The Looooonnnnnnggggg Take

Long takes are a directors best weapon in the fight against boring scenes. This is not to say that they are easy but when planned correctly, they are extremely effective and immensely entertaining. The flow and pace of the scene is carefully thought out and every single move matters in the end. One of the best long takes (in my humble opinion) is the car scene in Children of Men.

The car the used for this scene had a camera that hung down from the "roof" and could rotate 360 degrees. What resulted was an extremely complicated and highly emotional death of a main character all capture with little to no edits. 

Another impressive long take which I think beats out Children of Men, due to the level of complexity required from every actor on screen, is from a Hong Kong film called Hard Boiled. I put the clip in the post and its definitely worth the 3 minute watch because the choreography between the camera man and the actors is pure genius. Plus all the fake guns going off and squibs to match must have been a difficult time for the special effects team because we see people getting "shot" at very unflattering angles. 

I'm jealous of the one takes I'm going to be honest. The best one takes are usually the ones you don't notice are happening. Like most things in cinema, this is the goal to make it look as natural as possible. 

I included a compilation of impressive long takes. They don't include the entire take but definitely capture the essence and scope of each one.

 http://dfcovideo.com/film/12-best-long-takes-in-film-history/

Camera Angles and Movements

     When setting up a shot and shooting something the camera operator or DP always has to be aware of what is in the shot and how the shot will be perceived. Using different camera angles and camera movements will have a wide range of psychological affects on the audience. First lets compare the difference between a zoom in and a dolly.

Zoom:
     Zooming in on a camera is the act of changing the focal length of the camera lens during a shot. Going from a wide shot to a close up of a character creates a dramatic feel. The zoom makes the object in the shot appear to grow in size and look as if it is coming towards the audience. Another affect the zoom has is that it will simply crop out other objects and people in the shoots. With a zoom in shot the positions of objects and people also do not change relative to the movement. These two effects, objects getting cut from the frame, and objects positions not changing relative to the camera "movement", create a very artificial feel.

Dolly:

     A dolly in or out is similar to a zoom in or out in the sense that by the end of the shot the subject will be closer or farther from the screen. However the action behind dollying the and zooming the camera are different and create a different feel for the audience. Where the zoom shot adjusts the lens to change the focal length a dolly shot physically moves the camera. This is a much more dynamic shot for the viewer because it is the actual feel of what it is naturally like for peoples vision. The dolly gives the audience the feeling of moving toward the subject instead of the subject moving to the audience. The objects in a dolly shot don't feel as though they are getting cropped out of frame, but rather that the viewer is moving past them. A dolly shot also creates a better feeling of having dimension on the z-axis as background objects do not just appear to get larger with the foreground, but rather move in perspective to the subject.

Video Comparing Zoom In and Dolly In

Some Camera Angles:

     Shooting Upward/Downward At Subject:

          A very basic trick that is used in movies and television is angling the camera upward or downward to make the audience perceive a character one way or another. Shooting from a low angle and looking upward at the character makes the character appear to be larger than life and seem very powerful and dominate.

Low Angle Shot

          And obviously a high angle shot where the camera is pointed down at the subject does the opposite by making the subject appear week and insignificant.

High Angle Shot

     Dutch Shot:

            This is a type of shot in which the camera is tilted to one side and makes it look diagonal. This shot displays an uneasy feeling and high tension of the subject in the shot.  

Dutch Angle

   

Boom Op vs DP

Last week I posted a little about sound design, so this week I wanted to post about sound recordists and boom operators, the common audio positions found on a set. Sound guys notoriously get treated like shit. Most other crew members including Directors, Cinematographers, and Producers don't give sound priority. All they care about is the image that is being shot, but in reality the picture can be great but if it sounds bad then the entire film is going to be bad. That's just how it is. Of course there are exceptions to this and there are Directors and DPs that care and ask how a take sounded, etc, but for the most part this is the case on professional sets and especially on college sets. Sound doesn't get enough appreciation.

This link below is called "An Open Letter From Your Sound Department." It is written by the top Hollywood Mixers and Boom Ops and gives practical solutions for each crew member on set to make the film sound better. I bet no one knew that it is in the Grip's job description to help sound and set up sound blankets and work to create the quietest filming environment. I learned quite a lot from this letter and anyone can learn from this. Definitely worth a read.

http://filmsound.org/production-sound/openletter.htm

As someone who has both been a Director of Photography and a Sound Mixer/Boom Op, I can relate to this short animation that makes fun of this relationship between the camera and the microphone. Anyone that has done both these positions or just taken notice while on set of what goes on and where all the power seems to be. I would highly recommend everyone to watch this video.

There are plenty of things like this that occur on film sets and there are quite a few of these animations that poke fun at it all and they are all funny and completely true.