CinematographyExamples & Best Practices

Life of Pi - Oscar, Best Cinematography - 2012

1931 - Gone with the Wind (Color)

1961 - West Side Story (Color)

1969 - Butch Cassidy & the Sundance Kid

1991 - JFK1993 - Schindler’s List1994 - Legends of the Fall1995 - Braveheart1997 - Titanic1998 - Saving Private Ryan

Other notable winners ofBest Cinematography from the Oscars

2001 - Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring

2006 - Pan’s Labyrinth2008 - Slumdog Millionaire2009 - Avatar2010 - Inception2011 - Hugo

Introduction to Cinematography

★ What are the secrets to creating a quality shot?

★ No MAGIC button to push on the camera to get HIGH quality results

★ But, techniques are learnable and doable★ This lesson will show you HOW to create

shots that look like the PROS

What is Cinematography?cinematography |ˌsinəməˈtägrəfē| noun the art of making motion pictures.Cinematography: is the making of lighting and camera choices when recording

photographic images for the cinema. It is closely related to the art of still photography. Many additional issues arise when both the camera and elements of the scene may be in motion, though this also greatly increases the possibilities at the same time.

★ Using photographic composition techniques in videos.

★ Remember to always follow good composition when filming your

videos.

Areas of Cinematography Shots

➢ Composition (Rules)

➢ Subject Distance (Basic Camera Shots)

➢ Camera Angle (Height)

➢ Shot Purpose

➢ Camera Movement

Composition Rules

HeadroomLead SpaceRule of Thirds

When you follow the first two, the Rule of Thirds will naturally occur

Distracting BackgroundMergers

Headroom

➢ The space above the subjects head in a close-up

➢ The perfect balance is needed:○ Too much and the shot looks off balance○ Too little cuts off the subject’s head

➢ Viewer’s want to see where moving things are going, so enough space must be allowed between the subject and the edge of the frame.

➢ You must adjust your shot

to give a bit more room in

the direction of the

movement.

Lead Space

Rule of Thirds➢ Subject is offset in frame for visual interest

➢ Shot is divided with two evenly spaced lines horizontally and vertically

Rule of Thirds

The basic principle is to imagine breaking an image down into thirds (both horizontally and vertically) so that you have 9 parts. As follows:

Then…Put the subject on the

intersection of the lines or the horizon along a

line.

Rule of ThirdsPlace points of interest in the intersections or along the lines. The image becomes more balanced. This will enable a viewer to interact more naturally with the image.

When using the most important questions to ask yourself are:

What are the points of interest in this shot?

Where am I intentionally placing them?

Distracting Background➢ Try to avoid➢ Always check the background of the shot you are

framing

➢ Background clutter or distracting objects can usually be avoided by repositioning your camera or moving the subject.

Mergers

➢ Another form of distracting background

➢ Background objects or strong vectors (lines) that visually merge with your subject can be distracting

➢ Reposition the camera or subject to avoid mergers

What composition do you SEE?

You find a good and bad example of each of the 5.

Save the images, put into a presentation, and label.

NOW...