Digital Video Secrets - Tony Levelle

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view as seen by a character in a scene. This angle has the effect of pulling the audience into the scene emotionally and building empathy with a character.

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      The rule of thirds is a centuries-old rule of composition. It says that the most visually important places within any frame are located on the four lines that divide the frame in thirds.

      When you compose a shot, begin by placing important visual elements on these lines. If you are shooting a landscape, frame the image so the horizon is on the top third or the lower third. See which you like. If you are shooting an interview, place the interviewee’s eyes on the top third.

      To really see how the rule of thirds is used, tape a piece of clear plastic over your television screen, and then use an erasable dry marker to draw four lines on it: two horizontal lines at the upper and lower third of the screen, and two vertical lines at the right and left third of the screen. Play any Hollywood movie, or watch any broadcast show and you will see immediately that nearly every professional shot is composed on the rule of thirds.

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      Whenever possible, look for ways to add perspective to your shots. Perspective gives your shots depth and interest. Look for something in the foreground that frames or somehow identifies the scene.

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      Common uses of perspective in films: train tracks that recede in the distance. Roads that recede in the distance. Lanes with trees or fence posts on the side of the road, in which the trees or fence posts recede in the distance.

      Another way to add visual interest to your shots is to look for compositional elements that add diagonal lines to your shots. The diagonal line will draw the viewer’s eye, so you look for lines that lead the viewer’s eye to the most important element in the picture.

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      Painters have used triangles to give visual interest to paintings for hundreds of years. You can create a visual triangle by framing your shot so that three dominant elements in a scene are at the points of an imaginary triangle. The audience will subconsciously “create” a story from the three elements.

      One of the most powerful techniques you can use to create compelling images is a “layered” image in which three elements are placed in spatial relationship to each other.

      This technique is usually used with deep focus. In deep focus, everything in the scene is in sharp focus. Use a small f-stop to achieve deep focus. Deep focus is easy with most digital video cameras.

      The front element in your image may be one character. Behind this character is a second character looking at the first character, and behind these two characters is a third character looking at the first two characters.

      This technique is closely allied to the triangle technique. When you “layer” a scene, the audience will create relationships between the three layers and build a story in their mind. A layered image can be like a little visual gem, in which each facet reflects a different view of reality.

      Layered images are an advanced technique to engage the viewer’s imagination, and pull an audience slowly into a film.

      CHAPTER 4

      SUPPORTING AND MOVING THE CAMERA

       How you support and move the camera is important.

       Secret 17: Use a Tripod

       Secret 18: Use a Tilt

       Secret 19: Use a Pan

       Secret 20: Shoot hand-held

       Secret 21: Use a Dolly

       Secret 22: Use a Jib

      Hand-held cameras, when used correctly, can give you marvelous footage that you can’t get any other way. In the documentary War Tapes, director Deborah Scranton gave small Sony camcorders to three soldiers in a National Guard unit from New Hampshire just before their unit was deployed to Iraq. The resulting hand-held footage is powerful and emotionally moving. The technical quality of the images was good enough that the resulting digital footage (along with footage from a larger DV camera that Scranton used for interviews) was successfully transferred to 35mm film for the film’s theatrical release.

      Most of the time, however, hand-holding simply doesn’t work. Shooting without a tripod often results in “jiggle cam” or even worse, “vomit cam.”

      This cliché was exploited to great effect in the pseudo-documentary Blair Witch Project. The movie was shot hand-held, and the camera jiggled and swerved, just like the shaky, hand-held shots of an amateur. The effect was so powerful that some teenagers who saw the movie thought that it was actual documentary footage.

      In reality the movie was made by two extremely talented and skilled filmmakers who deliberately used this style to create believability.

      If you remember only three words about camera movement, let them be these: use a tripod.

      Placing the camera on a tripod and locking it down before each shot is a perfectly acceptable way to shoot your film.

      The standard advice for buying a tripod is “Get the best tripod you can afford.” Think of your tripod as an investment in your shooting career.

      A good tripod will improve your shooting. It will be easier to set up, and you will be able to level the camera quickly. Shots where you use the tripod will be rock-solid and pans and tilts will be smooth and level.

      Professional tripods have a bubble on the “head” (the part that holds the camera) to tell you when the tripod head is level. The best tripods have a “ball” mount so you can quickly level your camera. With a ball mount, you don’t have to constantly adjust the tripod legs to level the camera. You just set up the tripod legs, loosen the ball and swivel the tripod head to level the camera. When the camera is level, simply re-tighten the ball mount.

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      Heads are interchangeable on high-end tripods. Once you buy the “sticks” (tripod legs) you can buy new heads to accommodate different size cameras. Heads are usually rated by camera weight. The Miller Solo series, for example, has heads designed for five-, ten- and twenty-pound cameras.

      When you buy a tripod, buy one that is rated one step heavier than the camera you plan to use. That gives you the latitude to upgrade to a larger camera or hang accessories, like heavy batteries and camera lights, on your existing camera.

      Paradoxically, the lighter your camera, the heavier you want your tripod (within reason). When you attach a heavy tripod to the camera, the weight of the tripod helps steady the camera.

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