Category: Lessons

One and Done

A long take or “oner” is when an entire scene is captured in a single, unbroken take.  These are technically difficult shots that require a lot of planning and coordination.  The history of cinema is full of incredible long takes; some frequently-cited examples are in Touch of Evil, Goodfellas, Boogie Nights, Children of Men, and Gravity, but there are many more.  There are even films that appear to be a single continuous shot; Hitchcock’s Rope and Iñárritu’s Birdman use clever cutting to simulate a continuous take.  Alexander Sokurov’s 2002 film Russian Ark is an ambitious, unconventional historical drama that was filmed in a single take at the Russian Hermitage museum.

There are also many notable long takes from recent television.  The “Two Storms” episode of The Haunting of Hill House (discussed in a previous blog post) is comprised almost entirely of long takes; there’s an epic long take fight scene in the first season of Daredevil; and the first season of True Detective has an incredible long take in the fourth episode, “Who Goes There.”

Because they are so technically demanding, many long takes are actually simulated using editing (such as cutting on a whip pan or when the camera is blocked) or visual effects.  The famous car chase in Children of Men is comprised of several shots captured over a three day shoot and Birdman actually has over 100 hidden cuts.  Check out this video from Fandor for additional details:

Long takes are fun and flashy – they’re a way for the director and cinematographer to show off for the audience.  Of course, that doesn’t mean that they are appropriate for every situation.  Check out the following video from Now You See It, which analyzes the limitations of the oner.

Get Vertical

We’ve spent some time discussing “impossible” camera moves already – Steadicam and gimbal shots that give the impression of the camera floating smoothly through an environment.  This week, we’ll be looking at another impossible move: the epic, bird’s-eye crane shot.

The “classic” crane shot gives a sense of scale by pulling away from the subject and revealing the wider environment.  This can be done to gradually reveal the consequences of a conflict; or to emphasize a feeling of hopelessness in a character; or to show release after an intense trial.  However, crane shots can also be subtler – for example, you might use a crane to follow a character as they descend a ladder in a relatively simple motivated move.

The following crane shot from the 1939 Civil War drama Gone with the Wind is one of the most famous in movie history.  To achieve the shot, the filmmakers brought in a construction crane from a ship yard – conventional film cranes couldn’t reach the desired height.  A concrete runway had to be poured to support the weight of the equipment and hundreds of extras were interspersed with hundreds of dummy bodies.

One of the other classic crane shots from cinema history takes place at the end of the 1994 film The Shawshank Redemption, when Andy Dufresne finally escapes the titular prison.  The moment has been riffed on and parodied over the years, but it’s undeniably powerful.  There are actually crane shots throughout The Shawshank Redemption – in the same sequence, the camera follows Andy vertically through the bowels of the prison.  Moments like these aren’t as flashy, but they show the versatility of the crane as a movement tool and establish a pattern of camera movement that makes the final shot feel like a natural progression.

The Cut of Your Jib

We have a relatively compact crane in our equipment collection: the Porta-Jib Traveller, which folds down into two long cases for transport.  The crane has a travel distance of about six feet.  That might not sound like much (we won’t be recreating that Gone with the Wind shot any time soon), but it can still create very dynamic shots.

When you first pull the Traveller out of its boxes, it can seem dauntingly complicated.  The jib folds up onto itself in order to fit into a case.  There are a lot of moving parts, joints, and extensions.  The crane is also fairly heavy, so it’s easy to pinch a hand in the machinery as you are setting it up.  I recommend mounting the jib to its tripod base and then slowly unfolding the boom arm.  Once you’ve assembled it once, it will start to make sense – just go slowly and be careful.

You can download the instruction manual for the Porta-Jib Traveller at this link.  There’s also a painfully low-res assembly video below.

When you have the crane assembled, you can use the 100mm bowl mount to attach a fluid head for mounting the camera.  You’ll also want to add weight to the back of the jib to balance the camera.  You should be able to easily move the camera around the jib’s full range of motion when everything is balanced.

Here are some tips for getting successful crane shots:

• Use foreground objects to create visual interest and layers of movement.
• Point the camera straight down (or straight up) to achieve shots you couldn’t get with a tripod.
• Experiment with vertical movement as well as rotational movement – and try combining the two.
• Nailing focus is tricky without a remote control, so use a smaller aperture or bring your subject into focus during the camera move.
• Getting a crane or jib set up and balanced can be time consuming, so plan your shooting schedule accordingly.

 

Choices, choices…

At this point in the semester, we’ve gone over several different cameras and several different kinds of cameras.  As a quick recap, let’s review what equipment is ideally suited to different filming situations.

Event video – When you film an event, you probably want long battery life and long recording times, as well as solid audio capabilities.  That makes a dedicated video camera an ideal choice.  In our collection, the Panasonic AF100 and Sony AX2000 probably have the best battery life and they both feature dual card slots for long recording and powered XLR inputs for audio capture.  They also both have built-in ND filters, which makes them versatile choices for unpredictable situations.

The Sony FS5 would be another good option for event video.  Its battery life is very good – although not as good as the AF100 and AX2000 – and it shares the other benefits of a high-end camcorder.  It also has modern features such as slow motion recording and 4K resolution.

If audio isn’t critical for the event you’re filming – for example, if you’re creating a highlight reel from an event, rather than documenting the event – then a hybrid camera such as the Panasonic GH3 or GH4 might be a good option.  If you need to navigate through a crowd, the size of a small hybrid camera is a real asset.

Whichever camera you use, I recommend carrying a versatile zoom lens for event video.  The native Sony 18-105 f/4 is a good option for the FS5 and either the Panasonic 12-60 f/3.5-5.6 or 14-140 f/4-5.8 are ideal for the GH3, GH4, and AF100.  These long zoom lenses aren’t ideal for low light, however, so you may want to bring along a fast prime lens if your event is taking place at night.

Interviews – When you’re filming an interview, the audio is probably even more important than the video.  To ensure the best audio quality possible, you should use a camera with powered XLR inputs, like the Panasonic AF100, Sony FS5, or Sony AX2000.  You could also use the Sony RX10 II with its optional XLR adapter, but the smaller sensor in that camera might not create the kind of depth of field you want for a formal interview.

Another option is to use a hybrid camera for the video and to capture sound to an external recorder.  This approach works well, but it does create more work in post-production, as you’ll need to sync up the sound from two different sources.

Music video – Music videos are a lot of fun to film, because you can really experiment and be creative.  Since the audio will be replaced in the finished video, hybrid cameras like the GH3 and GH4 are great options.  If you want some interesting specialty shots, such as dramatic slow motion or stabilization, you could also use the RX10 II or the DJI Osmo.

In my personal experience, music video shoots tend to be pretty fast paced – you are often trying to fit all of your filming into one hectic day and running around a lot to different locations.  For that reason, I wouldn’t recommend using cameras that are too bulky or cumbersome.  The BlackMagic Pocket Cinema Camera also probably isn’t the best option, since its battery life is so challenging.

Documentary – Documentary filming can take many different forms, so the best camera to use will vary a lot.  If you’re filming in the field, you will probably want a small, versatile camera, such as the GH3 or GH4.  For talking head interviews, you’ll want a camera with more advanced audio capabilities, like the AF100, AX2000, or FS5.  You could also add an audio recorder to your setup.

Much like event video, documentary work often requires a versatile lens with a long focal range, with the option of a fast prime for low light work.

The Sony RX10 II is a good choice for documentary work, since the camera itself is lightweight and portable, it has a built-in lens with a wide aperture and a long range, and it can use powered XLR microphones through the use of its optional adapter.  The camera does not have great battery life, however, so you should plan ahead and bring extras.

Narrative film – For narrative film, you usually want the best image quality possible.  The BlackMagic Pocket Cinema Camera creates beautiful images and it’s a camera that was made to be accessorized for cinematic production.  You should pair it with a good lens (probably a prime), an external audio recorder, external monitor, and any other necessary accessories to make the most of its capabilities.

The BMPCC isn’t always a practical choice, however.  Provided your shots are well-lit and you use a good lens, the GH4 can also give you really beautiful footage.  The FS5 will give you a better all-in-one camera solution and its easier to rig with cinematic accessories like a follow focus or matte box.  Finally, if you need specialty shots, such as slow motion, you may want to consider the RX10 II.

Slow motion – As previously mentioned, the RX10 II is an ideal choice for slow motion.  The FS5 has the same slow motion capabilities, but it comes in a much bulkier package and you may not need all of the FS5’s other advanced features.  The GH4 can capture slow motion as well, although it tops out at 96 frames per second.  The RX10 II can capture footage at ten times that frame rate, albeit at a much lower quality and only in two second bursts.

Time lapse and stop motion animation – The Panasonic GH4 has an excellent built-in time lapse app.  You can set whatever parameters you like in terms of exposure settings, number of shots, and time between shots – the camera will take the predetermined number of images and then assemble them into a video file.  If you’re interested in stop motion animation, the setting can also be used in a slightly different mode – you trigger the shutter manually and don’t choose the total number of images beforehand.  As with the time lapse mode, the stop motion mode will then assemble the still images into a video file, which saves a lot of time in post-production.

Stabilized footage – Over the last few years, the weight capacity of three axis gimbals has gone up steadily.  Our DJI Ronin S – a single-handed gimbal – can fly about seven pounds worth of camera gear.  However, gimbals still work best with smaller cameras.  While the Ronin S can technically carry the Sony FS5, you’d be better off using a Panasonic GH4, Sony RX10 II, or BlackMagic Pocket Cinema Camera.  Of those three, the BMPCC will give you the nicest video quality, but the battery life and form factor of the camera make it challenging.  I’d recommend either the GH4 or RX10 II.  Both cameras can shoot in slow motion as well, which can help further smooth out footage.  Of course, you could also use the DJI Osmo, which is designed to create smooth footage – just be aware of the limitations in terms of focal length and audio.

 

A Very Capable Camera

The layout and body style of the Sony FS5 should be familiar to you – it’s quite similar to the dedicated video cameras we looked at before, particularly the Panasonic AF100.  The viewfinder, monitor, audio controls, and external buttons and dials are all in similar positions.  The FS5 is essentially the same kind of camera as the AF100, but with newer features and updated specs.

In terms of functionality, the FS5 is the most well-equipped camera in the Film/Media Studies collection.  It has all the benefits of a dedicated video camera – unlimited recording time, long battery life, dual media slots, built-in ND filters, robust audio options, tons of external controls – along with the features present on our newer hybrid cameras, such as 4K recording and slow motion options.

It also has a larger sensor than the other cameras in our collection: it’s an APS-C sensor, which has a 1.5x crop, compared to the 2x crop on our Micro Four Thirds cameras.  That means it will do better in low light, create a shallower depth of field, and capture a wider field of view.  I do want to stress that bigger sensors are not inherently better, but they do offer unique features.

In terms of lens options, the larger sensor and mount means that our Micro Four Thirds lens will not work with this camera.  Our Nikon mount prime lenses can be used with an adapter, though.  We also have a native Sony lens for the camera: an 18-105mm f/4 powered zoom lens.

Menus

Before we dig into the external controls and layout of the camera, let’s make sure the menu settings are dialed in.  The menu is a modernized version of what was present on the AX2000, with sections for camera, rec/out, audio, display, TC/UB, network, and system settings.

In the camera settings, you can define the ISO, white balance, ND, and other presets.  Near the end of the camera section, you’ll find options for “Slow & Quick,” which is what this particular camera calls slow motion shooting.  There are two options for slow motion: “S&Q Motion” and “Super Slow Motion.”  Of these, the Super Slow Motion has a lot more options.  You can choose 120, 240, 480, or 960 frames per second recording, as well as whether to trigger recording at the start or the end of the action.  This functions very much like the High Frame Rate mode on the Sony RX10 II.  Once you have the slow motion settings you want dialed in, there is a dedicated S&Q button on the side of the camera for entering that mode.

In the next section, Rec/Out, you can choose the frame rate, resolution, and video output settings.  For 4K recording at 24 frames per second, go to the Rec Set option and choose the XAVC QFHD file format and the 2160/24p 100Mbps recording format.  For HD recording, choose the XAVC HD file format and the 1080/24p 50Mbps recording format.

If you are using an external monitor with the camera, you may need to go into the Video Out options.  Under Output Select, you can choose to output over HDMI or SDI.  When you are recording in 4K, the camera is unable to output to multiple screens simultaneously during recording, so you can choose the external output or the camera’s built-in monitor under QFHD Rec Output.

You’ll find the usual settings in the audio section.  You should make sure that the “Ch1 Input select” and “Ch2 Input Select” are set appropriately.  If you want to use the two XLR inputs on the camera, set Channel 1 to Input 1 and Channel 2 to Input 2.  If you want to use the camera’s built-in microphone (which I would not recommend for serious work), you can set that there as well.  You can also set both channels to record Input 1, which will give you the same microphone input twice with independently controllable levels.  This is useful for creating an audio safety track –  you could set one channel a few decibels lower to guard against the audio peaking.

The display section contains options for the camera’s many exposure assist features, such as a histogram, peaking, and zebras.  You can also toggle the audio display levels, framing guides, and other on screen information.  One useful setting is the shutter display, which allows you to select shutter speed in fractions of a second (like a hybrid camera) or shutter angle.  If you choose degree (shutter angle), you can leave the shutter setting at 180 and not worry about adjusting it when you switch frame rates.

The TC/UB section has options for outputting timecode, which you shouldn’t need to worry about for this class.  You also shouldn’t need to make any changes to the network settings, which are used for wireless file transfers and streaming.  In the system section, you can customize things such as the assignable buttons and dials.  Near the end of the system menu is the media format option, which is used to format the SD cards.

Camera Controls

On the side of the camera, you’ll find the usual plethora of physical external controls that you should expect on a high end dedicated video camera.  There are preset switches for the ISO/gain and white balance and the button to set a custom white balance is on the front.  Again, to set a custom white balance, point the camera a something white and hit the button.  The presets for both ISO and white balance can be customized in the menus.

Also on the front is a dial for the build-in neutral density filters.  The ND filters on the FS5 are pretty unique in that they are electronically controlled and can be set to preset levels or adjusted smoothly.  To use presets, set the ND filter switch to preset; for finer control, set the switch to variable and make sure the ND/iris selector switch is on ND.  You can then use the wheel next to the switch to smoothly adjust how dark the ND filter is.  To change the aperture of a lens with electronic controls, flip the switch back to iris and use the same wheel.

In addition to the various switches and dials, you should notice that there are buttons for ISO/gain, white balance, shutter, and iris.  Pressing any of these will put that setting into its automatic mode; you’ll see an icon with an A next to the setting on the camera’s screen.  When any setting is on automatic, the corresponding switch or dial won’t function.  There is also a full auto button near the top that will put the ISO, white balance, shutter speed, and aperture on automatic.  When the shutter speed is not set to automatic, it can be set by pressing the shutter button until the setting is highlighted on the screen, then adjusted using the SEL/SET dial.

Other buttons on the side of the camera include toggles for the display, picture profiles, SD card slot, and slow motion mode.  The audio level controls for the XLR inputs are behind a hinged door, although the line/mic/mic with phantom power switches are located next to the inputs themselves: one is on the top handle, the other is near the back of the camera, almost behind the side handle.

Speaking of the side handle, it provides a very solid grip for the camera and has lots of buttons that are conveniently located for single operators.  There is a record button, focus magnification button, and a joystick for moving the focus magnifier.  There is also a customizable button (Fn5), which we have set to focus peaking.  There is a dial on the front of the handle for setting aperture, as well as a zoom rocker.  The zoom rocker works with lenses that have powered zooms, such as our Sony 18-105mm f/4.  There is a second zoom rocker on the top handle, along with another record button.  The grip can be rotated using the release button.

Around the back of the camera are ports for SDI, HDMI, and ethernet.  Along the other side of the back are the two SD card slots and the headphone port.  Like other high-end video cameras, the FS5 has an open-backed battery compartment, which can accept batteries of different sizes and capacities.

Make no mistake: the FS5 is a complicated and sophisticated piece of professional-grade equipment.  Between the various file formats, resolutions, frame rates, slow motion options, picture profiles, and customizable buttons, there are probably more settings on this camera than any other in our collection.  It’s the kind of camera that you definitely need to familiarize yourself with before using.

However (like most cameras of this type), once you know its layout, it becomes a very effective tool.  It’s also a camera that can be physically customized for different shooting situations.  The eye cup, side handle, top handle, and monitor can all be easily removed, creating a camera with a much smaller footprint.  If you pair it with a lower capacity battery and a smaller lens, you suddenly have a camera small and light enough to use in confined spaces or even on a stabilizer.

 

Three Axis of Power!

We actually have several gimbals in our collection – each with different strengths and weaknesses.  Here’s what we have and how to best use each one.

Movi M5 – The Movi M5 was one of the first high-quality gimbals on the market to achieve widespread use.  It’s a two-handle gimbal made of carbon fiber and it can support hybrid cameras – but a larger camcorder will probably exceed the weight and size limits.  It can also be controlled with a remote control, allowing for a two operator setup.

The camera mounts to the gimbal using a top and bottom plate.  These slide into a “cage” of carbon fiber rods.  With the camera mounted, it must be balanced.  This is done by holding the gimbal so that only one axis can move and then adjusting the position of the camera so that it is as well-balanced as possible.  On the Movi, adjustments are made by loosening thumb levers, sliding the rod clamps, and re-tightening.

This process is similar on every gimbal – the camera is mounted, then each axis is tested and adjusted until the camera is in a “neutral” position.  If you twist the platform to any position, it should just “hang” there – if it swings quickly in one direction or the other, it isn’t properly balanced.

Balancing a gimbal takes practice – and it can seem complicated at first.  Once you have a good grasp of the basic principles, however, the process goes fairly smoothly.  I can only ensure you that it is infinitely simpler than trying to balance a camera on a Steadicam.

One thing you’ll need to keep in mind when using the M5 is that you can’t really set it down.  You can place it on its custom stand, but it has no base of its own.  Don’t forget the stand when using the M5.  The stand is also a necessity for balancing.

The M5 is a very powerful filmmaking tool.  However, as an older gimbal, it does have a few quirks.  It uses very strange (somewhat volatile) batteries that must be connected using a flimsy wire – and only the red wire should be connected to the gimbal, not the white one.  These batteries are charged using a proprietary system – both wires should be connected to the charger.  Newer gimbals have much simpler power solutions.  Also, while the tool-less adjustments are great, the process is still involves a lot of fiddling around and having to attach a top and bottom plate to the camera is a bit inconvenient.  These issues aside, you can get stunning results with the M5 – it’s a professional-level piece of equipment.

Nebula 4000 – The Nebula 4000 was an early example of the single-handed gimbal.  It operates on exactly the same principles as the M5 – three motors keeping a balanced camera level – but on a smaller scale.  It has a pretty low weight limit: it works well with the BlackMagic Pocket or a GH4 with a lightweight lens, but anything heavier than that will be a struggle.

There are now a lot of single handed gimbals on the market, but the Nebula was pretty unusual when it was released.  It was also less expensive than most gimbals on the market at the time.  Professor Faden used it extensively on a research trip to Japan, where he had to capture footage quickly in a fairly unpredictable environment.

That being said, you should not use the Nebula 4000.  It is extremely difficult to balance a camera on it – it uses several tiny hex screws that need to be individually loosened and re-tightened with a small Allen key.  If you do manage to get the camera balanced, the gimbal’s firmware is flaky and prone to fail.  The gimbal will sometimes shake or swing erratically.  If you happen to bump the camera while the gimbal is running, it completely loses orientation.

I’ve included the Nebula 4000 in this list for the sake of completeness – and because it’s an interesting artifact of a still-developing technology.  However, there are much better stabilization options available.

DJI Ronin S – The Ronin S is our newest gimbal.  It has a similar form factor to the Nebula 4000 – it’s a single-handed gimbal designed for hybrid cameras – but it improves on that design in virtually every way.

The Ronin S actually has the highest weight capacity of any of our gimbals – around seven pounds.  That’s enough for a hybrid camera with a heavy lens or even a small cinema camera with a lightweight lens.  The camera mounts to the gimbal using a Manfrotto-style tripod plate and balancing is fairly quick and easy using a few thumbscrews.

In terms of general design, there are two killer features on the Ronin-S.  One is the rear motor arm, which is offset at an angle below the camera itself.  This design allows you to easily see the rear screen of the camera when operating the gimbal.  The other feature is a tripod base that can be folded up into an extended handle for the gimbal.  The tripod base allows you to set the gimbal down between takes or make balancing adjustments.  The extended handle is helpful for dealing with the weight of the gimbal and camera.

There are a lot of features on the Ronin S – there are three customizable modes, as well as a quick-follow “sport” mode.  You can hold the trigger on the handle to lock the orientation in place, or press it twice to re-center everything.  There are also various options in the DJI phone app, including motion time-lapse and pre-programmed repeatable moves.  For a very quick overview, check out the video below.

DJI Osmo – The three gimbals listed above are all designed to be used with small-to-medium sized cameras and they all need to be carefully balanced before use.  The DJI Osmo takes a slightly different approach: it’s a small camera permanently attached to a three-axis gimbal.  That means that the unit never needs to be balanced and the camera can be directly controlled by the gimbal.

The camera on the Osmo has a wide angle lens that can be cropped in on slightly – it’s a lot like a high-end GoPro.  The gimbal will point in whatever direction you aim it, but you can lock it into position with the trigger, just like the Ronin S.  There’s also a joystick for making manual adjustments.

There’s no screen of any kind on the Osmo, which means that you need to pair it with your phone or a tablet in order to see what you’re filming.  The phone app is also used to change exposure and recording settings on the camera.  The Osmo connects to your phone via WiFi – the password is 12341234.  You can find the full instruction manual for the Osmo at this link.

Once you do get into the camera settings, you’ll find that the Osmo has a ton of recording options, including 4K and a variety of slow motion settings.

Gimbal Tips

Gimbals are a ton of fun to use and they open up a lot of creative possibilities.  However, it’s still important to be intentional with how you use them.  Shots need to be blocked and composed thoughtfully to take full advantage of the unique perspective offered by gimbals.  When a camera is locked on a track or a tripod, you are forced to work slowly and carefully.  Gimbals let you improvise, moving the camera freely – but you will get the best results with a little planning.  Here are some tips for getting great gimbal footage.

• Use foreground elements to maximize the impact of the movement
• Try a wide lens to help stabilize the image
• Fine unique perspectives that wouldn’t be possible with other gear
• Keeping focus is challenging – try a smaller aperture or focusing at your end position and bringing your subject into focus throughout the move
• If you want the absolute smoothest footage possible, try filming at 30 or 60 frames per second and slowing down the footage

Going Steady

After decades of cinematography involving cameras on tripods, dollies, sliders, and cranes, the camera went mobile.  Cinematographer Garrett Brown invented the Steadicam in the mid-1970s and it was popularized by two horror movies of the era: John Carpenter’s Halloween in 1978 and Stanley Kubrick’s The Shining in 1980.

The Steadicam is a mechanical counterweighted stabilization device that allows a camera operator to move with a camera – without the shakiness usually associated with handheld camerawork.  The camera is mounted onto a platform on a weighted pole that can rotate along several different axis.  That platform is suspended by a spring-loaded arm, which is attached to a reinforced vest.  The key to the Steadicam’s effectiveness is balancing the camera on the platform and the tension of the springs in the arm.  With everything dialed in correctly, the camera will “float” in front of the operator.  A skilled Steadicam user can walk smoothly and adjust the orientation of the camera on the fly.  This allows the camera to travel in ways that were impossible before –through doorways, down hallways, up and down stairs – in a smooth, cinematic way.

The following clip from The Shining is one of the classic examples of brilliant Steadicam work.  Garrett Brown himself was heavily involved with the cinematography of the film, helping to create custom rigs for Kubrick’s complex shots.  The Steadicam was used most famously to follow the character Danny as he explores the Overlook Hotel on his tricycle, but it was also used as a replacement for the kind of tracking shots that would normally be done on a dolly or slider.  The “floating” camera is especially effective in The Shining precisely because it moves in ways that should be impossible – it gives the impression that we are seeing the film through the perspective of one of the hotel’s restless ghosts.

Halloween also used the Steadicam in an exciting new way, most notably in its opening sequence.  Carpenter utilized the technique to give the camera the perspective of young Michael Myers as he commits his first grisly murders.  We even see the child’s hands as he retrieves a knife.  The camera work in this sequence isn’t nearly as smooth and “floaty” as that in The Shining, but it matches the gait of the child walking through the environment.  This sort of smooth point-of-view cinematography was revolutionary in 1978 and would have been impossible before the invention of the Steadicam.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nnWw060ygG8&t=77s

Here’s an interesting historical artifact: the 1978 test footage created for the opening sequence of Halloween.  At the time, the Steadicam was known as the “Panaglide” and had only been used on three other films.

Steadicams changed the way the cinematographers create moving images.  They were – and still are – used on features, commercials, television, and even broadcast journalism.  However, there are limitations to what you can achieve with a Steadicam: they are heavy, awkward, and require a very skilled operator.  When you operate a Steadicam, you need to walk smoothly and evenly and you have to manipulate the camera carefully.  The process of balancing a camera on a Steadicam is also time-consuming – and failing to do so correctly will result in poor performance.  These issues aside, the Steadicam completely transformed film movement – and paved the way for innovations to come.

Gimbal Revolution

About five years ago, a new technology began to emerge in the world of filmmaking: the three axis gimbal.  A gimbal can be used to achieve many of the same shots that had been captured on a Steadicam – smooth running, transitions between locations, traveling up and down stairs – but they also opened up an entire realm of new possibilities.

A gimbal works by using three motors to keep a camera level along the pan, tilt, and roll axis.  Larger gimbals generally suspend the camera in a sort of cage with a two-handle grip above.  The camera can be “steered” using the handles, but the normal shakes associated with handheld work are smoothed out.  A gimbal does not remove “up and down” motion, although a gimbal can be mounted to the spring arm of a Steadicam to help with this.  The camera still needs to be balanced carefully in the gimbal – the better balanced it is, the less work the three motors have to do – but this process is generally faster and easier than balancing a Steadicam.

Gimbals allow creators to film smooth movement with a more compact device that is easier to use with less training.  Because a gimbal is not physically attached to its operator, it can be passed from one person to another, or through spaces that would be otherwise inaccessible.  On one shoot for the advanced production class, we passed a gimbal from an operator to a special rig on a small crane.  Because they are electronic, many gimbals can also be operated remotely – one person can move the unit through a scene and another can point the camera in the right direction.

From the very beginning, filmmakers used gimbals to craft shots in dynamic new ways.  The scene below was filmed by Vincent Laforet back in 2013 as part of a short film meant to show off the (then) new technology’s potential.  To achieve the shot, a camera operator on roller blades chased a taxi, which the actor rushed into.  As the car takes off, the operator holds onto the side and films through the window, then skates away backwards.  A second operator assisted through a remote monitor.  This kind of shot simply would not have been possible before the invention of the gimbal.

If you look at the behind-the-scenes materials for any major recent film, you’ll probably see gimbals all over the place.  There are lots of examples in this featurette for Straight Outta Compton – in many of them, the camera is passed from one operator to another or from a rig of some kind to an operator.

In the last few years, this technology has gotten cheaper, lighter, more capable, and much more widespread.  The latest gimbal in our collection is the DJI Ronin S, a single-handed gimbal that can carry a payload of up to seven pounds.  Check out the following promotional short film (and making-of video) to see what it can do.

What’s Next

I think that both gimbals and Steadicams will continue to be used for a long time.  Gimbals in particular are starting to reach a stage of mainstream adoption that were never seen on their more expensive and complex mechanical ancestors.  You can now buy a three axis gimbal for a cell phone for around a hundred dollars.  However, Steadicams are still common on the sets of major productions – they can hold more weight and there are a lot of skilled Steadicam operators who can achieve amazing results with non-electronic stabilizers.

The next evolution of stabilization technology is taking place within the camera itself.  We’ve had lenses with built-in image stabilization for a long time – it’s been used to take out the tiny jitters that come with handholding a camera, especially at a longer focal length.  Image stabilization in the body of the camera works by actually moving the sensor to compensate for small movements.  This is sometimes referred to as IBIS, or In-Body Image Stabilization.  Sometimes, this is further enhanced electronically, by cropping in on the image slightly.

IBIS has improved the image stabilization capabilities of some cameras to the point that a gimbal is not always necessary.  Panasonic, Fuji, and Sony are all using this technology and I think it will see more widespread adoption in the next few generations of hybrid cameras.  The latest camera from GoPro uses a feature called HyperSmooth, which seems to be a combination of electronic and sensor stabilization, with some really remarkable results.

This technology is still developing, but it is very promising.  Eventually, we may reach a point where completely smooth footage can be captured without any external stabilization – no gimbal, no Steadicam, not even a shoulder rig.  I can only imagine the kind of impossible moves that we’ll be pulling off then.

Movement with Feeling

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.  Filmmakers like David Lynch use a static camera to create dramatic tension; filmmakers like Alfonso Cuaron use a handheld camera to create intimacy and engagement.  When a camera is mounted onto a track or moving platform, the result is somewhere in between, yet entirely unique.

As we previously discussed, moving the camera helps insert the audience into the scene, because a handheld camera approximates the way we actually see the world.  However, when a camera moves forward on a dolly or floats sideways on a slider, that is movement that we don’t usually experience in life.  It is deliberately artificial.  That’s not a negative thing – it’s simply using the artifice of film to its potential.    The smooth movement and the composition of the frame guide our eyes in an almost irresistible way.

Pushing in, pulling back, tracking from side to side – these are essential parts of the “classic Hollywood” style.  Sometimes this movement is utilitarian – following an actor, exploring the geography of the set, drawing the audience’s attention to part of the scene.  Few directors do this in a more deliberate, exacting way than David Fincher.  Fincher’s camera follows his subjects with mathematical precision.  These are motivated camera moves that lock the audience into the movement of the characters.  Check out this video essay from Nerdwriter for some insightful examples:

Other times, this movement is overtly stylistic. Spike Lee often uses shots where both the camera and the actor are moved through an environment on a dolly.  The result is floaty and dreamlike; it separates the actor from the world and creates a kind of collage.

If Spike Lee uses movement with style and David Fincher uses it with precision, Steven Spielberg uses camera movement with emotion.  Spielberg has always been a director who understands the emotional power of camera movement – and he isn’t afraid to use it.  Spielberg is often considered a “sentimental” filmmaker and I think that his camera movement is a big part of that.  In the following scene from Close Encounters of the Third Kind, the camera is almost constantly moving, highlighting the mounting fear and strangeness of the sequence.

However, the best examples of Spielberg’s style of movement are probably his shots of faces.  Spielberg understood the expressive power of the human face early in his career and his filmography is full of these shots.  Here’s an excellent video essay from Kevin B. Lee examining how Spielberg uses – and eventually subverts – a simple dolly move towards an actor’s face.

Dolly Zoom

The dolly zoom is known by many names: the push/pull, the trombone shot, the Vertigo effect, and others. We’ve discussed how this effect is achieved a bit already: as the camera moves closer or further away from the subject, the lens zooms in or out in the opposite direction.  In the resulting shot, the subject stays roughly the same size, but the perspective of the background changes, creating an unsettling effect.  It can be used to emphasize isolation, build tension, or illustrate a sense of panic.  I’d argue that all three are happening in this famous shot from Jaws.

Dolly zooms are difficult to film – you need to move the camera and change the focal length of the lens smoothly and simultaneously.  If the camera drifts to one side or the other during the movement, the shot won’t work.  If the zoom goes in or out too far, or at the wrong speed, or unevenly, the shot won’t work.  You also have a limited amount of space and time to play with – it takes a large, complex setup to move a camera dramatically towards or away from an actor and you need a lens with a long zoom – remember, most cinema lenses are primes – to mirror it.  For these reasons, dolly zooms are usually only a few seconds long.

Accessorize with Caution

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.

Several years ago, I was working on an informational video for a university in California.  I had recently purchased some new camera accessories for my DSLR and – wanting to make a good impression as a capable professional – I built up a shoulder rig with everything I possibly could.  The end result was heavy and awkward to use; on the first day of the shoot, I slammed into a door frame trying to maneuver it through a narrow hallway.

Since then, I’ve tried to be more thoughtful about how I accessorize my cameras and when rigging is and isn’t necessary.  One of the biggest strengths of hybrid cameras is that they are light and portable – easy to move around with.  Sometimes that is worth trading for some of the functionality of a dedicated video camera and sometimes it isn’t.

Of course, video cameras can be rigged up as well, with rails, a follow focus, an external monitor, or other accessories.  It’s important to remember that all of these things are tools with specific purposes.  In other words, don’r rig just for the sake of rigging.

Rods and Rails

Rail systems are probably the most common way to rig up a camera.  They use standard rods that are either 19mm – for large cinema cameras – or 15mm in diameter.  These are generally made of either aluminum or carbon fiber.  We use 15mm rods with our equipment and these have become much more common in the last few years.  The rods use mounts and clamps that are always the same distance apart (60mm), so you can buy parts and accessories from various manufacturers and combine them however you like.

Most matte boxes and follow focus controllers are attached using rods.  As hybrid cameras have increased in popularity, these tools have decreased in price and many hybrid shooters now use them.  Unfortunately, the desire to make a small camera look “more professional” has led to a glut of cheap plastic accessories that function poorly.  Make no mistake, it’s sometimes important to make a good impression on a client – but if you’re starting out as a filmmaker, there are probably better investments than a cheap matte box.

In addition to camera accessories, you can also use a rail system to add movement options to your rig.  The simplest – and most effective – way to do this is by adding front handles and a shoulder pad.  These come in a variety of shapes and sizes, but they all serve to add more points of contact between yourself and the camera, creating more stability.

You might not think that adding a shoulder pad and handles to a camera would make a big difference, but it really does.  You are much more steady when holding the camera still and much more smooth when moving it.  Especially on smaller hybrid cameras without internal stabilization, small vibrations can make something like walking footage basically unusable.  A shoulder rig adds a lot of stability.  As an experiment, try a simple movement – say, following a walking subject – with and without a shoulder rig and review the footage.

Other Stabilizers and Rigs

While 15mm rods are the most widely used rigging system, there are a number of other options available as well.  One of the simplest is to add a handle to the bottom of a hybrid camera.  Doing so places one hand directly under the camera’s sensor, which helps smooth out the footage.  It also encourages you to hold the camera near your body, which also helps.

In our collection, we have two additional shoulder rigs that do not use 15mm rods.  One is a folding “spider” rig, which can be twisted into a variety of configurations.  This is a versatile tool – it can go from a shoulder mount to side handles to a tabletop tripod fairly quickly.  I personally find it a bit too “fiddly” to use regularly, however.

The other rig is a simple plastic shoulder rest with a mounting point for the camera on the end.  This is an inexpensive rig and it definitely feels a bit cheap and creaky.  However, for a lightweight camera, it actually does a really good job of adding stability.  For handheld moving camera shots, it’s a great option – you just look a bit silly using it.

Deliberate Filmmaking

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.

Of course, I’m exaggerating the distinctions between these different types of filmmaking.  All creators need to be resourceful, adaptable, and deliberate to some extent in whatever they do.  However, cinematic filmmaking really highlights the importance of thoughtful planning.  When I use the word “cinematic,” I’m oversimplifying a bit there as well – what I really mean is narrative filmmaking that has been staged, lit, recorded, and color graded with a specific result in mind.

Cinema cameras – as opposed to hybrids or camcorders – have been designed for this kind of filmmaking first and foremost.  Some cinema cameras have the versatility of a camcorder, with advanced audio features and comfortable ergonomics, but many do not.  The cameras made by RED, for example (some of the most popular cinema cameras being used today), can be outfitted with different modules to expand their functionality – but the heart of the RED system is just an image sensor in a box.

Continuing our discussion from Lesson 5.1, the BlackMagic Pocket Cinema Camera is a true cinema camera.  This makes it a frankly inconvenient camera to use, but one that can capture great images.

Rigging It Up

Here are the accessories that I’d recommend using with the BMPCC in order to maximize its usability.

• Good glass – We’re going to be taking our time with the BMPCC, so let’s skip the convenience of a zoom lens and use a nice prime instead.  The Zeiss Nikon-mount prime lenses can be adapted for use on the camera with very nice results.
• Tripod or stabilization – Despite being a very small camera, the BMPCC doesn’t perform very well handheld.  It does well on a tripod or a stabilizer like a three-axis gimbal.
• Cage – the small form factor and limited mounting points on the camera can be challenging.  A cage helps alleviate this – we have a fairly minimalistic cage for use with the BMPCC.
• Rail system – As a cinema camera, the BMPCC does well with cinematic accessories.  You can use a rail system to mount a follow focus, matte box, and other accessories.
• Power solution – The battery life on this camera is terrible.  We have a fairly basic external battery for the unit, but there are lots of other options out there as well.
• External monitor – The camera’s built-in screen is small and not very bright.  Using an external monitor can help with shot composition and nailing exposure.
• Audio recorder – Despite having a microphone input and a headphone jack, the audio captured on the BMPCC isn’t really usable.  I’d recommend using the on-camera audio as a sync track and recording higher quality audio to an external recorder.

Lighting

Without going into too much detail on lighting – we have an entire class for that – I want to point out that cinema cameras really require cinematic lighting.  A standard “three point” lighting system will do the job, but you need to be thoughtful about how you light your scenes.  Here are a few paragraphs from the “Fundamental Lighting” lesson of the Film/Media Studies Practicum on color and light:

Three point lighting isn’t a basic technique, it’s a fundamental technique – the fundamental technique – for lighting a subject.  There may be dozens of lights set up for a shot, but the subject (the actor, generally speaking) will still be lit using three point lighting.  That’s because three point lighting describes how we see other people every day, with different levels of light and shadow.

When you are outside, you are probably being primarily illuminated by the sun – that makes it the key light.  The sun can be a hard or a soft light, depending on the weather and time of day; overcast days are generally considered great for filming, since the light is diffuse and flattering.

Depending on the sun’s location, it will cast shadows on one side of your face or the other, but these shadows are softened by the other lights in the environment: either light from the sun that has been reflected off of other objects or other sources of nearby illumination.  These softening lights are the fill.

Finally, there is almost always light coming from behind you – usually either the sky or some reflected light from the sun.  If this light overwhelms the light of the sun (the key light), you will be silhouetted; if it is fainter, it will wrap around you from behind as a rim of light.  This is the back light.

When you are setting up three point lighting, you have a few factors to consider.  How harsh should the shadows be?  How intense should the back light be?  Which side should the back light be on?  These are largely a matter of personal preference and can change from one setup to another.  I personally think that the back light looks best on the opposite side from the key, but many lighting diagrams show the opposite.  The important thing is to be conscious of how these choices affect your scene.

Filming for Grading

As previously mentioned, the BMPCC can record two kinds of video files: raw and ProRes.  The raw files are actually .dng still images that are captured in a sequence – you can actually inspect the frames one by one.  These raw stills are read by an editing program as an image sequence.  Recording in a raw format like this gives you the maximum amount of image quality and flexibility for color grading.

However, as you can imagine, recoding thousands of uncompressed still image files instead of a single piece of video really complicates the post-production workflow.  I’d recommend using one of the ProRes options when filming on the BMPCC, as they are still robust, high-quality files, but they are much easier to work with.

If you plan on color grading your footage (a given in cinematic work), recording to a “log” or flat picture profile is also wise.  The BMPCC always records a slightly desaturated image, but using the “Film” dynamic range setting takes this even further.  From another lesson in the Color & Light course, here’s some information about log recording:

Simply put, log is a camera setting that lowers the contrast and saturation of the image being recorded; a “flat” picture profile.  Log footage is pretty unpleasant-looking at first – milky, bland, and washed-out.  Log footage comes to life in the color-grading process when saturation and contrast is added back into the image.  Because you are starting with more of a blank slate, log footage can be color graded and tweaked more aggressively in post-production.

So should you always be shooting using a log profile?  Actually, no.  Because log footage has low contrast, it protects the details in both shadows and highlights.  That makes it great for shooting environments with very bright areas and very dark areas.  However, if you’re in a situation where you don’t need to recover details from both the shadows and the highlights, there really isn’t much point to shooting log – you’d only be adding unnecessary work later.

The way your camera records video files also makes a difference as to whether or not you should shoot log.  Without getting too technical, cameras that use low compression (4:2:2 as opposed to 4:2:0) and capture lots of color information (12 or 10-bit as opposed to 8-bit) using a robust codec (RAW or ProRes as opposed to H.264) will do better with log footage.  In our collection, the BlackMagic Pocket Camera and Sony FS5 are better suited to using flat picture profiles than cameras like the GH3 and AF100.

Finally, shooting log can be problematic because it’s difficult to imagine what your finished footage will look like when everything is desaturated and grey – it can even be challenging to light and expose correctly, since the footage appears so flat.  However, some cameras and external monitors (like our SmallHD DP7-Pro) will allow you to load a LUT (essentially a color-grading preset) and preview your footage with a more finished look.

When filming in the log setting on the BMPCC, remember that the footage you are capturing will be significantly transformed in the color grading process.  Use the tools at your disposal – light meters, exposure guides like histograms, LUT previews – to dial in your footage for the best result.

Tiny Camera, Big Image

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.  BlackMagic’s cinema line of cameras cameras don’t look like hybrid cameras or camcorders – they’ve rejected the body styles of both in order to create a device focused solely on capturing images.  That means that they lose out on some of the handling and ergonomic benefits of those kinds of cameras.  However, when it comes to capturing high quality images, BlackMagic cameras do their job very well.  They also do so at a price point much lower than most of their competitors.

The BlackMagic Pocket Cinema Camera (let’s call it the BMPCC for short) was released in 2013 and it seems like it was designed with the goal of addressing some of the complaints about the larger Cinema Camera.  It’s much smaller and lighter, it uses standard rechargeable camera batteries, and it records to SD cards instead of hard drives.  It also retains a lot of what made the original Cinema Camera so enticing: it captures very high quality images in more robust file formats that can be color graded in a professional environment.  It can capture raw video – that is, video that has not been compressed – or ProRes video, which is a compressed, but still high quality format.

The resulting camera is… weird.  It looks like a compact point-and-shoot stills camera, but it uses much larger lenses and doesn’t actually capture stills.  The body itself is, in fact, probably small enough to fit in most pockets, but the camera is at its best when it is heavily accessorized, limiting its portability (more on this below).  It has a beautifully designed and intuitive menu system, but those menus are limited and difficult to navigate with the controls on the camera body.  The BMPCC is a camera of contradictions.

The Good and the Bad

Let’s address some of the BMPCC’s shortcomings, because they are significant.  First of all, the battery life on this camera is terrible.  Under normal shooting conditions, you will probably be able to use the camera for about 45 minutes before needing to change batteries.  Fortunately, the batteries recharge fairly quickly and you can also power the camera using a larger external battery with an adapter.  Still, whenever you use this camera, you should bring backup batteries and the charger.

The camera’s audio options are pretty limited; it has a 3.5mm microphone input and a headphone jack, but no XLR inputs with phantom power and independent level control like you’d find on a high end video camera.  Even with an XLR adapter, the audio pre-amps on this camera are pretty bad, so it’s best to capture sound to an external recorder.

The body of the camera is compact, but as a result, it’s not an especially comfortable camera to hold and use.  The lightweight body makes heavier lenses feel unwieldy – ironically, the “pocket” camera performs best when mounted on a tripod.  The small body also means that the external buttons and controls are limited.  You can adjust the aperture using buttons on the back, but you need to dig into the menus to change the ISO, white balance, and shutter speed.  There is a dedicated focus button, but the autofocus is so slow and inconsistent that you probably won’t use it.  The buttons also cannot be customized.

It doesn’t have any slow motion settings.  It doesn’t capture 4K, only HD.  It’s not very good in low light.  It isn’t weather-sealed or particularly rugged.  It has no viewfinder, only a dim rear screen that becomes useless in bright sunlight.

Finally, while the camera uses Micro Four Thirds lenses, it actually has a smaller sensor – roughly the size of Super 16mm film.  That means that the crop factor on this camera is 2.88x, instead of the 2x you find on other Micro Four Thirds cameras (like the Panasonic GH3 and GH4).  This means that it’s very difficult to get any wide angle shots on this camera, since you need an incredibly wide lens.

To summarize, the camera is slow, inconvenient, and “fiddly.”  It has a body a bit like a hybrid camera’s, but misses out on a lot of the benefits that hybrid cameras carry with them.  It purports to be a video camera, but misses out on a lot of those benefits too.  So why do people use this camera?

BlackMagic Design named this device the Pocket Cinema Camera and, while the “pocket” designation is dubious, the “cinema” label is not.  This is a camera that was designed to capture cinematic images and it does so beautifully.  The sensor is small, but high-quality.  The files captured – whether raw or ProRes – have a lovely, natural, “filmic” quality to them, especially when the camera is paired with a good lens.  Those files are much larger than what you would get on a GH4 or AF100, but they also hold up to color grading and manipulation much better.

In terms of image quality, the BMPCC actually performs better than many cameras that are much more expensive and full-featured.  If you stop thinking of it as a full camera and use it as a sensor around which you can build up a cinematic system – adding a good lens, battery solution, rigging, stabilization, an external monitor, and audio recorder – you’ll be able to take full advantage of its capabilities.

Using the BMPCC

Both the battery and memory card slots are located beneath a door at the bottom of the camera.  Again, bring plenty of both, because this camera chews through media and batteries with abandon.  You’ll also need fast memory cards to keep up with the data rates required by this camera.

On one side, you’ll find the inputs and outputs: remote cable, headphones, microphone, micro HDMI, and external power.  On the top of the camera are the record button and playback controls.  On the back are buttons for power, accessing the menu, iris control, and autofocus, as well as a directional pad and OK button.  Those are all of the external controls on the camera.

Opening the menus, you may be struck by how different BlackMagic’s interface looks when compared to other cameras.  It is clean and modern, with clear labels and a logical layout.  In the Metadata section, you can embed textual information into the files, but doing so using the directional pad is so time-consuming that you probably shouldn’t bother.

In the settings menu, you’ll find sections labeled Camera, Audio, Recording, and Display.  In Camera, you can set the date and time (for some reason) and change the ISO, white balance, and shutter angle.  The audio section lets you control the microphone input levels – but, again, the in-camera audio should really only be used as a scratch track.

The Recording section has some interesting options to play with.  The Recording Format setting allows you to select RAW or several flavors of ProRes.  In my opinion, ProRes 422 offers the best combination of high quality files with sizes that aren’t prohibitively huge.  For the absolute best quality, choose RAW or ProRes HQ.

The Dynamic Range setting allows you to choose between Film and Video.  Both settings will result in footage that is less saturated and contrasty than you might be used to seeing – the Film mode in particular is very flat.  While this look may seem unappealing at first, the footage really comes alive when you bring it into post-production software and do some color grading to it.  For the most flexibility in post, use the Film mode; for footage that looks a bit better right out of the camera, use Video.  You also set your frame rate in the Recording section.  There is a time-lapse mode there as well, but hybrid cameras are generally better-suited for time-lapse.

The Display section lets you control the brightness of the rear screen and adjust the zebras exposure guide.  It also has its own Dynamic Range setting; if you have it set to Film in the Recording section, you can switch the display to Video to show what lightly color graded footage would look like.  For simplicity’s sake, I’d recommend leaving the Display Dynamic Range set to whatever the Recording version is.

In the main menu page, there are also options for formatting the SD card, turning focus peaking on and off, turning exposure and audio meters on and off, and toggling frame guides.

In my experience, most people who use the BMPCC regularly develop a sort of love/hate relationship with it.  It has a clean, thoughtful user interface in a cramped, awkward camera body; it combines beautiful image quality with terrible battery life and a limiting crop factor; it’s incredibly compact and light, but nearly impossible to use without a ton of accessories.  It’s a weird camera, but also a fun one.

Static Sticks

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.  A greater emphasis can be placed on shot composition and editing by stripping away movement.  Long static shots can even allow the audience to explore the frame on their own, as Professor Faden recently explored in his film Visual Disturbances, which examines the work of French filmmaker Jacques Tati.

However, tripods are also important tools for creating movement.  A tripod with a good video fluid head can pan and tilt; many have a center column that can be used to pedestal up or down; and a tripod can be mounted to a wheeled base to dolly or truck.

When we talk about tripods, we are usually talking about two components: the legs and the head.  You can generally buy a tripod as either legs and head together in a kit or separately, depending on your needs.

There are different styles of tripod legs and heads for different shooting situations.  Some are designed for stability, some for portability.  Some can get very tall and some are designed to get as close to the ground as possible.  Some tripod heads are specially dampened to create smooth movement – these are called “fluid” tripod heads – and others are meant to be locked in a specific position.

Here are the different tripods we have in our equipment collection.

Manfrotto 501 HDV and 504 HD Fluid Heads

Our three largest Manfrotto tripods all use similar fluid heads that all accept the same quick release plate.  These heads are designed to create smooth panning and tilting movements during recording and have adjustable “drag” or resistance.  They have a high weight capacity are are a great choice for larger cameras.

Manfrotto 475B Tripod with 501 HDV Fluid Head

This large tripod has a geared center column and can raise to a height of over six feet.  The legs have a spreader attachment for added stability.  This tripod is bulky and heavy, but sturdy.

Manfrotto 546B Tripod with 504 HD Fluid Head

This tripod uses “two-stage” legs with a spreader, which creates a very sturdy base – albeit at the expense of size and weight.  This tripod also uses a bowl mount, which is extremely useful for quickly leveling the camera.

Manfrotto 055XB Tripod with with 501 HDV Fluid Head

This is a fairly basic tripod with lever locks and a center column.  It is not as stable as the 564B or 475B, but it is much lighter and easier to transport.  The combination of a lighter tripod with a heavier fluid head make this a good general-purpose option for mid-size to large cameras.

Davis & Sanford 7518 Tripod with FM 18 Fluid Head

This tripod is similar to the Manfrotto 546B, with multi-stage legs and a spreader, as well as a bowl mount for quick leveling.  The fluid head uses slightly different mounting plates.  This is a stable tripod, but it is cheaper than the Manfrotto, with some plastic parts and a less smooth fluid head.  However, it can support a good deal of weight and it’s slightly lighter than the Manfrotto.

Manfrotto 290 Xtra Tripod Manfrotto 190X Tripod with 128RC Fluid Head

Both the 290 Xtra and 19X are basic mid-size tripod legs with a center column.  These tripods are appropriate for mid-size and smaller cameras.

The 128RC head is a mini fluid head best used with hybrid and other small cameras.  It utilizes a small drop-in plate, which is compatible with several of the other mounts in our collection.

Manfrotto 190X Tripod with 496RC2 Ball Head

These tripod legs are identical to the ones described above.  The difference here is the head, which is not a fluid head – it is a ball head design, which is best used for static shots, not smooth movement.  The ball head does offer a lot of flexibility, so it’s an ideal choice if you need to point the camera straight up or down or adjust the yaw.

Mini Tripod

In addition to larger tripods, we have a handful of mini tripods, designed for very small cameras and cell phones.  These can also be used as makeshift handles on hybrid cameras.  These tripods do not have separate heads or even plates – they just screw to the bottom of the camera.  These are not suitable for smooth panning or tilting.

Monopods

A monopod is, as the name suggests, a support with only one leg.  As such, you cannot set it up and leave it like you can with a tripod.  However, the monopod has several advantages of its own – it is smaller and lighter to transport; it has a much smaller “footprint” than a tripod and can be used in tighter spaces; and it allows you to create camera moves that are impossible with a normal tripod.

Many professionals prefer monopods for event work, since they can be picked up and repositioned so easily.  As long as you keep a hand on the monopod, it will be stable.  Video-specific monopods also often have a “chicken foot” or mini-tripod base.  This provides additional stability and allows the unit to smoothly pan.  If you add a fluid head tripod to the top of the monopod, you have a very versatile tool.

Because the monopod can be tilted forward and backward much more easily than a tripod, you can also do something like a crane shot.  I’ve seen filmmakers use monopods in far more creative ways as well: holding them upside down, extending them fully for high shots, or using them horizontally.  Here are a few videos from various filmmakers on their favorite ways to use a monopod.

Movement Terminology

Here are some basic terms that we’ll be using a lot when discussing camera movement (GIFs courtesy of Boords).

Static – A static camera doesn’t move; usually, this means that it is locked down on a tripod.  Incidentally, “locked down” means just that: the pan and tilt of a camera are tightened and don’t change during the shot.  Note that a static camera does not necessarily dictate a static scene, as actors and even the background can move while the camera remains still.

Pan – Panning is rotation along a horizontal axis.  Usually, this is done on a tripod – panning changes the orientation of the camera, but not the position.

Tilt – Tilting is rotation along a vertical axis.  Like a pan, this is usually done on a tripod and involves a change of orientation, not position.

Yaw/Cant – Yaw is rotation along the z-axis – essentially, adjusting the camera, so that the horizon is no longer level.  This is sometimes referred to as cant (or a canted angle) or a Dutch angle.  Yaw is not usually adjusted during a shot, although it can be done to create a disorienting effect.

Zoom – A zoom is a change in the focal length of the lens being used.  While not technically a camera movement, zooming still creates the impression movement within the shot.

Dolly – A dolly shot moves the camera closer or farther away from the subject.  This is usually done on some sort of cart or track.  The word dolly is used to describe both the movement (“dolly in” or “dolly out”) and the specific piece of equipment used to create that movement.

Truck – A truck (or tracking) shot involves moving the camera from side to side.  This creates an effect similar to a pan, but moves the camera instead of changing its orientation.

Pedestal/Boom – A pedestal shot involves moving the camera vertically.  This can be done using a crane/jib or handheld.  The effect is similar to a tilt, but moves the camera instead of changing its orientation.

Motivated and Unmotivated Movement

One term that you will probably hear frequently when discussing camera movement is motivation.  This can be potentially confusing, so let’s discuss motivated and unmotivated camera movements.

Put simply, a motivated camera movement is a movement that follows something happening on the screen.  If you pan to follow a character walking across the frame, that is a motivated camera movement.  Unmotivated camera movements do not specifically follow something happening on screen.  If you dolly away from a group of people at a party, that is an unmotivated camera movement.

It’s important to understand that motivated camera movements are not inherently better than unmotivated ones; an unmotivated camera movement can (and should) still be an intentional, planned camera movement that adds to the cinematic impact of the shot.  Motivated camera movements are often nearly subliminal, since they mimic the way our eyes naturally follow action.  Unmotivated camera movements tend to draw more attention to themselves; the audience notices them, so they often make a greater narrative and stylistic impact.

The following shot from the opening sequence of It Follows uses motivated camera movement.  As the you women backs away, the camera dollies forward with her; when she begins to run, the camera pans, keeping her locked in the center of the frame.  The audience is given the perspective of someone watching – and following – the actress, which is in keeping with the narrative of the film.  The moving camera also keeps the character’s actions prominent in the frame, which gives them emphasis; we know that her backing away and running is important to the story.

This shot from A Clockwork Orange uses unmotivated camera movement.  As the camera dollies slowly away from the actor, more and more of the surreal scene is revealed, but there is no specific action that the camera is following.  Instead, the focus is on the bizarre environment and its menacing inhabitants.  In other words, the emphasis is on the reveal, not the action.

However, motivated camera movements can also reveal narrative details.  In the following shot from Taxi Driver, the movement of the actor’s hand clearly motivates the pedestal movement of the camera, but the end of the shot reveals the character’s surprising new hair style, which is narratively significant.

This is in contrast to an earlier scene in Taxi Driver, in which an unmotivated truck shot is used not as a reveal, but to emphasize the internal conflict happening within the character, who is abandoned by the camera as it moves from left to right.

Motivated and unmotivated camera movements can be used in the same sequence or even in the same shot.  An effective director and cinematographer will use both to shape the style, tone, and narrative qualities of a film.  We’ll be exploring why, when, and how to use camera movement intentionally in the weeks to come.

Take It Sloooooooooow

Slow motion is fun.  It can give drama more weight and make comedy more ridiculous.  While it’s often overused in Hollywood blockbusters, there are times when a slow motion shot just works.  I don’t see many student projects that utilize the technique and I think that part of the reason is that it requires a lot of planning.  You need to know exactly what your want your end result to be and it often requires additional equipment and setup time.

Fortunately, we have some really fantastic tools for capturing slow motion in our equipment collection.  In particular, the Sony RX10 II and the Panasonic GH4 have excellent slow motion modes.  However, before we discuss the particulars of using the individual cameras, we need to discuss how slow motion works in general.

Slow motion is sometimes referred to as “over cranking,” a reference to the manual, hand-cranked film cameras of early cinema.   Put simply, shooting slow motion involves using a higher shooting frame rate than the display frame rate.  If you film at 48 frames per second and display the footage at 24 frames per second, we will have half-speed slow motion.  On the first movie cameras, this was literally done by cranking the handle on the camera more quickly than usual – hence, over cranking.  The higher the frame rate filmed at, the slower the resulting slow motion footage.

There are some considerations that need to be taken into account when filming in slow motion, however.  First of all, the “180 rule” for shutter speed still applies: for a natural looking amount of motion blur, the shutter speed should be roughly twice the frame rate.  That means that shooting at a high frame rate involves using very short shutter speeds; if you are shooting, say, 100 frames per second, your shutter speed should ideally be around 1/200 of a second.

Since fast shutter speeds let less light into the camera, we need to compensate in some way.  You can usually make up some of the difference using the exposure triangle – either raising the ISO or opening the aperture will help.  Lens apertures can only open so far, though (plus it affects depth of field) and high ISOs have worse image quality.  That means that, most of the time, you simply need to add more light to a scene that you are filming for slow motion.

You can also be a little more flexible about the 180 rule when filming slow motion.  If you are shooting at, say, 240 frames per second, you probably don’t need to take your shutter all the way down to 1/480 of a second.  Remember, though, that it’s impossible to film at a lower shutter speed than your frame rate, so for 240fps slow motion, you will still need to shoot at a minimum of 1/240 of a second.

Shooting slow motion can also cause some lights to flicker in unexpected ways.  Flicker is caused by the shutter speed of the camera interacting with the frequency of the lights in the shot.  Unfortunately, you can’t see this flicker until you play the clip back, so you may want to do some tests and adjust your shutter speed as necessary.

Finally, do keep in mind that the clip you create will be considerably longer – two, four, ten, maybe twenty times longer – than however long you actually record for.  Your SD cards will fill up much faster, so make sure that you are only filming what you actually need.

HFR on the RX10 II

First up, let’s look at how to capture slow motion on the Sony RX10 II.  The mode dial has an HFR (High Frame Rate) setting next to the movie mode, so you’ll want to switch over to that.  Then hit the menu button and go to the second page of the camera settings section.

First, make sure that the file format is set to XAVC S HD.  Next, move down to the HFR Settings option, which is on the same page.  The Record Setting determines the frame rate for your resulting movie file – use 24p 50M, which will create a video clip that plays in slow motion at 24 frames per second.  The Frame Rate setting allows you to choose three options: 240, 480, or 960 frames per second.  Since our final video will be played back at 24, 240 plays back at one tenth speed, 480 at one twentieth, and 960 at an astounding one fortieth speed.

Unfortunately, these extreme frame rates come at the cost of image quality.  Recording at 240 looks quite good, 480 is a bit soft and muddy, and 960 looks pretty bad.  I would personally stick to 240 which is still very dramatic slow motion.

Set the Priority Setting to Quality Priority, which will ensure the best possible image.  REC Timing is an interesting setting; when it is set to Start Trigger, the slow motion recording will begin when you press the video record button.  When it is set to End Trigger, the camera will continuously “buffer” a few seconds of slow motion video – hitting the video record button will save whatever is in that buffer.  This is great for capturing precise moments, because you can wait something to occur and then press the record button, as opposed to trying to anticipate the action you are trying to capture.

There are some limitations to recording in HFR mode on the RX10 II.  First of all, the camera can only capture around two seconds of slow motion footage at a time.  That might not sound like much, but remember that when played back, these clips will get ten, twenty, or forty times longer; two seconds of 240fps footage will result in a twenty second clip.  Also, no sound is recorded in HFR mode, but audio that slow would be fairly useless anyway.

When the camera is switched over to HFR mode, it will operate as usual: you can dial in the zoom, focus, and exposure settings as you normally would.  However, pressing the large center button in the control dial on the rear of the camera will place it into “Shooting Standby.”  When the camera is set to standby, all the settings are locked.  You cannot change exposure, adjust the zoom, or even focus the camera.  When the camera is in standby mode, you press the movie record button to capture either the previous two seconds or the next two seconds, depending on how you set the REC Timing option in the menu.

After you finish recording, the camera will take a few seconds to process the clip.  It’s a good idea to hit the playback button to check out what you’ve captured.  Be sure to check for things like lights flickering.

The RX10 II has one other great option for slow motion recording, which is to record in 120 frames per second in the normal video mode.  To do this, set the camera to movie recording on the mode dial.  In the menu, make sure that the format is set to XAVC S HD on the second page of the camera settings section.  Then go to Record Setting and  choose 120p 100M.  This will capture footage that does not play back in slow motion; however, you can take it into an editing program and slow it down in post-production.

The benefit of recording this way is that you don’t have to use the “standby” mode which locks all of the camera settings.  You can record normally, with sound, and make changes to your zoom, focus, and exposure settings.  This would be a good approach if you wanted a scene to start at normal speed and then transition into slow motion.  It will require more work in the editing process, though.  You could do the same thing using the 60p Record Setting for a less dramatic effect.

VFR on the GH4

The Panasonic GH4 has solid slow motion capabilities as well.  Its frame rate options are more limited, but it gives you more flexibility in terms of recording time and settings.  To enable VFR (Variable Frame Rate), set the camera to movie mode on the top dial and go into the menus.  In the Motion Picture section, make sure that the Rec Format is set to MOV.  Under Rec Quality, choose FHD 100M 24P, which will record a full HD image at 24 frames per second.  You should see “VFR available” at the bottom of the description box.

At the top of the second page of the Motion Picture section, you’ll find the Variable Frame Rate settings.  Click on it and go to SET.  From there, you can set the frame rate to anything from 2, for fast motion, up to 96, for quarter speed slow motion.  Once you set the desired frame rate, make sure that Variable Frame Rate is turned on in the menu and back out to the camera’s recording mode.

Much like recording slow motion on the RX10 II, the GH4 will not record any audio and the recorded clip will automatically be converted and played back in slow motion.  Unlike the RX10 II, there is no recording time limit and you can continue to set the exposure, zoom, and focus – there is no “standby” mode.  You simply hit the record button and stop when you are done.

Since VFR on the GH4 tops out at 96 frames per second, the slow motion options aren’t as dramatic as they are on the RX10 II.  The recording mode itself is much easier to use, though, and being able to record much longer clips is a big plus.  Clips recorded at 96 frames per second are still dramatically slow – they just don’t have the extreme slow motion effect that clips recorded at 240 or 480 frames per second do.

Like on the RX10 II, you could also record in the normal video mode at a higher than usual frame rate and then slow the footage down in post production.  However, the highest frame rate available in full HD is only 60 frames per second and 4K tops out at 30.

T-I-M-E-L-A-P-S-E

The opposite of a slow motion shot would have to be a time lapse shot, which speeds action up by using a lower shooting frame rate than the display frame rate.  In time lapse footage, you might capture a single frame every second, or every ten seconds, or every few minutes.  The further apart the frames are, the more dramatically sped up the resulting footage will be.

Any footage can be converted to time lapse by speeding it up in post-production.  However, the GH4 has a great time lapse mode built into the camera, which makes the entire process more streamlined.

To enter the time lapse mode, you need to turn the mode dial on the camera to a stills photography setting – I’d recommend M for manual mode – and the drive dial to the last option, which looks like a clock with two arrows around it.

Head into the menus and go to the Rec section – it has an icon of a stills camera.  Since you are going to be capturing stills that will be converted into video, you may want to change the Aspect Ratio on page one to 16:9.  This is the same aspect ratio that HD video uses, so it will ensure that your images translate correctly.

On the third page of the Rec section is the Time Lapse/Animation setting.  Click on it and set the Mode to Time Lapse Shot.  Leave the Start Time set to Now.  The last option, where you set the shooting interval and number of images captured is a crucial setting.  The interval determines how far apart the images are taken.  The lowest option is one second, which means that it would take 24 seconds to create a single second of the finished clip (at 24 frames per second).  This goes all the way up to 99 minutes.

The image count essentially determines how long your time lapse will go for.  If you take shots two seconds apart and capture 50 images, it will take about 100 seconds to capture your footage and the resulting clip will be a little over two seconds long at 24 frames per second.  I know that’s a lot of numbers; fortunately, the camera makes it a little easier by putting the estimated end time at the bottom of the screen.

With the time lapse settings dialed in, you can leave the menus and set your exposure.  Since you will be capturing still images so far apart, you don’t need to pay much attention to things like the 180 rule for shutter speed.  Just get your exposure set, hit the shutter button, and walk away.  The camera will record for the predetermined number of shots and then stop.  You definitely want to use a tripod when recording time lapses, since any camera movement will appear to be a huge jump in the footage.

After the shots have been captured, the camera will give you the option to create a video file from the stills in-camera, which is a nice feature.  You can set the resolution and frame rate and the camera will take a few seconds processing the footage.

The 4K Sony Bridge Mirrorless Hybrid

So far, we’ve looked at hybrid cameras (the Panasonic GH3 and GH) and dedicated video cameras (the Panasonic AF100 and Sony AX2000).  This week, we’re going to get to know an unusual camera that offers some of the benefits of both hybrids and camcorders: the Sony RX10 II.

Sony has a few different cameras in their “RX” line – the most popular by far is the RX100, which is now on its sixth iteration.  These cameras are beloved because they manage to pack excellent photo and video quality into a device small enough to fit into your pocket.

The RX10 cameras (of which there have been four iterations) are considerably larger than the RX100s.  They generally use the same image sensor and offer the same features and image quality.  However, the larger size makes room for a fixed zoom lens with much larger reach, longer battery life, more external controls, and advanced audio features via the use of an optional adapter.

The RX10 is a “bridge” camera.  It has a fixed lens like a point-and-shoot, but on a larger body with the layout and manual controls of a DSLR.  These cameras have always occupied a strange niche – most photographers who want a larger camera body and manual controls also want to be able to change lenses; conversely, those who are interested in the convenience of an all-in-one also want it to be compact.  As a result, these cameras are not especially popular.  I personally find this camera very interesting, however, as it has some fantastic video features.

Using the RX10 II

The most obvious feature of the RX10 is its massive fixed (permanently attached) lens.  The focal length is 8.8-73.3mm with a constant aperture of f/2.8.  The crop factor on the RX10’s one inch sensor effectively turns this into a 24-200mm full frame equivalent field of view.  Having a focal range that long with a wide constant aperture is pretty unusual and it makes the camera very versatile.

There are two rings on the lens itself: one for aperture and one for either focus or zoom.  The aperture ring is unique in that it can be set to click (for stills) or rotate smoothly The combo ring only focuses when the camera is in manual focus mode (set using a dial in the bottom corner of the front of the camera); in one of the autofocus settings, it controls zoom.  Zoom can be controlled in manual or autofocus modes using the rocker dial on top of the camera.

Also on the top of the camera, you’ll find the exposure compensation dial, which is used primarily for stills photography; the familiar mode dial; a customizable button, which I have set for focus magnification; and a useful LCD display, which shows the battery level and camera settings.  For video recording, set the camera’s mode dial to the filmstrip icon.  The HFR setting below the filmstrip is used for slow motion recording; we’ll discuss that in more detail later.

On the back of the camera, you’ll find more customizable buttons and a control wheel, which I have set to control the ISO.  Since this camera has aperture controls on the lens, there is only one dial, which is used to control shutter speed.  The rear screen tilts up and down, but it isn’t fully articulated like the screen on the GH3 and GH4.  On the side of the camera, you’ll find a micro HDMI output, a 3.5mm microphone input, and a headphone jack.

Digging into the menus: there are sections for camera settings, customization options (the gear icon), WiFi, apps which can be added to the camera (squares icon), playback, and general settings (toolbox icon).  On the second page of the camera section, you can set the file format, resolution, and frame rate.  For 4K recording, you should use the XAVC S 4K format.  For HD recording, I like to use the XACV S HD format, since it gives you the most options for frame rates.  You can actually record full HD at 120 frames per second with audio on this camera, which is a great feature.

On the fifth page of the camera settings is the option for one of the RX10 II’s most unique features: a built-in ND filter.  There aren’t multiple strengths of ND, like you’d find on an AF100 or AX2000, but it’s still very useful.  For convenience sake, I have set the C2 button on the back of the camera to control the ND setting.

Buried on the eighth page of the camera settings is the exposure mode for movie recording – make sure this is set to manual.  You can also turn on SteadyShot (image stabilization) for video recording.  On the ninth page are options for controlling the audio levels.

In the customization section of the menu, you’ll find a variety of exposure guides that can be switched on and off, as well as settings for things like the speed of the zoom ring.  On the fifth page, you can set the custom buttons.  I have the camera set as follows: Custom Button 1 is the focus magnifier; Custom Button 2 is the ND filter; spinning the rear control wheel controls the ISO; and pressing the control wheel left, right, and down controls the peaking, zebras, and white balance, respectively.  Since these controls aren’t explicitly labeled on the camera, it can take some time to learn them, but they are easily accessible once you do.

You shouldn’t need to do much in the other sections of the menu, with the possible exception of the fifth page of the general settings, where you can format your memory card.  The RX10 II requires fast memory cards for most video recording settings – if the one you have isn’t fast enough, the camera will display a menu when you insert it.

Actually operating the camera is pretty straightforward.  The large grip, viewfinder, and prominent lens controls make is a good camera for handheld use – it’s pretty easy to hold the camera steady.  One odd quirk of this camera (and several other Sony models) is that you cannot start video recording with the shutter button – you have to use the record button labeled “MOVIE” on the back of the camera.  I have no idea why Sony is so particular about this, but they will actually give you a warning message if you try to use the shutter button in movie mode.

Audio Options

The on-screen levels, 3.5mm microphone input, and headphone jack provide the RX10 II with audio capabilities that are about on par with other high end hybrid cameras.  However, those capabilities can be greatly expanded using the K2M XLR adapter.  This adapter attaches to the camera’s hot shoe flash mount (which Sony calls its “smart shoe”).  On the adapter are two locking XLR inputs with phantom power and independent level controls.

This adapter essentially adds the audio functionality of a high end dedicated video camera to the RX10 II.  When you combine this with the built-in ND filter, click-less aperture ring, and the bevy of recording options, you have a lot of video-centric features in an extremely compact package.

A Tale of Two Camcorders

This week, we’re looking at two dedicated video cameras: the Panasonic AF100 and the Sony AX2000.  As a quick disclaimer, the actual letters and numbers in a camera’s name don’t usually mean much – different manufacturers use different systems to label their products and trying to unravel the logic behind the conventions is basically useless.  These two camcorders have some interesting similarities and differences, but they both offer the kinds of benefits you only get when filming on a dedicated video camera.

The Panasonic AF100 is an interchangeable lens camera that uses the Micro Four Thirds lens mount – the same mount and sensor size that you find in the Panasonic GH3 and GH4.  The Sony AX2000 has a fixed (permanently attached) lens with a large zoom range and a smaller sensor.  This means that the AX2000 is a more convenient all-in-one package, but the AF100 can capture higher quality images with its larger sensor and the option of premium lenses.

There is one interesting, often irritating, similarity that these two cameras share: they’re old.  Both cameras were first released in 2010 and eight years is a lot in the rapidly-evolving world of digital video.  This is most obvious in areas like the design of the menu systems, which are clunky and unintuitive.  Despite their age, however, these cameras still capture high quality video and they still offer good handling, excellent battery life, unlimited recording time on two card slots, and advanced audio features.

Panasonic AF100

The AF100 was released just over two years after the release of the very first mirrorless Micro Four Thirds camera, the Panasonic GH1.  The Micro Four Thirds system has proven popular for hybrid cameras because of its versatility and small size – but Micro Four Thirds camcorders are fairly unusual.  The AF100 was an attempt by Panasonic to create a “best of both worlds” camera, with the large sensor and lens options of a stills camera and the body design of a video camera.

To turn the camera on, you need to find the small power switch on the side of the camera, just above the audio level dials.  If you press the MENU button on the top of the camera (near the viewfinder), you’ll find three pages of confusingly-labeled settings.  In the first section, SCENE FILE, you’ll find the important REC FORMAT option, which allows you to change the frame rate and resolution of the camera – for standard recording, use 1080/24.

In the next section, SW MODE, you’ll find some customization options, such as the ISO assignments for the gain control.  The gain is set using a physical switch near the bottom of the camera – there are low, mid, and high options, which can be assigned to different ISO values.  The AF100 is not a terrific low-light camera and I’d recommend setting low, mid, and high to 200, 800, and 1600, respectively.  The rest of the SW MODE section contains settings for customizing the other buttons and dials on the camera body.

If you’re so inclined, you can navigate over to the DISPLAY SETUP section to customize the onscreen display – things like safety markers and meters can be switched on and off.  You shouldn’t need to spend much time in the rest of the menu sections, with the exception of CARD FUNCTIONS, which allows you to format the SD cards.

The camera body itself is where you’ll be setting most of the exposure controls.  The aperture is set using the dial near the front of the camera – press the IRIS button to toggle between manual and automatic modes.  Next to the IRIS button are switches marked GAIN (the ISO setting) and WHITE BAL.  White balance settings on this type of camera are a little different than they are on a hybrid camera: instead of dialing in a specific value, you can choose between two presets; or point the camera at a white surface and hit the AWB (automatic white balance) button at the front of the body.  On the back of the camera, near the battery compartment, is a dial for changing the shutter speed.

Continuing along the side of the camera body, USER 1 and USER 2 are customizable buttons – USER 1 has been programmed to show focus peaking, which is very useful.  In the bottom corner are audio level dials for channels one and two.  The rest of the audio controls are located behind the flip-out screen above.

Moving back to the controls behind the flip-out screen, you’ll find button controls for zebra, image stabilization (OIS), waveform visibility (WFM) and more.  There are record buttons on both sides of the camera, playback controls near the viewfinder, and a MODE button in the bottom corner that switches the camera from record mode to playback.  Under the rubber covers on the back of the camera, you’ll find outputs for HDMI, SDI, and A/V cables, as well as the headphone jack.

Audio controls and inputs are one big advantage of using a dedicated video camera and the AF100 does not disappoint in this area.  In addition to a built-in microphone, there are two XLR inputs with optional 48V power for shotgun microphones.  The inputs themselves are located on the opposite side of the camera and can be set to microphone or line level.  For most of your recording, these should probably stay on microphone – line is meant for audio coming from a mixing board.

On the front of the camera, you’ll find one of the best features on cameras like the AF100: built-in ND filters.  The filters are controlled with a rotating dial and are a huge asset when filming outdoors or in unpredictable lighting situations.  Having built-in ND filters means that you don’t need to bring filters for the lens or a matte box.

 

Because of the sheer number of buttons, dials, and switches on the AF100, it can be an intimidating camera to pick up and start using.  Unlike the hybrid cameras we’ve been using, dedicated video cameras have a somewhat steep learning curve – you should definitely take some time to familiarize yourself with the camera before filming with it.  However, once you know the layout of the camera, you can make adjustments very quickly.  It’s also a camera that is well-suited for multiple operators; for example, you might have one person controlling the sound and another recording and watching the focus.

Sony AX2000

The most obvious difference between the Panasonic AF100 and the Sony AX2000 is that the Sony has a fixed lens with a massive 20x zoom – it’s roughly equivalent to a 30-590mm full frame lens.  There are zoom, focus, and aperture control rings on the lens itself.  It also has a removable hood with a clever integrated cap.  Because the lens is integrated into the camera itself, you can control the zoom with rocker dials on the handle of the camera, which generally works better for zooming during recording.  Speaking of recording, there are two record buttons on the AX2000, one on the side handle and one on the top handle.  To power the camera on, turn the POWER dial around the record button on the side handle.

The body layout is slightly different here; there’s another flip-out screen, but it’s located at the top of the camera.  Beneath the screen, you’ll find the menu and playback controls.  I find the AX2000 menus a bit more logical than the AF100 – there are sections labeled CAMERA, REC/OUT, AUDIO, DISPLAY, and OTHERS.  CAMERA allows you to adjust the gain settings and other options, but you shouldn’t need to change anything here.  Note that the Sony measures gain in dB (like audio), as opposed to ISO.

The next section, REC/OUT has the crucial resolution and frame rate options – you’ll most likely be using the 1080/24 setting.  AUDIO and DISPLAY contain the settings you’d probably expect to find; again, most of these options can be set using buttons and dials on the camera body and you shouldn’t have to dig into these menus very often.  The OTHERS menu has an ASSIGN BUTTON option, which can be used to customize the numbered buttons around the camera body.  I like to set button 1 to focus peaking, just like USER 1 on the AF100.

On the side of the camera body, you’ll find the now familiar gain and white balance preset switches.  To set a custom white balance, you’ll need to point the camera at a white surface, press WHT BAL, then press the small button next to the preset switch.  The IRIS, GAIN, and SHUTTER SPEED buttons will switch the camera between manual and automatic modes for those settings.

Like the AF100, the AX2000 has two powered XLR audio inputs controlled by individual dials.  The input assignment and levels are set using the controls on the side (there is a small door that flips down).  The line/mic/mic with 48V power modes are set near the XLR ports, which are located near the front of the camera.  The headphone port is hidden under a cover near the viewfinder.

Also like the AF100, the AX2000 has built-in ND filters.  These are controlled by a switch instead of a dial, but work exactly the same otherwise.

For playback, you can press the VISUAL INDEX button on the side of the camera or use one of the MODE buttons.  You also use the MODE button to enter the MANAGE MEDIA menu section, which is used to format the SD card.  On the back of the camera are HDMI and A/V outputs, but no SDI.

Best Practices

As I mentioned in the instructions for Project 2, two situations where’ll you’ll see cameras like these used a lot are formal interviews and event videography.  Without getting too deep into cinematography and sound design, there are some basic tenets that you should follow when you’re filming in these situations.

If you spend any time at all studying film, you will probably hear the term “rule of thirds,” which involves arranging your image around an imaginary grid that divides the frame into thirds.  For an interview, the “classic” framing is a medium close-up with the subject placed slightly off-center; their body is centered roughly on a vertical third line and their eyes fall on the top horizontal third line.  The subject should (generally) face “into” the frame, angled towards the empty third line.  This creates an image that is visually pleasing and natural-looking.  Don’t put your subject too close to a wall behind them – bringing them away from the background allows them to stand out as the most prominent part of the image.

When you are recording an event – a wedding, lecture, awards ceremony, whatever – you will probably need to fight the natural impulse to constantly zoom and pan around the frame.  Follow the action, but do so gently – don’t move the camera in sudden, jerky movements.  When you decide to zoom in or out, do so for a reason: to highlight a point or show a detail, not because you are bored or restless.  Try to anticipate what is happening in the event and plan your movements accordingly – for example, you might begin to zoom out as someone finishes a presentation, in order to see the audience clapping.  Fast pans, tilts, and zooms can make your audience feel queasy, so move the camera slowly and deliberately.

When you are monitoring audio, it’s important to capture sound that is loud enough to be clear, but not so loud that it becomes distorted.  It’s actually better to record sound that is too quiet than it is to record sound that is too loud.  The general rule is that the levels for spoken audio should fall somewhere between -12dB and -6dB and most cameras have onscreen audio meters to help with this.  If audio “peaks,” or gets too loud for the camera, you will see the meters go into the red.  That’s a sign that you need to turn down the levels.

Of course, you should always use headphones when recording audio.  Meters will tell you how loud something is, but they won’t tell you what it actually sounds like.  If someone has a problem with their microphone, for example, you need to be able to correct the issue.

A Brief History of Digital Video Cameras

The term “camcorder” has sort of an unfortunate connotation; it calls to mind the low-quality home movie cameras  that were ubiquitous in the 1990s and early 2000s, before video-capable DSLRs shook up the industry.  In reality, a camcorder is just a digital camera with video capture as its primary purpose – the word itself is a combination of “camera” and “recorder.”  In the early 1980s, camcorders began to appear on the market, propelled by advances in home video technology, such as VCRs.

The development of home video devices allowed for two parallel changes in the world of cinema.  One was the aforementioned evolution of the home video camera from the 8mm or 16mm film camera.  The other was the birth of the home video market.  Before the development of video tape, owning a copy of a popular movie was a much more complicated prospect.  Instead, films stayed in theaters for much longer and revival screenings were fairly common.  VCRs and Betamax decks allowed consumers to screen films in their homes in a simple, inexpensive way for the first time.

It also allowed them to create movies in a much more streamlined way.  The first consumer video camera was released by Sony in 1983.  It was a behemoth that recorded to Betamax tapes, but couldn’t play them back from the camera.  Other manufacturers followed suit, some recording to Beta, some to VHS, others to speciality formats such as VHS-C.  These evolved into smaller cameras with more compact media such as MiniDV, BetaSP, DVCam, and other tape-based formats.  Eventually, internal hard drives and card-based media (such as the SD cards most cameras use now) were adopted.

An important distinction to keep in mind when discussing the history of the camcorder is the difference between the professional and consumer markets.  Camcorder technology was developed primarily to allow consumers to capture home movies – simple recordings of family memories.  The limitations in image quality, frame rate, resolution, audio fidelity, and record times were negated by the fact that these recordings were always meant to be viewed on a home television set.  Filmmakers weren’t bothered by these factors, because filmmakers shot on film.  It would take decades for video to become incorporated into professional production work.

However, eventually video technology advanced to the point where professional features could be incorporated into consumer devices.  I think that one big motivating factor behind this was the release of HD video-capable DSLRs – which were always intended for professional use, but were still accessible to home users.  In the last decade or so, we’ve seen camcorders with different frame rate options, high end audio inputs and controls, interchangeable lenses, and, of course, HD recording and beyond.  The video camera – the camcorder – has slowly evolved into a device that is suitable for professional work.

Benefits of a Dedicated Video Camera

I’ve spent a fair amount of time over the last few weeks extolling the virtues of hybrid cameras and talking about how revolutionary video-capable DSLRs were for the world of filmmaking.  With all of that in mind, is there still a place for the humble camcorder?  If video/stills hybrid cameras are so good, do we still need dedicated video cameras?

While the market has certainly shifted over the last ten years, we definitely still do need video cameras.  There are two major areas where video cameras are still – and may always be – vastly superior to hybrid cameras: handling and audio.

Handling is something we’ve touched on before.  A stills camera – and, therefore, a hybrid camera – was designed to capture one image at a time, a fraction of a second in length.  Video cameras need to capture footage for several seconds, several minutes, or longer – and they need to remain steady as they do so.  That’s why video cameras have body designs that are different from stills cameras.  The best example of this difference is in ENG-style cameras.  ENG-style cameras are designed for news gathering, so they need to be sturdy, versatile, and adaptable for long shooting days.  ENG-style cameras generally sit on the operator’s shoulder and have a prominent viewfinder.

The handling benefits of a dedicated video camera also extend to its external controls.  Most video cameras have a number of dials, knobs, switches, and buttons to help the operator quickly change the record settings.  White balance, gain (ISO), audio levels, peaking, zebras, focus magnification, and playback options often have dedicated controls.  Internal neutral density filters – which are possible because of the larger body of a camcorder – also have dedicated controls on many video cameras.  On hybrid cameras, these features (when they are present at all) are usually buried somewhere in the menus.

As I previously mentioned, audio is another huge differentiator between hybrid cameras and video cameras.  Since stills cameras were never originally intended to capture sound, audio has always been something of an afterthought on hybrid cameras.  A few hybrid cameras – such as our Sony RX10 II – have accessories that increase the audio capabilities of these cameras, but a dedicated video camera is still usually better in this regard.  A good camcorder will feature multiple XLR inputs, phantom power, independently adjustable levels, mic and line level settings, on-screen meters, and mounting points for on-camera microphones.  On a hybrid camera, you are lucky if you have both a 3.5mm microphone jack and a headphone jack.

The more robust audio features present on a video camera mean that it is often possible to record sound directly to the camera itself.  On hybrid cameras, it’s often wisest to use an external audio recorder in order to compensate for the functionality missing on the camera itself.  This obviously makes the entire process more complex and may even require additional crew members.  For single operators, a dedicated video camera is often the most efficient choice.

Getting to Know the GH3 and GH4

At a glance, these cameras are basically identical; the GH4 has a locking mode dial and an extra setting on the drive dial, but that’s basically it.  That makes it fairly easy to move from one camera to the other, but there are a few key differences between them that we’ll discuss shortly.

We’re starting with Panasonic hybrid cameras because they offer a lot of manual control, but are still fairly simple to use.  The menus are straightforward and most buttons are clearly labelled.  This kind of camera is a “twin dial” setup, which means there is one dial for aperture adjustment and one for shutter speed.  The white balance, ISO, focus mode, and several other options can also be set using buttons on the camera body without digging into the menu system.

Setting Up the Cameras

Looking at the bodies of these cameras, you’ll find several dials and buttons.  On the top left is a drive dial – this is more often used for stills photography than video, so it can generally stay at the “single shot” setting, which is one rectangle.  The large dial on the top right is the mode dial.  The P, A, S, and M modes are, again, primarily used for stills – for video, go to the setting with a video camera icon and the letter “M.”  Before we start filming, though, there are some settings we should change in the camera’s menu.  With the mode dial turned to the video setting, press the button on the back labeled MENU/SET.

I’m not going to go through every option of each page of the menu – there are just too many options and many of them aren’t crucial.  In general, the menus of these Panasonic cameras are intuitive and easy to navigate.  The four sections of the menu (in video mode) are Motion Picture (the camcorder icon), Custom (the wrench icon with the letter “C”), Setup (the wrench icon), and Playback (the play button icon).

Most of the settings we’re going to change are in the Motion Picture section.  First, since these cameras can record at a variety of frame rates and resolutions using several different codecs, you should make sure that those specifications are where you want them to be.  For most situations, stick with the .MOV format and use either 4K (on the GH4) or 1080HD (on the GH3) at a frame rate of 24.  If you still have multiple options, choose the one with the highest data rate.

You can change the overall look of your footage using the Photo Style setting.  This gives you the option to use preset looks with varying levels of contrast, saturation, and tint.  However, I would recommend keeping the Photo Style fairly neutral – the Standard and Natural settings work well – and handling your color work in post-production.  Feel free to play with these options, though – each of the preset looks can be further customized as well.

Next, it’s very important that you change the exposure mode to M, for manual control.  P is an automatic setting, S is shutter priority, and A is aperture priority.  M is the only setting in which you have complete control over the aperture, shutter speed, and ISO of the camera when recording video.

On the second page of the Motion Picture menu, you’ll find a setting for Continuous AF (autofocus).  Turning this on let’s the camera hunt for focus continually while recording.  Since the autofocus on these cameras isn’t very reliable when recording video, this should be set to OFF.

There are also settings related to audio in the Motion Picture menu.  You can turn meters on and off (Mic Level Disp.) and set the levels (Mic Level Adj.).  The GH3 and GH4 are cameras that actually do have headphone ports, so be sure to monitor your sound as well as watching the levels.  There are some automatic settings such as Wind Cut and a level limiter that I would recommend turning off.

The Custom section of the menu lets you change what is visible on the screen (guide lines, a histogram, etc.) turn focus peaking and zebras on and off, customize the buttons and menus, and more.  One important setting is Constant Preview, which should be turned on.  Constant Preview makes the camera’s display show exactly what a recorded image would look like, whether or not the camera is recording.  If this setting is turned off, the camera will adjust the exposure automatically until the record button is pressed.

The other important setting in the Custom menu is Shoot w/o Lens, which should be turned on.  This setting allows you to use lenses that do not communicate electronically with the camera.  This is necessary for using adapted lenses, such as our Nikon mount primes.

The Setup section of the menu can be used to set the date, time, and timezone, as well as things like the brightness of the display and the volume level.  The most important option in the Setup menu is probably Format, which formats and erases the memory card.  It’s generally a good idea to format your memory card before a shoot – provided you have the footage on it transferred and backed up somewhere!

Using the Cameras

Operating the GH3 and GH4 is fairly straightforward, once the menu settings listed above have been taken care of.  The WB and ISO buttons on the top of the camera are used to change the white balance and ISO.  There are several white balance presets, as well as the option to dial in a specific Kelvin value.  Auto white balance is available as well, but you should probably set it manually, especially when recording video.

There are also two thin dials on the camera – one near the shutter button and one on the back.  This “twin dial” setup is very common on stills cameras.  By default, the dial that naturally rests beneath your index finger controls the aperture of the lens, while the dial that rests under your thumb controls the shutter speed.  You will probably want to set your shutter speed to roughly double the frame rate (using the 180 degree shutter rule) – the GH4 will actually let you use shutter angle instead of shutter speed, if you want to get really precise.

You can change your focus from automatic to manual using the dial on the rear of the camera next to the video record button.  There are also different autofocus modes that can be used, such as single point, area, and face-detection.  Single point and area can be useful if you need to move very quickly, but I’d strongly recommend using manual focus for most of your video work.

 

With the camera properly set up and your exposure dialed in, using the GH3 or GH4 is really pretty simple.  You can start recording with the dedicated video button or the shutter release.  Many hybrid cameras have video recording time limits (due to complicated taxation issues, of all things), but the GH3 and GH4 will record continuously until the memory card is full.  These cameras also have very good battery life for their size, so they are a versatile choice overall.

Naturally, the challenges of using hybrid cameras are still present here.  The GH3 and GH4 have headphone ports for audio monitoring (which you should use!), but you’ll need to use some sort of adapter if you want to use high-end XLR microphones.

Furthermore, you need to remember that this style of camera body was designed to capture still images, not video.  Support the camera as much as possible in order to keep it steady – you may want to use the viewfinder instead of the rear screen.  Check out the following video from Peter McKinnon for some additional tips:

Differences Between the Two

So far, just about everything we’ve discussed can be applied to either the GH3 or the GH4 – the two cameras are nearly identical from the outside and handle exactly the same.  However, there are some key differences between the two.

The GH4 was Panasonic’s much-anticipated follow-up to the GH3, so it has some new features.  The biggest addition was 4K video recording, which was a brand new flagship feature when the camera was released.  You may not need 4K recording – most video is still released in 1920 x 1080 HD – but it can be nice to have.  Footage shot in 4K can be rescaled and cropped when edited on an HD timeline.  4K footage is also very sharp when downscaled to HD and the added resolution is helpful for things like green screen photography.

There are also some additional slow motion options on the GH4.  While both cameras can shoot HD at 60 frames per second, the GH4 has VFR (variable frame rate) settings that allow HD recording at up to 96 frames per second.  VFR recording is only available with some recording formats (they are labeled in the menu) and no audio is recorded while filming in VFR mode.

There are a few other minor differences between the two cameras.  Both have time-lapse modes, but only the GH4 has a dedicated stop-motion setting.  Finally, the GH4 has assist functions like zebras and focus peaking.  All in all, the GH4 is a more capable all-around camera, but there are many times when you may not need the additional functionality it offers.  In terms of HD video quality, the two are virtually indistinguishable.

Hybrid Life

Let’s start diving into the specific features of the cameras in our collection.  This week, we’re focusing on two very similar hybrid cameras from Panasonic – the GH3 and GH4.  I want to start with hybrid cameras for a few reasons.  First, these cameras are fairly straightforward to operate; there are lots of external buttons and dials for manual controls and most are labeled in a logical way.  Second, as these small cameras have become more powerful and more common, their use in video production has increased across the board; it’s now very normal to see small hybrid cameras alongside (or replacing) dedicated video cameras on large and small productions.  Finally, these kinds of cameras are the ones you are mostly likely to purchase for your own use – or you may already own a stills-style camera with video capabilities.  Most recent stills cameras from Canon, Nikon, Sony, Panasonic, Olympus, and Fuji have the ability to record high quality HD video.

There are challenges to using hybrid cameras for video, however.  Put simply, a video camera was designed, first and foremost, to capture video – and stills-style cameras were not.  Stills cameras were designed to be portable and to be hand-held for exposures lasting only a fraction of a second.  Video cameras, on the other hand, need to be stable and they need to capture for a long period of time.  This is the reason that camcorders and stills cameras look different; they were designed to do two different things.

Audio is another big challenge for hybrid cameras.  Again, this goes back to the original purpose for these cameras: stills cameras were not originally intended to record sound and video cameras were.  A decent dedicated video camera will have advanced audio features such as XLR inputs, phantom power, physical controls for levels, on screen meters, and a headphone  jack for monitoring.  Hybrid cameras have gradually added more and more audio functionality, but it has been a very slow development and advanced audio features are still uncommon on stills-style cameras.  Most – but not all – hybrid cameras have 3.5mm inputs, but none that I know of have built-in XLR inputs.  Only high-end hybrid cameras have headphone ports for monitoring.  This severely limits your audio options, unless you are willing to add some additional accessories or record to an external device.

Rigging Nightmares

Of course, hybrid cameras are still very much worth using for video production – you just need to be thoughtful of their inherent limitations.  An entire industry has developed to supplement hybrid cameras with accessories designed to enhance their video capabilities.  Many of these items are expensive and over-engineered; a few are genuinely useful.

A quick search reveals all manner of horrifyingly over-built camera rigs.  You can even check out shittyrigs.com for a curated collection of the worst in DIY filmmaking.

These unwieldy Franken-rigs are taking the “kitchen sink” approach to accessorizing a camera and ignoring some of the key benefits of using a hybrid: their size, weight, and  ability to be used discreetly.  They are also capitalizing on the potent desire that many photographers and filmmakers have – myself included! – to constantly purchase new gear.

That isn’t to say that rigging a hybrid camera is always a bad idea, because it absolutely can be helpful.  However, you need to be mindful of what you’re actually filming and how to most efficiently meet those needs.  We’ll dig deeper into rigging cameras for movement later in the semester, but here are a few basics.

Cages and Rails

The easiest way to add accessories to a hybrid camera is using the flash mount – called a hot shoe – on the top.  You can use the shoe mount to add a microphone, light, small monitor, or other accessories.  However, the hot shoe isn’t a particularly strong mounting point and if you want to add multiple accessories, you’ll need another option.

A camera cage is a metal frame that adds more mounting points and provides a level of protection to the camera.  These can be generic or designed for a particular camera.  I have slightly mixed feelings about cages since they add functionality, but at the expense of weight and bulk.

The other common option for accessorizing a camera is a rail system.  This is a standardized set of accessories that utilize 15mm rods to mount items such as a matte box, follow focus, handles, or shoulder pad.  Using various connectors and rods, you can basically build up whatever system you like for your camera.  Just try not to go overboard.

Again, think about what it is you’re going to be filming and what accessories you need.  If you need to add a follow focus, then you need a rail system.  If you need to record audio, you could add a microphone using the hot shoe, or rig something onto a rail system, or record to an external device.  If you need more stability, you could add a shoulder rig, or use a pistol grip handle, or use a tripod.  Or you might not need anything!