Cinematography

16mm

16mm is considerably simpler; there are two basic formats — regular 16 and Super 16, but it is possible to extract different aspect ratios in telecine. Super 16 currently enjoys enormous popularity. It can be easily blown up to a 35mm projection print and it transfers with little or no compromise to widescreen video such as High Def

black gamma

Black gamma is the contrast of the shadow regions. It is an extremely useful tool in shaping the image. On most cameras, you can choose how much of the shadow region you want to affect, either only the very darkest shadows or all the way up to from middle gray down to pure black. Black stretch is reducing the contrast of the shadows, thus reducing the overall contrast of the image and allowing the camera to see into the shadows a bit more

Fast/slow film stock

Film stocks that are extremely sensitive to light and thus useful in low-light situations are called fast; those that require a lot of light are called slow. Fast films are grainy (as larger grains of light-sensitive material need less light to record an image with a fast shutter speed), whereas slow films are fine-grained and require either a slow shutter speed, more light, or both.

prime lens

Prime lenses have a fixed focal length, so they can't zoom without physically moving closer or further away from the subject While Prime lenses will have a fixed maximum aperture, the max aperture of a zoom lens will often get smaller as the focal length increases

coverage

The coverage consists of the over-the-shoulders, medium shots and close-ups that will be used to complete the scene. Think of the master as a framework for the whole scene — coverage is the pieces that fit into that framework to make it all work together. After you have shot the master you will have to pick one side (one of the actors) to begin with. It is important to do all of their shots before you turn around and do the coverage of the other actor, because changing the camera position from one side to another often involves changing the lighting and moving other equipment.

medium long shot

a shot that reveals the entire body of a person or object along with a large part of the surrounding scene. knees up

Objective camera

a way of making the camera seem to be a detached recorder of the events taking place in front of it

Rythmic Montage

The cutting happens for the sake of continuity. This creates visual continuity but it may also be used in order to keep with the pace of the film. A good example of this is the the legendary car/train chase scene in The French Connection.

strobing effect

There is one operational limitation that must be dealt with. If the camera is panned too quickly, there will be a strobing effect, which will be very disturbing. As a general rule of thumb, with a shutter opening of 180° and a frame rate of 24 or 25 fps, it should take at least 3 to 5 seconds for an object to move from one side of the frame to the other. Any faster and there is a danger of strobing.

informational insert

These are mostly about giving the audience some essential piece of information we want them to know.

roundy round

This is roundy-round, where the wheels can be set so that the dolly revolves in a full 360° circle on its own center. To do this, the front and rear wheels are crabbed in opposite directions

timecode slates

Timecode slates include the usual information but also have a digital readout of the timecode that will match the timecode on the audio recorder; they are also called smart slates. Timecode slates make syncing up much quicker and cheaper and particular shots are more readily identified. The reason it is faster and cheaper in telecine is that the colorist rolls the film up to the frame that has the clapper sync on it. She then reads the timecode numbers that are displayed and types them in.

letterbox

Today most cable and DVD versions of films are letterboxed. Dark bands at the top and bottom of the screen approximate the film's theatrical proportions.

underslung heads

Underslung Heads= These are fluid heads, but the camera is not mounted on top; it is suspended on a cradle below the pivot point. Underslung heads can rotate vertically far past where an ordinary fluid head can go and thus are good for shots that need to go straight up or down or even further. They are specialized rigs, but they have many uses.

motivated lighting

Where light in the scene appears to have a source such as a window, a lamp, a fireplace, and so on. In some cases the light will come from a source visible in the scene; in some cases, it will only appear to come from a source that is visible in the scene.

color control

color control refers to altering the lighting through the use of different lighting units or putting gels on the lights.

downstage

is the side the camera is on. Comes from theater when stages were raked (tilted) and upstage was the part farthest away from the audience

Emphasis inserts

the tires skid to a halt. The coffee cup jolts as he pounds the table. The windows rattle in the wind. Emphasis inserts are usually closely connected to the main action but not absolutely essential to it.

Atmosphere inserts

these are little touches that contribute to the mood, pacing, or tone of a scene

subjective camera

A hand-held camera technique, in which the camera itself becomes the eye of one cast member. The viewers see the world through the eyes of that character.

dance floors

. If there is no room for track to be laid or if the director is looking for dolly moves that can't be accommodated by straight or curved track, a dance floor can be built that allows the camera to move anywhere. A dance floor is built with good quality 3/4 inch plywood (usually birch) topped with a layer of smooth masonite. It is important that the joints be offset and then carefully taped. This forms an excellent surface for smooth moves. The good dolly can crab and roll anywhere, and combination moves can be quite complex. The only drawback is that you have to avoid showing the floor, unless you paint it. Smooth floors or dance floor, becomes especially critical if anything other than a wide lens is up on the camera because with a longer lens, every bump in the floor will jiggle the camera.

Fast Lens

A camera lens that can produce a large aperture and let a great deal of light into the camera.

f-stop

A camera setting that determines the amount of light passing through the lens by controlling the size of the iris. The f stop numbers is a scale of numbers talking about how much light we want coming into the camera with regard to how wide we want the aperture to get that amount of light. The bigger the stop number, the smaller the aperture, so the less amount of light coming in. A large f number will bring all foreground and background elements into focus.

choker

A choker would be from the top of the head down to just below the chin. A tight close-up would be slightly less: losing some of the forehead and perhaps some of the chin, framing the eyes, nose, and mouth.

Head and Shoulders

A close-up (CU) would generally be from the top of the head to somewhere just below the shirt pockets. If the shot is cut just above the shirt pocket area, it is often called a head and shoulders.

cutaway

A cutaway is any shot of some person or thing in the scene other than the main characters we are covering but that is still related to the scene. The definition of a cutaway is that it is something we did not see previously in the scene, particularly in the master or any wide shots. Examples would be a cutaway to a view out the window or to the cat sleeping on the floor. An important use of cutaways is as safeties for the editor. If the editor is somehow having trouble cutting the scene, a cutaway to something else can be used to solve the problem.

hue

A hue is a specific wavelength of light. It is that quality by which we give names to color (i.e., red, yellow, blue, etc.). The average person can distinguish around 150 distinct hues. The hue of a color is simply a definition of its wavelength: its place on the color spectrum. Chroma, (also called intensity or saturation of color) is the strength of the color, or relative purity of a color — its brilliance or dullness (grayness). Any hue is most intense in its pure state; adding the color's complement (the color opposite it on the color wheel) lowers the intensity, making a color duller. A color at its lowest possible intensity is said to be neutral.

kicker

A kicker is a light from behind that grazes along an actor's cheek on the fill side (the side opposite the key light). Often a kicker defines the face well enough that a fill is not even necessary. It should not be confused with a backlight, which generally covers both sides equally.

sidelight

A light comes from the side, relative to the actor. Usually dramatic and creates great chiaroscuro (if there is little or no fill light), but may be a bit too harsh for close-ups, where some adjustment or slight fill might be needed

Metric Montage

A number of shots of identical or similar length that create a definite tertiary motion beat - a rhythm. The content of the shots is less important than shot length. The reason for this is to get an emotional reaction from the audience. Example= fast cutting in requium for a dream.

pickup

A pickup can be any type of shot, master or coverage, where you are starting in middle of the scene (different from previous takes where you started at the beginning as it is written in the script). You can pick it up only if you are sure you have coverage to cut to along the way. Usually a PU is added to the scene number on the slate so the editor will know why they don't have a complete take of the shot.

Medium Close Up (MCU)

A shot that frames a subject from the top of the head to a line just below the chest. Also called a bust shot.

practicals

Actual working prop lights — table lamps, floor lamps, sconces, and so on. It is essential that all practical lamps have a dimmer on them for fine-tuning control; small dimmers for this purpose are called hand squeezers The reason for this is obvious — with most kinds of lights, we can control the intensity with scrims, grip nets, neutral density gels, and flooding/spotting. With practical lamps we don't have these methods of control, so a dimmer is the quickest and most precise way to control the brightness.

additive colors

Additive colors are those relevant to light and mixing colors in light (Figure 12.7). The most common examples of this are television screens and computer monitors, which produce colored pixels by firing red, green, and blue electron guns at phosphors on the television or monitor screen. Additive color can be produced by mixing two beams of colored light, or by layering two or more colored gels or by showing the two colors in rapid succession.

technocrane

All cranes move up/down and left/right. The Technocrane adds one more axis of movement. The arm can be extended or retracted smoothly during the move. It can also be revolved so that the camera spins horizontally. Other companies make similar type crane.

normal lens

Although the short and long extremes are used occasionally to achieve certain visual effects, most shots in feature films are made with a middle-focal-length lensfrom 35mm to 50mm-often called the normal lens.

insert

An insert is an isolated, self-contained piece of a larger scene. To be an insert instead of a cutaway, it has to be something we saw in the wider shots. For example, if we see a wide shot of the cowboy going for his gun, a tight insert of the gun coming out the holster must match the action and timing of the wider shot; this means it can be used only in one place in the scene and won't help the editor if they need to solve a problem elsewhere in the scene

sides

At the beginning of each day, a production assistant or second AD will hand out sides. These are copies of the script pages to be shot that day that have been reduced to a quarter of a page, so that they can be easily slipped into a pocket. The sides are the "bible" for the day

Raw format

Cameras that record in the RAW format do minimal processing to the image: they record the raw data that came out of the video sensors. RAW images are also produced by many digital still cameras and are considered superior because they are not compressed, which can reduce quality. Think of RAW as a digital negative. What does this change? The basic idea of RAW is to simply record all of the data that comes off the sensors, essentially unchanged. Metadata is recorded at the same time; this is a file "about" the image, such as any camera settings, and so on.

car mounts

Car shots are accomplished with car mounts. There are two basic types: hood mounts allow one or more cameras to be placed on the hood area for shooting through the windshield. Hostess trays (named for the trays that used to be standard at driveins) allow the camera to be positioned on the side, usually shooting through the driver's window and the passenger's window.

chroma

Chroma (color) saturation is simply how much color you have — how much saturation there is. Zero saturation is a black-and-white image. Oversaturation means that the image is recorded with more chroma than was present in the actual scene.

Color Balance

Color balance refers to adjusting the video camera to the lighting conditions (or in film selecting the right film stock or using the correct filter)

Colorspace

Colorspace is a video standard that defines how the colors will be handled — different colorspaces render the colors of a scene slightly differently

crane types

Cranes are capable of much greater vertical and horizontal movements than a dolly. There are two types: jib arms have no seat for the cameraperson and are usually operated by someone standing on the floor or perhaps an apple box. True cranes generally have seats for the operator, and a camera assistant. Both cranes and jib arms have one fundamental characteristic that may become a problem. Because they are all mounted on a pivot point, the arm always has some degree of arc as it moves up, down, or laterally. With dolly arms this degree of arc is usually negligible for all except exacting macro or very tight work that calls for critical focus or a very precise frame size. Another issue with cranes is that, because they pivot on a central point, any crane arm (or any dolly arm) moves in an arc, not along a straight vertical line. In most cases this is not a problem. It only becomes an issue with very tight shots with limited depth of focus. Very few rigs allow you to compensate for the arc. The camera support slides back and forth on rails

Imax

Currently the largest projection format is Imax, which is 70mm film run through the camera and projector sideways, similar to VistaVision. This results in a negative roughly the size of that produced by a 2-1/4 still camera (Figure 17.7). This extremely large negative allows for projection screens up to five stories high.

data wrangler

Data Wrangler is an important position for digital crews. Essentially it replaces the film loader, who is no longer needed on a digital crew. The functions are similar: taking care of and keeping track of the recorded footage and preparing the medium for the next camera load. It's the same job but with different technology. On tapeless jobs, the recording medium might be hard drives, P2 cards, secure digital cards, compact flash cards or direct to a laptop computer, such as the SI-2K HD camera. The data wrangler has three essential jobs: archive/backup, erasing/formatting for the next camera load and checking the footage for problems and data integrity.

punch in

Different from a push in, which involves actually moving the camera, a punch-in means that the camera stays where it is, but a longer focal length prime is put on or the lens is zoomed in for a tighter shot. The most common use of a punch-in is for coverage on a dialog scene, usually when going from an over-the-shoulder to a clean single

Lossless Compression

Digital cinema cameras are capable of generating extremely large amounts of data up to hundreds of megabytes per second. To help manage this huge data flow, nearly all cameras and the recording hardware designed to be used with them utilize some form of compression. A lossless compression system is one that is capable of reducing the size of digital data in a way that allows the original data to be completely restored, byte for byte. This is done by removing redundant information

diopters

Diopters are simple meniscus lenses that are placed in front of the camera lens and reduce the minimum focusing distance of the lens

dynamic range

Dynamic range is the range of the capability of the pixel from the maximum light it can take to the least light it can take is measured by the signal to noise ratio. All cameras operate best at one ISO (base ISO), at the ISO you get the maximum dynamic range from a sensor. Raising ISO means less dynamic range and color.

ambient base

Especially on larger sets, it is often difficult or impractical to light every corner of the set with many different hard or soft light units. It is often better to establish an ambient base — which means to simply fill the set with a soft, featureless overhead light. This gives you a basic exposure for the entire set, but it is usually somewhat bland and low in contrast. Establishing an ambient base can be accomplished in a number of ways: • Overhead lights often in conjunction with an overhead silk • Chicken coops, space lights, or softboxes • Bouncing a light off the ceiling • Leaving the overhead fluorescents on • Large skylights or glass roof

flat front lighting

Flat front lighting ) does not reveal the shape and form of the subject. It tends to flatten everything out, to make the subject almost a cartoon cutout: two-dimensional. Lighting from the side or back tends to reveal the shape of an object — its external structure and geometric form. Flat lighting is light that comes from very near the camera, like the flash mounted on a consumer still camera: it is on axis with the lens. As a result it just flatly illuminates the entire subject evenly. It erases the natural three-dimensional quality of the subject. As with shape, light from the axis of the lens (flat lighting) tends to obscure surface texture of materials. The reason is simple: we know texture of the subject from the shadows. Light that comes from near the camera creates no shadows. The more that light comes from the side, the more it creates shadows, which is what reveals texture Flat front lighting occurs when the key light is very close to the camera

fluid head

Fluid Head= These use oil and internal dampers and springs to make extremely smooth left/right and up/down moves possible (Figure 11.12). The amount of resistance is adjustable. Most camera operators want the head to have a good amount of resistance working against them.

measuring focus

Focus may be determined by measuring or by eye. Measuring is generally done in two ways. Most cameras have a mark on the side that identifies the exact position of the film plane. Positioned precisely above that is a stud that the AC can hook a cloth measuring tape onto and measure the exact distance to all the objects that will be focused on. Most ACs also carry a carpenter's metal measuring tape, either 1 inch or 3/4 inch wide. This is useful for quick checks before close in shots. The metal tape extends out quickly and the AC can make last-minute measurements in case something has moved. The third method is eye focus. This can be done with either the operator and the ACs or by the first AC himself. Someone — either the actor, a stand-in or the second AC — goes to each of the key positions. The operator looks through the viewfinder and focuses. The first AC then marks it on the dial of the focus mechanism

anamorphic lens

For true widescreen, anamorphic lenses squeeze the image onto 35mm film. In projection, the image is then unsqueezed to provide an image wider than standard 1.85. On the camera negative, the aspect ratio is 1.18:1. When unsqueezed, the aspect ratio in projection is generally 2.35:1. Anamorphic photography was invented in France in 1927. A special lens was suspended in front of the prime lens that compressed the image horizontally to one-half its width, then unsqueezed it again when projected. The horizontal compression was eventually engineered into the prime lens itself so an additional optic in front of the lens was no longer necessary. There are many problems with anamorphic photography. First, anamorphic lenses are never as fast as standard spherical lenses. Secondly, because of the squeeze, the depth-of-field is 1/2 of that for the same image size. Both of these conditions mean that more lighting is required for anamorphic photography, which can be a problem in terms of time and budget.

foreshortening

Foreshortening is a phenomenon of the optics of the eye. Since things that are closer to the eye appear larger than those farther away, when part of an object is much closer than the rest of it, the visual distortion gives us clues as to depth and size.

Full Shot (FS)

Full shot indicates that we see the character from head to toe. It can refer to objects as well: a full shot of a car includes all of the car. A shot that only includes the door and the driver would be more of a medium shot. A variation on this is the cowboy, which is from the top of the head to midthigh, originally in order to see the six-guns on his belt

gamma

Gamma is contrast or, more precisely, the slope of the curve (spe- cifically the middle part of the curve). Overall contrast is one of the most basic components of a visual image, and many DPs make this the first adjustment they make. A typical normal gamma is .45; raising this number makes the image more contrasty and lowering it makes the image less contrasty

geared head

Geared Head= These heads are operated with wheels that the operator can move very smoothly and precisely repeat moves (Figure 11.13). The geared head has a long and venerable history in studio production. The geared head is useful not only for the ability to execute smooth and repeatable moves but also because it can handle very heavy cameras.

ISO

ISO is the sensitivity of the sensor that is receiving the light for the film. So we have a picture or a frame from a digital video that is made of millions of pixels These individual dots are sensed by a single sensor in the camera, all these together come together as a big sensor in the back of the camera (the film of the camera) This is just a hole or array of little tiny sensors that sense the color coming for an individual dot and sends it to a corresponding dot. These sensors are in a camera with a bunch of wires and shit in it. All of this electronic activity interferes with this signal. This changes the color a little bit or adds "noise", and if you scale up the light then that also scales up the "noise". ISO controls the amount of light the camera needs and is the representation of the sensitivity of the image sensor.

condor

If all that is needed is height, especially for heights greater than can be accomplished with the available crane, the camera might be mounted on a construction crane such as a Condor, which is frequently used as a mounting for lights. These types of cranes can get the camera where you need it, but they usually aren't capable of booming up or down without visible shake.

controlling the sun

If you are dealing with direct sun, however, controlling it can require constant attention and adjustment. When dealing with actors in direct sun, you have several choices: diffusion of the harsh sun, filling and balancing the shadows, finding a better location or angle for the shots, or moving the shot into open shade You can use bounceboards or lights to fill in the shadows and reduce the contrast. Grip reflector boards (Figure 7.34) have a hard side and a soft side and yokes with brakes so they can be set and will stay as positioned. The sun moves quickly, however, and it is almost always necessary to shake them up before each take

Aperture and depth of field

If you open your aperture, you reduce your depth of field and your background is blurred out, and if you close it you get more depth of field and everything is in focus. If you keep the shutter open for long enough and something moves, you get a blurred effect. If you need to freeze some action you use a super fast shutter speed.

splash box

In cases where the camera doesn't have to be actually submerged but will be very near the water or even slightly under the surface, a splash box can be used. These combine a clear optical port for the lens with a waterproof box or plastic bag that protects the camera without encasing it in a full underwater casing

dominant neutral POV vs Omniscient POV

In most movies, the camera is omniscient: virtually able to go anywhere and see anything, either at average human eye level or above it. The dominant neutral POV gives us the facts and background that are the context in which the characters live. The omniscient POV shows what the omniscient camera sees, typically from a high angle; a single character's POV, in which the shot is made with the camera close to the line of sight of a character (or animal or surveillance camera), shows what that person would be seeing of the action; and the group POV shows us what a group of characters would see at their level

film proccesing

In order for the latent image to become visible, it must be made visible and stabilized to make a negative or a positive (Figure 10.11). In black-and-white film, the silver halide grains have to be sensitized to all wavelengths of visible light, so the silver halide grains are coated in just one or two layers. As a result, the development process is easier to understand. The film is placed in developing chemistry that is actually a reducing agent. Those grains that have latent image sites will develop more rapidly. If the film is left in the developing chemistry for the proper amount of time, only grains with latent image information will become pure silver. The unexposed grains remain as silver halide crystals. • The development process must be stopped at the right moment. This is done by rinsing the film with water, or by using a stop bath that stops the development process. • After development, some of the altered halide and all of the unaltered silver halide remains in the emulsion. It must be removed or the negative will darken and deteriorate over time. The removal of this undeveloped material is accomplished with fixing agents, usually sodium thiosulfate (hypo) or ammonium thiosulfate. The process is called fixing. •The film is washed with water to remove all the processing chemicals. Then it is dried. When all the steps are finished, the film has a negative image of the original scene. It is a negative in the sense that it is darkest (has the highest density of opaque silver atoms) in the area that received the most light exposure. In places that received no light, the negative is clear, or at least as clear as the film base can be. Other types of chemistry can result in a positive image, This is called positive film or reversal film. In still photography, the images are often referred to as transparencies or slides.

master scene method

In principal, the master scene method is quite simple: first you shoot the entire scene as one shot from beginning to end — this is the master. Once you have the master, you move on to the coverage. Except in rare cases, it is always best to shoot the master first, as all the rest of the shots must match what was done in the master. Not shooting the master first will frequently lead to continuity problems. The master does not have to be a wide shot but it usually is.

tail slate

In some cases, it is not desirable to slate before the shot. This might include filming with an infant where the clapper might frighten them. In such instances a tail slate can be used. A tail slate comes at the end of the shot and must be done before the camera is switched off or it can't be used for synchronization. For tail slates, the slate must be held upside down. The clapper is still used and a head ID should be shot as well, if at all possible.

extreme long shot (ELS/XLS)

In the extreme long shot (XLS or ELS), typically photographed at a great distance, the subject is often a wide view of a location, which usually includes general background information.

slow disclosure

In this technique, instead of opening with a wide shot, the scene begins with a tight shot of a character or another scene element. Only as the scene progresses does the camera pull back to reveal where we are and what is going on.

boom

Nearly all dollies have a boom: a hydraulic arm capable of moving vertically in a smooth enough motion to be used in a shot without shakes or jarring.

topper

Light directly from above. The word can also refer to a flag that cuts off the upper part of a light

soft light

Light from a large source that creates soft, ill-defined shadows or (if soft enough), no shadows at all. Skylight on an overcast day is from many directions and is very soft. How do we make soft light on the set? There are two ways. One is we bounce a light off a large white object. Typically we use things like foamcore (a lightweight artist board often used for temporary signs or mounting photographs). The bigger the bounce is, the softer the light will be. Another way is to direct the light through diffusion. In the past, photographers used things like thick white tracing paper or white shower curtains as diffusion. Nowadays, there are many types of diffusion available in wide rolls and sheets.

hard light

Light from the sun or small lighting source such as a Fresnel that creates sharp, well-defined shadows. Even a large 10K is still only a small source in relation to the subject being lit The smaller the source, the harder the light will be.

fill light

Light that fills in the shadows not lit by the key light. Lighting is sometimes described in terms of the key/fill ratio

back light

Light that hits a person or objects from behind and above. A rim/edge light might be added to separate a dark side of a face or object from the background or make up for a lack of fill on that side. Frequently, back light can be overexposed and still record well on tape or film. Also sometimes called a hair light or shoulder light

Chroma Subsampling

Many cameras use chroma subsampling as a basic form of compression. In this technology, the luminance (black-and-white brightness) is sampled at a different rate than the chrominance (color). It is based on the idea that a real RGB signal (such as you might get from gathering independent signals from the red, green, and blue sensors in a threechip camera), contains redundant information

is wide angle lens the answer for depth of field?

Many people still believe that if you are having trouble getting the important elements in focus, the answer is to put on a wider-angle lens and you will have greater depth-of- eld. This is technically true, but in actual practice, they then move the camera forward so they have the same frame size. The actual result? You end up with exactly the same depth-of- field you started with! This is because you have moved the camera forward and end up with same image magnification. It is image magnification that is the critical factor. You are decreasing subject distance and increasing image magnification, which decreases depth-of- eld.

crab

Most dollies have wheels that can crab (Figure 11.17), that is, both front and rear wheels can be turned in the same direction, allowing the dolly to move laterally at any angle. For most normal operations, the rear wheels are in crab mode and are the "smart wheels." The front wheels are locked in and function as the dumb wheels. For a true crab move, all four wheels are switched to crab mode.

push in/out

Move the dolly toward or away from the action. Common terminology is push in or pull out.

negative constrast

Negative contrast refers to the relative difference between the more transparent areas of the negative and those that are more opaque. The negative is described in terms of density. These densities can be measured with an instrument called a densitometer, which measures how much light passes through the negative and how much is held back. The contrast of photographic subjects can vary a great deal from one picture to another.

oner

Of all the methods of shooting a scene, by far the simplest is the in-one, sometimes called a oner or a developing master, or the French term plan-scene or plan-sequence. This just means the entire scene in one continuous shot.

waveform monitor/vectorscope

On a video shoot, the waveform monitor is your light meter and the vectorscope is your color meter. Color monitors, even sophisticated ones, can be unreliable, but information for the waveform and vectorscope can almost always be trusted.

gain

On some HD cameras, the control of sensitivity to light is called gain. Gain is measure in decibels (dB). Increasing the gain is electronic amplification. The trade-off is electronic noise. On some HD cameras, sensitivity is rated in ISO. The results are quite good, but there is always a price to pay for increased ISO or gain — more noise. Many cinematographers set cameras at minus 3dB to reduce noise, but others disagree with this practice.

back cross keys

One of the most useful and commonly used techniques is back cross keys. The idea is simplicity itself. For a two-person dialog scene (which constitutes a large majority of scenes in most films), one upstage light serves as one actor's key light and also the second actor's backlight. A second light does the opposite: it is the second actor's key light and the first actor's backlight.

pedestal

One type of camera mount is capable of vertical movement without arcing: the pedestal. Pedestals are the norm for television studios but are rarely, if ever used in film or video field production. Television operators are expert in their use

apparent focus

Only objects that are projected sharply on the image plane are actually in "critical focus." But there are many objects that are only slightly in front of or behind the prin- cipal subject. If we stop down a little, thus increasing depth-of-field, they appear sharp But they are not actually sharp. This is called apparent focus. What is the boundary line between actual focus and apparent focus? There is none — at least not technically delineable. It is a very subjective call that depends on many factors: perception, critical judgment, the resolving power of the lens, the resolving power of the lm or video, the amount of diffusion, the surface qualities of the subject, lighting, and so on.

upstage

Part of the scene on the other side of the actors, opposite the side the camera is on Particularly when lighting a dialog scene, it is almost always a good idea to light the actors from the upstage side.

reflectance meter

Reflectance meters, (most frequently called spot meters) read the luminance of the subject, which is itself an integration of two factors: the light level falling on the scene and the reflectivity of the subject

refraction index

Refractive index is defined as the relative speed at which light moves through a material with respect to its speed in a vacuum. When light passes from a less dense medium such as air to a more dense medium such as glass, the speed of the wave decreases.

remote head

Remote Head= Geared heads can also be fitted with motors to be operated remotely or by a computer for motion control (mo-co). Remotely controlled heads are used for a variety of purposes and have made possible the use of cranes, which extend much farther and higher than would be possible if the arm had to be designed to carry the weight of an operator and camera assistant.

reversal film

Reversal film has finer grain and sharper resolution, but it is also extremely sensitive to exposure error. Also, since the film is already positive, there is no printing of the negative, which is where small corrections in exposure and color balance can be corrected when a print is made for projection.

Zoom vs. Dolly

Say you want to go from a wide or medium to a close-up during the shot. On the face of it, there would seem to be no real difference between moving the dolly in or zooming in. In actual effect, they are quite different, for several reasons. First, a zoom changes the perspective from a wide angle with deep focus and inclusion of the background to a long lens shot with compressed background and very little of the background. It also changes the depth-of-field, so the background or foreground might go from sharp focus to soft. These might be the effects you want, but often they are not. Second, the dolly move is dynamic in a way that a zoom cannot be. With a zoom your basic point of view stays the same because the camera does not move; with a dolly the camera moves in relation to the subject. Even if the subject stays center frame, the background moves behind the subject. This adds a sense of motion, and also the shot ends with an entirely different background than it opened with. This is not to say that a zoom is never desirable, just that it is important to understand the difference and what each type of move can do for your scene as a visual effect.

Second AC

Second AC When the DP or first AC calls for a lens change, filter, or any other piece of equipment, it is the second who will bring it from the camera cart (Figure 15.19) or the truck. The second assistant camera is also sometimes referred to as the clapper or the clapper/loader. This is because one of her main duties is to operate the slate or clapper, as it is sometimes called. The slate serves several functions. First, it allows the editor or video transfer person to coordinate the visual image of the stick coming down with the audio of the clap, thus achieving sound sync. The slate also identifies the scene number, the take number, and the roll number

second unit

Second unit is an important function. Usually it is used for shots that do not include the principal actors. Typical second unit work includes establishing shots, crowd shots, stunts or special effects, and insert shots. Shots that include significant lighting are not generally considered for second unit, except in the case of special effects.

chassis

The chassis is a dolly or specially built platform that supports the crane. Most small and medium-size jib arms or cranes mount either on a dolly or a braced rolling platform similar to a dolly. The chassis may roll on a smooth floor or may be mounted on dolly track for more repeatable movements.

snorkle lenses

Several types of snorkle lenses are available that are like periscopes. They generally allow for extremely close focus and for getting the lens into incredibly small spaces. Some of the units are immersible in water. Specialized applications of the snorkle are the Frazier lens and the Revolution system (Figure 14.18). These have remarkable depth-of- field that seems to defy physics (it doesn't really) and also allows for the lens itself to rotate, pan, and tilt during a shot. It is possible to have objects that are actually touching the lens in focus and still maintain usable depth in the distance.

sideboards

Sideboards fit on either side of the dolly as a place for the operator or camera assistant to stand. They are removable for transportation and for when the dolly has to fit through tight spaces. These are especially important for complex moves that require the operator to shift their body position.

elements of exposure

So we have four elements to contend with in exposure: • The amount of light falling on the scene. • Aperture — a light valve that lets in more or less light. • Shutter speed. The longer the shutter is open, the more light reaches the film or sensor. • ASA or ISO (sensitivity). Using a higher ISO film is an easy fix, but it involves a penalty: faster films tend to be grainier and have less resolution than low-speed films. This applies to digital cameras as well — using a higher ISO will result in more image noise. Here's the key point: exposure is about much more than just it's "too dark" or "too light," Exposure affects many things: it's also about whether or not a image will be noisy or grainy, it's about the overall contrast of the image, and it's about whether or not we will see detail and subtleties in the shadows and in the highlights. It's also about color saturation and contrast — the colors in the scene will only be full and rich and reproduced accurately when the exposure is correct. Overexposure and underexposure will severely desaturate the color of the scene; this is particularly important in greenscreen and bluescreen. With HD, it is absolutely critical that you not overexpose the image. This is not as critical with film. Film stock is fairly tolerant of overexposure and doesn't do as well with underexposure; HD on the other hand is very good with underexposure

front porch

Some dollies have a small extension that fits on the front of the dolly — the front porch; this is also known as a cowcatcher. This can be used to hold the battery or as a place for the operator or the camera assistant to stand during a move.

stop

Stop is a short term for f/stop. A stop is a unit of light measurement. An increase in the amount of light by one stop means there is twice as much light. A decrease of one stop means there is half as much light.

subtractive colors

Subtractive colors are used to describe when pigments in an object absorb certain wavelengths of white light while reflecting the rest

T Stop

T-stop (true stop) is a measurement of actual light transmission as measured on an optical bench. F/stops are used in depth-of- eld and hyperfocal calculations, and T-stops are used in setting exposure. The human eye tends to perceive everything as in focus, but this is a result of the eye/brain interaction. The eye is basically an f/2 optic and may be considered a fairly "wide-angle" lens, so much of the world actually is in focus, certainly in brightly lit situations. But, nearly imperceptible to us, the focus is constantly shifting.

the leveling head

The camera cannot be mounted directly on a tripod or dolly. If it was, there would be no way to pan or tilt the camera. On dollies, cranes and car mounts, there is also an intermediate step: the leveling head (Figure 11.11). This is the base the camera head sits on, which allows for leveling of the camera. In the case of a tripod, leveling is accomplished by lengthening or shortening one of the legs to get the camera level. Camera heads make smooth, stable, and repeatable moves possible. Camera heads have two main types of mounts: the flat Mitchell plate (Figure 11.11) and the ball head, which allows for leveling the head quickly.

DP responsobilites

The DP's responsibilities are numerous. They include: • The look of the scenes, in consultation with the director. • Directing the lighting of the project. • Communicating to the gaffer and key grip how the scene is to be lit: specific units to be used, gels, cuts with flags, silks, overheads, diffusion, and so on. Directing and supervising the lighting process. • Coordinating with the production designer, wardrobe, makeup, and effects people concerning the overall look of the film. • Filtration on the camera. • Lenses: including whether to use a zoom or a prime lens (though this may sometimes be the director's call). • If HMIs are used, ensuring that there are no flicker problems (see the chapter on Lighting Sources). • Being constantly aware of and consulting on issues of continuity: crossing the line, screen direction, and so on. (see the chapter on Cinematic Continuity). • Being a backstop on insuring that the director hasn't forgotten specific shots needed for good coverage of the scene. • Supervising their team: camera operator, the camera assistants, the electricians, the grips, and any second camera or second unit camera crews; also the data wrangler and DIT. • Watching out for mistakes in physical continuity: clothing, props, scenery, and so on. This is primarily the job of continuity and the department heads, but the eye looking through the lens is often the best way to spot problems. • Specifying the specific motion picture film raw stock(s) or type of video camera to be used and any special processing or the workflow for video footage. • Determining the exposure and informing the first AC what T-stop to use. • Ensuring that all technical requirements are in order: correct film speed, shutter angle, and so on

DIT

The Digital Imaging Technician is important on larger jobs but may not be needed (or affordable) on smaller jobs. The DIT is essentially a second pair of eyes for the DP. The DIT will generally have a station near the set with high-quality monitors and good viewing conditions (no stray light — often a light-proof tent for exteriors) and a waveform monitor and vectorscope. The DIT may also make camera adjustments and setup in accordance with the DPs instructions. In some cases, the DIT can remotely control exposure and other camera settings — this is especially useful on multi-camera shoots where it is important to keep the same look on all cameras.

the garfield

The Garfield is a mount that goes on a wheelchair to allow for mounting of a Steadicam.

extension tubes

The advantage of extension tubes or bellows is that they do not alter the optics at all, so there is no degradation of the image. Extension tubes are rings that hold the lens farther away from the film plane than it normally sits, thus reducing the minimum focus distance.

exposure

The amount of light in a photo; under-exposed is not enough light, while over-exposed is too much light There are really two ways in which you have to think about exposure. One is the overall exposure of the scene; this is controlled by the iris, the shutter speed, gain and neutral density filters. All of this controls exposure for the entire frame. Except for some types of neutral density filters (called grads), there is no chance to be selective about a certain part of the frame. Another aspect of exposure is balance within the frame.

super 35

The basic concept of Super35 is to use the entire width of the negative: the aperture originally used in silent films (Figures 17.11 through 17.14). From this full-width negative, a widescreen image is extracted. This is done with an optical print. This optical step is necessary to slightly reduce the image to leave room for the sound track and to squeeze it for anamorphic projection. Although the resulting image is not the full aperture, the original negative uses more of the available space. This is necessary because there is still a need for a sound track. For the DP, the director and especially for the operator, one of the greatest advantages of Super35 is that a common topline can be used. Because 4:3 video is more square, the top of video is always higher than the top of the widescreen format. As a result, it is necessary to frame for two formats at the same time. This is difficult at best and it is always a compromise. Since the Super35 format is extracted from the film in an optical process, there is the freedom to extract any part of the negative you like. Thus, the top of the video frame can be the same as top of the widescreen frame, thereby reducing the need to compromise the format Having a common top is most important, as the information in the upper part of the frame is nearly always more important than the lower part of the frame. Cutting a character off at the belt instead of across the chest usually makes no difference, whereas cutting off the top of the head can be very awkward. The drawbacks of Super35 are the additional cost of the optical print and the slight increase in grain and contrast due to this extra step. 35mm has been advanced by 4 perforations for each frame. Unlike the aperture gate, this is not something that is easily changed. 3-perf systems have the advantage of using less film stock and longer running times out of each mag.

what happens on set

The director describes to the DP what shot is wanted first. At this stage it is important to have at least a rough idea of all of the shots needed so there are no surprises later. • The director blocks the scene and there is a blocking rehearsal. • Marks are set for the actors. The first AC might choose to take some focus measurements at this time, if possible. • The AD asks the DP for a time estimate on the next setup. • The AD announces that the DP has the set. • The DP huddles with the gaffer and key grip and tells them what is needed. • The electrics and grips carry out the DPs orders. • The DP supervises the placement of the camera. • When all is set, the DP informs the AD that he is ready. • The director takes over and stages final rehearsal with the actors in makeup and wardrobe. If needed, focus measurements are taken by the first AC, assisted by the second AC. • If necessary, the DP may have to make a few minor adjustments (especially if the blocking or actions have changed), Figures 15.21. The second AC slat- ing on a day exterior HD shoot. cinematography 306 called tweaking. Of course, the less the better, but ultimately it is the DPs responsibility to get it right, even if there is some grumbling from the AD. • The DP meters the scene and determines the lens aperture. When ready, he informs the AD. • The AD calls first team in and actors are brought back to the set. • The director may have a final word for the actors or camera operator, then announce that he or she is ready for a take. • The AD calls for last looks and the makeup, hair, and wardrobe people to make sure the actors are ready in every detail. • If there is smoke, rain, fire, or other physical effects, they are set in motion. • When everything is set, the AD calls to lock it up: this is repeated by second-second ADs and production assistants to make sure that everyone around knows to stop working and be quiet for a take. • The AD calls roll sound. • The sound recordist calls speed (after allowing for pre-roll). • The AD calls roll camera. • The first AC switches on and calls camera speed. (If there are multiple cameras it is A speed, B speed, etc.) • The first AC or operator says mark it, and the second AC slates, calling out the scene and take number. • When the camera is in position and in focus, the operator calls out set. • When applicable the AD may call background action, meaning the extras and atmosphere begin their activity. • The director calls action and the scene begins. • When the scene is over, the director calls cut. • If there are any, the operator mentions problems he saw in the shot and any reasons why another take may be necessary or any adjustments that may make the physical action of the shot work more smoothly. • If there is another take, the AD tells the actors and the operator tells the dolly grip back to one, meaning everyone resets to position one. • The second AC calls for dial (amount of film shot on that take) and makes his notes on the camera report. • If there is a need for a adjustments, they are made and the process starts over

key light

The dominant light on people or objects. The "main" light on a scene.

First AC

The first AC is also known as the focus puller. The first is the crew member who directly works with the camera. Duties include: • Loading film magazines on the camera or tape on a video camera with proper labeling. • Ensuring that the camera operates properly. • Checking for hairs in the gate before any scene is wrapped. Figure 15.4. To create a loose handheld feel for the shot, the camera the operator stabilized on a sandbag set on a short C-stand. cinematography 292 • Guarding against flares, light leaks, and any other problems. • Setting the T-stop. Also, frame rate and shutter angle. • Measuring the focus distances. • Controlling focus so that the proper parts of the scene are sharp. • In some cases operating the zoom control (this is often done by the operator using a zoom control mounted on the handle). • Moving the camera to the next setup, with the help of the other AC's and sometimes the grips. • Guarding the camera against damage or malfunction. • Making sure the proper film stock is loaded. • Calling out the footage so that the second AC can note it on the camera report.

lens focal length

The focal length of the lens is the distance (measured in millimeters) from the optical center of the lens to the focal point on the film stock or other sensor when the image is sharp and clear (in focus).

best boy

The gaffer's chief assistant is the second electric, also called the best boy electric, or assistant chief lighting technician. The second has three main duties: maintaining and overseeing all the equipment, supervising everything to do with electricity, and directly supervising the crew. On location, the second will spend a lot of time on the truck ordering, organizing, and maintaining the equipment.

grips

The grips have a wide range of duties: • The grips handle all C-stands, high rollers, and so on, and whatever goes on them: nets, flags, frames, etc. This includes any form of lighting control or shadow making that is not attached to the light itself such as nets, flags, and silks. • They also handle all types of mounting hardware, specialized clamps of all types that might be used to attach lights or almost anything else anywhere the DP needs them. • They handle all bagging (securing lights and other equipment with sandbags). Once a light is set, the grips bring as many sandbags as are necessary to secure and stabilize it. They may also have to tie it off or secure it in another way in windy or unstable conditions. They deal with all issues of leveling, whether it be lights, ladders, or the camera. Their tools for this are apple boxes, cribbing, step blocks, and wedges. • They handle all dollies, lay all dolly track, and level it. Also any cranes are theirs to set up and operate. This is especially critical when a crane is the type that the DP and first AC ride on The grips are also in charge of rigging the camera if it's in an unusual spot, such as attached to the front of a roller coaster, up in a tree, and so on. • The grips build any scaffolding, platforms, or other rigs necessary for camera rigs or other purposes.

high hat

The high-hat is strictly the mounting surface for the camera head; most have no leveling capability at all, but some do. It is used when the camera needs to go very low, almost to the surface. It is also used when the camera needs to be mounted in a remote place, such as on top of a ladder. The high-hat is usually bolted to a piece of plywood that can be screwed, bolted, or strapped in to all sorts of places. The drawback of a high-hat is that the camera head (fluid or geared) still has to go on top of it. As a result, the lens height is still at least 18 inches or more above the surface. If this just isn't low enough, the first choice is usually to prop it on a sandbag. The pliable nature of the sandbag allows the camera to be positioned for level and tilt. Any moves, however, are pretty much handheld. If more control is desired, a rocker plate can be used. This is a simple device that allows the camera to be tilted up and down. Smooth side-to-side pans are not possible. Getting the camera low to the ground can sometimes be difficult. Even if the camera is taken off the dolly or tripod, it is still mounted on the geared or fluid head. This means that the lens is still at least a foot or more off the ground. The head still has to be mounted on something; generally the lowest thing available is a high-hat.

rods vs cones

The human retina is filled with two kinds of light receptors that are called rods and cones. The rods are primarily responsible for the perception of light and dark: value or grayscale. The cones primarily perceive color. The retina has 3 kinds of cones. The response of each type of cone as a function of the wavelength of the incident light is shown There are many theories to explain the phenomenon of color vision. The most easily understood is the three-component theory that assumes three kinds of light-sensitive elements (cones) — each receptive to one of the primary colors of light — an extreme spectrum red, an extreme spectrum violet, and an imaginary green Other light receptors, called rods, are also present in the eye but they are not involved in color vision. Rods serve to give a general, overall picture of the field of view, and are receptive only to the quantity of light waves entering the eye. Several rods are connected to a single nerve end; thus, they cannot resolve fine detail. Rods are sensitive to low levels of illumination and enable the eye to see at night or under extremely low lighting conditions. Therefore, objects that appear brightly colored in daylight when seen by the color-sensitive cones appear only as colorless forms by moonlight because only the rods are stimulated. This is known as scotopic vision.

incident meter

The incident meter measures scene illumination only — in other words: the amount of light falling on the scene. To accomplish this purpose, most incident meters use a hemispherical white plastic dome that covers the actual sensing cell

knee

The knee is brightest parts of the scene — the highlights. Even with slight overexposure of the highlights, video will usually clip. Film has a much better ability to roll off the highlights more gradually. For this reason control of the knee is critical. Knee controls are generally in two parts: point and slope. Point is a measure of where on the curve this parameter starts to take effect. Slope is the relative gamma of the knee regions.

loader

The loader does exactly as the name implies: they load the film mags. In addition to keeping the mags loaded and ready to go, the loader also keeps track of the film stock received, the amount used, and excess recans or reloads kept in stock.

long shot

The long shot (LS) generally contains the full body of one or more characters (almost filling the frame, but with some of the surrounding area above, below, and to the sides of the frame also visible).

long focal lens

The long-focal-length lens (also known as the telephoto lens; focal lengths ranging from 85mm to as high as 500mm) brings distant objects close, makes subjects look closer together than they do in real life, and flattens space and depth in the process. Thus, it alters the subject's movement, so that a subject moving from the background toward the camera might appear to be barely moving at all. . The depth of field of the long-focal-length lens is generally a very narrow range, and it leaves the background and foreground of the in-focus objects dramatically out of focus.

medium shot

The medium shot (MS), somewhere between the long shot and the close-up, usually shows a character from the waist up.

1.66/1.85 aspect ratio

The next step in the evolution was the wider 1.66 frame. After the wide-screen craze of the fifties, there was a need for a wider format that did not call for special cameras or wide-screen projection equipment. The response to this was the introduction of the 1.85:1 aspect ratio.

steadicam limitations

The only limitation is that since the post extends down from the camera, that is the lower limit of travel for the camera. To go any lower than this, the entire rig must be switched to low-mode, which generally takes several minutes.

overlapping method

The overlapping method is also called the triple-take method. The triple-take method is useful for scenes where the action cannot be repeated. You could get a wide shot of him coming in, then ask him to freeze while you set up for a closer shot of him putting the notes on the lectern, then have him freeze again while you set up another shot of him pulling up the chair. What you will discover is that the shots probably won't cut together smoothly.

depth of field factors

The portion of this image that falls on the image plane and is within the circle of confusion is called the depth-of- field. It has a near and far limit, but these fall o gradually. A number of factors affect depth- of- field: • Focal length of the lens=The shorter the focal length, the more the depth-of- field. • The aperture of the lens= The smaller the aperture, the greater the depth-of- field. • Image magnification (object distance). The closer the subject is to the image plane, the less the depth-of- field. • The format: larger formats (35mm or Imax) have less depth of field than smaller formats (such as 16mm or 2/3" CCD.) • The circle of confusion selected for the situation. • Indirectly: the resolving power of lens and lm, end use, diffusion, fog, smoke, the type of subject.

wide angle lens

The short-focal-length lens (also known as the wide-angle lens, starting as low as 12.5mm) produces wide-angle views. It makes the subjects on the screen appear farther than they are The shortfocal-length lens offers a nearly complete depth of field, rendering almost all objects in the frame in focus. The perception of movement towards or away from the lens is heightened; space is expanded and distant objects become much smaller. All this can give the viewer a greater sense of presence —a greater feeling of being in the scene As the lens gets even wider, there is distortion of objects, particularly those near the lens. This is the fundamental reason why a longer focal length lens is considered essential for a portrait or head shot. It's a simple matter of perspective. If you are shooting a closeup and you want to fill the frame, the wider the lens, the closer the camera will have to be. As the camera gets closer, the percentage difference in distance from the nose to the eyes increases dramatically, which causes distortion.

light reflection

The reflection of light can be roughly categorized into two types of reflection: specular re flection which is defined as light reflected from a smooth surface at a definite angle, and diffuse reflection, which is produced by rough surfaces that tend to reflect light in all directions.

light refraction

The refraction of visible light is an important characteristic of lenses that allows them to focus a beam of light onto a single point. Refraction, or bending of the light, occurs as light passes from one medium to another when there is a difference in the index of refraction between the two materials. By shifting the focus of the lens, or by stopping down, or using a wider angle lens, we can bring them into focus, but let's assume we are shooting wide open with a fairly long lens. By chang- ing the focus of the lens, what we are actually doing is shifting that three-dimensional image backward and forward.

the shot list

The shot list serves a number of functions. It lets the DP and the assistant director better plan the day, including possibly sending o some electricians and grips to pre-rig another location. It also helps the DP in determining what film stock should be used, what addi- tional equipment should be prepped, and how much time is reason- ably allowable to light and set the shot within the constraints of what needs to be done that day.

circle of confusion

The term for this is circle of confusion. Circle of confusion is defined as the largest blurred point of light that will still be perceived as a point by the human eye. The circle of confusion is basically a measure of how large the projected image of a true point source can be before it is considered to be unacceptably out of focus. The circle of confusion is smaller for 16mm because 16mm has to be blown up more to achieve the same image size on the screen or monitor.

lights gels/color filters

The term gel refers to color material that is place over lights, windows, or other sources in the scene. Filter is the term for anything placed in front of the lens to (among other things) control color. There are, however, gel-type filters that can be used in front of the lens, but these are not commonly used in film production. There are three basic reasons to change the color of lighting in a scene, which can be done adding gels to the sources or by using daylight or tungsten units or a combination of them: • To correct (convert) the color of the lights to match the film type or color balance of a video camera. • To match various lighting sources. • For effect or mood. Gelling the lighting sources gives you more control over the scene, since not all lights have to be the same color. Using a filter on the camera makes everything uniformly the same color. The exception to this are filters called grads, which change color from top to bottom or left to right or diagonally depending on how they are positioned.

rolling shot

The term rolling shot is used wherever the camera is mounted on a vehicle, either on the picture vehicle or a camera car that travels along with the picture vehicle. The "picture" vehicle is the one being photographed

univision

Univision as he proposes it has a frame aspect ratio of 2:1. The following are some of Storaro's observations on this format: in normal widescreen film for theatrical release filmed in 1:1.85, there is a lot of wastage in camera negative. With Univision's 1: 2 aspect ratio and digital sound (the sound track not on the film itself ), using only three perforations per frame on the 35mm negative and the positive, it is possible to have: • 25% saved on camera negative, with absolutely no compromise in the quality of the image. It actually increases the average quality of any panoramic and anamorphic picture. • 25% more shooting time in the camera magazine; less frequent mag changes. • Quieter running cameras because less film is moved through them. • No need for anamorphic lenses on cameras and projectors. • No distortion of horizontal and vertical lines due to the use of anamorphic lenses. • Greater depth-of-field due to not using anamorphic lenses. • Less lighting required because of spherical lenses. • No use of anamorphic lenses.

color value

Value is the relative lightness or darkness of a colored surface and depends on the illuminance and on its reflectivity

vistavision

VistaVision runs standard 35mm film horizontally (Figure 17.7). Each frame spans 8 perforations, twice the area of a regular frame. It is still in common use, especially for any kind of special effects or plate work. The reason it is used for this type of work is that something that is shot for a background plate or as part of a special effects piece will likely go through several stages of optical printing or perhaps digitizing.

180 degree shutter

When shooting at 24 FPS, you are going to want to have your shutter speed at 1/50s or at a 180 degree angle. The 180 degree shutter is where the frame is open and closed to light for an equal amount of time. If you keep the shuter open for a 180 degree angle, you get a certain kind of motion blur. The thing is that modern film cameras don't have rotary shutters, they have electronic shutters. When you pan and everything goes blurry, this is because the speed of the pan is too fast and you can fix this by increasing the shutter. The 2 things you use shutter speeds for is to control motion blur and to control exposure.

shutter

a device that opens and closes in front of the lens of a camera The shutter is something that will block the light. A leaf shutter looks like the aperture and lives in the lens. The shutter is basically another aperture that opens and closes at a time you decide.

perforations

lm perforations, also known as perfs and sprocket holes, are the holes placed in the film stock during manufacturing and used for transporting (by sprockets and claws) and steadying (by pin registration) the film. Films may have different types of perforations depending on film gauge, film format, and intended usage. Perforations are also used as a standard measuring reference within certain camera systems to refer to the size of the frame.