Techniques of Filming

Recently I've been interested in simple techniques that increase the quality of the shots when filming. I found a decent article posted by lavideofilmmaker.com called "11 Essential Film Techniques". There's definitely an emphasis on the world essential, because the first 8 or so are some very standard techniques such as zoom, pan, tilt, and over-the-shoulder. Assuming you guys already know about most of these techniques, I'm going to focus on the last two. However, if you want to read the full list you can check it out here:

http://www.lavideofilmmaker.com/filmmaking/film-techniques.html

Number 10 is called the Dutch Angle shot. You may know it as the sideways/crooked shot.

This shot is rarely justified, but when it is, it works beautifully. Dutch angles are used to create a sense of unease with the viewer or suggest that something is out of balance. This makes sense because the shot is quite literally out of balance. Wikipedia claims the first film to use this kind of shot was a 1919 silent German horror film called "The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari". Today, Dutch angles are quite popular and we can point them out in several films and TV shows. They were also extensively used in the 1960's Batman TV series (I mention this only because I talked about this show last time).

Number 11 I also found very interesting. They labeled it as Mixing focal lengths in a scene to make one character dominant over the other. Normally, you want to use the same lens in a back and forth conversation to keep the shots similar. However, there is one exception to this. I could reword it in some way but they really say it best:

"If two characters are talking and you cover the scene with complementary over-the-shoulder shots and you want to make one character look a lot more dominant than the other, you can use a wide lens (short focal length) when shooting over the shoulder of the dominant character, and a significantly longer lens when shooting over the shoulder of the other character. As a result of the short focal length, when you film over the shoulder of the dominant character, he will dominate the frame because he will look much larger than the other character."

I found this to be a very artistic use of the lens. It's also a good example of learning the rules like a pro so you can break them like an artist (hats off to Picasso for that line). Anyways, I hope you find these techniques interesting and I invite anyone to comment with interesting techniques they've have found! 

Production is Kabooming

In the production of comedic explosions, we're about two thirds done with filming. With certain parts (the end of the running montage) we used the built in microphone to pick up sound. Mostly because, if we had used the boom mic to pick up sound in the main area we were filming in, we would have gotten a plethora of foley traffic noise and not much else. To the good in regards to the sound, it was easy to pick up for the opening scene.

Tomorrow we finish with the filming of this project, with any luck the editing will be just as smooth.

Group Update

Today my group and I filmed on location at my friend's house. It was really nice working off campus because it allowed us to bring a real life element to our story rather than being subjected to campus housing. It was really interesting seeing the characters in our script come to life and I give my group members a lot of credit for casting such good actors. If I could have changed one thing I wished we would have slated our video and audio now it looks like we'll have to deal with that issue in post-production. Today we completed about 70% of all shooting and we intend to finish the rest tomorrow. So far, so good.

Project Update

Our group began filming our short film today and I have to say, I think we're off to a fantastic start. Footage looks great, everyone did they're jobs incredibly well, and we all made it through, relatively on schedule.

We all woke up at around 7 AM this morning and headed over to Ithaca's First Presbyterian church. The location was perfect. We needed no lighting equipment at all during the shooting of these scenes. Everything is naturally lit and looks wonderful.


We went to my friend's house to shoot a particularly impressive scene in terms of lighting. Since we didn't have a cop car at our disposal, we set up two lights with a red and blue gel on each one, then our grips each waved flags in front of them. It led to what looks like a very realistic cop car lighting effect, and I can't wait to show it off in the final product.

The actors we have did great; we have a particularly awesome Irish cop and our lead did excellent.

Overall we worked very well as both a team and a creative unit and I think we're all going to be proud of the final product we create. Hopefully we can maybe get into some festivals, but as for right now, we'll just focus on making it as good as possible.

And maybe we'll catch up on some sleep along the way.

Working Summer

I spent the majority of my summer at work. While most of my friends got to spend time at the beach or on vacation, I sat in a studio for six hours a day. Since my senior year in high school I've worked at the local cable access channel in my hometown. And while I love my job, being from a small Massachusetts town (of about 12,000 people) in the suburbs right outside Boston, there isn't a whole lot going on.  That's not to say I had a bad summer. I got to do some of the things I love- filming, editing, and producing shows for the station.
My favorite show I made was for a local non-profit organization called Lovelane Special Needs  Horseback Riding. It is an organization dedicated to helping kids with disabilities through horseback riding. As a kid I was an avid equestrian- I rode for over ten years and competed in horse shows, so this was something that I found really interesting. This program hosts a charity event in my hometown every summer called the "Run for Lovelane" and this year it is dedicated in honor of a girl named Susan McDaniel. Susan was a rider at Lovelane, and a resident of my town. Unfortunately, Susan died a few years ago, and since she would have graduated with the class of 2012 this past Spring, the Run was dedicated in her honor.
I spent an entire day filming the event, getting interviews, BRoll, and more. By the end of the day I had over three hours of footage total. It was a lot to sort through, but I really enjoyed all of it, especially since it was for such a good cause. I really wanted to do something good for this family, and the organization, and I have plans to film more for them in the future.
Doing something important for something that mattered to me was, in my opinion, the best part of my summer, and I wouldn't have traded it for any vacation.

Run for Lovelane 2012- Video

A Screenshot of the Weston Media Center Posterous Website