Production Review

Key Elements of Production

Director’s Vision Cinematography Acting

Cinematographer’s Tasks

Works with the director to plan how to photograph the scenes.

Decides where to place the camera for each shot.

Decides how to light each shot based on director’s vision.

Cinematography

Cinematography is a film language that communicates ideas, emotions, and relationships to the audience by photographing light and shadows, movement, objects, and people.

Acting

The actor’s performance affects the audience’s understanding of the story.

Often, the actor’s interpretation comes from personal experiences and values.

Production Planning Production Planning is the process

of organizing and managing the complexities of shooting.

Planning is critically important for two reasons: time and money.

Good production planning can be the difference between a smooth, successful shoot and a disaster.

Planning involves: People: The cast and crew of the

production. Places: The locations and/or sets where

shooting will take place. Things: The equipment used to shoot

the program, the props and costumes in it, and miscellaneous items like talent and location releases.

Plans: The scheduling and other organizational processes that ensure a smooth shoot.

Budgets: The predicted production costs.

Places: Scouting Locations

Things to check for: Can you create the on-screen

environment that you need? Do you have adequate power for all

your equipment? Will outside noise be a problem? Will lighting setup be a problem?

Production Equipment Make a list of everything you need for

each scene including: Camera, cables, power cords, batteries. Tapes Microphones, microphone cables, field mixer Lighting equipment, spare bulbs. Costumes Props Makeup

Timecode Address

A timecode address is the unique identifying code number assigned to each frame of video. Timecode is expressed in hours, minutes, seconds, and frames. Counted from the point at which timecode recording is started.

Timecode

Time code is also laid down again with every shot recorded. The reason for prerecording it throughout the length of the tape is to provide readable code for any blank spots between recordings.

Crew Responsibilities

Read the handout and think about who in this class would be the best choice for each crew position, do not use your actors.

Scheduling

Scheduling is the process of deciding which scenes to shoot in which order.

Shoot by location, not by order of shots.

Planning your final project Complete storyboards (each shot has

it’s own frame). Create “Shot Sheet” with order you

want to film your scenes. (Remember to film by location, not in chronological order).

Assign cast or crew jobs to everyone in the class (you are the director).

Create your project folder.

Actors and Performers

To be believable, the performers should not appear to be acting, but simply living and behaving normally while the camera just happens to record them.

Actors and Insecurity

Camera fright is a form of stage fright: a fear of subjecting yourself to public attention, of placing yourself under a spotlight for critical inspection by the audience.

The nice thing of about camera fright is that you can re-shoot until you have a good performance.

Helping Actors Overcome Self-Consciousness

Allow plenty of time for rehearsal. The more familiar the performers are

with the material, the more comfortable they feel.

Sometimes amateurs will perform more naturally if they think they are not being recorded.

To reduce physical awkwardness, keep actor movements simple and natural. Ask them if anything feels awkward to them.

Helping Actors with Lines If a performer cannot read aloud

convincingly, the easiest solution is to allow him or her to improvise.

Break down long speeches into several brief shots.

Remind performers that only the best take will be used in the final product.

Use cue cards if needed.

Looking at the Camera

You need to leave about 3 seconds of extra footage at the beginning and the end of each shot for editing transitions.

Remind the actor not to look into the camera when the shot finishes, they need to stay in position for a few seconds.

Helping Actors Express Emotion

If an actor is overacting, show them some close-ups of their work.

Back away from overacting. The closer the shot, the more intense it is.

If an actor is having trouble changing emotions in a scene, separate the different emotions into different shots.

Continuity Continuity is the complex process

of ensuring that all the small pieces of a video (the shots and the details recorded in them) add up to a smooth, consistent whole.

A program with good continuity appears to be a single continuous presentation that has no mismatches in information, action, or screen direction.

Continuity

Maintaining good continuity is the responsibility of the director. The script supervisor assists the director in this task.

Continuity of Information In shots that include duplicate or

overlapping action, the details should all be the same.

Dialogue and physical details should match from take to take.

If the actor is holding a glass in the medium shot, he should still be holding it in the close up.

Since all shots may not be recorded in the same day, it’s very important to pay attention to the small details.

Continuity in Your Project

How will you make sure that your actors look the same from day to day?

How are you going to make sure you look the same from day to day?