Year: 2019

Handheld camerawork

Handheld camerawork or handheld shooting is a video production technique described as when the camera is held in the operators hand as compared to a tripod or any other base. Using this technique gives the producer more freedom and moving motion allowing for a more realistic shot, while also being conveniently small sized.  Hand-held camera shots often result in a shaky image, unlike the stable image from a tripod-mounted camera. This was a technique used when using handheld camerawork. Shaky cam is often employed to give a film sequence an ad hoc, electronic news-gathering, or documentary film feel.

An early pioneer of the hand held camera style was John Cassavetes. His films in the late 1950’s-60’s are excellent examples of this technique. The work of Cassavetes influenced  many directors, genres and essentially started a movement called Dogme 95. This style of filmmaking was labeled as a manifesto and was created by friends Lars Von Trier and Thomas Vinterberg. Written in 1995, the purpose was to contempt filmmakers to break free from the budget Hollywood films that were dominating cinema culture.

Some visual examples would be “28 Days Later”, The shots were so shaky that it made it difficult for some viewers to watch causing a gut deep visceral reaction. The shaky shots put put emphasis on the zombies, making them appear faster and more unpredictable. These shots made the zombies look truly terrifying. If Handheld camera work didn’t exist majority of known movies wouldn’t exist as well. This tactic was revolutionary for the filming industry , and since founded we’ve been building to improve this version creating better films. The destruction of this method would cripple the filming business and movies would never/ have been the same.

“In the 1960s, technology developed to the point at which the size and weight of a motion picture camera, which had formerly been large and cumbersome, was reduced so much that a camera operator could actually carry the camera while filming. These are called hand-held cameras, which create hand-held shots. In any number of ’60s (and later) films, directors used hand-held shots as a convention of realism – the jerkiness of hand-held shots seemed to suggest an unmediated reality, a lack of intervention between camera and subject” (26).

Sivok then provides an example – The Blair Witch Project(1999), in which the entire film depends on the shakiness of the camera work in order to convey that homemade quality, making it documentary-like.

“In fact, of course, a hand-held shot isn’t any more ‘realistic’ than any other kind of shot. It is a stylistic convention – a visual sign that people still read as expressing heightened realism” (27).

Source: Textbook Definition from Ed Sivok’s Film Studies: An Introduction (Film and Culture Series)

http://www.tasteofcinema.com/2014/the-15-best-movies-shot-with-a-hand-held-camera%E2%80%8F/ (Links to an external site.)

https://filmanalysis.coursepress.yale.edu/cinematography/ (Links to an external site.)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hand-held_camera

Matte Shots & Paintings

• A process shot in which two photographic images (usually background and foreground) are combined into a single image using an optical printer. Matte shots can be used to add elements to a realistic scene or to create fantasy spaces.
• Matte shooting is one of the most common techniques used in studio filmmaking, either for economical reasons (it’s cheaper to shoot a picture of the Eiffel tower than to travel to Paris) or because it would be impossible or too dangerous to try to shoot in the real space.
• A shot in which only a part of the shot, usually the area immediately surrounding any of the characters present on-screen, is a live action shot. The rest is a painting, most often used to portray a non-existent vista. Rather than build a vast set, they shoot the actors on a plain set with a few background elements, with parts of the camera frame matted off by opaque cards.
• -A matte painting is often a painted glass pane that is used to show a landscape or a larger artistic piece. Matte paintings are either filmed on set, where they are framed to look more physical, or they are merged with live Art in post-production.
• -This concepts matter because many films have used this technique. Using glass panes to create matte paintings became the standard for VFX Backgrounds, and used in almost every motion picture(s). VFX masters at ILM would use many matte paintings to bring motion films to life.  As advancements we made technologically, matte paintings became digital renderings.
• -If this form of painting and film making didn’t exist majority of paintings and scenes we know from past and present films would be the same or even exist. This invention has been pivotal for the art industry. It is the basis to studio filmmaking , and with the discontinuation of this method would cripple the art industry.

Sources

• https://filmanalysis.coursepress.yale.edu/mise-en-scene/(Links to an external site.)
• https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/MatteShot(Links to an external site.)
• http://screenprism.com/insights/article/cinema-terms-how-are-matte-shots-created-in-cinema

Front projection and rear projection- First, rear projection is achieved on a soundstage by filming actors against the background of a film screen, onto which is projected, from behind it, an already filmed shot (P203), while front projection achieves the same effects as a rear-projection but with a more visually lifelike way. (P203) They are two common techniques used in film production. Generally, a front projection effect requires the pre-filmed materials overt the performers and backgrounds. It often needs to hang the projector from the ceiling somewhere out in the room where enough space behind the screen to place a projector is needed. Whereas, rear projection might take a bit of valuable space away from the facilities and it might cost more money than front projection screens. here is an example showing how these two are looking like.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mna2iOZ88LI

Tracking shots suggest the camera movements parallel to the ground, defined by our textbook on page 46. Generally, tracking shots are made by a camera that follows a person or an object as they move through the scene physically that are used by the filmmakers to engage the audience to the characters. When making a tracking shot, there are a variety of methods to follow the action of the characters such as the dolly track and other camera stabilization system. At the same time, some of us feel hard to distinguish a tracking shot and a zoom. According to the textbook, one way for us to identify that difference is through the width, height, and depth the forward tracking shot and zoom can create. By understanding the lectures and the examples, there are mainly three aspects of the tracking shots, including the location, the blocking, and production design. There also three key elements that examine what the visual effects of the tracking shots would be, including the speed (help create a certain depth to a scene), duration (examines how along a tracking shot lasts), and the stability. Stability is one of the interesting elements I feel important to the dramatic effects on the screen. For example, if the camera tracks the movements of the person or objects shakily, it might create a sense of excitement, thrilling, or troubled feeling.

Slow Motion – This shooting can be done without additional equipment. The frame rate is reduced. Slow motion allows you to show on the screen any process with higher speed. An example of this type of shooting is the process of turning a bud into a flower.

Accelerated shooting – Accelerated shooting is performed with a frequency higher than 24 frames per second. As a rule, it is used for a detailed study of any rapid process.

Shooting in invisible rays – If shooting in X-rays and ultraviolet rays is made exclusively for research purposes, then infrared rays, which are contained in large numbers in the solar spectrum, make it possible to show objects not as people see them, which is used by filmmakers to create interesting effects. .

Shooting in polarized light Such shooting is used when you need a good study of the details of the object, which interferes with glare. For shooting in polarized light, special polarization filters are used.

Underwater photography For underwater types of shooting requires special equipment. Of great interest are the properties of water as a scattering and refractive medium, which differ from the properties of air. Experts recommend making underwater surveys in sunny weather and close-ups, since even clean water contains a lot of suspended particles that absorb sunlight.

Micro and Macro – A microfilm is produced using a combination of a film camera and a microscope. The main area of ​​application is scientific research. Macro shooting is called shooting an object from a close distance. It can be performed by any movie camera equipped with additional focusing equipment. Films from the life of insects and the same blooming flowers are made using macro photography.

• A process shot in which two photographic images (usually background and foreground) are combined into a single image using an optical printer. Matte shots can be used to add elements to a realistic scene or to create fantasy spaces.
• Matte shooting is one of the most common techniques used in studio filmmaking, either for economical reasons (it’s cheaper to shoot a picture of the Eiffel tower than to travel to Paris) or because it would be impossible or too dangerous to try to shoot in the real space.
• A shot in which only a part of the shot, usually the area immediately surrounding any of the characters present on-screen, is a live action shot. The rest is a painting, most often used to portray a non-existent vista. Rather than build a vast set, they shoot the actors on a plain set with a few background elements, with parts of the camera frame matted off by opaque cards.

“combining two separately shot images into one is called matte work. To create a matte, one area of the image is filmed – either by shooting a real background directly or by painting one and shooting the painting – while the remaining area is left blank by blocking a corresponding area of the lens. The blank area is then filled by filming, with the opposite area being blocked, after which the two areas are combined in processing” (Sivok 163).

Matte paintings “not only (serve as) a background for the actors, the matte serves compositionally to tie two elements together” (Lipari 53). These paintings are used to extend or modify something that exists.

The concept of special effects includes a variety of means to create on-screen effects that are impossible when shooting in certain conditions.

VFX – Visual Effects – visual effects is a combination of video taken with a camera (Live Action Footage) with objects created in computer programs (CGI) using a computer and made during the editing of a movie or clip. The main distinctive feature of VFX is getting the result only at the post-production stage (post-production is the newfangled name of the installation). VFX includes CGI and SFX.

CGI – Computer Generated Imagery – literally translated as computer-generated image, or computer-generated images. This includes all objects or images created on the computer (characters, 3D-objects, decorations, locations).

SFX – Special Effects – real special effects made on the set of a video camera. These are explosions with the help of pyrotechnics, puppet animation, make-up of actors (turning into various monsters, changing appearance, imitation of wounds).

Images

Sources

• https://filmanalysis.coursepress.yale.edu/mise-en-scene/ (Links to an external site.)
• https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/MatteShot (Links to an external site.)
• http://screenprism.com/insights/article/cinema-terms-how-are-matte-shots-created-in-cinema
• https://www.futurelearn.com/courses/vfx-for-filmmakers/0/steps/13286
• https://conceptartempire.com/matte-painting/

• Steadicam is a brand of camera stabilizer mounts for motion picture cameras invented by Garrett Brownand introduced in 1975 by Cinema Products Corporation.
• It mechanically isolates the operator’s movement, allowing for a smooth shot, even when the camera moves over an irregular surface.
• The most widely used systems worldwide are Glidecam and its analogues such as Beestab, Easy Step, Flycam, Stabicam, MY Steadicam and some others.
• Steadicam operators cultivated an invisible style to formally mimic a kind of faster and cheaper dolly shot and to mitigate the apparatus’s uniquely embodied quirks.
• The Steadicam shot, like its operator, should be invisible to the audience.
• To operators, the only thing organic about Steadicam is that a human body operates it. Its mystification as a term by directors, scholars, or critics seems to point to a Steadicam shot that calls itself out as such and fails to hide under the invisibility of a dolly shot or an ultrasmooth handheld shot.
• A brand of camera stabilizer mounts for motion picture cameras
• Invented by Garrett Brown and introduced in 1975 by Cinema Products Corporations
  • Garrett Brown worked in Philadelphia ad began his filmmaking in the early 1970s
  • Sold his prototype to the first company he showed it to
• Mechanically isolates the operator’s movement, allowing for a smooth shot
  • Previously dolly tracks or cranes were used to take shots on the move
• Enables “fluid” cinematic movement
• “One key feature of film consists in its power to bodily engage the viewer. Previous research has suggested lens and camera movements to be among the most effective stylistic devices involved in such engagement” (ncbi scholarly article quote)

Sources

• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steadicam (Links to an external site.)
• https://agreatreviews.com/top-best-dslr-steadicam/ (Links to an external site.)
• https://www.academia.edu/34472788/_Dancing_Flying_Camera_Jockeys_Invisible_Labor_Craft_Discourse_and_Embodied_Steadicam_and_Panaglide_Technique_from_1972_to_1985
• https://www.premiumbeat.com/blog/how-and-when-to-use-a-steadicam-shot/ (Links to an external site.)
• https://www.studiobinder.com/blog/best-video-camera-stabilizers/ (Links to an external site.)
• https://www.productexpert.com/best-dslr-camera-stabilizer-steadicams/ (Links to an external site.)
• https://nofilmschool.com/2016/09/how-to-be-a-steadicam-operator (Links to an external site.)
• https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6415856/

The Hollywood Star System was a method used by movie studios to create stars on their terms.  Studios would sign on young and promising actors and then they would build an image for them that might not have actually fit who they were as a person.  Studios did this as a way to better promote themselves and the actors that worked for them.  An example of this is Rock Hudson.  Rock’s image was that he was the perfect man.  Rock’s real name was Roy Fitzgerald and he was gay.  That’s not to say that those two things wouldn’t make him the perfect man, it’s just not how the studio wanted to portray him.

Studios would oftentimes write up contracts for their actors that would help bind them to the image that the studio wanted to create.  The contracts would have morality clauses about not using drugs, not committing adultery, or anything else that might taint them in the public eye.  Studios would even go to great lengths to maintain the images of their actors.  For instance, a journalist caught wind about Rock Hudson being secretly gay so his agent gave information about another actor that had a secret criminal past.

The concept here is that studios were able to increase their profits by cherry picking actors and turning them into whatever they needed to become more successful.

I do not believe that this concept exists in other media platforms.  In fact it doesn’t really exist in the Hollywood platform anymore either.   In 1919 Charlie Chaplin, along with other major movie stars, chose to start up their own company so that they could build themselves up how they saw fit.

If the Hollywood Star System never existed I believe that actors and actresses would have been much happier working with the studios.  Instead many of them felt like they were being unfairly controlled and chose to go their own way.

This concept matters because it highlights how money hungry the movie industry can be.  Studios used their actors like puppets in any way that they could that they thought would bring in more money or improve their image.

https://www.classichollywoodcentral.com/background/the-star-system/

https://www.jstor.org/stable/3815272?seq=1#page_scan_tab_contents

https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2001/05/28/hollywoods-star-system-at-a-cubicle-near-you

Pick Up on South Street is a classic crime film.  The plot is centered around a pickpocket named Skip who unknowingly stole important films from a woman’s purse on the subway.  He believed he was just doing his typical pickpocket routine and was unaware that the films he stole contained scientific information meant to be given to Communists working against the United States.  The woman he stole from was under surveillance by a couple of detectives as they were trying to catch whoever she was supposed to deliver the films to.  

    Each character portrayed in the film was either a criminal, helping a criminal, or was law enforcement.  The woman with the films, Candy, didn’t know what she was delivering. However, her old boyfriend Joey was aware of the information and was having her deliver it to try and keep himself out of hot water.  Candy didn’t know that Joey was working with communists.    

    In the film, Candy is clearly the protagonist.  The entire plot line is centered around her actions to find the films and get them back.  Once she finds them it turns into her dealing with the consequences of interacting with dangerous people as well as doing illegal activities.  Skip is the antagonist as he thwarts Candy’s attempts to either find the films or buy them back from him. 

    The narrative of the story is done in chronological order from when the films are taken to when they are returned to the police.  It first shows Candy in the subway when she has her wallet stolen from her purse by Skip. Then it goes on to introduce the detectives that were following her and shows them bring in another character, Mo, to help them find the possible pickpocket.  Once the storyline gets rolling it switches back and forth between interactions with the cops and Skip, Candy telling Joey about the lost films, Candy finding Mo and then finding Skip, and eventually it all rounds back up to the detectives and finding the films.  The story is told in this way to keep the audience engaged with what’s going on. It also helps everything flow smoothly and make sense.

    The actors and actresses in the film did a great job playing their characters.  Candy and Skip, the protagonist and antagonist, seem to have an attraction to one another but they have different motivations behind the films.  Once Candy learned what was on the films she was horrified to know that she almost helped communists with an attack against her country. She was a very empathetic character.  Skip, however, was more concerned with the money aspect of the arrangement. He knew everything had a price and since the films were very valuable to someone he knew he could raise the price tremendously.  He didn’t seem to care much at all what he was selling, just that he benefited financially from it. 

    The actors chosen for the cast were somewhat well known.  Elizabeth Jean Peters, the woman that played Candy, had participated in A handful of films like Captain from Castile, It Happens Every Spring, and Deep Waters by the time she was cast for Pick Up on South Street.  Richard Widmark had also participated in a few movies before playing the part of Skip. He seems to have played in movies that were also dramas or action type movies. The importance of using the actors that they chose is that they know the actor will play the part really well.  Also, if the star is up and coming a studio probably saw them as a good investment opportunity for building fan bases in the future.