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Shots You Need for Coverage

we're gonna go back to this scene that we But we saw the filming of yesterday where we had Ah LEH Andrew here. And we did this sort of this routine. So in this this is from the bakery seen in Team Marco where you could see that the member I said the purple circles are key players, right? So we had Marco's on the left. No nos on the right. We have Lauren of the bakery girl and Margie, the bakery owner behind the counter B g B g B g is background. So that is how you would read that. Obviously, camera 123 is the same camera in three different positions. We filmed the whole scene from the two shot the two shot master. We shot the coverage of over the shoulder and coverage of over the shoulder. So that's where we were going to talk about. This is the list of all of the shots we're gonna talk about right now. So we talk about our are establishing shot, which will show you in a moment, and we're setting the scene. We're building ambience. We're giving a nod to what's gonna come next or in ter...

ms of what the conversation is gonna hold we're also talking about. It's generally a longer shock, but that doesn't always have to be. Because if you're having a scene where there is no long shot or is no super wide, you may start on, especially like what we did yesterday. It was a conversation. You just setting the scene as to where they are and giving a sense of place. And also, um, it gives you a sense of where it's playing, where and when it's taking place. So, like in this frame, which is the thing we tried to match yesterday, you could tell that it's today. It's daytime there in a bakery, and they're sitting at a table having a conversation. So here is our establishment off the scene. Right. Then we're gonna talk about a full shot on a full shot is when you're talking about a shot of an entire body, somebody's entire body from head to toe. And it focuses on the actors movement and gestures rather than what their state of mind is, because if you're not engaged in what is closer to their face and see facial expression, so something like this is a full shot, right? We get a sense of what we kind of know what his state of mind is, because he's actually pretty happy in that moment. But his gestures are telling you that not his facial expression. So ah, full shot is a full body, head to toe shot. We're gonna talk about a medium shot. So a medium shot is basically from the chest up and you are gonna be It's like we could be 3/4 from the knees up also. But that's called a cowboy or an American shot also. So there sometimes considered both mediums, but one is a little bit different than the other. This would be considered a classic medium shot. Um, you see the background environment, you see the gestures of the actor, and, you know it's close enough to capture what their facial expressions might be telling you. So these are those mediums are are sort of combination shots in that you get both the sense of an environment, but you also get you can get a sense of gesturing and facial expression when it comes to how a performance is being delivered. So so again, this is our medium from the from the chest up. We got the environment. We know he's in the garage. We know that he's probably not all that happy at this moment because we're getting his facial expressions and we have the ability where if this is in motion, you could tell if he was gesturing or moving or uncomfortable or whatever. So the idea of the medium is a combination of both environmental and state of mind. We talk about close up. The close up is ahead to face shot as a majority of face and it's majority of the face. And here we could also get a little bit closer on that, which is called the close shot, is more of a head and shoulder shot. So let's bring this up. This is that this is a close up of head and shoulders, Um, and it is the faces, the majority of the frame, and it allows us to see riel emotion, rial facial expression and is able to really drive the action in this in a scene when you're just trying to understand a character and what their motivations are, If this got a little bit tighter, we could call out a choker where we just just from the chin up. They also call that a big head in. So these air sort of you can if we pushed in on this a little bit if there's a little bit of motion in this, but for the most part, this is a close shot to fill the frame with that. This also helps you sort of connect with characters, right when you really start to see people up close and it becomes much more intimate in film, you start to feel Maura about what they're feeling. So there's a sense of building a sense of empathy or enmity with characters right where you get up close to them and you see that there either compassionate or they're they're feeling vulnerable. Or maybe there really evil. You know, you get a sense of you really get a sense of it. We're going to talk about the extreme close up or the E. C. U. And the EU is really about adding a lot of drama to our scenes, and I have a couple I want to show you. So you know this is about you going on Lee see specific details usually in really tight on the eyes or the mouth to really kind of emphasize certain things. And it adds a lot of drama. You get a lot of emotion and you see details in these situations that you may not have noticed before. It's about really bringing you into a character's mindset and a particular emotion at that moment, um, and accentuates the experience for the audience to when you normally do not see somebody. This would be the the equivalent of standing nose to nose with somebody. So and these two characters were clearly standing nose to nose in this. In this, the thought process between them was that they would be There were very ah and ticket antagonistic toward one another at this moment. The upshot. Now the upshot is a below the eye below eye level shot. So basically, if the camera was mounted below you and pointed up at a tilted up at the actor, this is really to create the perception that we're looking up at somebody, but also gives the impression that somebody is a little bit more heroic on, and in this case we're about below, he said. He sort of starting to feel good about himself, and he gives the impression that he's feeling more powerful. You also can flip that again, and the that could feel more dangerous or more ominous, particularly if you're below a character and they're looking down at you. So that's this. This shot can conserve both both ways, depending on the context. But it's also it's also that way of making. Even when we shoot food, right, we always shoot hamburger. That hamburger hero shot is always shot from a little bit below to make it look a lot bigger. So it's a very similar technique in that we're gonna use that shot to express particular emotions. Um, the down shot is sometimes about coming, the cameras coming down above eye level. So this was clearly the, ah staircase that somebody's looking down. But it's also about framing to a medium, which is really what we're gonna do here for the down shot. The other one was a medium as well. We had. We had the actor from the chest up. Now we still have her from the chest up. We still have a little bit of environment. We get the sense that they're standing below a staircase. If it was a close up, we wouldn't get that. But with the medium we do, Um and then we're also looking down at her. And this is a moment in the film where she's feeling particularly vulnerable or a little bit weaker on. I think that that's, um, it gives it gives that emotion and obviously look on her face tells you that as well. So there's that combination of both theatrics, performance, the camera positioning and the sense of the environment gives you all of that in one frame. So as photographers, we can completely appreciate studying it this way. Because if we were taking a picture and we wanted to evoke those emotions, we might utilize some of the very same techniques. They're just not something that we would be consciously calling this that or the other thing before we move on to any more. Do we have any questions about what we've talked about so far? No. Okay, yes, I was just wondering at what point Andrew, in the planning process, preproduction during production, might you plan these angles of shots? And how often does it change from maybe the table? You decided at versus when you get it on seeing you on set. Yeah, that's a good question. So the blocking maps that I showed I've showed you are really ultimately about creating the shot list beforehand. So the director and the DP will have a binder of all of that all of those materials. Now they may not be a sophisticated as what you've seen here. They may just be hand drawn or whatever, but the reality is that what they might be photographs? Because maybe they didn automatics. But all of these things are preplanned, and they're supposed to hit those story points. So remember the chart maps that I showed yesterday thes also would would range with the emotions of the film and the plot turns and the story beats that we need to hit visually. We want to capture that as well. So the cinematographer will look at that map as well and stuck to think in terms off cinematically, if I had no words to rely on, how is how would I tell this story off these people in this moment? So I think every every single department had on a film set has to think that way is that if I had no other elements to tell this story, could I still impart the thoughts and ideas that the director wants me to impart? And I think that if you think of it that way, as you come into this particular format of storytelling, you will be much more effective in that you're not relying on anything else. I'm going to tell this story with what I have available to me. So if I am the costumer or I am the production designer or I am the graphic artists that has toe, you know, whatever it might be you need to think about, all right. I need to make these story beats. I need to hit these marks. And I need to tell this story without any help. But then, of course, if everybody did that really well and you plug it all in together, then all of a sudden it's like an orchestra, right? You think about it in terms of individual instruments in an orchestra. So your your cinematographer is one instrument in the entirety of the orchestra. Okay, the over the shoulder. We talked about this yesterday. We actually did it yesterday, so we have the two characters in the same frame, right? We have just the top of the head, right and again. This is because the actors are all different heights. So we talked about this yesterday to write that if the people are supposed to be equals or whatever, it's probably it's more likely that you would see more head and shoulder. But like with this, he's talking to a child so clearly the top so that I lines are correct. So you're watching for I line. He's looking down at his his partner in the scene. We're introducing both people into this conversation. So you actually know that they're talking to one another so that when we do the other thing, the opposite the reverse of this and this is cut together with the master and you go back and forth between those and all the other pieces that we put into any particular scene. This feels like a natural environment where we know they're talking to one another. We know where they are. We understand what they're doing, and then with the dialogue and everything else, we know what they're talking about. So, um, and I like, I said. You might give the impression if the people's eye lines and head levels are the same, that they are equals. But at this point in the story, they are not eso. If we were having a similar conversation, maybe later in the film, that might have leveled off a little bit. But the reality is that at this point, building one character into Julio's assessment that every character, every story, needs a villain. Even if that changes throughout, you need to frame that person as a villain at that point in this in this story. So at this point, even this conversation, which is kind of in the story line, it's still that phase where they're not quite sure about each other is a little off kilter is a little bit. He's looked still looking down at Marco, so that could be a pretty on the nose kind of interpretation of that. But yes, Um, yeah, like I said it, it will. It will show the relationship as best we can show in one single frame. And here's the other side of that, and you can also see that that angle is perfectly matched on the other side. So If we go back and forth, he's looking down. He's looking up and there I line if you drew, if you put a string between them right from this angle, it would looked like that. And from that angle, it's the same so that those kind of eye line awareness is really important in terms off. When you're setting up, when people are looking at each other or looking at objects or looking in the direction, it has to be on the right level or else it looks very strange on camera. Yeah, but he also looks kind of vulnerable in this situation, and he looks kind of powerful and with his mouth closed so that we're talking about now we're in that close up. We're in that close up shot. We're getting a lot of information from his facial expression. We're getting a lot of information from his facial expression. We're getting a lot of information from their body positions were getting a lot of information about their eye line, so all of the layers of information that are being filtered through your brain at this point a lot of it is just baked into the empathy that we have as human beings. We understand the relationships that people have by. You watch people having a conversation on the bus and you get a pretty clear on the understanding of the power dynamic. What's happening in that relationship? Whatever it might be, if you have those kind of good sensibilities watching cinema will, you will absorb that and learn to turn that into the things that you're going to be doing. Okay, The to shop. We kind of established that before, too, with the other establishing shot of this in this scene. But this is a classic two shot where you have did the two people to get a weight. Yeah, right. No way. I'm sorry. Yeah, the two shot. I'm sorry. These my notes are out of order. Uh, no, they're not. Just turn the page too fast. The two characters in together in the same frame. We're introducing both people. So this is actually at the head of this scene. So this is a little out of sequence and sequences, something we're gonna talk about a little bit, but we're introducing both of these characters. We show the relationships the difference in height, the difference in power dynamic they're positioned next to each other may give the impression that they're equal. But because the size difference, we don't get that so again. And then when you add in the idea that there's dialogue here, and then you add into the idea that you know, we have all the other elements, you get your getting a full picture of what this is going to be about. Now we'll go to the p o. B. Okay, The point of view shot is it's gonna be basically depicting an angle. Now, this isn't the point of view shot, but I'm going to show you why. Actually, this is not supposed to be the point of view shot. Now, this is gonna be about this shot. This is gonna be that the insert shot. So these insert shot is basically about a piece of the atmosphere and what it is that he's looking at. So it is. It is a point of view from Marcos point of view, but it's also an insert, so it's sort of a dual purpose. This is sort of the set up shot to tell you. OK, he's looking at this rack of things that's in this garage. So we're setting up the idea of two pieces of the next idea, which is? It is both a point of view shot and an ends and an insert shot. So it's from the character's point of view of what he's looking at. We get a sense of, Oh, he's looking at things. What is he looking at? Now? We know he's looking at that, and then the dialogue will reflect what they're talking about. Um, it also it will understand sort of the way someone looks at something. A lot of times will also tell you a little bit more about their state of mind and whether or not they're interested in what they're looking at or disinterested in what they're looking at. And then maybe the camera move itself will tell you more about it. So if he was becoming very engaged in what he was looking at, he might. That camera might dolly in a little bit and show a little bit more interest. Or, if he's, you know, revolt by what he's looking at. You might draw back and the camera might drop back. So again, the body movement and the point of view of the viewer. We're being told with this shot that this is Marcos point of view. And if it was not his point of view, it would feel weird, right? But the idea is that when we're setting up ah, point of view shot. We have to have something that leads us into the idea of who is actually well, whose eyes are we looking through it this moment? Yeah. These are also this is the other insert idea that when in the middle of that bakery seen, they're talking, they're having interactions, and everything is revolving around what's happening on this table. So the insert shot will, you know, have the more at provide more atmosphere, more information, more emphasis and all of the things that we need to kind of add to the scene to kind of continued a layer and build on top of what we're doing. Reaction shots. R J basically what it is, it's the reaction to something they're watching now. This is particular. This is a particular moment when he's starting to recognize that the guy that he thinks he knows might be a little softer than what he's shown so far. So in this shot. We actually get his reaction, but then we hold on him and we move in with a dolly shot to show that he's more interested. Now we could. I think we created a digital dolly shot in this one where we use the four K footage and actually just pushed in. And I'll show you an example of that later where this is another technique that because the footage that were capturing even with our phones is so big that you can actually make camera moves digitally so called the push in. We talked about that yesterday, so that's a reaction shot. And then cutaways are kind of characters that are not the main seen in the main focus of the scene, but add atmosphere. And, um so there's, ah, scene where they're playing, and this is sort of both of reaction shot and a cut away so they're reacting to the action. But we're also cutting away from the main actors to kind of give more atmosphere and more feeling so in order to create an entire world, you know, we have to see what's happening. But then we also have to see how the rest of the world is reacting, reacting to the people that where on the screen going over all of the different shots with the's air. Basically what we're talking about in terms of coverage basics and the building blocks of our scenes is that understanding the shots that we have at our disposal on and this is not an exhaustive list of shots, but it is a basic, good, solid list of shots that we make and that will be sort of the building blocks of building any particular scene or any kind of narrative. Um, and if you understand what they are and start to recognize them, this is the This can also be another homework assignment in that. Now we've learned about moving the camera, and now we also have learned about the different types of shots that are present in any given piece of film. So I would say also, if you've went through the exercise yesterday off tryingto identify camera moves, you should do the same with the same. You could even do it with the same piece of footage that you were looking at and then determine how many of these different shots we just we just saw in a short piece of film. So, like even if it was a five minute piece or three minute piece, I guarantee you there's going to be an awful lot of that jammed into it, and it becomes almost invisible to us. But it it's definitely when you start to be aware of the technique. It it allows you to start to implement the technique. So questions cool. When you're working on your story board, would you add camera movements to your notes or keep them based on the frame only? No, I think that there's definitely room toe build your the thoughts of your camera movement. I would think your DP would probably be if you're working with a deep pier if you're doing it yourself. I think it would be good to kind of conceptualize that you might want to move here because you might want to tell the story with the move. But also I think sometimes when you are on set, things kind of evolved naturally as well. And you say you know what would work here? I think I want to do this a little differently, or even in editing where you say I have a little space in this frame. I think I could probably reframe or I can push in or I can pull out or could do a lot of different things digitally that will add some mawr, you know, kind of dynamic sense to the frame. So I think is theirs. Obviously, as much as you can pre plan you pre plan. But then there's also the idea that adjusting on the fly is completely cool. And if something is gonna work better than something else, by all means, do it. Yeah, yeah. Um, are there particular films that you'd recommend two young filmmakers, people just starting out to see some of these and see, like somebody use it intentionally? Well, I mean, I think just I don't know that particular films with particular filmmakers would be like the people you've heard about. I mean, I'm a big Stanley Kubrick fan, and I really have studied a lot of his films and looked at a lot of the things that he's done. I have a book. It's about that fat and it's it's basically all these production materials and all this decision making and all of this sort of things that he went through on many of his films. I think it probably all of his films, because he doesn't He hasn't really directed that many films. So obviously, Spielberg, if you want Satterberg, you know, especially Satterberg was done a full feature on IPhone as well. And I you know, I forgot to do this yesterday because I thought it would be fun and we just got caught up in it. But I saw a video of him being rolled through a scene holding his IPhone on one of these rigs and on office chair, just being wheeled down a hallway like a like a like a rolling dolly shot. And it's like if that guy who's done made Bill billions of dollars worth of movies is doing that, clearly we all can do that, too, and have fun with it because he was clearly having a lot of fun doing it, as well as proving a point in that the craft of filmmaking isn't about the equipment, it's about the filmmaker. So I think that that would be those kinds of people the directors that you tend to like as filmmakers in general, deconstructing the work that they do, and trying to see it through this lens might be really interesting for you. And then you can really try to figure out why you like their work so much. You know, I think that what kind of tension they build it's not just about the performances, right? What kind of? Because that's why we follow directors. We don't necessarily follow the movies of particular directors for the acting, although that's part of it. But it's also about their technique and the things that appeal to you and the way you watch a film. For sure. Um, question. Yeah, Wendy, Wendy has a question. How does a point of view shot in a close upper extreme close up differ? Well, I mean, there obviously, the focal length is different on all of those when you said a close up in extreme close up and a and a point of view, Shotwell Point of view shot could be any focal length because it's basically what a particular character is looking at. So if I'm standing on the porch of, uh of a prairie house in, you know, in a western and the character walks out through the front door and Then the camera comes around to their point of view, and you watch and see this gigantic landscape that is clearly a big, wide shot. But if that person walks out of the house and it's holding up a a set of papers and then looks down at the papers, that is a different focal length. But equally it's that character's perspective, so it's not necessarily any given focal length, but with extreme close up. We talked about it just being sort of focused in on somebody's eyes or their nose or their mouth. Something very close to elicit a lot of emotion and a standard close up would be quite a chest. I mean, shoulders up. So those that I think that that would be the best way to describe the differences between those three things.