How To Film A Movie On A Smartphone

Before shooting random things, you might want to envision an idea for a compelling story. Try to avoid overused cliches. After forming an idea, write an outline. Once you know how the story is going to start, develop and end, go ahead and write a few drafts of the screenplay till perfected. After the final draft is written, we can start the fun.

Lighting is crucial when shooting high-quality cinematography. The better the lighting, the better it will look. Try to stay away from overhead ceiling lights and middle-of-the-day sunlight which can give an off-color tone to the skin and cast ugly shadows. To learn more about lighting, please refer to my two previous blogs about high-key lighting vs. low-keylighting and the three-point lighting technique.

When shooting, try to avoid zooming in as the phone will decrease the quality of the image. Instead move your body closer to the subject. Try to steady your phone with a tripod or lean it against something firm to prevent blurry videos.

When arranging the composition of objects in each shot, try not to put your subject in the middle. Use the rule of thirds and other techniques to create more interesting shots. Refer to my blog about shot composition to learn more about this.

Getting different angles will help for the editor to create smooth transitions between each cut shown in the final film.

The rest is up to you. Now it is time to go and shoot your movie!

Film Shot Types

This week, on my film blog, I will be discussing different shot types and their purposes.

All the way from the macro, extreme close up to the widest, panoramic landscape shot, every way a shot is approached has a different purpose and a different effect on the audience. Below I list a number of different shots:

1. XLS – Extreme Long Shot – Used to establish large locales and provide a sense of space and serve as an explanation of the layout for the audience.

2. LS – Long Shot – The “Who, What, Where” Shot. Closer than the extreme long shot. Usually used to establish information on a person, a place or anything relevant for the storyline.

3. FS – Full Shot – It frames a human subject from head to toe. Usually used for fight scenes, embraces or physical comedy.

4. MLS – Medium Long Shot – Also known as the “Cowboy Shot”. Shot from the knees up. Usually used in Westerns. Designed to see the gun pulled out of the holster.

5. MS – Medium Shot – Shot from the waist up. Can include 2-3 characters. Reduces the background and enables the audience to read physical and psychological information in the faces of the characters.

6. CU – Close Up – It shows the subject completely. The background information is pretty much out of the shot.

7. XCU – Extreme Close Up – The frame is filled up by the fragment of a face or object. The shot can be dramatic or to show detailed information.

Shot Composition in Film

This week, I will be explaining shot composition and how they can make a scene look visually more interesting than others.

Composition is the placement of objects in the frame. The frame is what you see, what you are recording in the video monitor.

Some compositions are badly arranged and look unappealing.

While others are well-balanced and look appealing.

The key to obtaining a well-framed shot can be narrowed down to three things:

1. Headroom and/or Leadroom

Headroom is the space above a person's head that allows the top to not be cut off by the frame and make the person look weird.

Leadroom is the space you leave in front of the direction in which the character is looking or moving. The more leadroom the easier for camera operators to follow action.

2. Rule of Thirds

A way of framing your shot where you divide your shot into thirds and use the intersections in a grid to place interesting elements for a balanced picture. It helps you create a dynamic picture without placing your subject in the middle.

Framing a character's eyes in the upper line is more pleasing.

3. Depth of Field

Deep space composition. Important information is placed in the areas of the frame.

a. Foreground

b. Middleground

c. Background

These are some techniques to use to make the framing of your shot look more appealing and interesting. But there are many more out there to discover.

Three-Point Lighting Technique

As mentioned in last week's lighting blog, this week we will be talking about three-point lighting, the standard way of lighting any scene.

To achieve this technique, you need to use a minimum of 3 lights.

 

The first and most important of the three is the key light. It is the biggest and brightest light that casts light on part of the subject and casts shadows on another part of the subject.

The second light is the fill light. This is used to fill in the shadows cast by the key light. As we add more fill, the contrast between the two lights cast on the subject is lower and we see more detail in the shadows .

With little fill, you achieve low-key lighting (as discussed last week) because there are more shadows present. You achieve high-key lighting the more fill you add till there is almost no difference between the key and fill lights.

Finally, the third light needed for this technique is a very detailed light. The rim or back light is positioned behind the subject and facing the camera. It silhouettes and abstracts the subject. It makes the subject pop from the background with rim light around the edges.

Check out this video tutorial for a visual explanation of three-point lighting.

High-Key Lighting vs. Low-Key Lighting

Subheadline: The first of a series of 5 blogs that will help readers know more about different aspects of filmmaking, now simplified and easy to understand.

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The first topic I will address this week is lighting.

Lighting is one of the most important aspects of the visual look of the film that the director of photography gets to control.

How light and shadow work together can greatly affect the mood of a scene.

For example:

In the first picture from the movie The Butterfly Effect we see Ashton Kutcher being photographed with dark shadows under his eyes and cheek bone, contrasting greatly with the rest of his well-lit face. This creates a sombre effect and will give the viewer a sense of apprehension.

The name of this technique is low-key lighting. Low-key lighting creates a greater contrast between the lights and shadows on a person's face or on an object. It is used for crime dramas and horror films.

On the other hand, high-key lighting is the opposite. A person's face or an object is lit evenly and provides a more appealing and lighthearted feeling to the scene. High-key lighting is typically used in comedies and romance movies. Below you can see a still from the film The Secret Life of Walter Mitty that shows an example of high-key lighting.

The genre of a film greatly determines the lighting techniques that you have to plan throughout the scene. Keep this in mind on your next film project.

Next week we will be talking more in depth about how to achieve these techniques by addressing 3-point lighting.