Equipments Used In Cinematography
As we discussed in our article about cinematographic styles, there are three major components of filming that make up the medium. These are the setting, the script, and the camera. The settings can be natural or artificial, scripts usually have events and conversations, and the camera is what you use to capture those scenes.
The most important part of all three of these is the camera! That’s why this article will talk more about it. When it comes down to it, the way a film is put together is mostly influenced by the quality of the camera used. Having a good camera makes a big difference when producing your own films.
This article will go into detail about some of the qualities of great handheld cameras, dollys, cranes, and other tools for creating cinematic footage. If you’re looking to start filmmaking, buying a new piece of equipment is not a bad idea at all!
Making A Film With Only One Shot
There’s an interesting challenge filmmakers face: making a feature length movie with only one shot. This is very difficult to do unless you already know how to shoot videos and/or have access to a video production company that does.
Most people don’t realize just how expensive a feature length movie is! It takes a lot of money to hire professional help, equip the set with needed items, and transport the crew around to different locations.
Equipment of a cinematographer
As we can see, the key equipment needed to be in a movie as a cameraman is very diverse. There are many types of cameras used for filming, each with their own special features and purposes.
A camera body is one of the most important parts of any camcorder. A body comes with a lens that you attach to it. The body has additional components like sensors, shutters, recording devices, etc. That way, the next part is figuring out what kind of body you want to pick!
There are three main sensor sizes available: full frame (1.6x crop factor), APS-C (0.8x crop factor) or smaller than that! These different sized sensors determine how much of the scene you capture at a time.
Full frame Cameras have a 1.6x increase in size over an APS-C camera, which means twice as much content gets recorded per minute of footage. Full frame also contain more advanced technology such as wider ISO’s (the higher sensitivity the better!). They are quite expensive though, around 2,000 dollars and up!
If you are looking to start your career as a filmmaker then investing into either an APS-C or even a small sensor camera will help you get started! Both of these have longer lasting batteries too, making it easier to use heavier gear for extended periods of time.
Black and white
When it comes to filming, there are two main settings you will find yourself in. One is using very little color and the other is using lots of color. The first is called “black and white” and the second is called “colorful” or sometimes just “color film.”
With black and white films, what you see is what people look like. There may be some shades of gray mixed into their skin, but aside from that they look very one-dimensional.
This does not apply to all movies, however! Some books have rich colors for descriptions, scenes and even characters. A few cartoons feature bright, vibrant designs as well.
But most movies are totally dependent upon having adequate funding to use only black and white photography. This can be hard when trying to tell someone about your movie if they have never seen one before!
Also, many filmmakers feel that using strong colors could distract audience members and prevent them from focusing completely on the story. This could hurt your movie’s success.
Slow motion
More recently, special effects companies have incorporated slow-motion filming into new ways to capture beautiful pictures. Some use very expensive technology or advanced software to achieve this effect.
The most well known example of using slow motion in photography is probably the way filmmakers create what’s called speed lapping. This was done with horses back when cinematographers used real horses instead of CGI ones.
By having a horse run at a normal pace, it looks cool because it takes longer for them to get from one spot to another. When they go slowly, however, you can see all the muscles moving as it runs. It looks really spectacular and mesmerizing.
This isn’t the only way to do it though. Using computer graphics, you can make the camera seem like it is going much faster than it actually is!
These types of shots are not limited to animals either. You may be able to take advantage of some kind of flow you have or something happening in your area that could work.
Depth of field
A depth of field (or DOF) is the range in front of and behind an object where that object becomes slightly sharper as it gets closer to your lens and vice versa for things moving away from you.
The wider your depth of field is, the more parts of the image are kept relatively clear of being focused while other parts are blurred out. This creates a smoother transition between areas of the picture that are in focus and out.
A narrow depth of field will have only one area of the photo in focus whereas a wide depth of field can include everything beyond the edge of the focal length of the camera!
There are many ways to control how much depth of field an artist uses in their photographs. Some use special lenses with large f/stops, some use digital tools to reduce or increase the amount of defocusing, and some even manage to create a very shallow or no depth of field intentionally!
Some examples of this include having a close up shot so nothing else in the photograph is in focus, using a low-contrast scene with little definition to make the space and people blur, and using light sources such as flashes or strong natural sunlight which also produce overexposure and thus blurring.