cinematography

Superwhite

"pure white" is all channels at maximum: 255, 255, 255.

Neutral Density Filters

Neutral density filters are used to reduce overall exposure without affecting color rendition. They can be used in extremely high-illumination situations (such as a sunlit snow scene or a beach scene) where the exposure would be too great or where less exposure is desired to reduce the depth-of-field.

Items Listed on Lens care 299

Never clean a lens with dry lens tissue. •Never put lens fluid on a lens; put it on the lens tissue. •Brush or blow off loose grit before wiping with lens tissue. •Never use eyeglass cleaning cloth; it may contain silicone. •In dusty or sandy conditions, try to keep a filter on the lens. Optical flats are clear optical grade glass for this purpose. •Never use rubber cement to attach a filter to a lens. Use Scotch ATG-924, otherwise known as transfer tape or snot tape (see Figure 11.34 in Image Control & Grading). •Be careful when mounting a net to the rear of the lens; it can get snagged or torn and this will affect the image. •Always close at least one latch on a lens case. •Protect all lenses from shock. •For transport, put lenses in the case with the iris wide open and focus at infinity.

Practical Motivation vs Aesthetic motivation

Practical lights are the light sources that are visible as models within your scene. Indoor examples of practical lights include lamps, light fixtures, television sets, or any other model you've built that emits light.

Fresnels pinkies peppers tweenies babies juniors seniors and tenners

SENIOR/5K Although it is available in both versions, the Baby 5K is far more popular than the larger unit. It can work as a general purpose big light and a fill used against a 10K. The 5K is also called a senior. JUNIOR/2K The 2K Fresnel is also known as a deuce or a junior. It has enough power to bring a single subject or actor up to a reasonable exposure, even with diffusion in front of the lens. Juniors are also useful as backlights, rims, and kickers. Baby juniors (called BJs) are more compact and are extraordinarily versatile units. BABY/1K Thousand-watt units are known as 1Ks (one K) or babies. The 1K is used as a key light, a splash on the wall, a small back light, a hard fill, and for dozens of other uses. The baby can use either a 750-watt bulb (EGR) or a 1,000-watt bulb (EGT). Most are now used with the 1K quartz bulb, but are still sometimes called 750s. The Baby 1K, also called a Baby Baby, is the small size version (Figure 12.16). Because of its smaller lens and box, it has a wider spread than the studio baby. TWEENIE/650 The Tweenie is "between" the 1K and the Inky. The Tweenie is often just the right light for the small jobs a baby used to do, even as a key light. It is very useful for a number of small jobs and easily hidden or rigged above the set. BETWEENIE, INBETWEENIE, INKY, AND PEPPER These are similar to Tweenies but smaller. The Betweenie is a 300-watt unit and the InBetweenie uses a 200 watt bulb and is often used instead of an Inky (also 200 watts). At 100, 200, or 300 watts (depending on the bulb and size of the housing), the Pepper is a smaller unit, but up close it can deliver a surprising amount of light. The Inky at 200 watts is great for a tiny spritz of light on the set, as an eye light, a small fill, or for an emergency last-minute light to just raise the exposure a bit on a small area.

Log Encoding

It is similar in concept to gamma in that it reduces the slope of the response curve to extend the dynamic range to stretch the brightness values that can be captured and recorded without clipping. Instead of applying a power function to the curve, it uses a logarithmic curve (Figure 10.20). The spacing of the values is not even, as we see here along the vertical Y-axis—every stop is compressed into a perceptually equal space with roughly the same storage space. A lot of problems are solved with this simple mathematical translation.

lighting terms listed on pp 264-265

Key light: The dominant light on people or objects. The "main" light on a scene. 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; also called the contrast ratio. Backlight: Light that hits a person or objects from behind and above. A rim or 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. 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 (meaning light and shadow) if there is little or no fill, but may be a bit too harsh for close-ups, where some adjustment or slight fill might be needed. Topper: Light directly from above. (The word can also refer to a flag that cuts off the upper part of a light.) If a top light spills onto the actor's nose, some might say it is "too toppy." Hard light: Light from the sun or small lighting source such as a Fresnel that creates sharp, well-defined shadows. Soft light: Light from a large source that creates soft, fuzzy shadows or (if soft enough), no shadows at all. One example: skylight on an overcast day is from many directions and is very soft. Ambient light: There are two uses of this term. One means the light that just happens to be in a location. The second use refers to soft, overhead light that is just sort of "there." Can also be a base light that opens up the shadows. 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. Anything on a set that works is also called practical, for example, a refrigerator. Upstage: Part of the scene on the other side of the actors, opposite the side the camera is on. 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. High key: Lighting that is bright and fairly shadowless with lots of fill light; often used in fashion/beauty commercials. Low key: Lighting that is dark and shadowy with little or no fill light. Can also be described as having a high key/fill ratio. Bounce light: Light that is reflected off something—a wall, the ceiling, a white or neutral surface, a silk, or just about anything else; usually to make a light softer. Available light: Whatever light already exists at the location. May be natural light (sun, sky, overcast day) or artificial (street lights, overhead fluorescents, etc.). 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.

lift shadows

Lift or Shadows affect the darkest areas of the scene. As you can see in Figures 11.10 through 11.12, Lift raises or lowers the darkest areas while being anchored at the pure white end; this means that it has the ability to take the shadows fully up or down the scale.

LED

Light Emitting Diode

Diffusion Filters

There are many types of diffusion filters, but they all have one common purpose: they slightly alter the image to make it softer or more diffuse or to reduce the contrast. They do it in a number of ways and with a variety of effects

Motivation and invisible technique in camera movement

There are two types of camera movement: motivated and unmotivated. Motivated camera movements are direct responses to the action on screen: you move, I follow you. ... Unmotivated camera moves are used for emphasis of one kind or another, be it emotional or supernatural, by the storyteller.

duties of the camera operator

They are responsible for operating a variety of technical equipment including single and multiple portable cameras, remote-control and electronic cameras, cranes and mobile mountings. Other responsibilities include: assembling and setting up equipment. planning, preparing and rehearsing scenes.

Tungsten

Tungsten lamps arejust bigger versions of ordinary household bulbs; they all have a filament of tungsten wire.

Shot list

he director's shot list serves a number of functions. It lets the DP and the assistant director better plan the day, including possibly sending off some electricians and grips to pre-rig another location. It also helps the DP in determining what additional equipment should be prepped, and how much time is reasonably allowable to light and set the shot within the constraints of what needs to be done that day. Even if the shot list doesn't get followed step by step, it will often at the very least provide a clue as to what style of shooting the director wants to employ:

Polarizing Filters

filters that increase color saturation and contrast in outdoor shots

focal length

focal length: how wide or long it is. A short focal length lens has a wide field of view; a long focal length is like a telescope or binoculars, it has a narrow field of view.

HMIS

is a type of light which uses an arc lamp instead of an incandescent bulb to produce light. HMI lights are high-quality and correspondingly expensive. They are popular with film and television production companies but their price puts them out of reach of those with modest budgets.

Duties of the Director of Photography

is responsible for ordering and testing camera and lighting equipment, supervising a camera and lighting crew and editing a film's visual elements in post production, among other duties

Silks and . butterfly

soften harsh light, while a gobo is a hard material with a pattern or design cut out of it to add lighting texture to a set soft harsh son bl.ock light suns source full white

Texture

texture gives perceptual clues. Texture can be a function of the objects themselves, but usually requires lighting to bring it out, as in Figure 2.6. We also add texture in many different ways in filmmaking; see the chapter Lighting Basics where we will discuss adding visual texture to lighting as a way of shaping the light.

Angle of view

the amount of coverage of a given camera lens or hand-held light meter.

Depth of Field

the distance between the nearest and the furthest objects that give an image judged to be in focus in a camera.

circle of confusion

the largest blurred point of light that will still be perceived as a point by the human eye. It is a measure of how large the image of a point source can be before it is unacceptably out of focus.

Dynamic Range

the range of exposures that may be captured by a detector

Rec.709 vs Rec.2020

2020 (UHDTV/UHD-1/UHD-2) color space can reproduce colors that cannot be shown with the Rec. 709 (HDTV) color space. ... 2020 color space covers 75.8%, the DCI-P3 digital cinema color space covers 53.6%, the Adobe RGB color space covers 52.1%, and the Rec. 709 color space covers 35.9%.

Zoom vs dolly move

A Zoom is not the same thing as a Dolly AZoom shotrequires an adjustment in lens focal length while aDollyrequires the actual physicalmovementof a camera. What does that mean? You need notmovea camera forward nor backward in order to pull off aZoom; it's, in essence, a magnification of an image.

Goals of good lighting p261

A full range of tones and gradations of tone. •Color control and balance. •Shape and dimension in the individual subjects. •Separation: subjects stand out against the background. •Depth and dimension in the frame. •Add emphasis and focus. •Texture. •Mood and tone: emotional content. •Exposure. •Balance. •Visual metaphor. •Invisible Technique.

Par Lights

A parabolic aluminized reflector lamp (PAR lamp or simply PAR) is a type of electric lamp that is widely used in commercial, residential, and transportation illumination. It produces a highly directional beam. ... Halogen sealed beam lamps incorporate a halogen lamp within a quartz or hard glass envelope.

Tracking move

A tracking shot is any shot where the camera follows backward, forward or moves alongside the subject being recorded. In cinematography, the term refers to a shot in which the camera is mounted on a camera dolly that is then placed on rails - like a railroad track.

S-curve

An S-curve is simply a curve of some object, line or path in the image that curves back and forth horizontally as you proceed vertically, much like the letter S-in fact, usually exactly like the letter S.

basic principle of lighting listed on p 272

Avoid flat front lighting! Lights that come more from the sides and back are usually the way to accomplish this. Any time a light is right beside or behind the camera, that is a warning sign of possible flat, featureless lighting. •Whenever possible, light people from the upstage side. This is probably the most important principle of lighting along with avoiding flat front lighting. •Use techniques such as backlight, kickers, and background/set lights to separate the actors from the backgrounds, accentuate the actor's features. •Use shadows to create chiaroscuro, depth, shape the scene and mood. Some DPs say that "...the lights you don't turn on are as important as the ones you do turn on." •Use lighting and exposure to have a full range of tones in the scene—this must take into account both the reflectances of the scene and the intensity of the lighting. •When appropriate, add texture to your lights with gobos, cookies, and other methods. Some DPs, such as Wally Pfister almost always add some texture to their key lights.

separation

By separation, we mean making the main subjects "stand out" from the background. A frequently used method for doing this is a backlight. Another way to do it is to make the area behind the main subjects significantly darker or brighter than the subject. In our quest to make an image as three-dimensional as possible, we usually try to create a foreground, midground, and background in a shot; separation is an important part of this

Depth

Calculation of depth-of-field in extreme close-up work methods is different from normal situations. At magnifications greater than 1:10, the depth-of-field is extremely small and it is easier to calculate the total depth-of-field rather than a near/far limit of focus.

Proprietary log curves

Camera companies employ log curves extensively in recording image data; each manufacturer has designed one or more log encoding schemes which are part of their "secret sauce" in the quest for a better camera. Red cameras have RedlogFilm, Arri uses Log C, Canon cameras employ C-Log, and Panavision has Panalog. The manufacturer's graphs of these encoding schem

color correction vs color grading

Color correction is a process where each clip (shot) is adjusted for "correct" exposure, color, and gamma. vs. Grading is a creative process where decisions are made to further enhance or establish a new visual tone to the project including introducing new color themes, films stock emulations, colorgradients, and a slew of other choices—in other words, the final look of the project.

Conversion Filters

Conversion filters work with the blue and orange ranges of the spectrum and deal with fundamental color balance in relation to the color sensitivity of the emulsion. Conversion filters affect all parts of the spectrum for smooth color rendition.

The Bullet Points listed for set safety on pp. 354 -355

Don't run on the set—ever. •Never stand on the top of a ladder or even the second rung down. Seriously, never. Never walk under a ladder. •Production should always make sure fire extinguishers and first aid kits are available and easy to find. •Be sure the name, phone # and location of the nearest hospital are on the call sheet. •Don't operate any piece of equipment unless you are the person who should be doing it. •Wear your gloves. •Don't operate any piece of equipment you are not completely familiar with. •Wear safe shoes—no sandals or open toes. •Don't do anything with electricity unless you are one of the electricians. •The key grip is also the chief safety officer of the set. •Stunt coordinator has responsibility for safety on stunts. •Never leave anything on a ladder.

Ellipsoidal lights

Ellipsoidal reflector light (abbreviated to ERS, or colloquially ellipsoidal or ellipse) is the name for a type of stage lightinginstrument, named for the ellipsoidal reflector used to collect and direct the light through a barrel that contains a lens or lens train.

Gain/Highlights

Gain (sometimes called Highlights) affects the brightest areas of the image the most (Figures 11.16and 11.17). Similar to Lift, it is anchored at the dark end and so has very little effect there, while at the highlight end, it has freedom to range up and down the scale.

Gamma/Midtones

Gamma/Midtones affects the medium tones of the picture. In practice, they can be seen as contrast adjustment. As we noted in Linear, Gamma, Log, the term gamma is used a bit loosely in the video world, but it is largely the same concept here.

Camera reports

In addition to slating, the Second will also maintain the camera reports. On traditional film shoots, the camera report will include some general information: •Name of production company. •Title of the project. •In some cases, the production number. •Name of director. Name of DP. •In some cases the purchase order number. •Sometimes, as a courtesy, the film lab will pre-print this information on a batch of camera reports.

full range of tones and gradations of tones

In most cases, we want an image to have a full range of tones from black to white (tonal range is always discussed in terms of grayscale, without regard to color). There are exceptions to this, of course, but in general, an image that has a broad range of tones, with subtle gradations all along the way, is going to be more pleasing to the eye, more realistic, and have more impact.

The bullet points listed for set etiquette pp. 351 -353

Show respect for your fellow crew members and their jobs at all times. Be respectful of actors, and background people. •Absolute silence during a take! •Make sure your cell phone is off—duh! •Do not give the director or DP "advice" on how to shoot the scene. The director will not be the least bit impressed if you try to show off your film school knowledge by speculating on how Hitchcock would have done it. •Don't talk to the director or DP unless they speak to you. •Don't offer your opinion on anything about the scene, unless it is something you are responsible for. •Nobody talks to the DP except the director, operator, First AC, and DIT (and they know how to pick the right time). If a crew knows each other well and it's a lighter moment on the set, the occasional joke is not out of place. •Nobody uses a light meter on set except the DP and gaffer. •Don't crowd around the camera. •Don't crowd around the monitor. The only people who should be looking at the main monitor are the director, the DP, and maybe the producer or an actor. •Don't try to do somebody else's job. There is a very real reason for this. See the commentary below. •Don't get in the way of other people doing their job. •Do not touch the camera unless you are the DP, the operator or the First or Second AC, loader and sometimes the DIT. Never—like seriously, never. •Don't pick up or touch the recording media. •Do not ask to look through the camera. On some sets, even the director will ask if it's OK to look. A big deal? So are eye infections. •Do not touch anything on a hot set—one that has been dressed and prepped and is ready for shooting, or one where shooting has taken place, and the crew is going to be coming back to that set. •Don't leave cups, water bottles, or food laying around. Never put them down on a working or "hot" set. •Put your initials on the cap of your water bottle. •Call "flashing" when shooting a photo. This is so the electricians don't think that your camera flash means that a bulb burned out in one of their lights. •When a stunt is being run, never applaud until the stunt performer or stunt coordinator signals that the performer is safe and not injured—usually a thumbs up. If you applaud and then it turns out the stunt performer has been injured, you're going to look (and feel) like a real jerk. •Don't be in an actor's sight line, especially Christian Bale. •Don't walk around or be distracting during a take. •Some actors prefer that you not make eye contact with them at all—respect the fact that they are extremely focused and concentrating on their job. •Never try to chat with an actor uninvited. •Never any off-color jokes or sexist remarks or anything crude; it's a professional environment—act accordingly. •If you're shooting on the street, several dozen people a day will ask you "What are you shooting?" Standard response is "It's a mayonnaise commercial." Nobody's interested in mayonnaise.

DIT (Digital Imaging Technician)

The DIT (Digital Imaging Technician) is the data workflow manager and often also a "second pair of eyes" for the DP.

duties of the 1st 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 digital recording media or film magazines on the camera on film shoots. •Ensuring that the camera operates properly. •Checking for hairs in the gate before any scene is wrapped (film only). •Guarding against flares, light leaks, and any other problems. •Setting the T-stop at the DP's direction. Also, frame rate and shutter angle. •Measuring the focus distances in conjunction with the Second AC; sometimes focus is set by eye. •Pulling focus during the take. •In some cases operating the zoom control. This is sometimes done by the operator using a zoom control on the handle. •Moving the camera to the next setup, with the help of the other ACs and sometimes the grips. •Guarding the camera against damage or malfunction. •Making sure the proper film stock is loaded, or in digital that ISO and other settings are as they should be. •Calling out the footage so that the Second AC can note it on the camera report (film only).

F-Stop vs T-Stop

The f/stop of a lens is a measure of its ability to pass light to the image plane. The f/stop is the ratio of the focal length of a lens to the diameter of the entrance pupil. However, this is a purely mathematical calculation that does not account for the varying efficiency of different lens designs. T-stop (transmittance stop) is a measurement of actual light transmission measured on an optical bench. F/stops are used in depth-of-field and hyperfocal calculations, and T-stops are used in setting exposure. T-stops are typically 1/3 to 1/2 stop less than the F/stop.

Single and Double Nets

The green scrim is called a "single" and consists of a single layer of wire mesh and will take the light down a half stop. The red scrim is called a "double" which consist of two layers of wire mesh and will take the light down a full stop. And a stop is half the intensity of a ligh

Duties of grips listed on pp 334 345

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—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 or gaffer needs them. •They handle all bagging (securing lights and other equipment with sandbags). They may also have to tie-off a stand 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. Once they are seated, the crane grip then balances the crane by adding weights in the back so that the whole rig can be easily moved in any direction. Once this has been done, it is absolutely critical that no one step off the crane until the grips readjust the balance. •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. They may assist the stunt men in building platforms for the airbags or mounts for stunt equipment. •The grip crew and the key grip, in particular, are in charge of safety on the set, outside ofanything electrical, which is, of course, handled by the electricians, and stunts, which are directed by the stunt coordinator.

High hat

The high-hat (Figures 15.5 and 15.31) is strictly a mounting surface for the camera head. 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

hyperfocal distance

The minimum distance that is in focus when a lens is adjusted to the infinity focus position.

hard vs. soft light

Uses of soft light[edit] Soft light use is popular in cinematography and film for a number of different reasons: Cast shadow-less light. Fill lighting. Soft light can reduce shadows without creating additional shadows. Make a subject appear more beautiful or youthful through making wrinkles less visible. Supplement the lighting from practicals. This technique is used to perform "motivated" lighting, where all light in the scene appears to come from practical light sources in the scene. Soft light does not cast shadows that would be a giveaway of a supplementary light source. Hard light[edit] Hard light sources cast shadows whose appearance of the shadow depends on the lighting instrument. For example, fresnel lights can be focused such that their shadows can be "cut" with crisp shadows. That is, the shadows produced will have 'harder' edges with less transition between illumination and shadow. The focused light will produce harder-edged shadows. Focusing a fresnel makes the rays of emitted light more parallel. The parallelism of these rays determines the quality of the shadows. For shadows with no transitional edge/gradient, a point light source is required. Hard light casts strong, well defined shadows.

Duties of the 2nd 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 16.20) or the truck. The Second AC 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 calledThe Second AC may also be in charge of setting up monitors for the DP and director, cabling them, and making sure they are operating properly. If there is a DIT on the job, they might handle this task, although it's best to have a digital utility or camera utility do this as obviously the camera assistants and DIT have many other urgent duties to attend to. The Second will also be in charge of making sure the cart

Daylight vs Tungsten

While most lighting units are inherently either daylight or tungsten, some types of lighting units can easily be changed to either color or, in some cases, changed to greenscreen, fluorescent, or many other color balances. This is generally done by changing the bulbs. Bi-color LEDs have both tungsten and daylight bulbs and color is changed by dimming one group up or down. With remote phosphor LEDs, it is done by changing the phosphor screens

practical light

an onstage light such as a lamp or a fire in a fireplace that needs to appear to be controlled from the stage

magic hour

is the time immediately after sunset when the light of the sky matches the existing street lights, signs, and windows of the exterior scene.

linear response

means some brightness ranges exceed the limits of the film or sensor (Figure 10.3)—parts of the scene that are too bright just don't get recorded: they come out as pure, featureless white on the film (in video, this is clipping): no detail, no texture, no separation.