The Magic of Movies

I've gotten to learn more about storytelling, cinematography, and lighting. Starting off with the year we dove in on topics such as the hero's journey and how to write one! I really enjoyed doing the writing exercises with my peers it was a pleasant learning experience and it really got my creativity to come out of its shell. Another thing I loved doing in that unit was writing my own script I had such a great time getting to learn and adjust to the proper script writing format. It was also nice learning about different storytelling elements. Cinematography is a longer and complex unit with more technical being done. I want to learn more about storytelling because I have interests in improving and becoming a good writer. I want to get better at writing and directing I want to explore different concepts and ideas. 

A waveform assesses the brightness of video images. It monitors the display on your video image through brightness or luminance levels. It allows you to identify the exposure issues on your camera. External elements change the way you see the image and on the monitor. Your mind adjusts to external color temperature and ambient brightness is the most reliable way to check your exposure is with a waveform monitor. It reads exactly and only the information on the sensor and delivers the  information in a precise and logical way that you can read. Read clearly and easily knowing the exposure on every element of the frame with a single glance there are other tools to check your exposure such as zebra false color. 

 Zebra is a camera setting to help track and see where all the overexposed parts of your image are in simplicity it detects and hatches red lines/stripes that are a zebra pattern. A practical way to use this tool while filming is when you're outdoors in a bright environment or indoors where the house lights might be too bright. Using this tool before hitting the record button is beneficial and saves you time and money from making any exposure technical mistakes. It's very helpful to use this setting because it's crucial for your audience to have a clear view/imagery of what they're looking at. Exposure tools can help with: filming people interviews, not exceeding maximum exposure. 

Gain is an electronic amplification of the video signal. This means that the signal is boosted electronically, adding more voltage to the pixels on your imager causing them to amplify their intensity and therefore brighten your image. This voltage increase is measured in decibles (dB) and is calculated using Gain in DB x voltage out or in voltage in. ISO is on the other hand originated from film days and is an acronym for the international standards organization. When film was being used it related to the sensitivity of film to light; the higher the ISO, the more sensitive the film was to light. It refers to the sensitivity of the image sensor in your camera to light. When you capture footage a great deal of GAIN or ISO, it gives you more grain or noise in your video or image file. That means less detail. With these factors in mind, just make sure that you know exactly what you are about to do when you use the gain switch. 

 Aperture is the opening in a lens through which light passes to enter the camera. It's easier to understand if you think about it as your eyes. As you move between bright and dark environments, the iris in your eye either expands or shrinks, controlling the size of your pupil. You can shrink or enlarge the size of the aperture to allow more or less light to reach your camera sensor. The image below shows an aperture in a lens. F-stop or f-number, is the ratio of the lens focal length to the diameter of the entrance pupil. In simple terms it's the number that your camera shows you when you change the size of the lens aperture. Sometimes the f-stop will be shown without a slash in between like f.3.5, or with a capital "F" letter. It's written as a fraction. 

Sensor sizes are getting bigger, shallow depth of field is relatively easy to accomplish. With 4k resolution and beyond, getting sharpness and detail maybe start to become the new trendy style. Consider these class deep focus shots from Citizen Kane dir. Orson Welles (1941). For when discussing deep focus as we should as it was a technical achievement by Gregg Toland. Keeping everything in focus from the foreground all the way to the background we can allow for Orson Welles intricate blocking to take shape. To be in focus as well as keeping the natural drama in the background sharp. A filmmaker would want to use shallow dof for only a single subject. and if you use deep dof to focus on a full picture. Both are practical depending on what you want your audience to focus on. 

The depth of field is the area thats in focus. If you consider that this this area that in focus if you're to squish the lines from the depth of field together and push all four corners different ways then you end up with a wider area in focus. The light spreads apart really fast.Depth of field is a spectrum and provides a number of variations that bring different effects to different shots. It produces many types of camera focus in film. In each instance, you have a field, but the depth of that field is determined by how much space is between each door. 

It refers to the measured distance between a camera’s image sensor plane and the rearmost glass element in the attached lens. Changing the distance between the rear lens element of an optical system (like a camera lens) and the images sensor, sharpness across the entire image, while focusing refers to the act of adjusting the lens to bring a specific subject at a particular distance into focus. Back focus is the precise distance between the rear lens element and the image sensor, which needs to be set correctly for optimal image quality across the entire frame, especially when using different accessories or lenses with varying flange focal distances. 

Peaking is an option in your camera for LCD viewer where it highlights the sharp points or edges of contrast in your image with a bright color on.  So when you're using peaking make sure whatever you want to be in focus has those highlights. The next tool on your camera is focus magnification allow you to digitally zoom in to whatever your subject is to see the actual focus up close. This allows you to zoom in without actually changing your lens length so you don't alter your angle if you're using magnification make sure your subject stays still. So once you find your focus you can zoom back out to your original frame and you're ready to go. The third focus tip is to focus on the eyes the rule of thumb is to focus on the eyes this is the face so if you focus on another point like their nose or a piece of hair there's no garuntee that their eyes are going to stay in focus for the entirety of the shot. 

After you find your frame it's really important for the actors to hit the same position every time so you don't lose frame or focus. Help the actors out especially the director or cinematographer. They know best where their subject should be placed and moving. They give the actors marks there a couple different ways to do this but one of the most common ways to do this is by using tape and marking it where your subject is going to be. Paper tape to be specific it's easy to pull up from the ground it doesn't leave marks it's easy to change so you're spending a long time trying to mark your subject.  The common way to tape down the ground is to make a t-shaped mark this allows you to show the actors which way their feet are pointing. 

Cine lenses are designed for high end filmmaking so in simpler terms a more professional look. They're heavier to carry and are a generally more expensive alternative. They have built in focus teeth that can lock into a follow focus on your camera rig. Cine lenses are par focal, so they can keep focus while zooming without affecting image quality. Cine lenses are engineered differently because they are made for video optical aberration and distortion. Ultimately cine lenses are designed with utmost precision. Now in contrast and comparison to photo lenses are relatively cheap, lightweight, and durable. They're also par-focal, meaning that when you zoom in or out, your focus will shift, it known as focus breathing. Photo lenses are also generally have automatic settings. I would use a still lens because its cheap and more affordable and can do the same as a cine lens where it comes in various focal lengths. 

A rack focus is a cinematographic technique that shifts the viewers attention in a scene by shifting the focus from one subject to another. This technique is smooth and transitional. A rack focus can create emotional weight and it can heighten the experience for the viewer it adds depth and engagement to a scene.  I can use this technique in my films when I want my audience to notice a specific object, emphasize key elements. Rack focus is a great way to use when you're trying to symbolize something. Achieving a rack focus shot requires the right gear, careful setup and practice to ensure smooth and impactful focus transitions.