Lesson 9 of 9 · 10 min
Put it together
Every shot is a stack of choices: size, composition, angle, lens, exposure, light, movement and where the camera stands against the line. A cinematographer makes all of them for one reason: to make the audience feel the story.
One scene Breaking the news
A doctor tells a man that his test results are bad. Here is one way to shoot it, using only this course:
- Open wide. An eye-level wide shot of the small office. Soft daylight from the window, high key. Normal, safe.
- Shot / reverse shot. Over-the-shoulder shots, both cameras on one side of the line, a normal 35 mm lens.
- The news. Cut to a close-up of the man on a longer lens (85 mm) at f/2. The office melts into blur. He is alone with it.
- A slow push-in as he understands. The motivated move.
- Light. As the scene goes on, the fill on the man drops away. More of his face falls into shadow: the scene moves from high key to low key.
- End high and wide. A high angle as he sits alone after the doctor leaves. Lots of negative space. He looks small.
None of these choices is the only correct one. The skill is to make them on purpose.
Cheat sheet Everything on one page
- Shot size
- EWS · WS · MLS · MS · MCU · CU · ECU. Closer = more emotion.
- Aspect ratio
- Width ÷ height. 1.33, 1.78, 1.85, 2.39.
- Composition
- Thirds, eyes on the top line, headroom, lead room. Short-siding for tension.
- Angle
- Low = power. High = weakness. Eye level = neutral. Dutch = unease.
- Lens
- Wide = deep, stretched space. Long = flat, isolated. Perspective comes from distance.
- Depth of field
- Wide aperture, long lens, close focus = shallow.
- Exposure
- A stop = ×2 light. Aperture, shutter angle (180°), ISO, ND.
- Light
- Key, fill, back. Ratio = contrast. Big source = soft. 3200 K warm, 5600 K daylight.
- Movement
- Turns: pan, tilt. Travel: dolly, truck, pedestal, crane, arc. Zoom has no parallax. Always motivated.
- Continuity
- 180° rule, eyelines, screen direction, 30° rule, coverage.
Final check Eight questions
The opening shot shows a tiny figure crossing a desert. What is it called, and what does it do?
An extreme wide shot makes the place the subject.
To make a boss look powerful in a meeting, the camera on him should be…
A low angle gives a person power.
You film a woman from far away on a 200 mm lens. The city behind her looks huge and close. Why?
Perspective comes from camera distance. The long lens only lets you fill the frame from far away.
You are at f/2.8 and the picture is two stops too bright. You want to keep the same depth of field and motion blur. What do you do?
ND 0.6 is two stops, with no change to focus or motion. (f/5.6 would also be two stops, but it changes the depth of field.)
A horror scene: deep shadows, one hard light from the side, almost no fill. What is this?
Little fill means a big difference between the lit side and the shadow side.
Which move gives a 3D feeling of near and far objects sliding past each other?
Only a camera that travels through space gives parallax.
In a dialogue, both actors look screen right after the cut. What went wrong?
Cameras on both sides of the line give the same screen direction to both people.
What makes a camera move "motivated"?
Motivation is the reason for the move, not the equipment.
Next steps Keep going
- Shoot. Use a phone. Film one short dialogue scene with a friend: a wide master, two over-the-shoulder shots and two close-ups, all on one side of the line. Then edit it.
- Copy a frame. Choose a still from a film you love. Try to make the same picture: shot size, angle, lens, light direction.
- Read. The Five C's of Cinematography by Joseph V. Mascelli (camera angles, continuity, cutting, close-ups, composition). Cinematography: Theory and Practice by Blain Brown. Master Shots by Christopher Kenworthy.
- Study. Watch films by cinematographers such as Roger Deakins, Emmanuel Lubezki, Hoyte van Hoytema and Bradford Young with the sound off. Only look.