Gearhead #1...

So, Rod’s been bugging me lately to do some blogging on the technical aspects of making digital shorts since I’m one of the (admitted) gear heads in the group. I’m generally just as happy talking about the technical specs of a new camera as my wife is eating cheesecake. I think I’ve been the DP on nearly half of SoCal’s shorts, for better or worse ; -), and it’s taught me a few things. This is kind of a whack at imparting one or two of those lessons.

These are some of the ones that I have to remind myself of all the time:

-Cinematography (digital or otherwise) is all about lighting. You can have the latest Cinealta HD camera or a barely digital Hi-8 from 1995 and either of these can serve your story purpose if the scene is lit appropriately. You can push and pull the image in post, but you will always be limited by the relative light levels in the shot.

-A brightly lit shot is NOT necessarily a well-lit shot. I used the term “relative light levels” above because I’ve seen so many people throw up a couple lights, make sure they can see an image on the monitor, and then press record. If you’re gonna do this you might as well be shooting a local news story or a porn. Lighting for dramatic purposes (and I’m including all genres in this) has to be concerned with how the differences between the light and dark areas in the image affect the dramatic intent of the scene.

In the case of ENG (Electronic News Gathering) or a porn, if you prefer that example, *coughstevebcough*, all that matters is that you capture a distinguishable image, not that you have an image that’s quality in and of itself adds to the story being told. A dramatic scene could literally leave your actor’s face in total darkness and have something brightly lit in the background and be a stunning shot that implies the character’s state of mind.

-lighting takes time, but takes much less time if you prepare. For anybody directing or DP’ing the first time…walk through your locations and talk about how the DP might light the scene. Talk about the potential challenges. Write the specifics down. You may have to abandon these plans later on but you’ll be able to adapt much quicker having done it once.

-if you are or are working with a writer/director, remind yourself or them as often as you can that film is a VISUAL medium. I know, I know…it’s amazingly self-evident, but that doesn’t stop it from being deceptively easy to forget. Especially when you’ve lived with characters inside your head for the whole writing process and now you’re faced with the pressure of an entire crew standing around looking at you while you decide if you need a close up, a medium, or a dolly that moves from one to the other. As much as possible, work out how you want your story told visually before you shoot. I guarantee that it will turn out differently than you imagined but if you don’t go in with at least an idea beforehand you’re very likely to fumble when the cameraman turns to you and says, “How’s this frame?”.

-Cameras can move. Move them. It can often look cool when you do.

-Unless you can do very perspective accurate storyboards, stick to a shot-list. If you’ve got a complicated shot that involves FX, background or set dressing then that’s different. For the majority of indie shooting though, your camera op or DP is going to be asking the director, “Where do you want the camera? How does this look?” and not referring back to the boards much at all.

That’s what I got for now…next time I’ll go more techie and talk about some of the cameras and equipment we’ve used.