cinematography theory and practice imagemaking for cinematographers & directors second edition This page intentionally left blank cinematography theory and practice imagemaking for cinematographers and directors second edition blain brown AMSTERDAM • BOSTON • HEIDELBERG • LONDON • NEW YORK • OXFORD PARIS • SAN DIEGO • SAN FRANCISCO • SINGAPORE • SYDNEY • TOKYO Focal Press is an imprint of Elsevier Focal Press is an imprint of Elsevier 225 Wyman Street, Waltham, MA 02451, USA The Boulevard, Langford Lane, Kidlington, Oxford, OX5 1GB, UK © 2012 ELSEVIER INC All rights reserved No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher Details on how to seek permission, further information about the Publisher’s permissions policies and our arrangements with organizations such as the Copyright Clearance Center and the Copyright Licensing Agency, can be found at our website: www.elsevier.com/permissions This book and the individual contributions contained in it are protected under copyright by the Publisher (other than as may be noted herein) Notices Knowledge and best practice in this field are constantly changing As new research and experience broaden our understanding, changes in research methods, professional practices, or medical treatment may become necessary Practitioners and researchers must always rely on their own experience and knowledge in evaluating and using any information, methods, compounds, or experiments described herein In using such information or methods they should be mindful of their own safety and the safety of others, including parties for whom they have a professional responsibility To the fullest extent of the law, neither the Publisher nor the authors, contributors, or editors, assume any liability for any injury and/or damage to persons or property as a matter of products liability, negligence or otherwise, or from any use or operation of any methods, products, instructions, or ideas contained in the material herein Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Brown, Blain Cinematography : theory and practice : image making for cinematographers and directors / Blain Brown p cm ISBN 978-0-240-81209-0 Cinematography I Title TR850.B7598 2012 778.5 dc22 2011010755 British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library For information on all Focal Press publications visit our website at www.elsevierdirect.com 11 12 13 14 Printed in the China contents Introduction The Scope of this Book Titles and Terminology writing with motion Writing with Motion Building a Visual World The [Conceptual] Tools of Cinematography The Frame The Lens Light and Color Texture Movement Establishing Point-of-View Putting It All Together xiii xiv xiv 2 4 10 10 10 11 shooting methods 13 visual language 37 language of the lens 53 What Is Cinematic? A Question of Perception Visual Subtext and Visual Metaphor The Frame Static Frame Cinema as a Language The Shots: Building Blocks of a Scene Establishing the Geography Character Shots Invisible Technique The Shooting Methods The Master Scene Method Coverage Overlapping or Triple-Take Method In-One Freeform Method Montage Involving The Audience: POV More Than Just a Picture Design Principles The Three-Dimensional Field Forces Of Visual Organization Movement in the Visual Field The Rule of Thirds Miscellaneous Rules of Composition Basic Composition Rules for People The Lens and the Frame Foreground/Midground/Background Lens Perspective Deep Focus Selective Focus Image Control at the Lens Lens Height Dutch Tilt 14 14 14 15 15 16 17 18 20 27 27 27 28 29 30 30 32 33 38 39 41 45 51 51 51 52 54 54 54 56 61 63 64 66 cinematography v visual storytelling 67 cinematic continuity 77 Visual Metaphor Telling Stories with Pictures Lighting As Storytelling Film Noir Light As Visual Metaphor Light and Shadow / Good and Evil Fading Flashbulbs Visual Poetry Shooting For Editing Thinking about Continuity Types of continuity The Prime Directive Screen Direction Turnaround Cheating the Turnaround Planning Coverage Cuttability The 20% and 30 Degree Rules Other Issues In Continuity Introductions Other Editorial Issues In Shooting Jump Cuts The Six Types Of Cuts The Content Cut The Action Cut The POV Cut The Match Cut The Conceptual Cut The Zero Cut lighting basics The Fundamentals of Lighting What are the Goals of Good Lighting? Exposure and Lighting Some Lighting Terminology Aspects Of Light Hard Light and Soft Light Direction Intensity Texture Color Basic Lighting Techniques Back Cross Keys Ambient Plus Accents Lighting with Practicals Lighting through the Window Available Natural Light Motivated Light Day Exteriors Fill Silks and Diffusion Open Shade and Garage Door Light Sun as Backlight Lighting For High Def Video vi 68 68 69 69 70 71 72 75 78 78 78 81 81 85 87 87 88 88 89 95 96 96 98 98 98 99 100 101 102 103 104 104 107 108 110 110 113 114 115 115 116 116 117 117 118 118 120 124 124 124 124 125 126 lighting sources 129 HD cinematography 147 The Tools of Lighting Daylight Sources HMI Units Xenons LED Lights Tungsten Lights Fresnels PARs HMI PARs Soft Lights Barger Baglights Color-Correct Fluorescents Other Types of Units Softsun Cycs, Strips, Nooks and Broads Chinese Lanterns and Spacelights Self-Contained Crane Rigs Ellipsoidal Reflector Spots Balloon Lights Handheld Units Day Exteriors Controlling Light with Grip Equipment For More Information On Lighting High Def and Standard Def Analog and Digital Video Analog Digital Video Types of Video Sensors Three-Chip vs Bayer Filter Sensors Digital Video Standard Def High Def Shooting Formats 2K, 4K and Higher Resolution Formats Digital Compression RAW Monitoring On the set The Waveform Monitor and Vectorscope Waveform Monitors The Vectorscope Video Latitude Clipping Video Noise and Grain The Digital Intermediate (DI) The Video Signal Interlace Video Progressive Video NTSC and ATSC Colorspace SDI Setting Up A Color Monitor Monitor Setup Procedure Camera White Balance 130 130 130 135 136 136 136 138 140 140 141 142 142 142 143 143 144 144 145 145 145 145 146 148 148 148 149 150 150 151 151 151 152 152 152 154 155 156 156 156 157 158 159 159 160 160 160 160 161 162 162 162 164 cinematography vii Digital Video Encoding Is It Broadcast Quality? Do It in the Camera or in Post? The Decision Matrix 10 Things to Remember When Shooting HD Timecode and Edgecode Video Frame Rate Drop-Frame and Non-Drop-Frame 29.97 Video How Drop Frame Solves the Problem To Drop or Not to Drop? Timecode Slating Tapeless Production Metadata Tapeless Workflows Digital File Types Container Files: Quicktime and MXF Compression and Codecs Intra-frame versus Interframe Compression Bit Depth MPEG Other Codecs The Curve Controlling the HD Image Gain/ISO Gamma Black Gamma/Black Stretch Knee Color Saturation Matrix Color Balance exposure Exposure: the Easy Way What Do We Want Exposure to Do for Us? Controlling Exposure The Four Elements of Exposure The Bottom Line How Film and Video Are Different Two Types of Exposure Light As Energy F/Stops Exposure, ISO, and Lighting Relationships Inverse Square Law and Cosine Law ISO/ASA Light and Film The Latent Image Chemical Processing Color Negative Film’s Response to Light Densitometry The Log E Axis Brightness Perception Contrast “Correct” Exposure Higher Brightness Range in the Scene Determining Exposure viii 165 166 166 167 167 168 168 168 169 170 170 170 171 171 171 172 172 173 173 173 174 176 177 179 180 180 180 180 180 180 180 181 182 182 182 183 185 185 185 186 186 186 187 187 188 189 189 190 190 191 193 194 194 197 198 198 Video Exposure The Tools The Incident Meter The Reflectance Meter The Zone System Zones in a Scene The Gray Scale Why 18%? Place and Fall Reading Exposure with Ultraviolet Exposure and the Camera Shutter Speed versus Shutter Angle camera movement Motivation and Invisible Technique Basic Technique Types Of Moves Pan Tilt Move In / Move Out Zoom Punch-in Moving Shots Tracking Countermove Reveal Circle Track Moves Crane Moves Rolling Shot Camera Mounting Handheld Camera Head Fluid Head Geared Head Remote Head Underslung Heads Dutch Head The Tripod High-Hat Rocker Plate Tilt Plate The Crab Dolly Dolly Terminology Dance Floor Extension Plate Low Mode Front Porch Side Boards Risers Steering Bar or Push Bar Cranes Crane/Jib Arm Crane Operation Non-booming Platforms Camera on a Ladder Remote on Cranes Technocrane Cranes on Top of Cranes Car Shots 198 199 199 200 200 203 203 203 205 207 207 208 209 210 211 212 212 212 212 213 214 214 214 214 214 215 215 216 216 216 216 216 216 216 216 217 217 217 217 218 218 218 219 219 219 220 220 220 220 220 221 221 222 222 222 222 222 223 cinematography ix .. .cinematography theory and practice imagemaking for cinematographers & directors second edition This page intentionally left blank cinematography theory and practice imagemaking for cinematographers... Cataloging-in-Publication Data Brown, Blain Cinematography : theory and practice : image making for cinematographers and directors / Blain Brown p cm ISBN 978-0-240-81209-0 Cinematography I Title TR850.B7598... Standard Def High Def Shooting Formats 2K, 4K and Higher Resolution Formats Digital Compression RAW Monitoring On the set The Waveform Monitor and Vectorscope Waveform Monitors The Vectorscope