Cameras Lighting Audio Post

Cameras Being a film maker is actually harder than it looks. Simply because it requires a very special type of person who is both Logistical and technically savvy all a while being creative. And if you know anything about psychology you know that usu-ally people are either more logistical and technical (ei: Scientists, technitians, astronimers) or they are more abstract thinkers (ei painters, musicians). Filmmakers are a a different breed, you need to be both technically savvy and logistical while at the same time being creative. The reason I say this is because in order to have fun and make crazy experimental films you first need to learn the nitty gritty technical geeky stuff about cameras. If you dont, then you will never reach your films you first need to learn the nitty gritty technical geeky stuff about cameras. If you dont, then you will never reach your full potential; and thats what this first chapter is all about.

OK so here is the basic crash course. Cameras use two types of sensors to capture images. One is a CCD (charge-coupled device); and the other is a CMOS sensor (Complementary metal–oxide–semiconductor). Each one has awe-some images and offers just about the same quality images. On top of that in all honesty technology has gotten so far now that you really are hard pressed to tell the difference between the two. However they do have differences that you need to be aware of.

CCD:These sensors are some of the more popular ones since they offer slightly better image quality simply because they are more sensitive to light which in turn has less noise, especially in low light.Another big plus about these is that they use what is known as a global shutter, in which the image is captured as a whole frame, which means it acts more like a film camera and blurs the picture when you move fast. However all this good stuff comes at a high price, literally. CCD chips are more expensive to make and consume more electricity.

CCD in a fast pan produces a blur

CMOSThese sensors are not as popular in the pro section of the cameras but are much more popular in the cheaper conThese sensors are not as popular in the pro section of the cameras but are much more popular in the cheaper con-sumer section simply because they are cheaper to make and consume less power. So they make a perfect chip for consumer cameras. However in a proffesional setting you need to be aware to two big draw-backs. One they have slightly more noise than CCD sensors especially in low light situations and use a “rolling shutter” which is where the image is captured one piece at at time. which means that when you pan the camera or there is fast action you don’t get that nice blurring. Instead what happens instead is that the picture gets skewed to the side.

CMOS in a fast pan produces a skew

Lighting Lighting is the toughest subject for people to grasp. I don’t know why, but any indy film short of being a sun-dance film entry has the worst lighting I have ever seen. I find that it’s due to the fact that most people think that they have to make the scene look like how they want it to. But this is the one area of filming where you have to really think about your post workflow first before you do anything. Usually you don’t want to fix things in post if they can be avoided on set, but lighting is much trickier than that. See if you want a nice contrasted image most people would light it that way. But that's completely off. Lighting for film is pretty much done in post when you light you subjects your image should look almost washed out just about everything should be post when you light you subjects your image should look almost washed out just about everything should be well lit.

When we talk about balance in lighting you want to make it dramatic and artful but you don’t want contrasted images because then you are clipping blacks and whites and that's data you will never get back. Instead light your subject and your scene so that everything is pretty even and your shadows aren’t to dark. That way in post when you crush the shadows you reveal all that beautiful hidden data and get a nice contrasted balanced pic-ture.

Good lighting will make your subjects pop, while at the same time not cause any harsh shadows, and even when you need hard shadows you want to have light shadows not strong dark ones because you can always make shadows darker in post. What you want on your shoot is to capture as much data as possible.

As far as lighting you should know the basics. First you have two types of lights, directional lights which are hot, head on lights that produce hard shadows and indirectional lights; which are lights that arent directly pointed at the subject but rather bounced off something else and get diffused along the way. These pro-duce large even lighting scenarios and soft shadows. In fact you don't need to bounce light off a wall either, with some paper or a chimera you can diffuse the light from the beginning. Here are the basic types of lights:

This is a ARRI sport light with a chimera.This offers diffused lighting and can light a large area.

This is a ARRI spot light kit with barn doors. This is basic directional light-ing.

This is a Kino flo kit that offers diffused large lighting. Great for studios because of the low heat.

Raw footage Color corrected in post

Filmmaking Step one in Film making is getting a good script.Wether you do commercial, music videos or short films, you want a good script. You project will fail if your script was garbage from the get-go. Take your time on this one. A good rule of thumb is to have at least 4 revisions, even if its a short your doing. Most Indy shot films scripts go through at least 10 revisions before being put to production. You will always find thing you want to change, so its better to catch that stuff before you go out and shoot.

OK so here is the quick break down:

1. First as soon as you get to your location, set up camp. You want to organize you equipment keep it in a safe 1. First as soon as you get to your location, set up camp. You want to organize you equipment keep it in a safe dry area. Here you will set up a snack bar and you field monitor. Bring lots of chairs and coolers with water and drinks. Remember that you actors need to be in a good mood so that their performance isn’t impacted. And the same goes for your crew, a happy well fed crew means a good movie for you.

2. Rehearse with your actors. Now is the time to talk with your actors rehearse the scrip one last time, do 2. Rehearse with your actors. Now is the time to talk with your actors rehearse the scrip one last time, do breathing exercises and limber them up. Remember that preparation is key to a good performance, you want them to naturally connect and be in a relaxed state. Once that done, time for make-up and costume dressing.

3. Set up the lights. In the last section I talked a bit about lights. Here is where you put them to work. Choose 3. Set up the lights. In the last section I talked a bit about lights. Here is where you put them to work. Choose what type of lights you need. Remember to have a key light and then match all other lights from there. Use bounce cards and sun light as well as environment lights such as Street lamps and car head lamps. Get cre-ative with your lighting but at the same time make it look good.

4.Set up your set and props. This is where you set up your enviorment where your actors wil interact. If you’re indoors you want to set up your whole scene accordingly. If you are outdoors chances are you won’t get much customizing so do with what you have. Remember that you don’t always want a nice looking sets. Sometimes situations call for a bit of rough housing to get the set looking real.

5.Now set up your camera and make sure your gear is out of the shot.

7.Finally before shooting make sure to record a slate and a color chart. This is crucial in post.

8. As you shoot make sure to white balance every time you change lights and to keep the lens clean, i can’t tell 8. As you shoot make sure to white balance every time you change lights and to keep the lens clean, i can’t tell you how many shots have set us back many times because of dust on the lens or a very bad color balance. Its a pain in the butt removing specs in post and color correcting when its unnecessary. If you can avoid things on set then make sure you do.

As far as shooting on location goes you want to keep release forms with you and make sure everybody signs them and well as a chart to keep track of your shots, tape, notes and memos, and expenses during the day. And as always you need call sheets and shot lists and all the usual suspects.

I won’t get to much into cinematography. Its way to deep a subject, but there are basic shots you need to have. I won’t get to much into cinematography. Its way to deep a subject, but there are basic shots you need to have. For one you need a master shot from several angles. Get close ups and plenty of b-roll. These are crucial as they will save your project in case you need transitions or you get mismatched shots. b-roll is useful in so many ways, sort of like duct tape.

Keep an eye on you field monitor and check audio levels constantly. You want to have an idea of how the film is coming along, the last thing you want is to get back home only to find out the audio is clipping or your shot is blurry (trust me those little screens on you cam will fool you, into thinking your shot is focused)

Budget Filmmaking OK so i know some of you reading this will complain and say that perhaps you can’t get a 3 chip Professional camcorder or you cant afford a shotgun mic or a ARRI light kit. I know, many people are in that very position to and so am I. In fact its only when I work with a studio or other people of funded projects that i get to work with big cameras and expensive lights. So here is the budget version for film making on the cheap

Cameras:This one is easy. Get the best camera you can get. Forget the rest, this is where you want to splurge. If your on This one is easy. Get the best camera you can get. Forget the rest, this is where you want to splurge. If your on a somewhat serious budget (around 1,000 or more) go for a 3 chip camera with XLR ports and manual con-trols. Wether its HDV or DV or Hard drive is trivial, nowadays you can get goo images from any of them. If your below the $1,000 dollar mark go for cameras with a following (which will assure you support and products for the camera. The biggest consumer cameras with cult followings are the panasonic HV30 and the HF100 series from canon. However, do research and learn the basics of how cameras work (check the earlier chapter) before you buy anything.

Audio:Get some good quality headphones, No need for expensive sennheiser headphones. The sony MDR line has Get some good quality headphones, No need for expensive sennheiser headphones. The sony MDR line has been a favorite of audiophiles for years. They have a high fidelity they don’t colorize audio to much and last a long time. and they start at 80 bucks. AS far as mics go You really do want to save up for a shotgun mic and a muff this is the one thing you can’t skimp out of. But Mics are pretty cheap now. You can get very very good ones for $150 and some really good ones at around $250 bucks. Boom poles are expensive so you can always just use a painters pole or a broom pole and modify it so that you cant stick a mic at one end and run a long XLR cable down the pole. Use google to find schematics and tutorials on how to do this.XLR cable down the pole. Use google to find schematics and tutorials on how to do this.

Lighting:Use daylight as much as you can, shoot early or late during the day to get even diffused light. Use cheap bounce cards to lighten shadows. Go to a hardware store and get cheap $6 dollar clamp lights and stick day-light balance bulbs on them. Use cheap light stands from Ikea or furniture stores. Shop garage sales for cool light stands and fixtures. Make your own kino flos out of regular fluorescent light boxes and bulbs you find in hardware store. There is no limit to this. lighting is all about getting creative. There is no need for ARRI light kits when all you need is a bit of imagination and the internet.

Field monitors:This one is super easy you don't need a Professional monitor, run a S-video cable from you camera to a cheap portable TV and voila! Walgreens even sells a small HD LCD for $80 bucks if you want one. All you really need to see is how your shot is framed and how it might look on a real TV screen.

Post Step one is to capture. Weather your using DV or HDV or P2 cards you want to take time to log in your footage and make a list of your tapes or clips (if using a p2 card) Write the date they where recorded, their frames per-second and aspect ration. These are vital so that you know what footage you are working with when it comes time to track something or composite.

As far as editing systems go they are basically the same; they all have a preview window a editing window a timeline and bins. Wether you use final cut or premiere or Avid they all work on the same basic principles of cutting footage and piecing it together. So don't worry about your software. I have seen great shorts cut on a old version of Sony Vegas. Its not really the software but the editor that makes a film look good.

Make a list of all of your shots and write down notes. Keep track of all of the shots that need fixing and which ones need compositing done or visual effects.

Erase shots you know you wont need and keep your folder hierarchy simple and organized here is my usual Erase shots you know you wont need and keep your folder hierarchy simple and organized here is my usual folder structure:

One folder: Project Name

1. Assets 2.Footage 3.Projects 4. footage Proxies 5.AE projects 6.Visual FX shots 7.VFX proxies1a. audio 2a. scene 1 3a premiere1b. music 2b. scene 2 3b. version 11c. pics 2c. scene 3 3c. version 21d. other1d. other

I usually do a quick 30 min rough edit and delete it later i just try and check to see that i have all my footage and the shots i want and if i need to do reshoot. Once i do a quick 30min edit i throw it away and spend the day organizing and filing out the meta data. This is invaluable when it comes down to doing creative editing since it allows you to find the shots you want instantly.

Once the editing is done I go back and pick out all of the VFX shots and shots that need things painted out and Once the editing is done I go back and pick out all of the VFX shots and shots that need things painted out and make a list. I either export them independently using Avids DNxHD codec or since i use premiere at home i use media link. I composite all my stuff in AE and render it back out and replace it in the time line.

Once my VFX is done and editing is done I bring in the project, scene by scene into AE and color correct and Once my VFX is done and editing is done I bring in the project, scene by scene into AE and color correct and grade it all. Then i piece it back in premiere and export a small crappy Quicktime file out. I then import that video file into a DAW program. I use Pro tools and Audition to do sound FX and ADR when needed. To me Au-dition remains king of the hill for indy filmmakers as a great tool to fix audio clips and i use pro tools to se-quence everything.

Once that is done I create one master file in Avid’s DNxHD codec and keep that. From that I use adobe media encoder or sorensson’s squeeze to compress the video depending on its output..

Output:

Web: Use Quicktime H.264 640x360 square pixels at 30fps Broadcast and DVD: I use Quicktime DVCPRO 720x480 non square pixels

Color Grading Color correcting is quite simple. Its a very technical art but once you know how it all works you simply tweak the footage until it looks good. Personally i do all of my color grading in After effects since i know my way around it well and its very powerful, and i am on a PC. If you’re on a MAC then you can use Color, which is great by the way.

OK so as soon as you open up the footage you want to grade in AE i usually take three effects out. “Levels”, “Curves” and “Hue and Saturation”

I start by setting my histogram black and white levels to the edge in the Levels palette

Next Use curves (along side Color balance) to correct the color of the shot. The original shot had to much blue in it so using curves i brought the blue down a bit as well as some green. Color correcting is more about look-ing natural. Some people like to go by numbers, and i did to; but after a while you get used to how its sup-posed to look and you also grow tired of numbers and that's when you begin correcting by eye.

Finally I adjust the saturation on the color independently using “hue & saturation”. This again is done to taste. However keep in mind that greens look beautiful on almost any screen but reds tend to bleed a lot. So i normally leave greens alone but bring down the reds a bit and then form there tweak the image until it looks good.

Color Grading Last page you simply color corrected the footage. Now its time to Grade it. This is where the artsy fartsy stuff really comes in, because there is no right or wrong. You get to be as creative as you want here. Over the years i have accumilated several handy effects such as: Colorista and MBL from Red giant. ANd while these aren’t Very Pro tools like say a Da vinci setup they are very powerful tools and can get you pretty close. The key is tp use a good calibrated monitor and roto. Thats how you grade properly. For this examle i will use colorista, but you can achive the same effect using Curves and levels.

Once the footage is color corrected, color grading should be fun and easy. A cool tip to remeber is that skin tones lie around the highlights. So i usually warm up highlights and cool down shadows, this helps seperate the actors from the background. If you notice almost every blockbuster movie uses this scheme. A cool trick I use which I found out through experimentation is to raise the darks and lowe the midtones (gamma) this gives you detail in the dark areas but helps retain that illusion of contrast.

Now, say you wanted to make the background stand out more. As you can see in the picture below i duplicated the layer and masked out the background i crushed the blacks some more and raised the highlights. That way the bokeh blurry circles pop out some more. This just ads to the intricesies of the shot and makes it nicer to look at. Again its all subjective, but this is how shots are color graded. If you want to invest in a color grading plug-in for AE i suggest Colorista or color finesse since they are quite powerful and with AE’s pen tool can do can be a powerful asset to have.

Fin Thats it hope you liked the quick start up guide to film making. This whole film business goes pretty deep down the rabbit hole so I tried to stay away from the details. But if you are serious about film making this free guide should help you get a rough idea of how things work.

The most basic programs you need to have for film making are:

Editing:

Final Cut StudioPremiere PROPremiere PROAvidSony Vegas PRO

Nowadays Avid can be had for $300 bucks and these programs are now relatively cheap.

As far as compositing and visual effects nothing beats After Effects from Adobe. Its cheap powerful and has a avid ommunity online. If you decide to follow this path you can later upgrade to programs like Nuke.

If your still wondering about What type of camera to get or what media to use or how to light properly, then just If your still wondering about What type of camera to get or what media to use or how to light properly, then just use google. I started out as being self taught, and gooogle was the fastest way to learn things. Simply type in your question and out comes thousands of results. There are many big only communities for film making, after effects in general and even exclusive forums for camera talk only.

hope you enjoyed it and I'll see ya. :)