Filmmaking

A film being made in Warsaw, Bracka street

Filmmaking (often referred to in an academic context as film production) is the process of making a film. Filmmaking involves a number of discrete stages including an initial story, idea, or commission, through scriptwriting, casting, shooting, editing, and screening the finished product before an audience that may result in a film release and exhibition. Filmmaking takes place in many places around the world in a range of economic, social, and political contexts, and using a variety of technologies and cinematic techniques. Typically, it involves a large number of people, and can take from a few months to several years to complete.

Pre-production

Pre-production or In Production is the process of preparing all the elements involved in a film, play, or other performance. Pre-production ends when the planning ends and the content starts being produced.

Cinematic techniques

Basic definitions of terms

Aerial shot: A shot taken from a plane, helicopter or a person on top of a building. Not necessarily a moving shot.
Backlighting: The main source of light is behind the subject, silhouetting it, and directed toward the camera.
Bridging shot: A shot used to cover a jump in time or place or other discontinuity. Examples are falling calendar pages, railroad wheels, newspaper headlines, and seasonal changes
Camera angle: The angle at which the camera is pointed at the subject: Low High Tilt
Cut: The splicing of 2 shots together. this cut is made by the film editor at the editing stage of a film. Between sequences the cut marks a rapid transition between one time and space and another, but depending on the nature of the cut it will have different meanings.

Audio engineering

An audio engineer at an audio console.

An audio engineer, also called audio technician, audio technologist, recording engineer, sound engineer, sound operator, or sound technician, is a specialist in a skilled trade that deals with the use of machinery and equipment for the recording, mixing and reproduction of sounds. The field draws on many artistic and vocational areas, including electronics, acoustics, psychoacoustics, and music. An audio technician is proficient with different types of recording media, such as analog tape, digital multitrack recorders and workstations, and computer knowledge. With the advent of the digital age, it is becoming more and more important for the audio technician to be versed in the understanding of software and hardware integration from synchronization to analog to digital transfers.
Audio engineering concerns the creative and practical aspects of sounds and music, in contrast with the formal engineering discipline known as acoustical engineering. Producer, engineer, mixer Phil Ek has described audio engineering as the "technical aspect of recording—the placing of microphones, the turning of pre-amp knobs, the setting of levels. The physical recording of any project is done by an engineer... the nuts and bolts." Many recording engineers also invented new technology, equipment and techniques, to enhance the process and art.

Film editing

Film editing is part of the creative post-production process of filmmaking. The term film editing is derived from the traditional process of working with film, but now it increasingly involves the use of digital technology.
The film editor works with the raw footage, selecting shots and combining them into sequences to create a finished motion picture. Film editing is described as an art or skill, the only art that is unique to cinema, separating filmmaking from other art forms that preceded it, although there are close parallels to the editing process in other art forms like poetry or novel writing. Film editing is often referred to as the "invisible art" because when it is well-practiced, the viewer can become so engaged that he or she is not even aware of the editor's work. On its most fundamental level, film editing is the art, technique, and practice of assembling shots into a coherent sequence. The job of an editor isn’t simply to mechanically put pieces of a film together, cut off film slates, or edit dialogue scenes. A film editor must creatively work with the layers of images, story, dialogue, music, pacing, as well as the actors' performances to effectively "re-imagine" and even rewrite the film to craft a cohesive whole. Editors usually play a dynamic role in the making of a film.

Graphics software

In computer graphics, graphics software or image editing software is a program or collection of programs that enable a person to manipulate visual images on a computer.
Computer graphics can be classified into two distinct categories: raster graphics and vector graphics. Many graphics programs focus exclusively on either vector or raster graphics, but there are a few that combine them in interesting ways. It is simple to convert from vector graphics to raster graphics, but going the other way is harder. Some software attempts to do this.
In addition to static graphics, there are animation and video editing software.
Most graphics programs have the ability to import and export one or more graphics file formats. It also can export files to one or more files. Computer graphics also can be used by other editing software such as Adobe Photoshop, Pizap, Microsoft Publisher, Picasa and etc. Other software that can be used is animation software, video editor software such as Windows Movie Maker etc.
The use of a swatch is a palette of active colours that are selected and rearranged by the preference of the user. A swatch may be used in a program or be part of the universal palette on an operating system, it is used to change the colour of a project, that may be text, image or video editing. Vector graphics animation can be described as a series of mathematical transformations that are applied in sequence to one or more shapes in a scene. Raster graphics animation works in a similar fashion to film-based animation, where a series of still images produces the illusion of continuous movement.

Illustration

Illustration by Jessie Willcox Smith.

An illustration is a depiction (such as a drawing, painting, photograph or other image) that is created to elucidate or dictate sensual information (such as a story, poem or newspaper article).

Digital photography

Nikon D700 — a 12.1 megapixel full-frame DSLR

The Canon EOS 350D

The Canon PowerShot A95

Digital photography uses an array of electronic photodetectors to capture the image focused by the lens, as opposed to an exposure on photographic film. The captured image is then digitzed and stored as a computer file ready for digital processing, viewing,digital publishing or printing.
Until the advent of such technology, photographs were made by exposing light sensitive photographic film, and used chemical photographic processing to develop and stabilize the image. By contrast, digital photographs can be displayed, printed, stored, manipulated, transmitted, and archived using digital and computer techniques, without chemical processing.
Digital photography is one of several forms of digital imaging. Digital images are also created by non-photographic equipment such as computer tomography scanners and radio telescopes. Digital images can also be made by scanning other photographic images.

Image editing

A colorized version of originally black and white photo, colorized using GIMP

Original black and white photo: Migrant Mother,
showing Florence Owens Thompson, taken by Dorothea Lange in 1936.

Image editing encompasses the processes of altering images, whether they be digital photographs, traditional analog photographs, or illustrations. Traditional analog image editing is known as photo retouching, using tools such as an airbrush to modify photographs, or editing illustrations with any traditional art medium. Graphic software programs, which can be broadly grouped into vector graphics editors, raster graphics editors, and 3d modelers, are the primary tools with which a user may manipulate, enhance, and transform images. Many image editing programs are also used to render or create computer art from scratch.

Editing

"Quarters of the news editor", one a group of four photos in the brochure Seattle and the Orient (1900) collectively captioned "The Seattle Daily Times—Editorial Department"

Editing is the process of selecting and preparing written, visual, audible, and film media used to convey information through the processes of correction, condensation, organization, and other modifications performed with an intention of producing a correct, consistent, accurate, and complete work.
The editing process often begins with the author's idea for the work itself, continuing as a collaboration between the author and the editor as the work is created. As such, editing is a practice that includes creative skills, human relations, and a precise set of methods.

Footage

In filmmaking and video production, footage is the raw, unedited material as it had been originally filmed by movie camera or recorded by a video camera which usually must be edited to create a motion picture, video clip, television show or similar completed work. More loosely, footage can also refer to all NSK sequences used in film and video editing, such as special effects and archive material (for special cases of this, see stock footage and B roll). Since the term originates in film, footage is only used for recorded images, such as film stock, videotapes or digitized clips – on live television, the signals from video cameras are called sources instead.

Multimedia

Multimedia is media and content that uses a combination of different content forms. This contrats with media that use only rudimentary computer displays such as text-only or traditional forms of printed or hand-produced material. Multimedia includes a combination of text, audio, still images, animation, video, or interactivity content forms.
Multimedia is usually recorded and played, displayed, or accessed by information content processing devices, such as computerized and electronic devices, but can also be part of a live performance. Multimedia devices are electronic media devices used to store and experience multimedia content. Multimedia is distinguished from mixed media in fine art; by including audio, for example, it has a broader scope. The term "rich media" is synonymous for interactive multimedia. Hypermedia can be considered one particular multimedia application.

Lighting

Low-intensity lighting and haze in a concert hall
allows laser effects to be visible

Lighting or illumination is the deliberate use of light to achieve a practical or aesthetic effect. Lighting includes the use of both artificial light sources like lamps and light fixtures, as well as natural illumination by capturing daylight. Daylighting (using windows, skylights, or light shelves) is sometimes used as the main source of light during daytime in buildings. This can save energy in place of using artificial lighting, which represents a major component of energy consumption in buildings. Proper lighting can enhance task performance, improve the appearance of an area, or have positive psychological effects on occupants.
Indoor lighting is usually accomplished using light fixtures, and is a key part of interior design. Lighting can also be an intrinsic component of landscape projects.

Daylight used at the train station Gare de l'Est Paris

Animation

This animation moves at
10 frames per second.

The bouncing ball animation (below) consists of these six frames.

Animation is the rapid display of a sequence of images to create an illusion of movement. The most common method of presenting animation is as a motion picture or video program, although there are other methods. This type of presentation is usually accomplished with a camera and a projector or a computer viewing screen which can rapidly cycle through images in a sequence. Animation can be made with either hand rendered art, computer generated imagery, or three-dimensional objects, e.g. puppets or clay figures, or a combination of techniques. The position of each object in any particular image relates to the position of that object in the previous and following images so that the objects each appear to fluidly move independently of one another. The viewing device displays these images in rapid succession, usually 24, 25 or 30 frames per second.

Storyboard

Storyboards are graphic organizers in the form of illustrations or images displayed in sequence for the purpose of pre-visualizing a motion picture, animation, motion graphic or interactive media sequence.

The storyboarding process, in the form it is known today, was developed at the Walt Disney Studio during the early 1930s, after several years of similar processes being in use at Walt Disney and other animation studios.

A storyboard for an imagined television advert,
showing four shots.

Sound

NEVER forget that the piece you are preparing is an audio-visual production. Note that audio comes before visual. It is absolutely vital that you get the sound right for your video - without good sound, your work will look amateurish and sloppy. A slick soundtrack can often hide the cracks in your images. Therefore you need to plan your sound just as carefully as you plan your images. If your audience is viewing your work via YouTube, the image might be reduced to a couple of inches wide, but the sound will be as big and powerful as their computer speakers - get that to work in your favour, not against you. Video produced for handheld mobile devices needs excellent sound to enhance the storytelling, as images are so small. Sound can help you keep your audience's attention.
There are several different sorts of sound that you can use. Using computer editing software, you can layer them in, adjust volume and sync images to particular sounds. Use 'J-cuts', where you lay in a couple of seconds of sound from one clip over the end of the one before, thus leading the audience into the visuals. You can also use a sound bridge to connect different sequences of images. Some sound you will record using your camera, other sound will come from other sources. Be inventive!

Camera Use

A camera - whether it is video or still, digital or film, attached to a computer or a phone - is basically a box designed for trapping light. It can be as simple as a cardboard box with a pinhole punched in it or as elaborate as those on a space telescope. Whatever the design, its purpose is to record patterns of light and shadow and colour, for future reference. When you use a camera you are trapping images. There are many similarities between the language used for hunting and the language of photography - shoot, stalk, line-of-sight, capture, pin etc etc. A camera can be a very powerful weapon - especially in war time. Is it a coincidence that Princess Diana (named after the goddess of hunting) was chased to her death by paparazzi?

Camera Movement

A director may choose to move action along by telling the story as a series of cuts, going from one shot to another, or they may decide to move the camera with the action. Moving the camera often takes a great deal of time, and makes the action seem slower, as it takes several second for a moving camera shot to be effective, when the same information may be placed on screen in a series of fast cuts. Not only must the style of movement be chosen, but the method of actually moving the camera must be selected too. There are seven basic methods:

Camera Angles

The relationship between the camera and the object being photographed (ie the ANGLE) gives emotional information to an audience, and guides their judgment about the character or object in shot. The more extreme the angle (ie the further away it is from eye left), the more symbolic and heavily-loaded the shot.

Framing or Shot Length

1 . Extreme long shot

Extreme Long Shot

This can be taken from as much as a quarter of a mile away, and is generally used as a scene-setting, establishing shot. It normally shows an EXTERIOR, eg the outside of a building, or a landscape, and is often used to show scenes of thrilling action eg in a war film or disaster movie. There will be very little detail visible in the shot, it's meant to give a general impression rather than specific information.