I have come up with a new series. So first we started this Cinematography Series.We'll be discussing about concepts and techniques in Cinematography in this series.
Some may argue, "I'm going to be a director and an actor; why should I know all of this?" if you're into filmmaking, you should have basic knowledge about every department So I recommend, all aspiring directors, actors, editors to watch this blog. Let's get into more.
Start with Basics
Cinematography
Introduction for Cinematography What is Cinematography? What does a Cinematographer do? Who is DOP? Are DOP and Cinematographer the same? Like this, in this blog i will clarify all the basic doubts.
First, let us know the meaning of the term "Cinematography" Cinemato - Graphy.. What does this Graphy means? Graphy means "a field of study" We know Geography, Geo means Earth, Earth is a field, so studying about Earth is geography Like this, Cinematography is a study of lights, we can also say writing with light.
I didn't mention video or photo here, I'm mentioning Light. Why LIGHT is important. We'll discuss it later in this video. The term "cinematography" was used in the past to refer to the entire film industry. Over time, the camera department became known as cinematography on its own. So, the point here is, the term CINEMA is derived from the word CINEMATOGRAPHY.
Light
So, recording light is the main thing here. Light is the most important element in the Cinematography to know why, we'll discuss the evolution of camera over these days. There is a concept known as PIN HOLE CAMERA. That's where this thing began, without a lens but with a small aperture. When light from a scene passes through the aperture and projects an inverted image on the opposite side of the box, it cannot be recorded.
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| A Diagram of PIN HOLE CAMERA |
Later, scientists developed chemicals to record images, which is how film rolls and the concept of films were introduced. Photos and videos are recorded and printed using this chemical.
Motion pictures
Now, lets discuss the concept of "motion pictures". In a film roll, you would've seen boxes in it each one is called as frame. Now, what is a frame? Normally, we would have heard of 24 frames per second which is, in every video we watch, there are 24 frames in a second meaning, this film roll will record 24 photographs for a second, the light which exposes for a second will be recorded when these 24 photos are played in a speed motion, it would be read by our mind as a video.
The reason behind this is , Persistence of Vision. Don't get tensed with these names, these all are basics. If we are strong in these fundamentals, we will be able to understand techniques and more complex concepts. Persistence of vision is nothing more than the human eye's memory of the image it sees for a short period of time.
When a series of images is seen in a row, our brain interprets it as a video. Only because of this optical illusion, when more photos are displayed, do we recognise it as video. This is more like a flipbook, many pictures are drawn in a note and when turned rapidly, it would be seen as a video by our mind this is how cinema works from then to now. This is the basic. Now, you would have got a idea about cinematography.
Before getting into techniques, we'll understand who is a cinematographer and the difference between Cinematographer and DOP. DOP and Cinematographer, more terms are used interchangeably. But in Hollywood, DOP is different from Cinematographer.
Difference between Cinematographer and DOP
The difference between them is, DOP is the chief. He is the one who's gonna decide the look and feel of the movie. He'll also decide the light pattern of the whole movie and also how to light up each shots of the movie.
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| Cinematographer |
The man who helps in achieving the output would be a cinematographer In a large scale movie, there might be even 2 to 3 cinematographers in a movie. So now, you might get a clarity of who is DOP and Cinematographer.DOP will have work in pre production for planning the shoot and also during the shoot (production). without DOP nothing would be done, In post production, they will be in color grading as they decide the look and feel of the movie.So, DOP would be there in the project from start to end.
Decision Making
What decisions a DOP make? What decisions a Director make? A director will get an idea for how to visually tell a story after writing or adopting one. The DOP will assist Cinematographer in achieving the desired result by deciding on lighting, shot divisions, and so on.
1.Lighting
So, first DOP will decide the lighting of the film. Some films will be colourful. Some may be low-key, such as this, but he will decide the look and feel of the film, as well as how to light each shot.
2.Aspect Ratio
Then there's Aspect Ratio. To put it simply, aspect ratio is width x height. Aspect ratio is also used for story telling in action and landscape films. In these cases, the width will be much larger for character highlighted performances, and the height will be larger than normal. They will try to tell the story through aspect ratio. Even within a film, different scenes will have different aspect ratios. These things are decided by a DOP.
3.Choice of Lens
Next, Choice of lens, not just prime lens or zoom lens spherical lens or anamorphical lens, each has distinct characteristics which is used in story telling.
Other than this, camera placement, camera movement, shot size (close, medium) are decided by DOP or Cinematographer. In a shooting spot, more than a Director, DOP seems to be a Chief, though. Director stages the scene and extract acting from artists, more responsibility and more workload would be on DOP. That's why we should have a good technician in our team.
In the next post we will see what light is and how light is used in cinematography.
Thank You
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