Moviemaking Concepts: Production - Cinematography
The Cinematographer's job is hugely important and can make or break a film! This week's vlog talks about the technical and creative considerations that the DOP has to make on a movie.
Video Transcript:
Hello! I am the artist known as DEROSNEC, and welcome to my bi-weekly vlog where I talk about making music, art, movies, and more.
While one could argue that the Director is the most conspicuous behind the scenes position on a film set, I put forth that it’s actually the Cinematographer, or the Director of Photography, who has the most unmistakable job. I say this because, his or her work is the most easily seen. I mean, it’s the actual picture you’re looking at!
What is Cinematography?
Cinematography is kind of like photography, except that the biggest difference is you’re taking 24 pictures a second! (Unless you’re doing slow motion, in which case you could be taking a whole lot more...) This means that there are some extra considerations to take into account from both a technical perspective as well as a creative one.
The physics of it, is that just like a still camera, you’re exposing a certain amount of light (or information) onto a piece of light-sensitive material (such as film), except you’re doing it in a succession which will capture movement accurately when played back at speed. These days you see less actual film being used, but digital cameras have been designed to function in the exact same way.
Some History
The idea of using multiple successive images in a string to tell a story of movement has been around for thousands of years - just like a picture book, ancient cultures from all over the world would draw a character completing an action from beginning to end in a sequence.
But it wasn’t until the mid 1800s that people started realizing that you could actually simulate motion in real time - In the 1860s, French animators experimented with flipbooks. In 1878, Eadweard Muybridge made the first “motion picture” where after over 5 years of experimenting with cameras, he managed to capture a horses gallop in 12 consecutive frames. When the silhouette was played back at 12 frames per second, he was not only able to prove that a horse indeed would go airborne whilst running, but realized that he had found a brand new way to study movement. Animation was born!
Eventually, cameras were innovated upon to not just take one still picture, but multiple pictures in the form of a reel, and the tech just kept getting more automated from there.
Responsibilities
The cinematographer is the one in charge of the camera department, and it’s a complex job. He or she has to not only understand the technical nature of photography, cinematography, lights, and cameras, but also how all those technical considerations translate into the story.
They’ll work closely with the director and storyboard artists to pick out cameras and film stocks, lenses, lighting plans, and shots.
Technical Considerations
I’m simplifying quite a bit for the sake of time, but in cinematography, there are five main camera-related considerations to know before starting a shoot: Film size (or image resolution for digital), film speed (or ISO), lenses, shutter speed, and depth of field. Knowing how these things work together is imperative, because you have to be able to control your image.
There’s nothing worse than a shot with a great performance being unusable because something is overexposed or out of focus. With digital cameras, a lot of the technical margin for error is much less than it was with film, but there are always tradeoffs, and you still have to know what everything is doing in order to have the best looking image possible.
And these days, with technology and cameras advancing so rapidly, the amount of technical information to be aware of and stay updated about can be daunting!
Creative Considerations
The most complex aspect is actually not the technical, but the creative. All the technical knowledge about cameras, all their functions, lenses, and lights need to work in tandem with the fundamentals of composition, lighting, and color to support the story.
One example of how the technical decisions in shooting can turn into a creative one easily, is that you can frame a shot in one way with two different lenses, and each version will have a completely different feel despite both being framed exactly the same!
Photo is copyright Dave Black and found on Nikon’s Website
Another example is lighting - lighting in particular can tell a story in a frame, and set a mood all by itself, regardless of what’s happening in it.
There is a lot to consider, and a good cinematographer is able to plan ahead as well as think on their feet in order to help bring the story to life.
What other things about cinematography are you interested in learning about? Did you realize that technical decisions directly affect creative decisions when it comes to using a camera? Let me know what you think with a comment!
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NOTE: These Thursday Vlog transcripts can also be found published on my website: http://derosnec.com as well as my Steemit and Whaleshares blogs.
I find all of this quite fascinating. As a writer, I am stuck with words. Cinematography is a mystery to me, but I appreciate those who can do it well. Awesome explanation.
Thanks for stopping by! Cinematography I'd liken closest with painting - except with a lot of technical camera knowledge.
Awesome tube @derosnec! 💙
Cool haircut BTW! 😎
I still have much to learn about image composition
thanks @melooo182! I actually hate my hair right now - I miss my braids!! lol
My nefew is persuing mass media communication and he is assigned a task of making three documentory. During his holidsys he came along at my place and was working on thr editting part and it took hell whole night to simply doing editting....
This makes me belive...movie making is not an easy task as we are watching it on television or theatre....it require too much effort and concentration...thanks for sharing the inputs...steem on👍
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AH yes, documentary in particular can be crazy when it comes to editing! My first feature was a documentary (where I was editor) on which the director had filmed over 120 hours of video over a span of 15 years, and it took us over a year to get it to make sense. Good luck to your nephew, it's a hard but fulfilling career path!
Indeed it is a good career choice...he is in final semester and already had an offer from Discovery . but he is more interested in doing political PR. He has few MLA from the ruling party in his pocket ...who already offered good bucks .....looka it is good money making career
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I totally agree with you, in the standardized method of cinematographic production, the image is thanks to the director of photography. Unless it is an auteur film, where in some cases the director acts as a director of photography and is also committed to other aspects of the realization.
I'm not a great director but I know the subject, I come from the theatrical world where, as you mention, the same thing is done as in cinema, in fact I would see cinema in this case as an art child of theatre because all the aspects in which cinema is based come from theatre, adding the camera that takes 24 photos per minute or as we know best the modern cameras, whether film or digital.
going back to the point of realization, in my case in particular in the small productions I have done, I have been very chaplin, I direct myself, I am the director of photography, editing everything. Of course this is a very personal vision and that only applies to short films, in a larger production, no doubt need more people.
Thank you for appreciating this important information related to cinema, I like the didactic way in which you teach.
greetings, peace and love
Thanks for the wonderful comment @arrozymangophoto! Yes I agree completely that theater and film go hand in hand - the only difference is the "live" aspect of it. Many times a play doesn't work word for word on film because it requires a live energy that you can really only get when you're "in the room", whereas in film you have to go a bit further to craft that energy within the shot. ...and you can, because you're not in a fixed space, necessarily. But in either case, it's about story and performance, and it's a matter of using the medium that shows it in the most effective way possible.
Keep creating!!
I totally agree with u that creative aspect is soo much more important. I believe it's the concept which applies everywhere. I'm a programmer and we're all technical. The difference is tosome extent in creativity. I mean - it's technical creativity, but some have it and are able to ocme with great solutions while others can just do pure technical stuff.
And regarding cameras, lightning, focus etc etc...I guess u have to be just as good as a professional photographer or?
I just bought a new camera (super basic lever) and even with that one I'm totally lost in all the settings haha :D
Great post, keep it up :))
yes and yes! The craft is really less about the tools than it is what you do with them, in any industry!
And yes, you definitely have to understand the same concepts that photographers do to be successful in cinematography, with just a few differences. But the tools are very very similar!
Well, best of luck in the future :) I better stay with coding :D
This one tackled the entry level of the art well. I'm familiar with the basics and your post was on point. I'm rekindling my interest in photography at the moment and it's nice to read about some interesting facts about related topics.
That's wonderful to hear, thanks for stopping by!
I have never heard of this role before, to be honest. So you taught me a lot today :) I like that old short movie with the horse that you shared. It's amazing that it's older than 100 years!
And I'm also glad that you included the same landscape seen through different lenses. I finally understand how it works now :)
Thank you for sharing!
Yeah! The focal lengths are some of the most interesting aspects of photography/cinematography to me. It's all in the physics!
Great post Nina!
Great video!
I just watch your video and more comfortable to me than reading texts.
I guess cinematography is the body of the movie itself?
Its the more advanced technology on photography.
Is there a chance that photography would become absolete in the future?
Thanks for stopping by and I'm glad you actually watched the video! haha
I don't know if I'd say that cinematography is the body of the movie - ultimately that should be the story, unless it's an abstract or avant-guarde kind of film, like something you'd see in an art gallery rather than a movie theater. But it is everything that you see on the screen!
I think that photography and cinematography, while very similar in physics and mechanics, are two very distinct art forms, so I don't see photography becoming obsolete per se. I do think that both professions are changing rapidly with the innovations and accessibility in gear and technology to the average person, however! That would be a great topic for discussion, actually.
Oh yeah!
Thanks for that insightful insights.
I guess people are now turning preferably into an active or dynamic photos instead of just purely pictures or photos, may it be offline or online. And I myself prefer live rather than replay or recorded, I guess this is another topic.
It's definitely an interesting time that we're living in!
Oh yeah!
And technology is now trying to make information free so to speak, trying to reveal all secrets if possible and be open to all to see for better improvement I guess for the common good, and distributing resources for all.
Thank you for shredding some light (pun intended) on what the cinematographer’s job is. Many people, including me a few years ago, tend to comment on how beautiful one director’s image is. But the compliment should really be directed towards the cinematographer, as most directors (except a few UFOs) cannot light a scene the way a cinematographer does. And lighting is really 90% of the job, it’s what takes years and years to learn (the technical stuff can be learned by anybody really quickly).
I’d like to add that on most of the film set I’ve worked on, the cinematographer was often the most knowledgeable person on set. They literally have to know everything to be good at their job. This is why many DPs transition to producing later on their career, when they get too old to shoot, as they really know every aspect of the filmmaking process.
I'd say in filmmaking, no matter what role you're doing, it behoves you to know as much as about the whole process as possible, even if you plan to specialize in one particular field. The director's job is to be able to communicate what he/she wants to see in the lighting and image, but then it's up to the cinematographer to use his/her knowledge to do it in the most beautiful and effective way possible. ultimately it's a team effort!
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