WEEK 3

Developing The Story

Make sure that every sequence of shots, no matter how short tells a story. To do this you would put every sequence of shots in story telling order. Use:

1. An establishing shot to enable the audience to see what is happening
2. A medium shot to allow the audience to recognize the protagonists
3. Close-ups to catch the audience attention on the core of the matter at hand

Use close-ups to keep the audience attention and to:

• Focus on objects that will play an important part in the next sequence of shots
• Remind the audience of their importance to your story
• Involve your audience; make the camera a participant in the story, not a distance spectator.

Shots

1. A Video Production is made up of hundreds and thousands of pictures, called shots, each of which must be carefully planned. To make your production more interesting, various types of shots are used.
2. Instead of trying to generate a finished video production while shooting, recording footage with an edit in mind will allow you to take advantage of the editing suite and save you time and improve your editing
3. Capture every shot that you might possibly want to include in your finished production
4. Tape your shots in any order that you find convenient
5. Record every shot so that it is longer than its probable final length
6. That is called shooting to edit and it is built on the Three C's: Coverage, Continuity and Cut-ability. Even if you are a very casual shooter, you can easily put these core principles to work for you
7. Remember that a video is not a still photo album. With photos, you can skip from one topic to another, taking a couple pictures of each. However, watching a video with only a few short shots in each sequence feels jerky and irritating. If you are going to bother with a subject, then take the trouble to cover it properly
8. First, record establishing shots to let viewers know where they are.
   For example if you are shooting at a birthday party, show the whole back yard before zooming in on the birthday cake.
   At a school play, shoot the auditorium and audience before the curtain goes up.
   In short, always provide viewers with a context in which to locate your other shots
9. Next, go the opposite way and get close shots. Remember that most display monitors are 32 inches or smaller, so get in there and record the fine details. Once you have a full shot of a historic church cathedral, for instance, go for close-ups of windows, doors, steps, and so on. Show the audience the telling details that reveal the soul of the building. Other settings, people are often the most important details, so shoot lots of close angles, from medium shots (waist up) to big close-ups (chin up)

Record the small details, such as the knife cutting the birthday cake or a pigeon strutting on the cathedral steps.
In addition to capturing added useful information, these inserts (so-called because you'll insert them into the main footage) increase the "cut-ability" of your sequence.

Consider the following for every shot you film

1. Is this the most interesting camera angle?
2. Is this the best setting?
3. Is the background distracting or does it reinforce the mood and message?
4. Does the action fill the frame?
5. Can I make the hero look more heroic by filming by shooting up at them from a low angle?
6. Can I make someone or something look smaller by filming down on them it? How should I vary the time span of my shots (the average length of a shot is six to ten seconds.)?
7. How should I change the image, camera angle or perspective for every new shot?
8. How do I maintain a smooth flow of action from the first to the last shot?

Camera distance

There are three main shots describing how near or far the camera is from the subject:

1. A close-up shows only one part of the subject, usually in detail. Close-ups would include shots of a person's face, (this could be used as a reaction shot) or the paws of a dog walking down a path, of a hand on a doorbell, or of a tree branch.
2. A picture showing half of the subject, such as a character from the waist up or the back end of a car, is a medium shot.
3. A long shot shows the whole subject: a person from head to foot or the entire car. Any of these shots can show one subject or more at the same time.

These three shots are used for specific reasons. An establishing shot at the beginning of a scene tells viewers where they are i.e., a long shot of a car driving up to a hotel or a close-up of a restaurant sign. To show the effect of one person's words or actions on the other people in the scene, a reaction shot is used. However, mixing shots provides variety and gives information needed to keep the story moving. In general, remember that:

1. Video is a close-up medium!

2. Things look better in close-up because the screen people view your video on is small.

Camera angle

The angle from which a shot is taken is another way to give variety as well as information.

1. High-angle shot positions the camera above eye-level, looking down on the subject, who consequently appears insignificant, weak, helpless, or small according to how extreme the angle, is.

2. At eye-level, the impression is neutral.

3. A low-angle shot has the camera looking up at the subject, which then appears important, powerful, or domineering, again depending on how exaggerated the angle is.

4. Usually the camera looks at the subject, but occasionally the camera shows what the subject is seeing. The is a reverse-angle shot

Shots where the Camera Moves

Another way to give your video variety is for the camera to move. When the camera changes its position by moving left or right, this is called tracking or trucking.
Changing the camera's position by moving it forward or backward is known as dollying. When the camera stays in the same position but turns left or right, this is panning, and when it turns up or down, this is known as tilting. Even when the camera is stationary and not turning it can appear to move closer to or further from its subject; by using a special ring or lever on the lens, the camera person can zoom in or out.

Although these moves are useful, they should not be overused or they will lose their effect. In fact, any camera movement must be planned and rehearsed so that it will be smooth and in tune with the action.

Other Considerations:

A single shot should be as long as it needs to be to advance the story in an interesting manner

1. Establish a relationship between your shots

2. Mixing your shot lengths from five to 15 seconds will make your video more professional looking.

3. When you want to give the audience the impression of speed and excitement use a series of extremely brief shots with a progression of image size from smaller to larger.

4. A rule of thumb to convey excitement, vary your shots, interspersing under-5-seconds with ones that are over 5 seconds but under 10 seconds, and throw in an occasional over 10 second shot for a change of pace

5. The secret is in recognizing that subject matter and action both suggest, and sometimes even dictate, the length of the shot and sometimes the angle of the shot.

Image Size

1. At least one shot in every four or five should be a close-up-a shot made two meters (6 feet) or less from the subject of the shot.

2. The formula of beginning with an establishing long shot, followed by a medium shot to a show who's present doing what, followed by one or more close-ups form different angels to give a clear look at the action is a good one.

When deciding how far back the camera should be from the subject, for the first shot, be thinking about how many seconds the establishing shot will be.

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