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How to make aFILM

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L earn :� how did the first motion picture look like and

how are movies made today� what is shot� who are the people engaged in movie making?� what is the job of: director, script writer, actors, director

of photography, costume designer, scenographer...

Try :� to make your own animated and documentary film� to write a script� to make shooting script� to gether your friends and to select actors for your movie� to direct your first movie

R a d i v o j e A n d r i }

Ra

div

oje

An

dr

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...LEARN & TRY...

How to make aFILM

HOW

TO

MAK

E A

FILM

...L

ear

n &

T

ry..

. R a d i v o j e A n d r i }

Illustrated by

Andrej Vojković

R a d i v o j e A n d r i ć

HOW TO MAKE A FILM

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CONTENTS5 . . . Introduction6 . . . The First Films6 . . . Photography8 . . . The first film12 . . . Classification of Films16 . . Film time18 . . . Framing Shots22 . . Film settings24 . . Scene plan26 . . Ramp28 . . Crossing the Ramp and Camera

Movements

35 . . Composing Your Shots36 . . More about the Camera39 . . What is needed form making a film42 . . The scenario and Shooting Script

for a Short Feature Film44 . . Continuity45 . . Editing46 . . Rečnik48 . . Index

5

INTRODUCTION

Hi, future movie-makers!

You watch films almost every day and haveprobably asked yourself if you could also make one. Perhapsyou have already tried your hand at making video recordingswith a camera, but it all turned out shaky, incomprehensible,boring and altogether pretty awful.

I am here to help you.My name is Radivoje ‘Raša’ Andrić, and so far I have

managed to direct three feature films (Tri palme za dve bitange iribicu, Munje! and Kad porastem bicu kengur) and it is mypleasure to try and show you the basics of movie-making.

A famous director once said that you could learn everythingabout making movies by spending four hours learning and tenyears in a cinema. My opinion is a little different: in fourhours – reading this book – you can learn the basics. Of courseyou also need to watch films, but learning is best done bydoing.

Don’t let this frighten you – making a movie does not meanthat you have to film a complicated story lasting two hours.

In fact you can make a good film story that lasts just two orthree minutes.

Let us begin.

Believe itor not, theworld’s mostpopular filmfestival isone thatshows veryshort films,takes placein Berlin and

is seen by 20 million people.How is this possible? “Whoever heard ofpeople going to a cinema to watch shortfilms?” you say. Whoever said that thefestival takes place in a cinema?! Thefilms are shows on video screens set upin subway trains, buses and trams andeach lasts exactly 90 seconds – theaverage time between two stops on thejourney. This means that the films areseen by the millions of Berlinerstravelling on public transport.

Believe it or not, there is now also aworld festival of films shot with mobilephone cameras, a real festival, with

prizes and all. Butforget festivals – theroad to them is a longone. Let us begin bymaking movies thatwill be watched byyour family, friendsand schoolmates.

The most popular Serbian festival of‘shorts’ is the so-called ‘March Festival ofShort Films’ – although for some reasonit always takes place in April…

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THE FIRST FILMS

Let us begin with the theory and practice of ‘movingpictures’ and their invention.

Throughout human history still images were easyto record in drawings, paintings and ultimately

photographs, but movement was much moredifficult. The first successful such attemptwas attaching a series of still images in abooklet, which one then flipped to get animpression of movement. The human eye is a

bit lazy, so when you run a set of still imagesin front of it quickly, it cannot distinguish between

individual images but sees a series of pictures thatseems to move.

Researchers discovered that when you run a series of 24 still images before the human eye in one second, the eyesees them as a single moving image rather than as a set ofstill images.

But what was needed in order to develop films as we knowthem now was the invention of photography.

photography

Ask your mother or grandmother if they have any silverjewellery and whether the silver gradually tarnishes (darkens).

They will tell you that it does, and that they have to wash itwith bicarbonate of soda to bring back its shine. Now ask themwhy the silver tarnishes. They will probably tell you that itsimply has to do with the passage of time.

Well, that is not so! In fact silver gets darker because of theaction of the light to which it is exposed. This was noticed inthe 18th century – and that was the first step towards thediscovery of photography. Now look at the things around you.Some are lighter and some are darker, and if we were to place aplate made of silver in the spot where you are sitting, in time

This book also contains an opticalillusion. Look at the bottom right-hand-side corner. You will see a seriesof stick-man images. Theyare quite similar to oneanother, but not exactly thesame. Hold the corner ofthe book between yourthumb and forefinger, asshown, and flip the pagesfast.

It’s interesting, isn’t it?!

You could also make a similar toyyourself. All you need is an old exercisebook and a bit of patience. Startingfrom the last page, draw a simple stickman in the corner. Now turn back onepage and trace a new figure over thepreceding one, only make it slightlydifferent – for example by raising anarm slightly. Continue the process. Forexample the little man could graduallylift an arm and bring it down again, andthen a leg, and so on... When you flickthe pages the little man will appear tobe dancing.

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images of the things that stand in front of it would be formedon the plate. The objects which are the lightest would appearthe darkest, because the tarnishing of the silver would begreatest where the most light fell on it.

In this manner we would get the negative of a photograph. A little later I will explain how we get a positive image

from a negative.But the silver plate took a very long time to darken – it

took hours and hours of exposing to light.People found it very tedious to sit and to wait for hours

for each photograph – especially those who wanted theirportraits taken! For that reason certain chemicalsubstances were found which when mixed with the silvermade it darken faster. A mixture of silver and thosechemicals was then spread on a transparent base material(it had to be done in the dark so as not to expose the silverto light), and that is how light-sensitive film was created.

If you put a piece of such film into a box that iscompletely sealed except for a tiny hole opposite the filmand open and close that hole for an instant, you will get afilm negative. Initially people used just such a pin-hole,but now a set of glasses - a lens - is placed there instead. Itspurpose is the direct the light towards the film asaccurately as possible. If you were to take the film out ofyour box to take a look at what you got, the silver wouldsimply continue to darken and ruin your image. For thatreason you need to take the film out of the box in the darkand dip it in a chemical solution (so-called fixer) that willstop the silver from continuing to tarnish.

How do you get a positive image? By passing lightthrough your negative onto a new piece of film – in thisway you create the negative of a negative: a positive – animage identical to what we see with our own eyes.

This process is still used to make photographs.It might all sound a bit complicated, but don’t be dismayed!

You are probably in a hurry to read on and see what happenslater, but when you have finished reading the book you canreturn to these pages and everything will be much clearer.

The sealed room where you takeyour film out of your camera anddevelop and fix it is called a darkroom.When films are shot away from the city,say in a desert or forest, a special light-tight box is used to load and unloadcameras.

People who did not have such a boxeven used their jackets for the purpose!

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tHE FIRST FILMBelieve it or not, such a device was first made because of a

bet! Two friends in America who loved horse racing oftenasked themselves if a running horse ever had all four legs inthe air simultaneously. Horses ran so fast that it wasimpossible to see it with the naked eye, so the two made awager in order to settle their dispute.

So they invited a photographer to help them.The photographer, a certain Maybridge, set up a row of still

cameras, tied a string to the shutter of each camera andstretched them across the racing track. The strings were thinso as not to trip the horse.

A horse in full gallop then passed in front of the cameras.As soon as the horse touched a string it broke it, but notbefore tripping the shutter.

When the negatives were developed they formed a set ofstill pictures of a galloping horse.

If you set up the photos in an optical illusion booklet andflicked it, the horse would appear to be running.

NOW SHAKE YOURHANDS, AND WE CANSET UP THE CAMERAS!

This was almost a movie as we now know it, but making itwas extremely difficult and took hours and hours. Youwould have to set up rows of cameras and tie a lot of stringswhere an actor was walking – but what would we do if theactor was, say, sitting down? So this was definitely thewrong road to motion pictures. However, it did not takevery long before a feasible means of making movie filmswas developed.

The inventors responsible for taking that major step wereLouis and Auguste Lumière, two French brothers whomade the first movie camera and projector and gave thefirst public demonstration of a motion picture in 1895.

Lest as I forget, the bet was won by the horse-loving friendwho claimed that all four legs of a horse would be up in the air atthe same time.

The Lumière brothers produced a longtransparent foil (film) and coated it with amixture of silver and some other chemicals.They then wound the film on a reel and putin into a box with a lens – a camera. Thefilm was cranked by hand to pass behind thelens and a mechanical shutter ensured thata series of still images was recorded on it.

It was the first-ever movie camera!

Thomas Edison,the famous Americaninventor, developedmotion pictures thesame year as theLumières, but his wasan inferior system.

Instead ofprojecting the filmonto a large screen

where hundreds ofpeople could see it, Edison’s device was alarge box into which only one person at atime could peer and watch the film.

That is why the Lumière brothers werecalled the fathers of cinematography –the art of making motion pictures.

Interestingly, the word ‘lumière’ inFrench means ‘light’ – and that isexactly what is needed in order to makephotographs and movies.

After being chemically developed the film was placed inanother box, called a projector and quite similar to thecamera, which had a bright light bulb to illuminate the film.The film was then cranked by hand, just like in the camera,and a series of images was projected onto a white screen.

Rows of people sat and watched the film – it was the firstcinema!

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THE LUMIÈRES’ FIRST FILM, ARRIVAL OF TRAIN AT STATION,SIMPLY SHOWED A TRAIN RUNNING INTO A STATION.

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It is said that viewers were so surprised and shocked thatthey fled from the theatre in panic, fearing that they would berun over by the train.

The Lumières’ second film was a little more ambitious. Itwas a short comedy in which a trick is played on a gardenerwatering flowers. A neighbour creeps up on the gardened andsteps on the hose, cutting off the supply of water. The puzzledgardened looks into the hose, whereupon the neighbour liftshis foot and the gardener gets a jet of water straight in the eye.

The first spectators thought it enormously funny.

Why is that so important?– Because the film had a story!In order to make a movie, besides having a camera you also

need to have a story on which you will base your film.

The camera that you (or your parents) have is certainly nota film camera, but a video-cassette or CD camera. It worksaccording to the same basic principle as a standard filmcamera, as light still needs to enter the camera through a lens.

Here the story takes a turn, because instead of shining thelight onto a film the lens projects it on an electrical light-sensitive chip which converts the image into a signal that isthen recorded on tape with tiny magnetic particles in it or on aCD. Ouch! Help! It’s getting complicated…

But I promised you that it would not be too complicated.The way in which a video camera works does not really matterfor our purposes.

Even I am not able to explain it to you fully, and I havebeen making films for years. So let us forget electrons, CCDs,CRTs and electro-magnetic radiation and concentrate onmaking movies!

Film development was veryrapid – the first movie with soundwas made in 1927, and the firstfull-colour firm in 1935.

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CLASSIFICATION OF FILMSI know that this might be boring for you, because you keep

learning about all sorts of divisions in school, but stay with me:we need to mention that films are divided into three categories.

So-called shorts are films that last up to 45 minutes (oneexample is an episode of a TV serial). Medium-length filmslast up to an hour and a quarter (we usually call them made-for-TV films, because they are too short for showing incinemas and are rarely shot to that length by design – usuallya feature-length film is deemed a failure for theatrical releaseand is then cut by some minutes and broadcast on TV).Feature-length films last from one hour and 20 minutesupwards, and are made for showing in movie theatres.

According to their content, films are features,documentaries and animated films.

FEATURE FILMS are made according to a story prepared inadvance which is then turned into a succession of moviescenes. You need actors to play the characters (in your case,not professional actors – your friends can also act). You willinstruct them what to do and what to say – you will thereforefilm events that you yourself invented.

DOCUMENTARY FILMS are films about events that thecameraman or film director cannot control. One example isfilming a basketball match in school. You cannot tell anyonewhat to do and how to play the game. They simply do whatthey do and you film them.

ANIMATED FILMS are films where actors are replaced byobjects or drawings. The most famous animated films arecartoons, but there are also other kinds.

Let us now make an animated film.

THE LONGEST MOVIE IEVER SAW LASTED FOUR-AND-A-HALF HOURS AND WAS VERY

BORING!

Now play the film to friends. What will they say? “Big deal –a toy car running from left to right. Nothing happens. It’s a boringfilm!” You know what – your friends are right. It really isboring. In order not to be boring, a film needs to have a story!And every story needs to have a beginning, a middle and anend. Your film only has a beginning.

Let us now film something that is not boring.

TAKE A TOY CARAND PLACE IT ONTHE LEFT EDGE OFTHE PICTURE INTHE VIEWFINDER.

PLACE THE CAMERA ONTHE FLOOR. WEDGE ITTIGHTLY WITH HEAVYBOOKS SO IT CANNOTMOVE WHEN YOUPRESS THE ‘RECORD’BUTTON. MAKE SURENOT TO OBSCURE THELENS WITH A BOOK.

PRESS ‘RECORD’.COUNT TO ‘ONE’ ANDPRESS IT AGAIN(THIS MEANS A VERYSHORT TIME). MAKESURE NOT TO MOVETHE CAMERA.

MOVE THE CAR TO THE RIGHT BY ONECENTIMETRE.

MOVE THE CAR TO THE RIGHT BY ANOTHERCENTIMETRE. REPEATTHE STEPS UNTIL THECAR LEAVES THEFRAME ON THE RIGHT.

NOW REWIND THE CAMERATO THE BEGINNING ANDWATCH THE TAPE. THE CARWILL SEEM TO RUN ON ITSOWN! YOU HAVE JUST SHOTYOUR FIRST ANIMATEDFILM. IT WASN’T VERYHARD, WAS IT?

NOW REPEAT THESHORT RECORDING.

THIS IS AN EXERCISE DONE AT HOME

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The shot is whatyou see through theviewfinder of a camera– the segment of spacethat is recorded by thecamera; it also standsfor the duration ofthat recorded betweenthe start of shooting(REC) and its end(PAUSE).

So a shot is asegment of time and asegment of spacebefore a camera.

EXERCISE No. 1

Play your little film to friends and you will see that theywill laugh. The fact that they found it funny is proof that yourfilm is not boring but entertaining.

You have just shot your first film! A short one, but a film,nevertheless!

Your film has a beginning (introduction) – the car isrunning towards the camera, a middle (plot, or action) – thecar hits the camera, and an ending (resolution, ordenouement) – the camera rises to show you – the author.

PLACE THE TOY CARIN THE MIDDLE OFTHE FRAME HALF AMETRE FROM THELENS AND FACINGIT. RECORD THESCENE IN THE SAMEMANNER ASBEFORE...

…ONLY DO NOT COUNT TO ‘ONE’ WHEN YOUBEGIN THE SHOT BUTPRESS THE BUTTON AGAINAS SOON AS YOU SEE‘REC’ IN THE VIEWFINDER.KEEP MOVING THE CARTOWARDS THE CAMERAONE CENTIMETRE AT ATIME.

AFTER ABOUT 50TAKES THE CAR WILLACTUALLY BETOUCHING THE LENS.

NOW DRAW AN EXPLOSIONBURST ON A SHEET OFPAPER. REMOVE THE CAR ANDPLACE THE DRAWING ABOUTHALF A METRE IN FRONT OFTHE LENS (LEANINGAGAINST SOME BOOKS).SWITCH RECORDING ON, SAY“BANG” IN A LOUD VOICEAND THEN STOP RECORDING.

PUT THE CAR BACK INITS LAST POSITIONAGAINST THE LENS,BUT RAISE THE LENSON AN EXERCISEBOOK. MAKE A BRIEFSHOT.

ADD ANOTHER EXERCISEBOOK, AND MAKEANOTHER BRIEF SHOT.REPEAT THIS, RAISINGTHE CAMERA ON MOREAND MORE BOOKSUNTIL IT POINTS ATTHE CEILING.

NOW KNEEL DOWN INFRONT OF THE CAMERA,LEAN FORWARD INTOTHE LENS , BEGINRECORDING AND SAY:“SORRY, THIS IS THEEND, BECAUSE MY CARHAS COLLIDED WITH THELENS!”

DO EVERYTHING AS IN EXERCISE NO. 1, BUT…

The lens, as we have said,is the foremost part of acamera through which passesthe light that forms all theimages that we see and isthen recorded on a film ortape. The part of the cameraat the rear through which wecompose images is called theviewfinder. I can see youbeing puzzled by the phrase“the light that forms all theimages that we see.” Let’smake a little experiment tosee how light forms images.Draw the curtains shut androll down the blinds in yourroom, making it completelydark. Can you see anythingat all? Of course not, becausethere is no light, which weneed to form theimages we see andto see colours.Without light wewould never evenknow that coloursexisted!

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EXERCISE No. 2

This manner of shooting offers you millions of possibilities!You can shoot animated films about your books ‘jumping bythemselves’ from the table down to a chair and then ‘walking’to your school bag and ‘entering’ it. You can shoot fruit slicingitself and making a fruit salad by itself, you can film a castlemysteriously building itself from play building blocks – butyou must never forget that every story needs to have anending, must have a surprise at the end, somethingunexpected, something because of which the film is in factbeing shot.

Let us now learn something else that is also VERY important.You will probably admit that it was a little bit of a drag to do

everything by yourself – to move the car and film the shot, andthen move the car and do the shot, and again, and so fifty times.

Now imagine that you had done it with a friend – one ofyou works the camera and the other moves the car – you wouldhave made the film three times as fast and wouldhave had fun, as well.

The exercise has taught you this: in order toshoot a film you need a camera, you need astory (with a beginning, a plot and anending), and you also need friends!

We shall talk about this in a while, butbefore we do, let us shoot two more exerciseswhich will be made of several shots. What we havedone so far is also made of several shots, but when the film isplayed they all look like a single one, and most films are madeup of a succession of shots, and that is what we will try now.

We will now try a documentary film.The simplest type of documentary is recording an activity, a

process of work. Its purpose is to teach the viewer about howsomething is done.

The film must not exclude a single segment of the process,but of course it must last shorter than the actual activitybecause otherwise it would be too long and dull. Two exampleswe could mention are something simple, like cooking potatoes,or something much more complicated, like building a house.

Imagine shooting a documentary about the process ofbuilding a house that lasted as long as the actual construction!It would last three or four months – no one is stupid enoughto sit and watch a film for four months! For that reason timeneeds to be compressed in films!

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2. GRANNY WASHESPEELED POTATOES

3. GRANNY FILLSPOT WITH WATER

4. GRANNY TURNSON COOKER

6. GRANNY PUTS PEELEDPOTATOES IN WATER

5. GRANNY PLACESPOT ON COOKER

7. WATER IS BOILING 8. GRANNY TURNSOFF COOKER

9. GRANNY PICKS UP A HOTPOTATO WITH A FORK ANDPLACES IT ON A PLATE

COOKING POTATOES FILM TIME

Let us try to film How to Cook Potatoes in about a dozenshots. Could you do it in a single shot? Of course you could,but it would be pretty long and boring. It would last about halfan hour and no one would want to watch it. If, however, youwere to divide the process into about a dozen short shots, itsduration would be no more than a minute and a half.

Have me missed anything? Yes and no.We did not skip the important things – the potatoes were peeled

and washed, placed in the pot with water, the water boiled, and thepotatoes were cooked. So what did we skip? For one thing, there wasno need to film granny peeling an entire potato but only the start of

the peeling, because the very next shot shows it completelypeeled, and the viewer of course concludes that granny

peeled all of it. That is very important!The viewers conclude some things by themselves!

In this case they conclude that granny peeled theentire potato, just as in a murder mystery theyconclude the identity of the killer. That means that

in the cut between the two shots granny peeled theentire potato!

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A cut is the placewhere we go from one shotto another, from endingone shot to commencinganother. The name isderived from the processof editing classical films,where the editor actuallycut pieces of film andcemented them in asequence – ‘spliced’ them.Although there is noneed to do this whenusing video tape, theterm CUT has stuck.

EXERCISE No. 3

1. GRANNY PEELS POTATOES

The viewer knows that between the first and second shots youswitched the camera off and waited for granny to finish peelingthe potatoes while the camera was turned off. It seems silly evento have to point it to any one of us – we have been watchingfilms since early childhood and accept this without thinking.Watch any film a little more carefully and you will see that timeis skipped over constantly.

In one shot the hero is in his pyjamas, eating breakfast – inthe very next shot he is driving a car in a suit. We never sawhim change, leave his house, get into his car, turn on the engineand drive to the street where he is in the second of the twoshots. Do you see how much time we have skipped?

What have we thrown out of our potato film? The mostboring bit – the time it takes for water to boil! Granny put thepotatoes in the water, and in the very next shot the water isboiling and the potatoes are cooking. Here you have thrown outfive or six dull minutes of waiting for the water to boil. In thisway you exclude unnecessary bits from your film and reduce itsduration from half an hour to just a couple of minutes. This iscalled film time! You yourself create film time, which is notthe same as real time. In this way you make your film muchmore dynamic for the viewer – something new is happeningconstantly.

Let us now see how you made the nine shots of your littlefilm. You could have placed your camera in one spot from whichone can see the table, the cooker and the tap and sink. You couldjust have turned the camera on and off. So what would youhave got? A film which does not show what it is supposed toshow. Your point of view would be very wide and would showthe table, cooker, sink and Granny, but not the potato, which ispretty small. Actually you might see something, but you wouldnot be sure – a potato, a carrot, or even a rock? You would alsonot be able to see that the water was boiling, etc.

This means that every shot requires moving the camera tothe best vantage point for the next shot. If you are shooting apotato, the camera needs to be close to it so that it can be seento be a potato. In the next shot the camera needs to bepositioned so that you see both the tap and the potato. In thenext one, move back so the cooker can be seen. What you aredoing is changing the camera angle. Do not let this frightenyou – it isn’t complicated at all.

You guessed it: very soon artistsappeared who did not want to compresstime. Andy Warhol, the famousAmerican ‘pop’ artist, made a six-hourlong film of a sleeping man. Andy justplaced his camera on a tripod, turned iton and let it run. We usually call suchfilms experimental.

Few people ever watch experimentalfilms, because they are usually veryboring. But don’t dismiss Andy’s talents- he actually made some terrificpaintings.

A tripod is metal or woodendevice with three telescoping legs. Itsuppermost bit, called a head, iswhere cameras are screwed on.

Cameras are alwaysplaced on tripods to

avoid shaking thecamera and the imageduring shooting. Youhave certainly noticedhow the pictureshakes when youshoot with thecamera in yourhand. Also, imaginehow bored Warholwould have been ifhe had shot the

entire six hours witha hand-held camera…

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The tightest cameraangle is called aDETAIL SHOT. Forexample the eyes ofa basketball playerlooking towards thehoop. Also the ballin his hands.

The next tightestshot is a CLOSE-UP, or CLOSESHOT. There is a‘little bit of air’above the headand the top ofthe shoulderscan be seen.

MEDIUMCLOSE-UP.

The lower edgeof the frame isbetween thechest and bellybutton.

SEMI CLOSE-UP.

The lower edgeof the frame isbelow the navel.

‘RUSSIAN’SHOT.

The lower edgeof the frame isbelow the hips.

UPPER EDGE OFTHE FRAME

LOWER EDGE OFTHE FRAME

FRAMING SHOTSThe camera angle is calculated according to the size of a human figure in it.

The next tightestcamera angle is calledan EXTREME CLOSE-UP. For example aface filling the entireframe. The upper edgeof the frame goesacross the foreheadand the lower acrossthe chin.

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‘AMERICAN’SHOT.

The lower edgeof the frame isaround theknees.

MEDIUM SHOT. Thewhole human figure isvisible. There is a littlebit of air above the headand some ground belowthe feet. Three or fouractors standing next toeach other can usuallyfit in the frame.

SEMI-TOTAL SHOT. Half afootball field is in the shot,or maybe part of a street,or a house in a field.

TOTAL SHOT. A wholefootball pitch is in theshot, an entire street or ahouse in a large field ofgrain.

The American shot was calledso because it first appeared inWesterns to show cowboys andtheir revolvers in holsters hangingfrom the belt. The Russian shotwas so named because it is seen alot in old Russian movies.

FRAMING IS USEDSO THAT VIEWERSGET TO SEE ONLYWHAT THEY ARE

INTENDED TO SEE.

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If your brother is riding a bicycle and you try to frame him inan extreme close-up, you will never succeed. He will keeprunning out of your shot and the camera will wander aimlesslylooking for him. But as soon as you pull back and widen yourangle of view, things will be much easier. Try it for yourself andsee. Changing points of view in a film is very important, andnot just so that what needs to be seen is actually seen.

We will talk more about this in the next exercise. But beforewe proceed to it, let us make a few more shots in our potato film.

IF YOU USE A TOTAL SHOT TO FILMYOUR BROTHER PEELING AN APPLE,VIEWERS WILL HARDLY BE ABLE TO SEEYOUR BROTHER, LET ALONE THE APPLE.

A BETTER CHOICE MIGHT BEA SEMI CLOSE-UP, WHEREBOTH THE BROTHER ANDAPPLE WILL BE SEEN WELL.

IF YOU WANT TO SHOWTHAT THERE IS A WORM INTHE APPLE, THEN CHOOSEA DETAIL SHOT.

NOW FILMGRANNY PLACINGTHE PLATE ONTHE TABLE(AMERICANOR SEMICLOSE-UP)…

NOW FIX THE CAMERAON A TRIPOD, MOVE ITBACK FORM THE TABLE(MEDIUM SHOT) TURNTHE CAMERA ON, MOVEINTO THE SHOT, GRABTHE PLATE AND RUNOUT OF THE FRAME.

NOW PLACE THE CAMERA ATTHE SPOT WHERE GRANNYWAS STANDING IN THEPREVIOUS SHOT AND FILMTHE TABLE WITHOUT THEPLATE ON IT. THIS IS ASUBJECTIVE SHOT, WHICHMEANS THAT THE CAMERAIS ‘ACTING OUT’SOMEONE’S POINT OFVIEW. SHOTS LIKE THESEARE FREQUENT IN HORRORFILMS.

…AND THEN FILMHER TURNINGTOWARDS THESINK ANDWASHING HERHANDS.

THE LAST THING WE SAWWAS GRANNY PLACING ABOILED POTATO ON APLATE, WHICH YOU SHOTAS A DETAIL.

THE FRAMINGOF A SHOT ISDETERMINEDBY THE ACTIONTAKING PLACEIN IT.

WHEN YOU PLAY THE FILM THIS SEQUENCE OF

SHOTS WILL APPEAR AS IFTHE CAMERA HAS BECOMEGRANNY’S EYES, HER GAZE

ON THE TABLE.

THE MOVE FROM THE CLOSE-UP OF GRANNY’SSURPRISED FACE TO AN EMPTY TABLE IS CALLEDCUTTING TO A VIEW.THERE IS ALSO A CUT TO AN ACTION, BUTMORE ABOUT THAT LATER.

EXERCISE No. 4

NOW FILM GRANNY (CLOSE-UP) TURNING TOWARDS THESPOT WHERE THE PLATE WASBEFORE YOU TOOK IT. THETABLE CANNOT BE SEEN INTHE SHOT. GRANNY ISOBVIOUSLY SURPRISED.THAT IS WHY WE ARESHOOTING HER CLOSE-UP- TO SEE THE REACTIONON HER FACE.

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Why have we done all this?The reason was to turn the film from one simply showing an activity

to one with an actual story. As long as granny is cooking potatoes, it isjust an ordinary activity. But when you steal a potato – that is a filmwith a story. This story has a middle (plot) – you stealing the potato– but it has no ending. You will get an ending if you fix the camera ona tripod and make a shot of yourself (medium close-up), not in thekitchen but in your room, where you have hidden, trying to hold thepotato and chucking it from one hand to another because you can’t eatit as it is too hot to hold. Your film now has an ending, a conclusion.Also very importantly – it has an idea, or a moral! What is the ideabehind the ending? Simply that those who steal get punished – burned– because stealing is wrong.

In the next exercise we shall also be making a documentary, butthis time a report. A report differs from the record of a work processor activity because you are allowed to skip over parts of the process.

Let us try to make it in about a dozen shots and entitle it Dad Repairsthe Car. You can make a report about many different things: a day at the

beach, a school basketball game, an excursion, a picnic…

1. DAD PULLS ONOVERALLS

2. DAD PICKS UPTOOL BOX

3. DAD LEAVESOUR FLAT

4. DAD WALKS OUTOF THE BUILDING

5. DAD LIFTS THEHOOD OF THE CAR

6. DAD FIDDLESWITH THE ENGINE

7. DAD STANDING NEXTTO CAR, SCRATCHINGHIS HEAD

8. DAD LYING UNDERTHE CAR, REPAIRINGSOMETHING

9. DAD ENTERSCAR AND FIRESTHE ENGINE

In films in which youplay a villain, make surethat you don’t getsmacked at the end.

This could be the end of your film, but nothing interestinghappened at the end, so you could put in a little more work.

EXERCISE No. 5

DAD REPAIRS THE CAR

FILM SETTINGSFrom this exercise we will learn something new. We will

learn about film settings.In this film you create your own settings, which do not have

to correspond to those existing in real life. What does thatmean? Well, you simply did not shoot those settings which youfound dull. For example you skipped dad walking down the stairsin your building. Why not? Well, because it was not importantfor your story, as the topic is dad repairing the car, rather thandad going down the stairs. You might for example have followedthe shot of dad leaving the flat with one of him walking out of acompletely different building, on the other side of town. Playingthose two in sequence will give the viewer an impression thatdad walked out the building where your flat is located.

The flat is in one building, and the exit in a completelydifferent one! You tricked viewers and they never knew it. Whywould you do something like that? - For the sake of beauty!

Perhaps your building is dilapidated or neglected, maybe itscolour is ugly, and you want your film to be nice. And so youfilm your dad leaving a completely different building.

Movie directors do that all the time!Usually the flat where the hero lives is in one place, the

hallway in another part of town, and the building in a thirdlocation, perhaps even in a different town! Creating a filmsetting which differs from real life to make a film moreattractive was invented by Russian filmmakers very early inthe history of movies.

YOU COULD MAKE A HAPPY ENDING IT DOES NOT NEED TO BE A HAPPY ENDING

IN THAT CASE THE NEXTSHOTS MIGHT SHOW THECAR DRIVING THROUGH APLEASANT LANDSCAPEAND YOUR FAMILYENJOYING A PICNIC,WITH THE CAR VISIBLEPARKED IN THE BACKGROUND.

YOU HAVE JUST CREATED A FILM SETTING!

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THESE FOUR SHOTS WERE FILMEDIN THREE DIFFERENT CITIES -WHEN PUT TOGETHER - THEY GAVETHE IMPRESSION THATEVERYTHING HAPPENED IN THESAME CITY.

A RUSSIANDIRECTOR SHOT AYOUNG MANSTANDING IN ASTREET IN St.Petersburg ANDGAZING IN THEDIRECTION OF…

CUT… A GIRLSTANDING ON ASTAIRCASE INMoscow. SHEBEGINS TO RUNTOWARDS THEYOUNG MAN…

CUT… THEYOUNG MAN(FROM St.Petersburg)RUNS TOWARDSTHE GIRL…

CUT… THEYMEET IN THEMIDDLE OF AROAD (INKiev).

IN THAT CASE INSTEADOF STARTING THE CAR INSHOT No. 9, THE NEXTSHOTS WILL SHOW THECAR BEING REPAIRED INA MECHANIC’S SHOPWITH DAD STANDING BYAND WATCHING.

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Let us return to the exercise with dad and the car. The thirdand fourth shots show dad leaving the flat and the building. Ifyou choose ‘Russian’ framing for both, it will look as if the imagemade a ‘jump’ – as if dad is the same, and his surroundings justchanged. Try it and you will see. Now for the first do a mediumshot, and the second a semi-close-up, and you will see that it willbe much more pleasing for the eye.

You must remember this!If you have a single hero in your film (in this case your dad),

never frame him in the same manner in two successive shots!You must treat this as law!

The difference in framing must be at least two categories: goback and look at the chapter on camera angles and framing – youwill not achieve anything if for example you follow a mediumshot with an ‘American’ shot – again it will just be the picturethat will make a jump. But if you go from medium to ‘Russian’ –that will be much more pleasant to look at.

And it will be even better if you cut to a medium close-up.What have we learnt?We have learnt that the purpose of proper framing is not just

to make sure that only that which needs to be seen is actuallyseen, but also to help that the compression of time (dad leavesflat, cut to dad exiting from building) is as easy as possble on theviewer.

In many films you can see shots edited so that they areframed exactly the same. For example, two friends sitting at atable and talking, both in close-up. Wait a minute – haven’t youjust told us to keep changing the framingconstantly? – you ask. But in this case there’sa major difference in the content of theshots – one close-up contains one friend andthe next the other friend. These two aredifferent people, and therefore the editingwill not appear ‘jumpy’.

THE BIGGER THE DIFFERENCE IN FRAMINGBETWEEN TWO ADJACENT SHOTS, THE BETTERWILL BE THE CUT FROM ONE TO THE OTHER.

CHANGING FRAMING HELPS YOUTO COMPRESS TIME!

Arranging the sequence ofshots in a film – which we callediting – can produce not justimpressions of space, as we sawin our example, but also ofemotions, that do not reallyexist.

In the following experiment,the first shot was a close-up ofa man looking at somethingwithout showing any emotions.The next shot showed a plate ofsoup…

…and then the same close-up shot of the man wasfollowed by another close-up ofa pretty girl.

They played the twosequences to viewers and askedthem to say what they thoughtthe man felt.

Every single viewer said thatthe man was first hungry, andthen was in love!

Mind you, two completelyidentical shots of the same man!

So editing the film producedimpressions of emotions thatnever really existed.

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SCENE PLAN

The film about dad repairing the car (its happy-end version)is divided into three scenes.

Scene No. 1 is indoors,in the flat - preparingfor the job.

Scene No. 2 is outdoors,in a garage or street -repairing the car.

Scene No. 3 is outdoors,in nature - the picnic.

Why is the division into scenes so important? Because in every scene by selecting shots and framing you

need to answer three questions:

Where is the scene taking place?Who is participating in the scene?What are the characters in the scene doing?

This may appear simple, but in fact it isn’t. For example ifyour sister is preparing to go to sleep, it is dark in the roomand if you try to film it neither the room nor your sister canbe seen very well. So you will have to invent some action thatwill help viewers to see it – for example, your sister (‘Russian’shot) gets into bed and then switches off her bedside lamp. Butthis shot must be preceded by the widest possible shot of theroom to show that your sister is in fact in her own room ratherthan for example in your parents’ room.

So far we have talked only about compressing film time, butthere are situations where film time has to be longer than realtime. Things that happen very quickly in life can in fact beextended in film time. Let us do another exercise.

Every major change of locationrepresents a new scene.

Every major jump in time,although the action may be takingplace in the same spot, also resultsin a new scene.

For example, in the evening youfilm your sister getting into bed,and the next morning you shoot hergetting up. Although shot in thesame room, these are in fact twodifferent scenes because there is abig time difference between them.

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1. A SEMI-TOTAL SHOTTAKEN FROM THE SIDE.ON THE LEFT SIDE IS THEGOAL AND GOALIE, ANDON THE RIGHT THE KICKERSTARTING HIS RUNTOWARDS THE BALL.

PLACE THE CAMERABEHIND THE GOAL SO THEGOAL AND GOALKEEPERARE IN FRONT OF YOUAND THE BOY TAKING THEKICK IS IN THE DISTANCE

BOY TAKING A PENALTY KICK AND HIS PAL IS ON THE GOAL.THIS MAY BE TAKEN AS A SINGLE SHOT, IN REAL TIME.

ONE BOY KICKS THEBALL AND THE OTHERCATCHES IT. YOU MADEA SINGLE SHOTLASTING PERHAPSTHREE SECONDS.

2. CLOSE-UP OF THEGOALIE CONCENTRATINGON THE SHOT.

3. DETAIL SHOT OFA FOOT KICKINGTHE BALL.

4. PLAYER KICKING THEBALL - MEDIUM SHOT.

5. GOALIE LEAPINGTOWARDS ONE SIDE -‘AMERICAN’ SHOT.

6. BALL FLYINGTHROUGH THE AIR -DETAIL.

7. KICKER WATCHINGANXIOUSLY WHETHER THE BALL WILL FIND ITS TARGET - CLOSE-UP.

8. GOALIE CATCHINGTHE BALL IN MID-AIR- MEDIUM SHOT.

BUT LOOK HOWWE CAN

EXTEND THIS…

YOU HAVE NOWCREATED FILM TIME,

WHICH LASTSLONGER THAN REAL

TIME!

You may also place your camerabehind the kicker and the goal willbe in the distance. These are cameraangles – every action can be shotfrom several different angles. Yourtask – as the author of the film – isto choose that angle or those anglesfrom which an action can best beviewed.

The cut from shot No. 3 to shotNo. 4 is an action cut. When you arecutting in the middle of an action toa different shot in which that actioncontinues (of course, you also have tochange the framing, but you alreadyknow that) - you will get a proper cut.

EXERCISE No. 6

THIS EXERCISE IS A KINDOF REPORT, BECAUSE ITDOESN’T HAVE A TURN ATTHE END. IF YOU STOLEYOUR MUM’S APPLE ATTHE END, IT WOULD BETHE TURN. BUT YOU WILLSURELY BE PUNISHEDTHEN.

1. MUM TAKES THE BAGS. 2. SHE IS GOING OUT 3. SHE IS WALKINGDOWN THE STREET

4. SHE IS BUYINGAT THE MARKET

5. SHE IS COMINGBACK

6. SHE IS ENTERINGTHE BUILDING

7. SHE IS ENTERINGTHE FLAT

RAMP

Let us now talk about something that is a little moredifficult to do. It is called the problem of the ramp.

A ramp is an imaginary line which in our case extendsfrom the kicker to the goalkeeper. In shot No. 1 of our exercisethe goalie was on the left and the kicker on the right.

These relative positions must be maintained until the endof the scene! This means that the boy running to kick the ballmust run from right to left, and that the ball entering the shotwith the goalie must come in from the right. The best way tofilm this properly is never to cross the imaginary line withyour camera. To begin with, you might actually draw the linewith some chalk and never cross it – film all your shots fromthe same side of the line! If you make any shots from the otherside of the line, you will only confuse your viewers – they willnot know who is left, who is right, from which side the ballwill fly, etc. Does a ramp also exist if there is only onecharacter in a scene? Of course! Here is another exercise –once again a report.

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IF WE HAVE ASINGLE CHARACTERIN OUR SHOT, THERAMP IS THE LINEALONG WHICHTHAT CHARACTERIS MOVING.

EXERCISE No. 7

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In this exercise your mother should walk towards the marketfrom left to right and return to your home walking from right toleft. What would happen if you made a mistake – if mum were towalk back home in the same direction as she walked on her way tothe market? Our viewers would think that she was not going backhome, but on her way further, for example to granny’s home. Andwhen all of a sudden she does arrive at home, the viewers wouldbe confused. And it is not our aim to confuse our audience!

When you say a film should be clear, what that means is thatyou must not confuse the viewer. Being short means filming onlywhat needs to be shown (obviously, mother does not need to beshown descending all the way down from the 6th floor), and beinginteresting means that it must have an ending – somethinginteresting to end with. That means that you must tell theviewers something unexpected. In this case we skipped that partto prevent you being punished.

Remember granny looking at the table after you had stolen thepotato?

We had a close-up (of granny looking at the empty table), andthen we cut to the empty table. In this case the ramp is theimaginary line between grandma and the table.

Look at the picture below of two friends sitting and talking.The ramp is the line between their eyes. The one on the left islooking towards the right, and the other is looking towards theleft. If you were to film them in successive shots as shown in thepictures marked ‘WRONG!’ it would look as if they were sittingone behind the otherrather than facing eachother.

IS THERE A RAMP IFTHERE IS NO ONEMOVING IN THE SHOT?YES! THE RAMP ISTHE LINE OF SIGHT.

WRONG!

RIGHT!

RAMP

YOU HAVE NOW LEARNTANOTHER RULE OFMAKING FILMS -FILMS MUST ALWAYSBE CLEAR, SHORT ANDINTERESTING.

RAMP

‘CROSSING THE RAMP’ AND CAMERAMOVEMENTS

There are several ways to ‘cross over’ the ramp.But why would we ever do that?The main reason is that it is necessary to change our point

of view in order to show new space behind our actors. Whenyou were filming the two boys playing football, you showedjust 180 degrees of a full circle, just one side of the pitch.

And in a film changes are important!Changes bring in something new – and when you have new

elements it helps you to maintain the attention of the viewers.The most important way to change something is

movement! Every movement is a change. So before we look at‘crossing over the ramp,’ let us first talk about cameramovements.

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When the camera is static inyour hand or fixed on a tripod, that is a STATIC SHOT.

When you swing a camera to the leftor to the right while fixed on a tripod,or standing in one spot and just turningyour shoulders, that is called PANNING.

When you are inone spot and swingingthe camera up or down,that is called TILTING.

When you hold a cameraand squat or straighten yourknees, that is a LIFT.

When you walk forward, backwards or sideways while filming,that is called a TRACKING SHOT.

CAMERA MOVEMENTS

TRACKING SHOTS canalso be made by tying yourcamera securely on askateboard and rolling it.Other tracking shots can bemade from a bicycle, or out ofthe window of a moving car.

PANRIGHT

PANLEFT

TILT UP

TILT

DOWN

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Why does the camera move at all?The first and most important reason is to follow people,

animals and objects (cars, trains, planes) which are moving inthe shot. A second reason is to present space to the viewer. Forexample, do a close-up of you sister entering her room. Thenput the camera in the place where she stood (subjective shot)and pan across the room: it will look as if she is turning herhead and gazing at the room.

Panning can also be used to show where people are. Inmany thrillers you have certainly seen scenes of someonehiding behind a car, and then the camera pans and shows usthe person from whom he or she is hiding.

Panning can also be used to heighten tension. Forexample, you film a goalkeeper standing at his goal andpreparing to save a penalty kick, and then you pan onto thekicker. In thrillers you often see scenes of one person pointinga gun at another, and the camera then swings and shows thesecond person to be concealing a gun under the table.

So if you have a choice, always move your camera from a less interesting thing to something more interesting.

If the camera is at the same level asyour sister’s head, or eyes, we call this anormal point of view (a normal cameraangle, a horizontal shot).

If you squat and point upwardstowards your sister, you have a low pointof view, and if you climb on a ladder andlook down on your sister, you have a highpoint of view.

Climbing to a sixth floor balcony andshooting down on your sister is a bird’s-eye view (make sure someone is holdingon to you, heights are dangerous), whilelying on the ground and filming upwardsrepresents a frog’s-eye view.

IN ANY CASE, WHEN MAKING A CAMERAMOVEMENT MAKE SURE THAT THE ENDINGOF THE SHOT IS MORE INTERESTINGTHAN ITS BEGINNING.

horizontal shot

low point of view

high point of view

frog’s-eye view

bird’s-eye view

When you do a tracking, panning or anyother shot, make sure that your camera isstatic at the beginning of the shot, then

perform the movement, and then the camera must be stillagain at the end. This makes for a good cut from thepreceding shot and a good cut to the next shot. Cutting

off the shot in the middle of a movement looks jittery andnervy. But there are times when this serves a dynamic

purpose: in a brawl in any action film the camera moves allthe time, and cuts in the middle of a camera movement are

very frequent.There is another camera action where neither you

nor the camera move, but the image moves.Is that some sort of magic? – you ask.This action is called a zooming shot and is done by an

internal lens movement.If you pick up a camera you will see a button which brings

things closer or makes them more distant as you press itsopposite ends. That is the zoom button.

Zooming in is used to emphasize somethingthat is already in the frame but cannot be seen toowell.

For example, you film a medium shot of yourbrother peeling an apple, and then you zoom in onthe apple.

Zooming out is used to reveal what is aroundthe person or object that you are filming.

For example, you start filming a penalty kickwith a detail shot of the ball, and then you zoom outand show the kicker, goalkeeper, goal and pitch.

BRINGING THINGS CLOSERTO YOU IS CALLED

ZOOMING IN, AND TAKINGTHEM FARTHER AWAY ISCALLED ZOOMING OUT.

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Hey! Stop moving!What sort ofcamera angle

is that?!

zooming in

zooming out

Points of view are very interesting!We spend most of our lives watching theworld from a normal point of view, sothat a bird’s-eye view or a frog’s-eye eyeview are interesting and unusual.

Remember – when determining thepoint of view, it is the level of what youare filming rather than the level of thecamera that is important.

If you are standing and filming a frogon the ground, that is a high point ofview, and if you are standing in the samespot and filming a basketball player,then it is a low point of view. You’realways at the same level, but the thingsyou are filming are at a different level.

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In films it is not only the actions of the camera that areimportant. In fact every action is important! How come? Well, afilm is made up of a series of actions. If there is no action in thefilm, then you should not have made it at all! You might as wellhave made a series of still photographs. Films are also called motion pictures. So whenever you can film something moving,always film it moving and never film it standing still! It is muchmore interesting to see you friend riding a bicycle than juststanding next to a bicycle.

If your character has to stand still, then make sure there issomething moving behind him. If he is for example on a sidewalk, it is better to position the camera so the street with moving cars can be seen behind him, rather than filming him against a dull wall.

Of course this does not mean that you should constantly bezooming in and out, running with the camera, forcing people to jump up and down… Do not do it without any reason, as you will not get a film but just a bunch of shaky images that will annoy your viewers.

So don’t overdo it.It is now time to ‘cross over the ramp’. We shall try different

ways in one exercise.

MAKING FILMS IS ALLABOUT MOVEMENT -YOU SHOULD ALWAYSREMEMBER THAT.

1. THE FIRST WAYYOU CAN CROSS OVER THE RAMP BY MAKING A LONGTRACKING SHOT. START WITH A SEMI-TOTAL SHOT OFYOUR SISTER WALKING FROM LEFT TO RIGHT. START TOWALK TOWARDS THE RIGHT WHILE TRACKING YOURSISTER. AT ONE MOMENT SHE WILL BE WALKING

DIRECTLY TOWARDS YOU. AS YOU CONTINUE, YOU WILLPASS TO THE OTHER SIDE OF THE RAMP AND WILL STILLBE TRACKING YOUR SISTER, BUT SHE IS NOW WALKINGFROM LEFT TO RIGHT. DOES THIS SOUND COMPLICATED?WELL, TAKE THE CAMERA AND TRY IT - AS WE HAVEALREADY SAID, PRACTICE MAKES PERFECT!

2.

3.

1.

YOUR SISTER IS HOLDING A DOLL IN HERHAND AND WALKING TOWARDS THE CAR INWHICH DAD IS WAITING FOR HER. SHEDROPS THE DOLL, BENDS DOWN AND PICKSIT UP AND CONTINUES WALKING TO THE CAR.

EXERCISE No. 8

2. THE SECOND WAYYOU NEED NOT DO A TRACKING SHOT, BUT CAN ACHIEVE THESAME THING WITH THREE SEPARATE SHOTS. THE FIRST CAMERAPOSITION IS THE SAME AS AT THE START OF THE LONGTRACKING SHOT, ONLY NOW YOU ARE NOT MOVING (YOURSISTER IS MOVING FROM LEFT TO RIGHT). THE NEXT SHOT ISTAKEN WITH A STATIC CAMERA, WITH YOUR SISTER MOVINGSTRAIGHT INTO THE CAMERA (AS WHEN YOU WERE ON THE RAMP

IN THE PRECEDING EXAMPLE). FINALLY, YOU ARE ON THE OTHERSIDE OF THE RAMP, JUST LIKE IN THE CONCLUDING PART OF THETRACKING SHOT (SISTER MOVING FROM RIGHT TO LEFT). ONEMORE THING: DID YOU FRAME ALL THREE SHOTS THE SAME WAY?PROBABLY NOT, BECAUSE WE TAUGHT YOU THAT TWOSUCCESSIVE SHOTS MUST NEVER BE FRAMED THE SAME WAY. INTHIS CASE THE FIRST SHOT MIGHT BE A MEDIUM SHOT, THESECOND A CLOSE-UP, AND THE THIRD AN ‘AMERICAN’ SHOT.

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2.

3.

1.

2.

3.

1.

2.

3.

1.

3. THE THIRD WAYYOU CAN CROSS OVER THE RAMP BY USING DETAILS. IF YOUFILM YOUR SISTER WALKING FROM LEFT TO RIGHT AND THENMAKE A DETAIL SHOT OF THE DOLL IN HER HAND (WHICH IS, OFCOURSE, MOVING TOGETHER WITH YOUR SISTER), YOU CAN

FILM THIS DETAIL FROM ANY SIDE IN THE NEXT AND WIDERSHOT, USING IT TO CROSS THE RAMP. IN THE DETAIL SHOTVIEWERS LOSE THEIR SENSE OF DIRECTION BECAUSE THE SHOTIS TOO TIGHT TO ALLOW DIRECTION TO BE SEEN, AND THEN YOUCAN CROSS THE RAMP WITHOUT ANY WORRY.

4. THE FOURTH WAYIF YOU MAKE A CUT WHEN YOUR SISTER DROPS THE DOLL, ANDTHEN FILM HER BEND DOWN TO PICK IT UP FROM THE OTHERSIDE OF THE RAMP, YOU WILL NOT CONFUSE YOUR VIEWERS -YOU WILL MAKE AN EASY CROSSOVER. WHY? BECAUSE YOURSISTER IS NO LONGER MOVING ACROSS THE FRAME, BUT UP ANDDOWN. THAT MEANS THAT ANY VERTICAL MOVEMENT ALLOWS

YOU TO CROSS THE RAMP. IF YOU EVER HAVE AN OPPORTUNITYTO FILM A ROCKET BEING LAUNCHED, YOU CAN FILM IT FROMANY SIDE WITHOUT CROSSING THE RAMP, BECAUSE THE ROCKETIS MOVING IN A VERTICAL DIRECTION. YOU CAN ALSO MAKEYOUR CROSSING CUT WHEN YOUR SISTER IS STRAIGHTENING ASSHE PICKS UP THE DOLL. I HOPE YOU WILL NEVER HAVE ANOPPORTUNITY TO FILM A ROCKET FALLING TO EARTH.

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A RAMP ANGLE IS THEANGLE BETWEEN THERAMP AND THE LINECONNECTING THE CAMERAAND THE OBJECT IT ISFILMING.

Once you have crossed a ramp, the following shots in thatscene must be filmed from that side of the ramp! Once you havebegun a new scene, the ramp that existed in the preceding sceneno longer applies. In the exercise where dad was fixing the car,he can leave the flat from left to right and exit from the buildingfrom right to left. There is another thing about the ramp that hasnothing to do with crossing it – the ramp angle.

Between the penalty kicker and the goalkeeper is the rampline, and when filming the two the angles between the cameraand the ramp should be the same, because if you use a bigger

2.

3.

1.

RAMP

6. THE SIXTH WAYYOU CAN CROSS OVER THE RAMP BY FILMING FROM A VERYHIGH POINT OF VIEW. WHY CAN THIS BE DONE? WELL, THE

ANSWER IS THE SAME AS IN THE CASE OF VERTICALMOVEMENT, ONLY IN THIS CASE IT IS THE CAMERA RATHERTHAN THE ROCKET THAT IS GOING UP.

5. THE FIFTH WAYA TOTAL SHOT IS ANOTHER WAY OF CROSSING THE RAMP. MAKE AN AMERICAN SHOT OF YOUR SISTER WALKING FROMRIGHT TO LEFT, THEN ANOTHER AMERICAN SHOT OF YOUR DADWAITING FOR HER IN THE CAR (HE IS NOT MOVING, BUT HE ISLOOKING AT HER FROM RIGHT TO LEFT), AND THEN MAKE A

TOTAL SHOT SHOWING THE CAR, YOUR DAD AND YOUR SISTER,AND CROSS OVER THE RAMP IN THAT SHOT. THE VIEWERS WILLNOT BE CONFUSED. WHY? BECAUSE IN THE TOTAL YOU SHOWEDBOTH YOUR SISTER AND THE CAR TOWARDS WHICH SHE ISMOVING. SO YOU ARE NOT CONFUSING ANYONE. THE WIDERTHE TOTAL SHOT, THE EASIER WILL IT BE FOR THE VIEWERS.

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angle when filming the kicker it will look as if he is kickingthe ball beside the goal. Whenever there are two characters ina scene there is a ramp between them, and you must film bothof them Str. 41 using the same angle off the ramp.

Let us look again at the scene where two men are talking. Ifyou film one from an acute angle (say, 5 degrees), and theother from a much bigger angle (say, 30 degrees), it will lookas if the second man is not looking at his friend at all butsomewhere off to the side.

This is a plan view. A plan view is a drawing to scale of ascene seen from above. The actors are drawn as circles,representing their heads as seen from above. We also draw intheir feet to show where they are facing. In the circle weinscribe the actor’s initial. The camera is a rectangle with asmall triangle representing the lens (to show where it ispointing). Now we draw arrows showing where the actors andthe camera will be moving. We can also add whatever else isimportant in a shot – a table, chairs, a bed, a river, a street, adoor, windows…

Making a plan view will be very important when you make ashooting script for your film, but more about this later.

Two other important cuts are axiscuts and angled cuts.

The axis is theline between thecamera and theactor who is beingfilmed. Wementioned thisline when wespoke about theramp angle.

When you aredoing a mediumshot of an actor and he movestowards the camera along the axisuntil he reaches a close-up position,this is then an axis cut.

This cut is a shock for viewers, butit appears much nicer than when youdo a rapid zoom in on the actor. Thatprocedure is used when you want toemphasize that at that very momentthe actor realized or saw somethingimportant.

The angled cutis not so shocking,and is employedmuch more often.

In fact, almostevery cut in filmsis an angled cut.For example, yourdad gets into thecar. You film himfrom an angle, andcut. Dad is in thedriver’s seat, and you now film himthrough the windshield.

That is a 45-degree angled cut.

A B

1

2

1

2

B

A

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COMPOSING YOUR SHOTS

Another very important prerequisite of every shot is goodcomposition. Composing well means arranging everything inthe frame as well as you can.

Divide every frame into nine equal imaginary rectangles,three by three, and then arrange actors and objects withinthose rectangles.

Which side of the frame needs to have more room (two-thirds, in fact) and which less (one-third) depends on thedirection in which the actor is looking or moving. If he or sheis looking or moving towards the left, then leave more freeroom on that side of the frame. If the frame contains no peopledoing any of the above things, then the composition is up toyour own taste.

Place a vase with flowers on the table and try filming itwhile framing it in various ways. You will see that certaincompositions will please your eye more than others.

A good composition B. poor composition

MORE ABOUT THE CAMERAWe have already talked about the camera and I admitted not

really knowing how it works. We do not need to know this inorder to shoot a film, but we do have to know its functions –how to begin and end shooting, view filmed material, zoom thelens, and many other things.

Ask your parents to explain the purpose of all the buttonsand functions on the camera. You can also find out in themanual that came with the camera when you bought it.

When you read an instruction in the manual, you shouldimmediately try it out.

That is the best way to learn and remember it.The manual is in English, you say. So what?! Grab a

dictionary, and get a little language exercise as well. Take verygood care of the camera, avoid dropping it and spilling wateron it, but most of all try not to scratch the lens. And alwayskeep the batteries topped up.

THE LENS is an important part of the camera.

A WIDE-ANGLE LENS is ideal for shooting in confinedspaces, for example indoors. The framing is always wide, anduseful when actors move towards the camera and away from it,as such movement appears very dynamic with a wide-angle lens.

Wide-angles are not good for close-ups because they distortactors’ faces, making them appear fat and funny (which is notso bad if your film is a comedy). These lenses have greatdepth-of-field, which means that if we place a ball in front ofthe lens both it and the kicker who is several metres away willbe in good focus.

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ШН T Ш Н T Ш Н T

At its widest setting, the zoom lens is a wide-angle.

as you zoom in even more,you get a telephoto lens.

At its middle setting, it is a standard-angle lens.

TELEPHOTO LENSES are not good for filming in confinedspaces. Proper framing requires placing the camera far fromthe objects being filmed and usually you run up against a wall.On the other hand, telephoto lenses are excellent forshooting outdoors, because they compress space and theshots look ‘fuller’.

Position an actor in the street with lamp-posts and trafficlights behind him. First do an ‘American’ shot with a wide-angle, from close by. Now move the camera back some distanceand again do an ‘American’ shot, only this time at a telephotolens setting. This will appear much better – the row of poleswill be more prominent and everything will look ‘morecompressed’.

When an actor walks left or right - across the frame andnot towards the camera or away from it – with a telephotolens the shot will look much more dynamic.

Telephoto lenses have shallow depth-of-field. If you film amedium close-up shot of your mother in a green market with atelephoto lens, only your mother will be clear, and everythingbeyond her or in front of her will be fuzzy. But this is a goodthing if you want to separate her from the mass of people andthings around her. The bad side is that as soon as she startswalking towards you, she will go out of focus.

The automatic exposure facility built into your camera willgive you a major headache, for example when filming an actor in aroom with windows behind him. If you do a close-up, the actor’sface will be OK, but the windows will be washed out completely –you will not be able to see trees, buildings or anything else. If youdo an ‘American’ framing of the actor against a window, suddenlythe things seen through the window will be OK, but he will becompletely dark.

Why does this happen?We need to explain what a lens aperture is. The aperture is the

opening in the lens through which ight enters the camera. Thelittle hole which we mentioned at the start of the book.

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Wide-angle lens

Telephoto lens

Sharpness. Most cameras focus theimage automatically. This is usually agood thing because you then don’thave to bother about focus as you film,but it is not always good, becausesometimes the camera focuses not onwhat you want but on something else.Say you want to film an actor hidingbehind some reeds, but the camerakeeps focusing on the reeds and not onthe actor, who is the important thingin your shot. That is when you have toswitch off the automatic focus andturn the camera to manual focus. Readthe instructions in your camera manualto find out how this is done.

EXPERIMENT WITH LENSES AND YOU WILL LEARN VERY QUICKLY WHICH ONESHOULD BE USED FOR WHAT PURPOSE.

On a bright sunny day, the aperture in the lens is closed(the little hole is small), because there is a lot of light and thecamera needs very little to expose the tape well.

In twilight or on a cloudy day, the aperture opens up andthe little hole becomes bigger, to let more light into the camera.

On most cameras the aperture opens and closesautomatically.

You can see this if you film while walking from a dark corridorout into bright daylight. In the corridor the aperture will be open,because it is dark, but as you leave the building, the aperture willclose automatically. When you play back the tape, you will seethat it will be OK until you walk out into the street, when for amoment the image will be ‘burnt out’, but then the camera willclose the aperture and everything will be normal again.

But this ‘burning’ will bother the viewer.The reverse will happen when you walk from a brightstreet into a dark corridor. The picture will be completelydark for a moment and then the aperture will open andeverything will be fine again.

Unfortunately, there is no way to avoid this.The picture will burn out or be completely dark for a

moment every time you change your lightingconditions drastically.

When we film our big movies we can even out lightingconditions with huge spotlights – it is like turning on,say, 180 ordinary light bulbs - but the only thing youcan do is to make a cut.

That means filming one shot in the corridor, and thencutting to an outdoor shot.

As for the problem with the actor and the windowwhich we mentioned, you can solve it only if yourcamera has a manual exposure setting.

If you have such an option in your camera, switch it on,and if the actor is more important in your shot, then openup the lens aperture, and if the things outside the windoware more important, then close down the aperture.

Where exactly is this function located on my camera, youask. That you will have to find out by yourself, by reading the

instruction manual, because it is different on every camera.

38

It is allowed to change imagesharpness in a single shot!

For example, you have anactor in the foreground hidingbehind a tree, and far behindhim a man from whom he ishiding. Your focus is on the firstman, while the second is fuzzyand hard to see.

Now turn the focus manuallyonto the second man, therebytransferring the attention of theviewers to the second person,without having to make a cut.

You can only do this with atelephoto lens.

The clapper boy places theclapboard in front of the camera, thedirector shouts ‘Camera!’ - thecameraman starts the camera andshouts ‘Rolling!’ – the director shouts‘Sound!’ – the sound-man starts therecorder and shouts ‘Rolling!’ Theclapboard is still in front of the lens.The clapper boy then reads out thenumbers on the board in a loud voice:‘Forty-two slash twelve, take thirteen!’(His voice is recorded by thesoundman). He claps the board andmoves out of the shot. (Sometimes thatcan also be one of the things that ruina shot – the clapper boy does not movefar enough and his nose remains in theframe, or he trips and breaks a prop, ormoves a spotlight…) Then the directorshouts ‘Action!’ and only then to theactors start their part of the job.

The clapboard is a small woodenboard with a hinged stick attachedthat is clapped down at the beginningof the filming of each shot. On it wewrite with chalk the title of the shot,which is designated by a number. Forexample: SCENE No. 42, SHOT No. 12,Take No. 13 (this means that the sameshot has already been filmed 12 times,but there was always a problem thatinterfered: either the actor forgot hislines, or the camera shook, or a bulbexploded in a spotlight, or a noisyplane flew overhead…). You cannotimagine how many things can happento ruin a shot – a million differentthings!

WHAT IS NEEDED FOR

MAKING A FILMLet us repeat once again what is needed for making a film:• a camera• a story and an idea• friendsThe following are important for the story: it should have a

beginning, a middle and ending, it should be interesting andclear, and as short as possible. This does not mean that thestory itself must be short, but that you must tell it in theshortest possible manner, because long usually equals boring.

However, you must never skip over important segments ofthe story.

The person who decides which part of the story is importantand which is not, where the camera will be placed, will therebe action and what sort of action, and what will the actors bedoing is called the director. This is the most important personin the film crew. The second most important member of thecrew is the person holding the camera and filming – thecameraman or director of photography. But decisions cannotbe taken by two persons, because each sees things in adifferent way. So it must be clear to all who is the director.The director makes the decisions and the others are there toassist and advise the director. But the ultimate decider is thedirector. If you re filming with friends, in order to avoiddisputes you should agree who will be the director before youstart, and then there can be no quarrels. For your next film theperson who handled the camera in the first film can nowbecome the director.

Shooting films is like playing a game.Even we adults, when we film, are to some extent playing a

game. Whenever a row breaks out, the game comes to a halt.And no enterprise is possible where people are quarrelling. Toavoid this, make sure that no quarrel can ever arise: oneperson is the boss and the others must do as the boss says. Inyour next film change roles, so that someone else can be thedirector. Let us now list the members of a film crew.

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40

DIRECTOR -MAKES ALLDECISIONS

ASSISTANT DIRECTOR - HELPS THE DIRECTORSAND MAKES SURE EVERYTHING IN THE SCRIPT ISPLACED IN FRONT OF THE CAMERA

CONTINUITY GIRL - RECORDSWHICH TAKES ARE GOOD AND WHICHTAKE IS ON WHICH FILM ROLL,HELPING THE EDITING PROCESS

FILM LOADER- LOADS ROLLSOF FILM IN THECAMERA

LIGHTING CREW -HANDLE THE SPOTLIGHTS

SET DESIGNER -FINDS LOCATIONSWHERE THE FILMWILL BE SHOT ORBUILDS FILM SETS

SET DECORATORS - PAINTAND DECORATE THE FILM SET

HEAD PROPMAN dACQUIRES ALL PROPSNEEDED FOR THE FILM

There are set props andaction props: a glass standing on a table is a set prop andbecomes an action prop ifan actor picks it up anddrinks from it. Props areall big and small objects in the shot (pieces of furniture, cutlery,eyeglasses…).

SET PROPMAN -ARRANGES PROPS BROUGHTIN BY THE HEAD PROPMAN

EDITOR - EDITSTHE FILM

CLAPPER BOY -OPERATES THECLAPBOARD

ACTORS - ACT OUTLOVE, HATE, DYING…

MAKE-UP ARTIST- APPLIES MAKE-UP

STUNTPERSONSAND DOUBLES -PERFORM VARIOUSDANGEROUSACTIONS ASSTAND-INS FORTHE ACTORS (RACETHROUGH FLAMES,CRASH CARS…)

SOUND RECORDIST -RECORDS THE FILM SOUND

BOOM OPERATOR -HOLDS THE BOOMWITH A MICROPHONEAT ITS END

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DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY- THE CAMERA OPERATOR

CAMERAASSISTANT -ASSISTANT TOTHE CAMERAOPERATOR

FOCUS PULLER- KEEPS THEIMAGE SHARP

SET WORKERS- SET UP ANDPUSH THECAMERA CRANE

PATINA ARTISTS - AGE FRESHLY DECORATEDAND PAINTED OBJECTS

ANIMAL TRAINER- TRAINS ANDHANDLES ANIMALS

EXTRAS’ LEADER- BRINGS INEXTRAS ANDDIRECTS THEM

EXTRAS - PEOPLE INTHE FILM WHO ARE NOTACTORS AND PERFORMSIMPLE TASKS

MASK MAKER -MAKES MASKS, FOREXAMPLE CONVINCING‘WOUNDS’

COSTUMEDESIGNER -PURCHASES,DESIGNS ANDOVERSEES FILMCOSTUME MAKING

DRESSMAKER- SEWS FILMCOSTUMES

DRESSER - LOOKS AFTERFILM COSTUMES ANDHELPS ACTORS TO DRESS

PYROTECHNICIAN- PREPARES SAFEEXPLOSIONS

ARMOURER - MAINTAINSSTAGE FIREARMS WHICHLOOK REAL AND SHOOTBUT HAVE NO BULLETS

A film crew, without actors andextras, is made up of between 50 and70 people! In Hollywood, a crew of 120is regarded as small!

Star Wars was filmed by a smallarmy. The next time you watch it, tryto count all the names on the endcredits - I didn’t manage it.

For your own film two, three or fourof you are enough (to begin with). Asyour films get longer and morecomplicated, you will automaticallyincrease your crew.

The clapboard helps the editor tofind on the sound tape (by listening tothe data read out by the clapper boy)the segment which corresponds to ashot on film (at the beginning of eachshot can be seen the board with thosesame data written on it). The sound ofthe boards hitting each other on thetape is synchronised by the editor withthe picture of that event.

The sound and picture of all shotsare joined in this manner, and then therecordings of the clapboard are cut out.

This explanation is valid for the bigmovies, where picture and sound arerecorded separately - in your case bothpicture and sound are on the same tape,so you do not really have to worry aboutpicture and sound synchronisation.

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THE SCENARIO ANDSHOOTING SCRIPT FOR A SHORT FEATURE FILM

How do you make your way from a story to a film?That is a very important part of the job. The story first

needs to be written. It should then be divided into scenes.When you have divided a story into scenes, then you havecreated a SCENARIO; when you have divided a scenario intoshots, then you have a SHOOTING SCRIPT. It is not a goodthing to begin filming without a shooting script, becauseoutdoors you depend on the sun, and the sun won’t wait foryou to work out how to do a scene - it will set in its own time,and you will lose a day of shooting. So you must always beprepared before you begin shooting.

The following things need to be done before you beginfilming. When you have completed your scenario, you mustchoose who will act in your film. This selection is calledcasting - selecting actors means dividing roles. Then you needto pick your shooting locations.

If a scene takes place in a park, you must choose a park thatbest suits you, and this requires visiting several parks. This iscalled TOURING LOCATIONS, and is usually done by thedirector, set designer and cameraman.

It is a good idea to take along a still camera and shoot thepotential locations from as many angles as possible. Large filmcrews go by car, and you could get somebody’s dad to driveyou, or you could cycle, only be careful of the traffic! At homeyou can carefully inspect the photographs you took in four orfive parks and select the most appropriate one.

My suggestions fordocumentary films:

A day on holiday, Onskiing, On fishing, At mygrandmother’s house

My suggestions for shortfeature films:

The most simple thing is toshoot the film based on somewell known story. Later youwill write your own stories.

I recommend you to startwith jokes.

They are short and theyhave very funny main pointat the end.

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43

Once you have chosen your locations, you areready to begin work on the SHOOTING SCRIPT. Bythis time you know everything about your locationsand can divide the action in those scenes intoindividuals shots.

The shooting script must specify the desired cameraframing of each shot, the movements of the cameraand the actions of the actors.

Why is that important?Because in this way you reduce the possibility of

making mistakes during the filming. Once you havecompleted your shooting script, read it and try toimagine every scene. Close your eyes and think. In thisway you will be able to see your film in your mind evenbefore you shoot it!

In this way you will be able to detect whether anunwanted crossing of a ramp will take place, whether theframing you have chosen will show the action properly, etc.

When you have completed this, take the set designer andcameraman with you to the locations again and carefully gothrough each scene shot by shot without a camera. You willprobably spot a number of potential mistakes - for example atree stands in the way of an actor’s planned action.

Now correct those defects in the shooting script. Now youshould draw scene plan views on the basis of the shootingscript. Then you should hold a meeting with the actors andexplain what they should do, or let them read the shootingscript.

This called a reading rehearsal. Tell the actors whatthey should wear at the shoot, and if you have a costumedesigner, than that job should be done by the costumedesigner (that is called a dress rehearsal). Together with theset designer make a list of the props that must be take to thefilm locations and assemble those things together (for examplea bicycle, a school bag, a ball, a skateboard, a pencil…). Nowyou need a sunny day. Get the actors and crew together, packthe camera, video tapes, props and shooting script, and then goon location and shoot!

But there is one more thing before you begin:

Main role The scenario andsupporting role

Costumedesigner

Mhmm, it’s said that

we have to kisseach other…

44

CONTINUITYImagine that you are filming a scene on Wednesday.

Suddenly it begins to rain, so you stop shooting and telleveryone to come back the next day. On Thursday an actorcomes dressed differently. You do not notice this and continuefilming. You end the shooting, go back home to view your tape,and all of a sudden you see that in one shot he is wearing ayellow tee-shirt, and in the next a blue one!

That is a continuity error!

You will confuse your viewers, who will ask themselves whenthe actor changed, why he changed and why no one around himseems to notice. And that is not good, because while theviewers are trying to figure it out they will not be watchingcarefully and might miss an important point in the film.

Always avoid continuity errors!

Be very careful - such mistakes can be relatively tiny andstill confusing for viewers. For example in one shot a girl has adoll in one hand and in the next in her other hand. When youplay the film everyone can see that she changed hands, but noone knows either when or how. At major film shoots thecontinuity girl is responsible for this problem, but in yourfilm you and your actors should take care of it. Continuity canalso be broken in respect of lighting. Say you begin filming insunlight, and then a cloud comes and you continue shooting -that should not be done.

But if you do an entire scene in on a cloudy day (say yourdad repairing the car) and the next scene on a sunny day(your family on a picnic), that will not bother your viewers.

Breaks in continuity can be used to show the passage oftime. For example, you film your sister going to school in onedress. Then change your camera angle and framing and shoother walking in a different dress. Now change the angle andframing again and film her in a third dress. In this way it willlook as if you had filmed on three different days.

Ups!

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EDITINGNow that we are close to the end of the book, I should

mention another important thing - editing the film.

\

Simple editing programmes can be obtained for use in homecomputers. You film with a digital camera, download therecording into your computer and then shorten excessivelylong shots, rearrange their order and in fact only then puttogether the final version of your film.

If you have the possibility of editing, then there is noneed to shoot scenes in the order foreseen in the scenario,but in any order you like, after which you simply edit them inthe computer.

Imagine that you made many individual takes of a singleshot - then you simply go home and insert in your final filmthe take that you like the most.

Cutting to a view and action cuts are much better done inthe editing process than in the shooting itself.

Editing makes things much easier. However, it is possible tomake a film without editing, as we have been describing allalong, but then you have to shoot in chronological sequence.

This takes a bit more time: if you shoot a scene you don’tlike, you have to switch the camera from recording to viewing,then rewind the tape to the start of the scene (making sureyou don’t erase the end of the preceding scene!), and then filmagain. Some more expensive cameras can automatically returnthe tape to the previous cut - this makes things easier for you,but again you have to read the instruction manual to find outhow this is done.

Enough talking - I have told you almost everything that Iknow.

EDITING IS A PROCESS DONE AFTER THESHOOTING IS COMPLETE. IN IT YOU CHOOSE THEBEST TAKES OF ALL SHOTS AND PUT THEM TOGETHERTO MAKE THE FINAL VERSION OF THE FILM.

NOW PICK UP YOUR CAMERAAND GO TO WORK!

Shots repeated several timesbecause you just can’t geteverything right are called takes.

I once attended a film shootwhere 47 takes were needed to get just one scene right. The most I have ever had to do in one of myfilms is 19!

Why don’t we have to film all scenesin their proper sequence? Well, say the3rd and 5th scenes are in a park, andthe 2nd and 4th indoors. It will certainlybe easier to film all the outdoorsscenes first, and then the indoorsones, instead of having to run backand forth all the time.

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GLOSSARYbioskop – sala u kojoj se prikazuju filmovi, kino

blenda – ovor u objektivu kroz koji u kameru ulazi svetlo

direktor fotografije – onaj koji name{ta svetlo i odlu ~uje osvim bojama u filmu (scenografije i kostima); onaj koji sare`iserom pravi knjigu snimanja, tj. re~i pretvara u slike

ekranizacija – snimanje filma po knji`evnom delu

ekspozicija – postupak osvetljavanja filmske trake i deli} sekunde tokom kojeg je traka izlo`ena svetlosti kojadopire kroz objektiv

zvu~ni efekat – zvuci koji privla~e pa`nju, nagla{eni zvuciuskla|eni s onim {to se de{ava na filmu; to mogu bitiposebno snimljeni zvuci iz prirode ili oni ve{ta~kiproizvedeni

zvu~ni film – filmsko delo koje uz sliku ima i zvu~ni zapis;tako|e i naziv za sada{nje razdoblje filmske umetnosti ukojem se snimaju isklju~ivo zvu~ni filmovi

kadar – prizor koji se vidi kroz kameru; deo prostora kojisnima kamera i vreme od reza do reza ili od uklju~ivanja doisklju~ivanja kamere

kamera – opti~ki ure|aj za snimanje filma; radi na istomprincipu kao i fotoaparat, ali se od njega razlikuje po tome {to pojedina~ne slike snima jednu za drugom u pravilnim vremenskim razmacima

klapa – tabla sa udarnom da{~icom na koju se upisuje nazivkadra koji se snima

knjiga snimanja – detaljan popis kadrova redosledom po kojem }e se snimati

kontinuitet – podudaranje pojedinosti, kao {to su kostimi,osvetljenje, smer kretanja i sl., u uzastopnim kadrovima

kopija za prikazivanje – kopija filma koja slu`i za projekcijukostimograf – kreator scenske ode}e koji mora da poznajena~ine obla~enja i stilove razli~itih epoha; izra|uje crte`e po

kojima se prave kostimi za glumce

kran – dizalica kojom se kamera vertikalno di`e i spu{ta

lift – pokret kamere odozgo nadole i obratno, po vertikalnojosi

louder – osoba koja puni kameru filmom

mikroman – pomo}nik snimatelja zvuka; vodi ra~una o ispravnosti tonske tehnike, priprema je za snimanje, dr`imikrofon na pecaljki i „lovi“ glumce koji govore

monta`a – postupak kojim se snimljeni film sastavlja u celinu, spajanje razli~itih kadrova

monta`ni sto – tehni~ki ure|aj kojim se monta`er slu`i da biod snimljenog materijala stvorio zvu~nu i slikovnu celinu

nemi film – naziv za neozvu~eni film; razdoblje u istoriji filma od prvih radova bra}e Limijer do pojave zvu~nog filma 1927. godine

objektiv – deo kamere, so~ivo

osa – zami{ljena linija izme|u kamere i glumca koji se snima

Oskar – godi{nja nagrada ameri~ke Akademije filmskihumetnosti i nauke koja se dodeljuje od 1928. godine;pozla}ena statueta na postolju, visoka 34 cm i te{ka oko 3 kg

producent – osoba ili ustanova koja zapo~inje proizvodnjunekog filma, nabavlja finansijska sredstva i brine o svemu {to je u vezi s tim filmom: bira re`isera, glavneglumce, scenaristu, nadgleda pisanje scenarija i uti~e na kona~nu verziju filma

radna kopija – kopija originalnog filma za upotrebu u monta`irakord – ugao koji se stvara izme|u rampe i zami{ljene linijepovu~ene izme|u kamere i onoga {to kamera snima

47

rakurs – ugao iz kojeg se snima kamerom

rampa – zami{ljena linija koju ~ine pogledi ili kretanjeglumaca i objekata (na primer automobila) u kadru, koja slu`iza odre|ivanje pravilnog polo`aja kamere

re`iser – onaj koji se bavi re`ijom, re`iranjem filma

rez – mesto na kojem se iz jednog kadra prelazi na drugi

rekviziter – onaj koji nabavlja rekvizitu potrebnu za snimanje filma

svetlomer – ure|aj za merenje svetlosti koja se odbija od nekog objekta

sinopsis – sa`et nacrt budu}eg filma, podloga za izraduscenarija

snimatelj – onaj koji snima film kamerom

specijalni efekti – snimci koji se ne mogu posti}i uobi~ajenimsnimanjem nego se stvaraju slo`enim i specijalnim metodama snimanja, u novije vreme kompjuterskom animacijom

statista – sporedan u~esnik u filmu, obi~no sa ulogom bez re~i u masovnim scenama

stati~an kadar – kadar snimljen kamerom koja stoji na stativuili se mirno dr`i u ruci

scena – prostor s odgovaraju}im dekorom na kojem se snimafilm, mesto za nastup glumacascenario – prozni tekst u dijalozima na kojem se zasniva film;detaljan opis sadr`aja filma, svih radnji, mesta i vremena de{avanja, likova i njihovog pona{anja

scenarist(a) – osoba koja se profesionalno bavi pisanjemscenarija

scenograf – osoba koja brine o scenografiji, izradi ilipronala`enju objekata koji su neophodni za snimanje filma

scenografija – oprema i dekor scene u pozori{nim komadima ilifilmovima

tilt – pokret kamere (pri~vr{}ene na stativ ili dr`ane u ruci) odozgo nadole ili odozdo nagore, bez podizanja

tlocrt – crte` scene izveden odozgo

triler – vrsta igranog filma; vrlo uzbudljiv kriminalisti~ki film koji gledaoca ispunjava napeto{}u i neizvesno{}u

far – snimanje kamerom koja se kre}e po zemlji

film – traka za fotografsko ili kinematografsko snimanje;tako|e i dokumentarno ili igrano delo snimljeno na takvoj traci ili drugom tehnikom

filmski `anrovi (vrste igranih filmova) – komedija, akcioni film,avanturisti~ki film, melodrama, ratni film, vestern,kriminalisti~ki film, nau~nofantasti~ni film, film strave i u`asa i sl.

{venk – okretanje kamere koja se dr`i u ruci ili je pri~vr{}enana stativ, kojim se s jednog mesta, bez pomeranja kamere uprostoru, „skre}e pogled“ ulevo ili udesno

INDEX

48

asistent re`isera / 40bioskop / 10blenda / 37, 38bra}a Limijer / 9vo|a statista / 41Vorhol, Endi / 17garderober / 41glumac / 40, 43gorenje (zatamnjivanje) slike / 38dekorater / 40direktor fotografije / 39dokumentarac / 42dreser / 41dubl / 45dubler / 40dunkl zak / 7Edison, Tomas / 9`ablja perspektiva / 29zum / 30

zum minus / 30zum plus / 30

zuher / 14kadar / 13, 15, 16, 18, 25, 32, 35, 39, 43

kompozicija / 35stati~an / 28subjektivni / 29

kamera / 9, 11, 36, 39kaskader / 40klapa / 39, 41klaper / 39, 40knjiga snimanja / 34, 42, 43kontinuitet / 44kostimograf / 41, 43kostimska proba / 43kran / 41kratki igrani film / 42lift / 28louder / 40masker / 41Mejbrix, fotograf / 8mikroman / 40monta`a / 16, 23, 45monta`er / 16, 40, 41mra~na komora / 7nabavni rekviziter / 40negativ / 7obila`enje objekata / 42

objektiv / 7, 37normalni / 36, 37, 38teleobjektiv / 36, 37, 38{irokougaoni / 36, 37

okular / 13, 14opti~ka igra~ka / 6oru`ar / 41osa / 34o{trina / 37patiner / 41pirotehni~ar / 41plan / 18, 19, 20

ameri~ki, ameriken / 19, 20, 25vrlo krupni / 18detalj / 18, 20, 25, 32krupni / 18, 20, 25polukrupni / 18, 20polutotal / 19, 25ruski / 18, 19srednje krupni / 18srednji / 19, 20, 25subjektivni / 20total / 19, 20, 33

podela / 42pozitiv / 7pokreti kamere / 28pokretne slike / 31Poliveni poliva~ / 11pri~a / 13, 15

zaplet / 14rasplet / 14uvod / 14

projektor / 9, 10promena planova / 17pti~ja perspektiva / 29radni proces / 15rakord / 33rakurs / 29, 30

gornji / 29donji / 29normalan / 29o{tri gornji / 33

rampa / 26, 27, 28, 31, 32, 33, 43rasvetljiva~ / 40Ratovi zvezda / 41re`iser / 39, 40, 42rez / 16, 17, 20, 23, 34

na pogled / 20, 34, 45na pokret / 20, 25, 34, 45

pod uglom / 34po osi / 34

rekvizita / 40, 43igraju}a / 40scenska / 40

reporta`a / 21, 26svetlost / 11, 14Svetski festival filmova snimljenihkamerama mobilnih telefona / 5sekretarica re`ije / 40, 44snimatelj / 39, 41, 42, 43snimatelj zvuka / 40stativ / 17statisti / 41scenario / 42, 43scene / 24, 39, 42scenograf / 40, 42, 43scenski radnici / 41scenski rekviziter / 40tilt / 28tlocrt / 34, 43ugao snimanja / 25far / 28, 30, 31, 32, 41farbar / 40Festival kratkih filmova u Berlinu / 5festival kratkog metra / 5film / 6, 7, 8, 9, 15, 39

animirani / 12, 15dokumentarni / 12, 15dugometra`ni / 12eksperimentalni / 17zvu~ni / 11igrani / 12kratkometra`ni / 12srednjemetra`ni / 12u boji / 11crtani / 12

filmski prostor / 22filmsko vreme / 16, 17, 25fotografija / 6Holivud / 41~ita}a proba / 43{arf / 37, 38{arfer / 41{venk / 28, 29, 30{venker / 41{minker / 40{najder / 41

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...LEARN & TRY...

How to make aFILM

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L earn :� how did the first motion picture look like and

how are movies made today� what is shot� who are the people engaged in movie making?� what is the job of: director, script writer, actors, director

of photography, costume designer, scenographer...

Try :� to make your own animated and documentary film� to write a script� to make shooting script� to gether your friends and to select actors for your movie� to direct your first movie

R a d i v o j e A n d r i }