Filmmaking is an art

                                                                                                                                                                                           FILM MAKING IS AN ART

Filmmaking is an art of creating a feeling for the viewers. The art does not only lie in the visual scenarios comprehended by the cinematographers but also the story it contemplates and how it is being presented. Filmmaking requires a lot more than just recording a video and editing it. There’s a lot more that goes into organizing the story, designing the sets, lighting up scenes, editing scenes with proper connections, directing the actions to be done on set and etc. In this blog we are going learn about few of the very basic filmmaking techniques.


VIDEOGRAPHY AND CAMERA ANGLES

One of the core aspects of cinematography includes videography. It's not just about recording the scenes but also more about how the video creators emphasize the scenes.
This solely depends on the camera angles and the shot sizes
The picture below from Pinterest shows how a lady standing can be revealed in different ways. You'll notice how different shot (LONG, MEDIUM, MID, CLOSEUP) affects the way the story is being told.

Film Industries in Hollywood always put these into practice. One of the famous sizes are long shots which is used to reveal the location of the subjects. Usually, we observe shots from a drone revealing the area where the protagonist is headed to or where they're living in. It is also known as the establishing shot.

                      PICTURE CREDIT: STUDIO BINDER

This is an example of an establishing shot. It beautifully explains where the future destination might be or various emotions depending on the story of a film.

Apart from shot sizes and camera angles, shot framing play a huge role in accentuating a story. Usually, traditional filmmakers use the classic rule of thirds while the new generation wants to improvise maintaining the basics of framing. Anyways, CLASSIC RULE OF THIRDS introduces using grid lines. Basically, the purpose is to put the subject at any of the points where the grids intersect. Using the horizontal or vertical grid lines also contribute to the rule   
This is widely used because it draws the viewers' eyes towards the subject easily, so they don't miss out on any detail. Mostly the intersecting points do it better.

                                 
                                   Orange dots showing intersection points

                                                

                                                                Some good examples of using the rule of thirds

Keeping the RULE OF THIRDS on the list, video creators are always aware of the camera angles they use. Certain camera angles determine the emotional state or the role of a subject in film. This is one of the aspects which differentiates between an Amateur and a Professional Filmmaker.

The pictures below will allow you to understand the different emphasis of the scenarios

THE CENTER ANGLE
SHOT FROM THE MOVIE: THE MASTER (2012)

This angle is widely used to describe details of the subject. This is a close up shot, but usually little wider shots are used in action scenes or portraying a usual scenario.

THE DOMINANT ANGLE
Shot from the movie: BATMAN THE DARK KNIGHT, Directed by CHRISTOPHER NOLAN

This is a low camera angle which proves the dominance of the subject making them look bigger and furious. These shots are taken from a lower angle to make the subject dominant figure

THE DUTCH ANGLE
From the famous movie INCEPTION (2010), Directed by CHRISTOPHER NOLAN


THE DUTCH ANGLE or the tilted angle creates a feeling of uneasiness within the viewers. This was used in a major fight scene in order to comprehend the discomfort the protagonist was facing.

THE HIGH ANGLE SHOT
SHOT FROM THE MOVIE: THE AVENGERS (2012)

This is usually used to portray vulnerability of the subjects or one subject. For example, the subjects in this frame notice a downfall of a protagonist and they seem to face a sign of defeat.

It's not always the fact that the videographer records the scenes all alone, rather the direction team and the camera operators come up with the suggestions and work according to the requirements of the story and production. Usually the film directors guide in this creative process. Proper use of different camera angles and shot sizes enhances the visual storytelling keeping the viewers attached to the story. But we should also be aware that, a good story script with bad visual storytelling will downgrade the production

Editing
Another vital aspect of filmmaking is the postproduction process, also known as the editing segment of the production. The efforts given on field need to be combined together according to the script and theme, on a computer or several powerful computers.
Editing can be divided into three segments:

i) Resizing, Selecting clips,

This segment includes chore of the editor to go through the clips and make proper selection of them according to the direction and script. The editor gets a wide freedom to reject unnecessary clips. Hence, the editor works with the clips which contribute to the film.
Now comes fun the part of adjusting the duration. During the shooting process, the scenes are shot with a plan, but in the time of postproduction there's always a change of plans. The editor has to make the right choices not making the clips without dialogue too lengthy as this might be uneasy for the viewers. In an emotionally neutral scene, duration can be kept decent while in emotional scene lengthy clips add up to the atmosphere letting the viewers settle in with the despair. Action scenes usually involve fast cut which means a shorter duration, this emphasizes the intensity of the scenes

ii) Color Correction

Color correction is done focusing on the details of the image. The colorists observe and make adjustment in order to make the desired objects stand out better. This also draws the viewers' attention to the subject. There are several sorts of color adjustments that define the circumstance of a scene and below there are some photos that define

The scene above was color graded with a yellow tint which illustrates that the subject in the scene is having a good time.

The scene above was color graded with a blue tint in order to emphasize
the sadness of the protagonist

                 E.g., of blue tint color correction

Another application is giving different colors by bumping up the highlights, tweaking the shadows of the image down, changing the contrast and tints of the objects in the scene.
We can see a comparison of a raw log footage (Desaturated) and a proper graded one. The tints and color adjustments also depend on the theme the directors choose.

iii) Sound Designing

Lastly, the sound designing part is basically the involvement of sound effects at appropriate places. Not only does it involve the editor adding noises of atmosphere and sounds of movement, but also involves adding cinematic music depending on the scenario. A fast-paced music is chosen when the actions scenes come in, while depressing scenes require slow paced music. Sound designing is a huge aspect since the designer needs to focus on every action of the scenes and has to add sounds accordingly.


For the three segments of editing, film industries usually divide the works so that the editors can dedicate their whole time on their preferred segments. And without proper editing there are less chances for a high caliber production.


Story

Last but not the least, the importance of the story plot. A good story always wins. Movies are not solely based on just visual storytelling but also what moral they teach.




Filmmaking is a wide field, and there a lot of aspects that make this whole. Surely, it’s not easy to learn about everything at just one go rather it takes time and patience.
 At the end of the day film making is all about drawing the viewers’ eyes naturally and emphasizing scenes and story with the film making laws.