Cinematography Research: 'Cinematography Learn From A Master'

In preparation for my role as cinematographer, I have actually been quite hesitant/worried about the lack of practical experience/knowledge in comparison with many others on the course. Due to this I decided to do some research online and although I've started from watching Youtube videos of basic camera knowledge, it has greatly expanded my perception of certain camera techniques I would use.

A video that I came across was Hugh Fenton's 'Cinematography Learn From A Master' featuring Richard Michalak. He has had 40 years experience as a filmmaker, 30 years as a Director of Photography and has filmed news documentaries as well as music videos. This video taught me a lot about camera techniques that I hadn't thought about specifically before, for example with framing; placing an object/actor 1/3 along the side or 1/3 from the top or bottom part of the frame. I felt that this video provided a lot of helpful tips and as well as the videos, I had Alex to be at the side while filming to help with any queries I would have.

Pitch

We presented our idea at the pitch to Dom and a couple of other groups in the class and we found that most of the class seemed to like our idea. Initially, I was a little worried that our explanation of the political theme running through the film (a loose link to the political issues between Russia and Ukraine) would confuse the others and that they would not be in favour of it but to our delight, they were. After presenting our idea, I felt more excited about putting a film to our ideas.

Park Hill/Camera Practice

While we still had the spare time before focusing most of our attention on the drama project, Alex and I decided to go to Park Hill, in Sheffield, to practice filming various camera angles. I was very keen to do this as I have not had as much practical experience with cameras as others on the course; due to my course in Sixth Form being mainly essay-based.

Alex informed me that Park Hill would be an interesting place to capture footage as it is a spacious estate allowing us to film from different heights and angles. We walked up to Park Hill with Alex's camera; a Canon 60D with 50mm lens, and he went through all of the features to capture the best footage possible. I was very happy to be getting to grips with the camera and we sometimes switched the 50mm lens for a 18-55mm lens; specifically for wide angle shots and long shots as it produced a better image. I learnt how to set the right exposure and focus for each clip.

We spent around a couple of hours in the estate both taking it in turns to film various parts of the location; from the entrance, low angle shots and pan shots. Luckily for us it was a sunny day, which meant we were able to capture clear footage and we agreed it would be a good location to suggest to our group for the drama project. Alex decided to edit together all of the footage we had shot that day and posted it as a short film on Youtube (link below). Although the footage we had were only basic shots of the estate and not planned to be made into a short film, it lifted my confidence about using a camera in various ways and allowed me to gain experience for when it came to filming the drama project.

Link to 'Park Hill' Short Film

Facebook Page and Pre-Pitch Meetings

We were given a week to create a rough idea for our Drama piece before pitching it in front of our tutor and class. We created a Facebook group for all of us to arrange times and days for meeting up and we decided to meet over a couple of days to decide on a rough idea for the pitch. We all discussed various ideas and in the end decided that we wanted our Drama to feature a strong female character alongside a male character who, isn't a stereotypical weak juxtaposition to the female, but someone who needs to stand up for themselves.

Heather and Tom suggested ideas loosely relating to the current issues in Russia and Ukraine; with forces in Russia taking charge over Ukraine and we found this a slightly similar theme in our Drama ideas with the female character taking a more dominant role than the male. We decided to come up with names to make it easier talking about the characters' roles and after much deliberation, we decided to use the names I suggested which were 'Lola' and 'Larry'. In comparison to the Documentary, I already feel more involved in the group and with project ideas as we were all given equal chances to share ideas.

In the end, our final idea features Lola; an independent female, and Larry; someone who has just lost their job but is told by Lola that he needs to stand up for himself in the future. We all favoured the idea of giving the female a stronger personality than the male and decided our third and final character would be Larry's boss; seen firing him in one of the scenes. Finally, in preparation for the pitch we discussed what we were all going to say and were happy with the final idea.

Roles

After sorting out groups for the project we arranged our first meeting and discussed which roles we would all like to have. We were told by our tutors that we had to be different roles to what we have been in past projects, such as directors and producers becoming involved in the editing side of the project. Since being the editor in the Experimental and Documentary projects, I have wanted to be involved in the cinematography of the film.

Therefore, when we all met up I put forward my desire to be the cinematographer and everyone agreed to this. I'm happy with the role I have been given and also find my group very easy and enjoyable to get on with.

Heather Kelland - Director
Billy Jackson - Producer
Myself - Cinematographer/Camera
Alex Kentfield - Editor
Tom Noonan - Sound Editor
Luke McKnight - Sound Recorder

Semester 2: Drama Brief

For our final project for this semester, we were set the brief of making a 5 minute drama piece focusing on the theme of a 'journey'. The maximum number of locations and characters we can use are , which I believed initially could restrict some ideas we may have for the piece but it could also stop us from creating over complicated narratives featuring too many characters. The camera and editing techniques in this task should be more creative and spontaneous than the documentary piece, which I am looking forward to.

Editing

As my role in the group was the Editor, I was very excited to get hands on with the project after acting as an assistant/on the sideline during the shooting in Liverpool. Although I was nervous about my lack of practical experience in comparison to the majority of the group, my first editing task was to look through the interview clips and cut out any unnecessary parts. I also separated these clips into separate clips on the timeline so that it would be easier for any of the others to look through the next day. Although I would have loved to have edited a lot more than I have, I was grateful for the others in the group to be present when I was editing so that any queries I had were answered straight away.

Despite not having as much editing experience as the others, I have used Premiere Pro before and found it quick to pick up again. When I was editing the audio to match the timelapse of the sun, I wanted the deeper tones/beat of the audio to sync at the same time as the scene change and I feel it was managed eventually.

I enjoyed editing the end of the documentary when Chris is talking about his first time riding a bicycle and about his mother, as I felt the perfect clip to use against this monologue was of the toy rabbit with Chris stood smiling to himself in the background as it changes focus. I felt the toy rabbit added a sense of personal feel to the audio and we all see this documentary as a personal approach from Chris rather than a piece solely focusing on the company.