Cinematography

Dictionary.com defines cinematography as “the art or technique of motion-picture photography.” Being a technical area, we do not want to put a simple formula in place.

The director, being the chief creative person for a movie, is in charge of the cinematography with the director of photography or the cinematographer being in charge of the actual camera, lighting, and electrical crews.

Wikibooks, in their “Movie Making Manual,” defines the director of photography (DP) as being “in charge of the actual image of a film project. They direct the camera/grip/lighting crews as to how the lights should be placed, how the camera should be exposed, and basically anything related to the film image. They will also choose the film stock and processing for the film. Many times the DP will be present during color timing as well. The DP works very closely with the Director to realize his vision of how the film should look.”

An extreme wide shot, is used at the beginning of a scene when the director wants to identify where the scene is taking place. The establishing shot is a photo of a location that the viewer is familiar with, so immediate recognition of the setting for the scene by the viewer is accomplished.

A medium or mid shot films an individual from the waist up. Medium shots are often used when filming a conversation. When the director wants both people involved in a conversation to be seen at the same time, a two shot is used. If three people are involved in a conversation the director may use a three shot technique. When the director wants only one person in a shot, the person speaking may be shown and then when this person stops speaking the reaction of the other person may be displayed in a separate shot.

The close-up shot is used in an emotional scene. This shot is used for very dramatic scenes where the director wants the audience to feel emotion toward the character in a particular scene.

The two-shot and three-shot films are used when two or three people are in the same framed shot. A director may wish to use this type of shot when he wants the viewer to watch the person doing the talking and the reaction of the individual or individuals listening at the same time.

The over-the-shoulder shot and the point-of-view shot are used when the director wants to give the audience a subjective viewpoint or make the audience feel like they are part of the action.

The over-the-shoulder shot is taken over the shoulder of one of the characters so the viewer sees the shoulder and one side of the face and neck of the one individual as this person is talking to another individual. The viewer actually sees what the first character is looking at. In other words, this puts the viewer in the shoes of one of the characters, so that the viewer is able to see the reaction of the other character.

The point-of-view shot gives the viewer the exact observation of what a character sees without the shoulder and side of the head in the shot. This shot is more of a first-person view, where the viewer sees exactly what the character is seeing.

Lighting

Lighting assists in establishing a background to the visual literacy that the director and movie crew are creating. Lighting is done in a three-point process.

• The first point is key lighting that provides essential lighting to the object, person or area that you want to light for a shot.

• The second point is fill lighting. If there is only a little fill lighting, then there are many shadows, and it gives a dark and mysterious appearance. More fill light fills in the dark areas of an image.

• The last point is back lighting and it gives a three-dimensional appearance to an object or person.