to try all these new things at once with little to no experience (Night time filming/ studio).

The Types of Movement: Part 1- The Pan Shot

In film, there are many types of shots that a cinematographer uses to capture the personality of each scene. Using these shots is important, and using different shots can make a scene turn from bland to symbolic. Today, I will be talking about the pan shot, perhaps one of the most well known types of shot.

Here's a pan, and it's going to get shot! Haha, right guys? No? Anyway...

Pan is short for "panoramic", and it refers to horizontal movement of the camera either left or right. This effect can be easily achieved with a tripod or dolly that allows for left, right, up, down, and tilting motion. The book "Cinematography: Theory and Practice" goes on to state this rule of thumb, "... With a shutter opening of 180 degrees and a frame rate of 24 or 25 fps, it should take at least 3 to 5 seconds for an object to move from one side of the frame to the other. Any faster and there is a danger of strobing". What is strobing? Strobing is when the camera skips a few frames due to things moving too fast on screen. Unless intentional, this effect is very disturbing and can ruin any film, so therefore, don't ever do it. Pan shots are probably one of the most commonly used shots in film, and I would consider panning to be a part of the trunk of film from which all other technique spreads out into branches. It might seem easy, but don't undersell the power of the pan. As with any other shot, it's possible to create a crappy pan, so don't assume that because all you're doing is going from left to right that it's okay to give a little mental slack. I've seen bad pans. I've done bad pans. Bad pans are embarrassing. Don't do bad pans. Okay? Good.

Well, that pretty much ends this week's post. On the next blog post I will go into more shots or will describe some camera equipment, as I realized just now that not everyone knows what a dolly is from my statement up above. What? Dolly? Is that like, a doll that carries the camera? Hm, kind of, if you really don't think about it.
But I'll get to that later.

An Update to The Filming of Film

Hey! For today's blog post, I'm going to be talking about the project that I've been working on since I started this blog, Abandon. So far, so good, at least as far as my very first horror film/night shooting experience goes. I've learned quite a bit from my time here, and want to share with you some things we could improve on in the future.

 One: Always plan out your script and get it revised and re-revised before the day of film. Due to some issues on our team, our screenwriter gave me the script for the second Act on the day of shooting the second Act. Needless to say, that became one big, giant, cluster of crap. Two: Always tell yourself that you will be working hard on the shoot and never tell your team otherwise. We thought we only had a little to do the last time we filmed, and so told our team that we could relax a bit for that day. We only filmed one scene that day, out of around 10. Three: Check and double check your gear. I had forgot my extra battery packs the last time, and if we had actually done more filming that would've been an issue.

With that, I am going to present you guys with an updated version of the video, with a watchable first part. Enjoy! Except the horrid parts, of course. We'll fix those I swear.

Guerrilla Filming Vs. Studio Filming

In cinematography, there are two types of categories of filming: Studio filming and guerrilla filming. Studio filming is what is most often seen in high production movies such as X-Men. The majority of the footage taken from that movie was done inside a large studio, using sets that were constructed specifically for the scene they were shooting on the day. Below I will show a picture of the set for the bridge in X-Men.

This realistic copy of the Golden Gate was made and placed inside a studio and the surrounding made to look like San Francisco in post production. Studio filming is almost exclusively done by those with a bigger budget and a bigger team.

The next type of filming is guerrilla filming. Guerrilla filming is characterized by skeleton crews that use whatever they have available and often on real time locations for short periods of time. This is the type of filming I am accustomed to, because I do not have a real budget. A good example of a cinematographer who often practices guerrilla filming is Devin Graham, a.k.a Devinsupertramp, who is a famous youtuber who filmed a lot of the first videos for musician Lindsey Stirling. Below I will post a picture of Devin Graham. Notice how minimal the gear is compared to the larger studio films, only using a helmet mounted camera, their props, and the location they are in (which they did not rent out).

For the project that I am filming, I will be using a combination of guerrilla and studio, leaning towards studio in that we have an actual set that we visit every time to accomplish all shots, and leaning towards guerrilla in the gear that I use. It's been interesting, since the lighting aspects and such that come along with studio filming have presented themselves to me, making my job a cinematographer much more difficult. All in all, it's a good experience though, and I am beginning to find my way around studio filming.

With that, I bid thee farewell ladies and gentlemen.