Lesson Two: Creating Great
Images (of People) for Video
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Target Audience: High School Students
Subject Area: Media Arts Production
Objective: Students will learn the basic concepts
necessary to produce beautiful, professional looking visual compositions
(which can then be used in professional television productions).
Equipment:
3Video cameras with (Flip-out screens if possible)
Tri-pod for Video Camera
Video monitor with playback cable attached to Video Camera
Videotape stock that is compatible with selected Video Cameras
Concepts:
- Stability. We have mechanisms built into our brains
that stabilize our visual perception of the world. So, even if our bodies
are moving about in a relatively jerky or unstable way, our eyes see
a relatively stable or smoothly moving picture of the world. To make
stable visual compositions with cameras, however, we have to take special
precautions.
- Depth. The things we videotape are three-dimensional.
But video images are only two-dimensional! The task of endowing our
flat images with a sense of depth is of great importance if we hope
to achieve a feeling of realism in our videotapes.
- Asymmetrical Balance. The two dimensional figurative
arts (such as painting, still photography, and moving image media) share
common conventions of composition having to do with the task of putting
images of human beings into rectangular frames. If we dont observe
these conventions, our images can seem unstable, uncomfortable, out
of wack.
- Controlling the Viewers Gaze. There are often
other, less important things in our pictures that steal the attention
of our viewers away from what we, the image makers, want our viewers
to see. We have to learn how to minimize these distractions.
- Lighting. We can use lighting to give a greater
feeling of depth to our pictures, to give a sense of time of day or
mood, to emphasize or clarify, or simply to make things visible.
Lesson Procedure:
- To illustrate the importance of stability.
Have three students videotape you talking in medium close-up (head and
shoulders) from different positions simultaneously: (a) Hand held from
4 feet, (b) Hand held from 30 feet, (b) on a tripod from 10 feet. Talk
and talk and talk for at least 5 minutes, encouraging the hand-holding
students to hold the image as steady as they can. Rewind the tapes to
the beginning and compare them side by side. Of course, the tri-pod
mounted shot will be the steadiest. The shot taken hand-held from 4
feet should be relatively steady, but will grow shaky with time as the
students hands get tired. The shot taken hand-held from 30 feet
will be shaky throughout. Get your students to understand why the shot
taken hand-held from 30 feet away will invariably be unstablehow
the zoom lens magnifies the instability just as it magnifies the image.
Ask the students which shot they prefer and why. Have students look
at Show 2 of American High ("Who Am I") to discuss
Morgans handheld shooting of his parents (00:20-01:26). What is
the advantage of hand-holding the camera (to be able to move quickly)?
Is there an advantage to shaky handholding (conveying sense of immediacy,
sense of danger).
- To create two-dimensional images that appear
to have depth. Set up negative examples for interview compositions,
and encourage the students to improve upon the situation. For example,
shoot someone straight ahead, plastered up against a wall. Encourage
the students to see how, if they put a lot of space between the interviewee
and the background instead, depth perception will be increased. Encourage
the students to take a high angle or low angle on the subject and see
what that does to depth. Ask which is more flattering (usually the high
angle). Ask students to put something in the extreme foreground. Encourage
students to consider that we perceive depth more easily if there are
objects in foreground, middleground, and backgroundparticularly
if the surfaces overlap. Why is that? Examples: Morgan diary about balloons
in Show #3 ("Boogie Nights") 00:431:10, Robby diary
about Brad coming out (American High Website), Sarahs diary
about Robby leaving for college (American High Show #1
"You Only Live Once) 21:3521:51.
- To illustrate conventions of asymmetrical balance.
Put a long piece of tape on the TV screen running horizontally, about
one-third of the way between the top of the screen and the bottom. Pop
in a video copy of American High (or any cool TV show). Ask students
to see how often the eyes of TV characters fall on that line. Whether
in close-up or long shot, the eyes fall on that line 90% of the time.
Now shoot a person on videotape in medium closeup with the persons
eyes in the middle of the frame or lower. That looks unbalanced and
uncomfortable. Why? Add other pieces of tape to the TV screen to divide
the screen like a tic-tac-toe board. Ask the students to observe when
major compositional elements fall on one or more of the lines of tape.
For example: The horizon falls on the lower third, the sun is on the
upper third and on the right third at the same time. You have illustrated
the rule of thirdsthe notion that we find compositional balance
when major elements are arranged in an asymmetrical pattern. This happens
a lot! Show other negative examples (violations of the rule of thirds),
e.g. the moon in the center of the screen, the person in the middle
of the frame looking off-screen without "lookspace." Ask the
students whats wrong with these pictures. Examples: Annas
about boyfriends (American High website), Kaytee lookspace in
diary about fame (American High website),
- To illustrate problems with controlling the
viewers gaze. Set up negative examples for interview compositions,
and encourage the students to improve upon the situation. For example,
shoot a person in talking in close-up while another person is jumping
around in the background. Ask the students what their attention goes
when they watch the composition. Answer: the eye is attracted by motion
and distracted from the main eventthe interviewee. Solution: pan
the camera over to frame out the jumping person. Another example: Shoot
a person in front of a poster or blackboard with legible writing on
it. Ask the students where their attention goes. Answer: the eye is
attracted to written text. Solution: if the writing is a distraction
(not the main event), then take it out of the composition. Another example:
shoot a person in medium shot in low light and put another well-lit
person in the background. Ask the student where their attention goes.
Answer: the eye is attracted to bright or colorful subjects. Solution:
move on to the next demonstration. (Use lighting to clarify and emphasize.)
Heres a fun assignment: Ask students to compose shots of people
framed within the frame. For example: framed by a doorway, or in a car
window, or in the rear-view mirror of a car. Encourage them to see how
the frame within the frame leaves little doubt as to where the viewers
eye should go.
- To illustrate the importance of lighting.
Set up negative examples for interview compositions, and encourage the
students to improve upon the situation. For example, shoot a backlit
person (e.g. in front of a bright window without frontal light). Encourage
students to see how backlight robs the composition of the important
detailwhat is on the interviewees face. Solutions: Draw
the window curtains, move the subject to a different background, or
(if adventurous) show students how to open the iris of the camera lens.
If you do this, have the students see that the subject may be properly
exposed now (detail is visible in the face), but detail is lost in the
window. A compromise! Another example: Shoot a student wearing a baseball
cap directly under a light. The shadow cast by the brim of the cap casts
a strong shadow of the students face. Nasty. Solutions: Turn the
cap around, tilt up the brim, or remove the hat entirely, or move the
student back so the light is not directly over head, but in front of
the student. Or have the student put a big white piece of cardboard
in the subjects lap, out of the video frame. See how the card
bounces light into the shadow area under the cap. Another example: remove
all ambient light from the room and illuminate a little desk lamp. Walk
the lamp around the interviewee. Get the students to assess the different
effects: low angle light (monstrous), side light (dramatic), 3/4 light
("normal"full modeling). Examples: Dramatic lighting
Kiwi diary about fears (American High Show #1 "You
Only Live Once") 18:47 is sidelit. Tiffany diary about Drew
in (American High Show #8 "Winter Formalities)
14:36-15:02 is lit from below.
- Additional helpful hints. (a) Avoiding problems
with automatic focus. Compose a tight shot of a person in front of a
background with sharp lines (like venetian blinds). The camera might
decide to focus on the background instead! Solution: avoid backgrounds
with sharp lines. (b) What is the ideal composition and shot scale?
Answer: it depends. Set up negative examples for interview compositions,
and encourage the students to improve upon the situation. For example,
shoot a close-up interview while the interviewee is doing something
with their hands off-screen (like playing the guitar). Result: We feel
were missing something. Another example: shoot an interview with
the interviewer off the axis of the camera. Result: we get the profile
of the interviewee. It would be stronger to see more of their face!
Another example: look at Robbys interview of Sarah in American
High Show 1 (11:37-13-12). Wouldnt it be better if Sarah were
framed more tightly? What shes saying is so personal and intimate!
Basic rule of thumb: in video, closer works better than further away.
(c) Hand holding cameras. Weve already made it clear that students
should get close (and not film from 30 feet away, zoomed in all the
way). You should also encourage the students to see that the shot can
be held steadier if the eyepiece is not pressed against the eye as the
camera operator moves. Help students to use the flip-out screen when
doing hand-held work. Encourage your students to stand and move like
cat burglars when they shoot hand-held: knees bent, gliding through
the room gracefully and silently. Its fun to get a group of them
filming like a Tai Chi group.
Extension Activity & Evaluation Checklist:
Allow students to work in pairs to interview one another
at another location. Have them bring the tape into the classroom for a
group critique. Evaluate each tape in terms of video composition and lighting
by addressing what the students did
Stability
- Did they use a tripod?
- If handheld, was the camera close to the subject,
using a wide-angle lens?
Depth
- Is there distance between the subject and the background
- Are there objects in foreground, middleground,
and background?
Asymmetical Balance
- Does the composition take an angle on the subject
or is it straight on?
- Are the eyes on the top third?
- Are other Rule of Third opportunities exploited?
- Is there sufficient "lookspace" for subjects
loooking offscreen?
- Is there a "frame within the frame?"
The Viewers Gaze
- Are there distractions from the subject (movement,
bright objects, text)?
Lighting
- Can we see the subjects face?
- Are there harsh or unusual shadows on the face?
- Is the lighting angle expressive?
Additional
- Is the subject in sharp focus?
- Is the shot scale ideal for the content of the
shot? Too close to see what theyre doing? Too far away to get
intimacy?
Recommended Reading and Reference Links:
Schroeppel, Tom. The Bare Bones Camera Course for
Film and Video available from <TomSchroeppel@worldnet.att.net>
The Digital Filmmaker's Resource Site: http://www.2-pop.com/
Exposure: The Internet Resource for Low Budget Filmmakers:
http://www.exposure.co.uk/
Adita Video, Inc. Links to Video Resources: http://www.adita.com/links.htm
Videomaker Magazines Website: http://www.videomaker.com/scripts/index.cfm
About the Author: Jonathan Mednick is both
an award-winning filmmaker and an experienced educator in the fields of
film/television production and media studies. This past year, Mednick
was a producer and director on the critically acclaimed PBS TV series
American High. Mednicks role on American High included
teaching video production to the students at Highland Park High School
and supervising the making of the student-produced video diaries that
are featured so prominently in the show. Mednicks latest film, Dita
and the Family Business -- a personal documentary about the family
behind New York Citys fabled Bergdorf-Goodman Department Store --
will begin its theatrical run in New York's Film Forum in September 2001.
Jonathan Mednick is currently teaches film directing and producing at
the University of Central Florida. He has also taught media production
at New York University, Wesleyan University, and at the University of
Iowa
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