Cinematography

Perhaps, one of the most critical aspects of film is lighting. After workshops, we’ve been able to dissect the three components of lighting and how they will enhance our films. By manipulating the key light, back light, and fill light we could emphasize or de-emphasize the subject. Not only does it help set the mood and tone, but it also helps strengthen the characters’ roles.

I was really intrigued by the technique of changing the images shown following the look on a certain character’s face. For example, if you show a man that is happy and then a clip of happy, children playing, the audience assumes he likes children and they might even be his own. If you show a man that is happy followed by a clip of a woman in a bikini, then the audience believes this is a dirty, perverted man. Tonight, as I was watching American Idol, I even noticed how this technique was used as the camera went from the contestant to the judge. This technique is very clever and would help prevent meaningless dialogue to help build our characters.

I also think that the variety of camera shots we have been exposed to could be utilized in our film. By using dolly shots or close-ups we could really make our film seem more impressive. We could give more angles and more depth to our characters by using an over-the-shoulder close-up between interacting characters. We could set the tones and convey moods by creating severity with an extreme close-up.

All in all, I know there are many other techniques that we will use to make our short film but I feel like these three will be involved in every film inevitably. All of these techniques can be created with accessible equipment (camera, lighting tools, editing software). Even though we are inexperienced film-makers, these techniques can still be done with basic software and basic knowledge. As long as we utilize all of our resources and really pour our effort into this project, I believe our team will produce a film we’ll be proud of.