Single-Cam EXAM Study Guide PDF

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Composition, Camera Movement, and Shooting to Edit A. Different shot types and their common abbreviations Extreme long shot (XLS) - often establishes the scene Long shot (LS) - full body Medium shot (MS) - waist up Medium close-up (MCU) - chest up Close-up (CU) - head Extreme close-up (ECU) - part of the face

These are wrong ^^^^^^ ----agree B. Lenses (i.e. wide, normal, telephoto) o

Wide Angle – allows you to capture more of this space in front of the

camera. Elongates the shot. Extreme example is the fisheye lens. Deeper focus. o

Telephoto – can be used to capture subjects at a distance. Compresses space

in the shot. Will increase camera shake. Use a tripod. o

Zoom – variable focal length. Often overused by amateurs. Avoid

movement for the sake of shakiness. o

Vertigo Effect – trombone effect ● The effect is achieved by zooming a zoom lens to adjust the angle of view (often referred to as field of view or FOV) while the camera dollies (or moves) towards or away from the subject in such a way as to keep the subject the same size in the frame throughout.

C. Lens effects and how to achieve them (i.e. shallow, deep, and rack focus) Shallow Focus - one plane of image is in focus while the rest is out of focus (small depth of field). Typically used to emphasize one part of the image over another. far away and zoomed in with open aperture (lower f stops) with lower light Deep Focus - up close and zoomed out but closed in aperture (higher f stops) and add light D. F-stop (aperture) An image’s exposure is controlled by the aperture ring, it determines the lightness or darkness of an image Aperture is measured in F-Stops. Adjusting to lower F-Stop numbers is opening up the lens (allowing more light in), while the higher the F-stop is closing the lens (producing a darker image). a) Lower F stop = brighter E. Exposure - Brightness/ darkness- controlled by aperture and gain F. Focal Length How well a certain camera/lens can focus. The wider the focal length, the more the camera can focus on objects that are further away G. Critical focus zooming in on the critical point of your shot for focusing for interviews, it is often the subject’s eyes use focus assist and peaking to establish critical focus

H. White balance Compensates for variations of color temperature by making the dominant light color appear like normal white light as opposed to its natural color Hold white card up in front of subject/camera, zoom all the way in, then set white balance I. Rule of thirds: A composition rule that divides the screen into thirds horizontally and vertically, like a tic-tac toe grid placed over the picture on a television set. Almost all of the important information included in every shot is located at one of the four intersections of the horizontal and vertical lines J. Anticipatory camera The placement of the camera in such a manner as to anticipate the movement of an action before it occurs. if someone is running from left to right, place them closest to the end from which he is moving. Keep them in vertical third keep it smooth K. Camera functions, zebra bars, ND filter, Gain, ISO, auto vs. manual settings) Zebra Stripes - a camera function that shows the overexposed parts of a shot by imposing zebra bars on the image (that only appear in the viewfinder/LCD screen, not on the actual recording) a) Just as long as there are no zebra stripes anywhere on your subject’s face, you should be fine. If there are you can 1, stop down your lens; 2, use an ND Filter, or 3, recompose the shot to include less of the overexposed area Gain - Two types, sound and video b) Video - If an image is still too dark after opening up the iris all the way, turning on the camera’s gain function will electronically brighten up the image. The problem with this is that it adds a lot of unwanted noise or static in the shot (the best example of this is surveillance footage from night clubs). The higher the gain, the grainer the video.

L. Setting up a tripod M. Techniques for shooting effective b-roll Avoid unnecessary camera movements Shoot close rather than zooming in Use a tripod when possible N. Shooting to edit Captures source video with editing in mind. Acquire a variety of video clips that will later be trimmed, re-ordered, and blended into a single message.

II.

Lighting A. 5 values of light and their effects What kind of shadow does it cast? (crisp? Or diffused?) What angle does it come from? How bright is it? (intensity) How bright is it relative to other lights? (lighting contrast) What color is it? (temperature) B. Lighting contrast High Key Lighting - fewer shadows and produces an even amount of light Low Key Lighting - much more dramatic. Low key lighting typically involves lots of contrast and creates an entirely different mood than high key lighting. Contrast ratio = key+fill/fill alone C. Law of halves and doubles: When you close the Iris a stop the lighting is halved, opening the iris a stop doubles the light. D.

Inverse Square Law -The intensity of illumination is proportional to the inverse square of the distance from the light source. if a light subject travels double the distance from the recorder, the signal is a quarter of its strength

Fall off of light is exponential. x →

source to the subject, and

1 x2

1 2 . Where x is distance from light x

is the amount of light on the subject at

that distance. 100 fc light source, with subject 2ft away: a) x=2 →

1 4

b) Therefore, the subject is being lit with 25fc at a distance of 2 ft. from the light source. E. Color balance The global adjustment of the intensities of the colors. An important goal of this adjustment is to render specific colors correctly; hence, the general method is sometimes called white balance. Changes the overall mixture of colors in an image and is used for color correction. F. Lighting accessories and functions G. 3 point lighting Key light - Shines directly upon the subject and serves as its principal illuminator; more than anything else, the strength, color and angle of the key determines the shot's overall lighting design. Fill light - Also shines on the subject, but from a side angle relative to the key and is often placed at a lower position than the key (about at the level of the subject's face). It balances the key by illuminating shaded surfaces, and lessening or eliminating chiaroscuro effects, such as the shadow cast by a person's nose upon the rest of the face. Back light - Shines on the subject from behind, often (but not necessarily) to one side or the other. It gives the subject a rim of light, serving to separate the subject from the background and highlighting contours. H. Effective techniques for “standard” interview set ups I. Lighting safety

III.

Audio A. Amplitude-what is percieved as loudness Dynamic Range a) Human ear has a dynamic range of a 130db b) Good audio recorders have a dynamic range of 100-120db c) The extremes of what something is able to capture. B. Frequency-pitch measured in hertz Human ear can sense frequencies as low as 20 Hz and as high as 20,000 Hz Human ear is much more sensitive to mid-range frequencies C. Sampling D. Clipping distortion caused when the volume level exceeds the maximum that can be accurately reproduced E. Inverse Square Law if an audio subject travels double the distance from the recorder, the signal is a quarter of its strength F. Monitoring a Digital Signal G. Basic recording techniques Get mic as close to the source as possible. Do not increase the gain to get a stronger signal when moving the mic closer is possible (inverse square law applies to sound too). Use headphones Check location for sound Record room tone Monitor the signal on your recording device Get it right in the field and don’t say “you’ll fix it in post” H. Recording camera sound I. Microphone types Lavalier a) Used usually during interviews

b) Position it close to sternum, attached to collar, looped and hidden c) Can be good for noisy environments, produce “close” sound but can produce unnatural sound perspective Shotgun d) Hyper-directionality e) Contrary to common belief, these do not work like a ‘zoom lens’ for sound. Rather, sound coming in from the sides of the mic is cancelled and the signal coming from the front is isolated. Therefore you should never tape the sides of a shotgun mic or you defeat the purpose. f) Often attached to a stand or a boom. The boom operator holds the boom pole up and out of frame. The mic is aimed down toward the space in front of the subject’s mouth. g) Can sound more natural, requires batteries or phantom power, and can use high pass switch to diminish low frequencies. Handheld Mics h) Mics passed around the audience on talk shows and used by talent on location to do “man on the street” interviews, news, and live events. J. Microphone pick-up patterns: Omnidirectional - Generally considered to be a perfect sphere in three dimensions. In the real world, this is not the case. As with directional microphones, the polar pattern for this microphone is a function of frequency Cardioid - The most common unidirectional microphone is used as vocal or speech microphones, since they are good at rejecting sounds from other directions. Effectively a superposition of an omnidirectional and a figure-8 microphone; for sound waves coming from the back, the negative signal from the figure-8 cancels the positive signal from the omnidirectional element, whereas for sound waves coming from the front, the two add to each other.

Hypercardioid - slightly larger figure-8 contribution leading to a tighter area of front sensitivity and a smaller lobe of rear sensitivity. K. Audio accessories and functions (i.e. boom pole, wind sock, etc…) Windscreen - helps eliminate air noise and voice pops “Fuzzy” - Offers more protection, but may lose some F.R. and D.R. Zeppelin - use in heavy wind Boom Pole - Hold mic above and out of frame, coil cables L. Natural Sound IV.

Producing the Short Feature Feature stories usually present a special topic of human interest, and often take a narrative approach that incorporates a combination of voice over, b-roll images, and interviews.

A. Basic media management and editing in Adobe Premiere Pro B. Editing A-Roll and B-Roll C. Writing and Conducting effective interviews D. Planning for post-production E. Organizing and editing the short feature V.

Pre-Production A. Concept development B. Producing the short feature C. Constructing and conducting interviews D. Release Forms E. Location planning F. Release Forms G. Non-fiction planning and pre-production materials H. Fiction planning and pre-production materials

VI.

Editing A. Basic media management and editing in Adobe Premiere B. Basic editing tools in Premiere

C. “J” cuts and “L” Cuts J Cut - audio portion of the later scene starts playing before its picture as a leadin to the visual cut. Also called an audio lead or audio advance.

L Cut - audio cuts after the picture, and continues playing over the beginning of the next scene.

D. Exporting media File>Export>Media Export in H.264 Format E. Editing A-Roll and B-Roll F. Lower Thirds An Animated graphical element that appears in the lower part of the video that explains or identifies the action on screen G. Color correction H. Keying and Compositing 1. Go to the effects panel and find the ultra key effect, drag it on your clip 2. Click on the eyedropper to activate the effect 3. If the lighting is uneven, switch from composite channel to alpha channel a) Go to Matte generation and adjust “pedestal” until the background becomes entirely black b) Switch back to composite channel VII.

Conventions of Narrative Continuity A. Master scene technique 1. Master shot a) Usually a wide shot b) Both characters in shot c) Establishes space and proximity of characters to one another d) Establishes perspective from which camera is capturing the action 2. Closer shots/reverse angles a) Designed to be intercut with the master shot and each other

b) Close-ups of each of the characters in the scene B. 180 degree rule 1. Screen direction refers to the right or left direction on screen as seen by the audience. 2. If a subject facing the camera moves to his left, it is screen right 3. The 180-Degree Rule (also called the director’s line of the line) tells how to maintain screen direction when different shots are edited together. 4. If a subject is moving or looking in one direction, in general it’s best not to let screen direction change when cutting to the next shot a) To help plan your shots, imagine a line drawn through the main line of action be (ex. Football field) (1) If all camera setups are on one side of the line, screen direction will be preserved from shot to shot (2) Shots on the line (for example, someone looking directly into the camera or a shot from the end zone in the football) are considered neutral and can go with shots on either side of the line b) During a take, the camera can move across the line with minimal disorientation. (1) But if later in the editing room you don't use the shot where the camera crosses the line, you may have to violate the 180-degree rule. (2) Rule violations may disorient the audience, but rarely are they disastrous C. 30 degree rule- editing guideline that states the camera should not move more than 30 degrees between shots to prevent jump cuts. D. E. Shot/reverse shot F. POV/Reaction G. Match cuts (match on action, eyeline match, graphic match) VIII.

Blocking A. Motivations for moving actors To physically vary the shot To express characters and relationships Psychological Reasons a) Non-verbal communication is important

b) Body language expresses psychology and emotion B. Basic blocking techniques 1. Toward and Away a) Importance of negative space between actors. b) Can think of closeness as an adjustable volume. c) Changes in the space between people show a change in relationship. (1) Movements toward another person indicate a “heating up” of the relationship. (2) Movements away indicate a cooling down. Distance can suggest estrangement, formality, and non- communication. 2. Movement and Stillness a) One character often initiates movement while another tries to block or deflect it b) Stillness can convey quiet power and represent potential energy c) Frenetic movement can suggest a possible loss of control. Circling of one character around another often indicates the power or control of the person who is doing the circling 3. Status a) Rule of thumb: When blocking a scene, the dominating character should try to assume a higher level b) Relationships (1) Equal to equal (2) Superior to inferior (3) Upsetting of the social hierarchy is a common dramatic theme (4) Within a scene, the relationship can continue in one direction or shift toward another.

C. Blocking directions for performers 1. When planning movement for your characters, use the physical reality of

the set. Give them concrete tasks to perform. 2. Business - an appropriate physical activity for a character to perform in a scene. a) “Directing in television is all about business.” - Julia Smith 3. Business can also be revealing of character. How a person performs business can be as telling as the business itself. Business can be an “excuse” to move characters 4. Good directional instruction to an actor expresses both the physical and psychological elements of the blocking...