CAMERA/MOVEMENT

BUCKNELL UNIVERSITY • ENFS-340 • FALL 2018

More on Fincher

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Here are a few more videos that explore David Fincher’s extraordinarily precise camera movement, cinematography, and direction.

Lesson 9.2: Pull, Push, Dolly, Track

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We’ve now used cameras on tripods, handheld, and on shoulder rigs.  This week, we’re going to play with some bigger toys to create camera movement that is – dare I say it – more cinematic.

Project Details: Stable/Unstable

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To illustrate how handheld movement affects cinematography, we’re going to do a very short film as a class.  Each shot will be filmed three ways: first, locked off on a tripod; then with the camera handheld but not moving otherwise; and finally, following the action with the camera on a shoulder rig.

Handheld Camera Tips

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Want some additional tips for shooting handheld footage?  Check out these videos for some more techniques.

Lesson 8.2: Shoulder Stabilizers and Rigs

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We first talked about camera rigging way back in week three.  Rigs are great for adding additional components to your camera and for making it handle more like a traditional dedicated video camera.  However, it’s also easy to go way overboard with rigging.  

Lesson 8.1: Going Handheld

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In your first project, you made films using only a camera with a single lens – no tripods or other stabilization methods.  This week, we’re going to explore the idea of handheld cinematography in greater depth.

More CINEMATIC

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The word “cinematic” gets thrown around a lot on filmmaking blogs and in video tutorials.  It’s an extremely vague term, but generally describes footage that doesn’t look like a home movie or quick social media post.  That could be due to the color grading, movement, depth of field, framing, slow motion, or other factors.

Lesson 7.2: Capturing Cinematic Footage

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Filming cinematic footage is all about planning.  The tools used on major cinematic productions are highly specialized and the individuals who operate them have very specific jobs to do.  Filming a documentary short requires you to be resourceful; filming an event requires you to be adaptable; filming cinema requires you to be deliberate.

Lesson 7.1: BlackMagic Pocket Cinema Camera

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This week, we’re looking at a very unusual camera: the BlackMagic Pocket Cinema Camera.  The first, much larger, BlackMagic Cinema Camera was released in 2012 and it immediately made waves in the filmmaking community.

Project Details: Sleeping/Waking

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For your next project, you’re going to be making a short film utilizing some of the different techniques we’ve discussed thus far.  Your theme for this project is Sleeping/Waking.  You can work in a small group on this or create something individually.

Lesson 6.2: Tripods and Monopods

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The most obvious use for a tripod is to keep the camera from moving – and that’s often critically important.  When using a long lens or recording for a long period of time, tripods are a practical necessity.  However, a static shot also creates its own kind of drama and not moving the camera can be an aesthetic choice.

Insane Slow Motion from Phantom Flex

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Being able to film at up to 960 frames per second with the compact RX10 II is amazing.  If you want to capture really slow motion, however, the best tool for the job is probably a Phantom camera, which can capture footage at thousands of frames per second for specialty shots or scientific tests.