For amateur movie-makers- Part 1
When you are the producer, director, camera person and editor
I have written this as a film student and an appreciator of good movie-making -
Tips -
Never cut wide shot to wide shot, change angles if you must
When you track a person walking, keep room in front of him so that it looks that there is space for him to move into
Always have the actor facing inwards into the frame unless you deliberately want to make him look outside
When two people are talking and you are taking separate shots of each, shoot person A looking inwards into the frame, standing on the left side of the frame. Person B should stand looking inwards into the frame from the right side where he is standing.
When two people are shown talking in the same frame, make then stand close together. On camera they will appear to be at normal distance.
Use tripod. Shaky camera is awful unless you want to show an earthquake!
Avoid zoom in and zoom out. Do separate shots.
Shoot a little extra before and after the shot so that there is enough space to cut while editing. Basically give lead time.
S cut, L cut - Lets imagine an actor giving advice to a little child. You are shooting him speaking. In the last few words of his speech, you can change the shot to show the child and the child’s reaction as a listener. For example if the speaker’s last sentence is “…And remember to fart quietly.” Keep the camera on the speaker till ‘remember’ and finish the words “..To fart quietly” showing the child listening. This adds continuity to the story visually. Vice versa, you show the listener first and then quickly move to the speaker.
Here are 5 things to take care of while shooting -
1. Emotion - If you want it to appear fast and racy do quick shots and fast cuts. If you want it to be larger than life, do worm’s view shots
2. Story - Make sure that the shots spell a story in chronological order. The story should make sense.
3. Rhythm - Take the example of a music video. The shots can be changed in sync with the beat of the music. The sound and shot-change makes great impact together.
4 Eye trace - The viewer’s eye concentrates on the most dominant part of the composition within the camera frame. You may wish to take advantage of that if you want the viewer to continue looking at that spot in the next shot. By making a path down which the gaze would follow, you can lead to show things to the viewer.
5. Continuity - Simply that if a person walks out of the right side of the frame. In the next shot have him enter from the left. Otherwise it will look like he took a U turn.