Shaky Camera Work / Single Color Hue in films

[Ace Gupta]

Hi all I am new here, first post actually.

I'm Ace and I'm from India. I'm looking forward to be a filmmaker and currently working on my first short film.

I'm not sure if this is the section to post this thread, or in the Newbies section, so please move if mods feel the need to. (Do let me know though..)

I've been wondering about two things for a very long time and is no one experienced at all where I live who could guide me, so I'm asking you guys -

1. You know some movies have a kind of camera work which looks like a hand held camera (I don't know exactly whether it really is hand held or not, but it sure looks like it). Cyrus, Safe House, Never Let Me Go.. etc, the camera is shaky but not exactly so much shaky. What is this type of camera work called? And how is this achieved?

2. Some films have a constant color through out the movie. Lets talk about yellow the best example is the Taxi Driver. The was a yellowish hue in Midnight in Paris. How is this accomplished?

3. If someone has watched Safe House or American Pie Reunion for that matter, you would have noticed that the colors are really vibrant. They are dark and healthy. Especially in Safe House, the color red is very prominent. Other than that, the remaining colors are so healthy and you know, full of color. What is this??

I kinda don't know anything about a lot of things so bear with me..

Edit: My friend, who I considered very talented, says that this type of hand held feeling camera work is actually a device worth a lot of money which gives only so much of a shake so as to get that feel of a hand held camera..

 

[Danielassault]

1. You know some movies have a kind of camera work which looks like a hand held camera (I don't know exactly whether it really is hand held or not, but it sure looks like it). Cyrus, Safe House, Never Let Me Go.. etc, the camera is shaky but not exactly so much shaky. What is this type of camera work called? And how is this achieved?

It's usually a shoulder-cam. Meaning the camera is resting on the cinematographer's shoulder. Some cameras (Such as DSLRS) can't actually sit on your shoulder, so you need to attach a shoulder-mount to the camera. There are many types of mounts for the different types of cameras. You need to properly research them and if you have access to any before you purchase\rent, it will be the best way to learn what you need for your current film.

Take note, shoulder-cam is a technique that should be properly learned. Make tests then watch everything on a bigger screen to see the outcome. You will eventually learn how to properly do this if you practice and take notes.

Final thing is, to make sure you know your camera for this style of shooting. If you camera has a MOS chip, you will most likely experience something called Rolling Shutter. This means that on fast pans and wobbles, you'll notice the image becomes demented during those movements. Also, know you focus points, because moving around with the camera means you'll want to keep check that your subjects are properly in focus.

2. Some films have a constant color through out the movie. Lets talk about yellow the best example is the Taxi Driver. The was a yellowish hue in Midnight in Paris. How is this accomplished?

Experience will be your best teacher, though here are a few ways to accomplish a desirable color-palette:

1. Art direction: This is usually the first thing indie film makers overlook. Probably because of budget constraints. You want your art director to be able to properly pick the clothing for your characters, you want him to dress your sets with things that compliment those colors. Let the art director work together with the director and the cinematographer. Together, the director will explain his vision, while the other two build together that vision into images.

2. Post-production: During the final stages of post production you will be working on your fine-cut edit in a color grading program (Davinci Resolve, Lightwork, After Effects and more). Color grading is an entire world on its own. Again, experience and learning will bring better results with time. Learning the basics of color correction will set your first steps into giving your images that "magical" look you want to achieve. In most cases, people don't shoot their films with beautiful colors from within the camera - what they do is set the camera to set a more neutral color palette to get as much detail as possible, so that the colorist can have more control and creative freedom over his work. Again, this is just an example, there are many things needed in order to properly color correct.

3. If someone has watched Safe House or American Pie Reunion for that matter, you would have noticed that the colors are really vibrant. They are dark and healthy. Especially in Safe House, the color red is very prominent. Other than that, the remaining colors are so healthy and you know, full of color. What is this??

Again, this is the mixed work of proper cinematography, art direction and color correction. If you want to know how to technically achieve this with your films, why not post a shot you want to try to make look more vibrant.

 

[Ace Gupta]

Hey thanks Daniel. That was very helpful. I've decided not to go into too much depth of the subject, it's a very interesting field. As for the colors, I was just curious.

The first short I am making is a film noir style black and white film. So nothing vibrant in that lol

Tell me one thing man, reading your post it tells me that you have a lot of technical knowledge. I was reading another post in this section regarding "Light System" and it too had a lot of technical stuff and I don't know 20% of it. Is there a way like to know the most general of all this stuff that comes to play?

 

[jax_rox]

Edit: My friend, who I considered very talented, says that this type of hand held feeling camera work is actually a device worth a lot of money which gives only so much of a shake so as to get that feel of a hand held camera..

You can get things liek an EasyRig which really helps with handheld stuff, and brings it out of that real 'shaky-cam' and settles it down to a more 'float-cam'. It's a lot more controllable, particularly on longer lenses. They're not cheap though, especially if you're using heavy cameras on them.

Generally, most expensive cinema cameras are weighted in a certain way that makes shoulder-mount handheld stuff much less shaky than say your handycam. Plus they use different sensors that make things less apparent.

It is a stylistic thing, so some movies apply its use only a little, others apply it a lot. Depends on the mood you want to achieve.

Is there a way like to know the most general of all this stuff that comes to play?

Well, it depends on what specifically you want to know. There are a lot of techncial terms and things, but at the end of the day there are a million and one ways to light a scene. Some DPs light using a strcit key, fill, back, others use the zone system, others use naturalistic light with slight modifiers. It all depends on your own personal style and your own way of working and the mood you want to create.
Plus, it also depends on what your eventual goal is. If you want to be a Cinematographer, you're probably going to need to know this stuff. If you want to be a Director, you don't necessarily - that's part of the reason you have a Cinematographer and his crew (including Gaffer) there.

 

[Danielassault]

Hey thanks Daniel. That was very helpful. I've decided not to go into too much depth of the subject, it's a very interesting field. As for the colors, I was just curious.

The first short I am making is a film noir style black and white film. So nothing vibrant in that lol

Tell me one thing man, reading your post it tells me that you have a lot of technical knowledge. I was reading another post in this section regarding "Light System" and it too had a lot of technical stuff and I don't know 20% of it. Is there a way like to know the most general of all this stuff that comes to play?

Good luck with your first film.

As for learning technical terms and how to properly use them; there simply is too much to just spit it all out. Eventually, if you keep at it, you learn. I believe that even the most skillful people learn new things at their own craft with time.

You can begin to learn cinematography by doing any of these things:

1. Try out for yourself. Just do some tests with the cameras you have access to.

2. http://nofilmschool.com/ Is a good blog that updates several times a day. It is a very technical-blog, but not just. If you want to learn using DSLR cameras or RED cameras, it's a fantastic source of information. They actually have a DSRL guide for free. Which is a very popular type of camera for indie filmmakers these days - due to its low cost and the image it creates for that low cost.

3. Another option is going to film school. If it's an option for you, consider it. Make sure you really want this before going into film school though.

4. Forums, blogs and books can all be helpful. Ask for specific information. Search the internet. There are always people that would be glad to help. There are plenty of sites and blogs that are helpful.


If there is anything more specific you would like to ask? Don't be shy, do it. It would be much easier to answer specific questions than answering a general one.

 

[Modern Day Myth Prod. LLC]

Isn't camera shake best done with post effects?

I'm still upset with a DP for shaking the camera for greenscreen spaceship interiors for close-ups in my film. I had to add digital shakes to the new backgrounds and long shots to compensate. And, since there is warble with the model ship exteriors being on strings. I made the shake part of the look.

 

[Danielassault]

Isn't camera shake best done with post effects?

I'm still upset with a DP for shaking the camera for greenscreen spaceship interiors for close-ups in my film. I had to add digital shakes to the new backgrounds and long shots to compensate. And, since there is warble with the model ship exteriors being on strings. I made the shake part of the look.

Proper handling of shoulder cameras is the best way to achieve shaky video footage. If you want anything that will look organic in post, then you need to do it right - most people add some sort of Wiggler to position keyframes in After Effects and think that's good enough. It works well for short shakes, but not for the same feel you might get from should cameras.

As for greenscreen, that's a another issue on its own. It's simply easier to do greenscreen with a static camera, but what if you want to get that same feel of shakiness? You can add it in post, sure. Though if you film it that way, you need to attach tracking points to the greenscreen. Also, if your camera is rolling shutter intensive, it's even more work in post.

In short; from my experience, it's best to properly shoot shaky on set, when I mean properly, it's by someone that has the experience of how to properly achieve this effect. The audience still needs to fully understand what is going on. Post work can always fix your problems, but eventually it can become more time consuming to make it seem as though you never actually used any vfx work on your shot.

 

[Modern Day Myth Prod. LLC]

Agreed. I just did the best I could to make it work.

The newer DP I worked with this year was bringing in the lights too close to the subject being shot using the excuse I can digitally zoom in to cut out the lights until I pointed out digital zooms also breaks up the digital resolution of the clip that leads to blurry images if I have to do a greater than one third zoom. He listens better than the guy he replaced. So, he adjusted the lights.

 

[jax_rox]

What were you shooting on? Honestly, I hate the whole 'do x in post' that is the mantra of nearly every single young or inexperienced DP these days. Underlying that is indecision, inexperience and erally not being a Cinematographer. Someone who wants to do the Cinematography aspect in post is essentially just a glorified camera operator IMO.

That said, if you were shooting Red @ 4K, for example, you most certianly could've cropped in the image (or 'zoomed') 4x, assuming a 2k final master for projection, and 1080 for Blu-Ray runs.

 

[Danielassault]

Agreed. I just did the best I could to make it work.

The newer DP I worked with this year was bringing in the lights too close to the subject being shot using the excuse I can digitally zoom in to cut out the lights until I pointed out digital zooms also breaks up the digital resolution of the clip that leads to blurry images if I have to do a greater than one third zoom. He listens better than the guy he replaced. So, he adjusted the lights.

Is this for the greenscreen as well? If so, weren't the lights in the garbage mask area?

 

[Modern Day Myth Prod. LLC]

Not originally. He had them so close there was no way to to cut a 16:9 frame. He did adjust it when I spoke to him.

 

[Ace Gupta]

Yup, it must have been EasyRig he must have been talking about. I am surprised how much art can progress technology.

I don't want to be a Cinematographer, but the reason I'm exploring this field is because there are not many people in my city who know it and most of them are so selfish that they might part ways in between. It's really hard to find trust-able crew, let alone a crew who/which is excited about the film.

Even the camera is/are not available. In India, only a few cities have the best camera's available, and where I live, I would be lucky if I could lay my hands on a DSLR camera. Just yesterday, my only hope of a camera was blown to pieces. The guy who had the camera wants to visit God during the summer vacations. Sigh!!

So many duties are intermixed and fall on same guy to do the job.

Also I believe that knowing the basics of everything would naturally help bridge the communication gap between the director and the crew.


Yea I figured asking about general stuff will only give general answers so I'm indulging myself into the depths of subjects that are required for my first short.