TUTORIALS | Cinematography tips

Our experts this issue

Corey Rosen Corey Rosen is an actor, director, writer and visual effects artist living in San Francisco. After 11 years with ILM, he moved to The Orphanage, where hes overseeing two international creature-intensive projects www.theorphanage.com

The problem every new animator faces: just how do you frame your shots? This collection of tips from leading directors should help. Image from Annie & Boo, directed by Johannes Weiland.

TIPS & TRICKS

Webster Colcord Webster Colcord has been a professional animator since 1987 and has worked with Disney, Fox, Warner Bros, PDI/DreamWorks and Electronic Arts. Hes currently Animation Supervisor at The Orphanage www.theorphanage.com

Cinematography for 3D animators

The quality of your cinematography can make or break an animation. Brush up your skills with this set of simple tips for framing, staging and editing shots

Johannes Weiland Johannes Weiland is a German freelance director and animator who also teaches animation. His 3D animated shorts, Hessi James and Annie & Boo, have won many awards. Hes represented by Studio Soi www.studiosoi.com

inematography isnt simply the art of placing and moving the camera it involves framing and editing shots to tell a story visually, express a point of view, create a rhythm, and add

dont frame him on the right in the close shot. Rule 2: when intercutting between two people, their glances must always face in the opposite direction if the viewers are to feel that theyre looking at one other. Dont make them look towards the same side of the screen or theyll both appear to be looking in the same direction. Rule 3: when a character moves between shots, he should move in the same direction on screen in each one. If he doesnt, it will look like hes changed direction. To build on these fundamentals, weve asked four experienced professionals to share their tricks of the trade and tips for avoiding common mistakes. Youll learn how cinematography can support the action of a lm and enhance emotions, and how you can create rhythm and visual ow. Youll also discover the magic behind the choice of focal lengths. Read on to discover 15 simple things that you can do right now to improve the structure of your next animation.

tension and atmosphere to a scene. An animation can be made or broken by the quality of its cinematography, while framing, editing and camera moves are all great tools to help accentuate the action or amplify the storyline. Even technically good and experienced animators are often let down by their cinematography. The difference between a professionally composed and edited lm and an unwatchable mess comes down to having paid attention to a few simple rules. Here are three rules that aspiring virtual cinematographers most commonly break. Rule 1: when going from a wide to a close shot, keep your character on the same side of the screen if he was on the left in the wide shot,

Benoit Guerville Benoit Guerville has been using a camera since he was 12. Hes currently developing CGI-heavy projects in the south of France, and teaches Photoshop and Art Direction in a visual effects school benoit@widecinema.com

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IN FOCUS | The meaning of focal lengths

CREATE A POINT OF FOCUS
The rules that apply to the visual composition of still images also apply to animated sequences. As a rule, your image should have a
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LONG = INTIMATE A long focal length helps the viewers to connect with this characters inner thoughts, as the blurring effect of the shallow depth of eld helps to visually isolate her from the outside world SHORT = ISOLATED In contrast, a short focal
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point of focus: something to which you want to draw attention. This will usually be located in the lighter-coloured part of the frame, as this will draw the viewers eyes towards it. Ask yourself how the other elements inside your shot help to guide the viewers towards your focal element.

DECIDE WHO YOURE LOOKING AT

Cinematography also has its own specic set of rules, so make sure that you understand and respect them before you break them! The 180-degree rule, also known as the Action Line or the Line of Interest, is probably the most important. It states that when two characters are looking at each other, the camera should stay on one side of the action and not go beyond a 180-degree arc. This ensures that the opposing glances of the two characters remain consistent throughout the scene, with one always looking towards the left side of the frame and the other to the right. You should also ensure that each one looks off the screen towards a point at which you could reasonably expect to nd the eyes of a character of the correct height. Note that the more a character looks toward the camera, the more the viewers are involved. The more he looks away from the camera, the more the viewers become observers of the characters thoughts, emotions and actions. Keep this in mind with your story.

length serves to isolate the viewers. In this wideangle shot, the character appears so small, and the set so devoid of people, that the contrast greatly enhances the atmosphere of loneliness

CHOOSE THE CORRECT SHOT SIZE

You need to be aware of the different sizes of shots and what each one is intended for. Generally, a wide shot is used to open a sequence, introducing a set or creating an atmosphere. The closer you get to the action, the closer the viewers relationship to it will become. Therefore, a close-up of an object focuses the viewers attention on it and conveys its importance in the storytelling. A full shot of a character has essentially exactly the same function as the wide shot for a set it provides an overall context for that character. It also serves to present them in relation to their environment. Generally, you would begin moving closer to the character once he has been introduced, unless you want to reveal his body language rst. Similarly, a close-up is often used to enable the viewers to perceive whats going on inside a characters head and to feel his emotions.

AVOID UNUSUAL LENS TYPES

In the real world, cinematographers have access to only a small range of lenses with different focal lengths. In 3D, inexperienced cinematographers tend to use ultra-wide angles (that is, ultra-short focal lengths). Avoid these: they look unrealistic and instantly give away the computer-generated origins of your work, making it look more like a bad videogame than a movie. If youre a purist, you could eventually limit yourself to the xed focal lengths that are suggested in your 3D software, because these represent the lenses used in real-world cameras.

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PICK THE CORRECT FOCAL LENGTH

Choosing a specic focal length can be difcult. To learn to choose between long, short and neutral focal lengths, you need to understand how they optically distort the image. The 50mm lens is the closest to standard human perception. Therefore, by using this focal length, youll show a 3D environment in the way it would be perceived by a human being walking around

If youre unsure about continuity between your shots, dont hesitate to use visual cues. Here, the second characters shoulder in the foreground helps create a spatial relationship between the two speakers

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inside it. In general, focal lengths between 35 and 55 millimetres create a fairly neutral perception theyre a kind of non-statement. This can be a good way to focus the viewers attention on the characters performances without adding any visual gimmicks. Shorter focal lengths, such as 28mm, cover a much wider angle than the human eye. They make everything appear larger, and strongly accentuate perspective lines. These are useful for enhancing large vistas, landscapes and so on, and theyre often used in anime to inject a dynamic feel to a shot. Used in close-ups,
It may be conventional to open on a wide shot, but the reverse can pay dividends. In Johannes Weilands Hessi James, close-ups suggest the heat and decay of a desert gas station, before a wide shot reveals the set

they magnify the aws of a characters face and are thus often

used for comic effect.

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TUTORIALS | Cinematography tips

In contrast, longer focal lengths tend to atten the image, making objects appear much closer to one another than they really
A close-up of a characters face places strong emphasis on emotions. You can accentuate this effect with a travelling shot (pushing inwards). This still is from Olis Chance, directed by Johannes Weiland and Saschka Unseld

are. Obliterating space in this way can help to create a symbolic relationship between characters. However, long focal lengths also produce a short depth of eld everything in front of or beyond the focal point is out of focus. This is why long focal lengths are generally used to isolate a subject from its environment. For example, you could single out a person in a crowd or focus on a characters face while everything else looks like an abstract blur. This helps to draw the viewers into your characters world.

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Studio Soi

Framing a character in a wide shot allows you to express more body language, and is the ideal choice for showcasing physical comedy

dynamics and rhythm. Asian cinematographers are good at providing breathing space before the action starts, speeding things up as it unfolds. This can be seen in classic shots where the lead character lands on his feet and his opponent drops to the oor. The action often seems to freeze in the last few seconds for which the opponent is still standing until he suddenly collapses.

Studio Soi

KNOW WHEN TO MIX FOCAL LENGTHS

There are two schools of thought regarding the use of multiple focal
Another still from Olis Chance. By establishing a scale relationship between the characters and their environment, as demonstrated in this shot, a director can say a lot about their inner strength or fragility

lengths in the same sequence: some say you should and some say you shouldnt! Choosing a xed focal length for a whole sequence is one way to create very discreet cinematography, with the focus more on the characters than on the camera moves. This can be good practice when youre starting out, since it forces you to concentrate on framing shots rather than planning ashy camera moves. On the other hand, modern cinematography tends to mix and match focal lengths. You can see this in Hong Kong movies and anime, where a director will go from a very long focal length in a close-up on a characters eyes (to show his concentration) before moving to a very wide angle (when he jumps in the air to attack), then back to a more neutral focal length with a camera circling around him (as he hits his opponent with a slow-motion kick). This is highly effective and stylish if done correctly. However, more often than not, young animators overdo it. The key here is

STICK TO REALISTIC CAMERA MOVES

If you want your lm to look realistic, stick to realistic camera moves. In the real world, its a tricky job to move a camera smoothly, and there are members of the lm crew (the grips) whose main role is to set up the complicated machinery that enables this to happen. As a result. most of the time, real-world camera moves are pretty simple affairs. However, this can be a blessing in disguise, since you should never move your camera without good reason. This good reason can be simple, like the need to follow a walking character. The storytelling may also call for it: for example, in order to close in on a characters face to show what shes feeling, or to move away from her to reveal her loneliness. But if you do need to move the camera, avoid crazy y-throughs. Most of the time, theyll simply be a tribute to your lack of cinematography skills. If youre unsure about movement, youd be better advised to keep the camera still.

IN FOCUS | Cutting between characters

SHOT ONE These paired
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TRY ADDING CAMERA SHAKE

In the 3D world, everything looks too perfect, and this is also true of camera moves. In real-life lmmaking, its not unusual to use a handheld camera, which will bring a slightly shaky motion to your shot. You can strive to copy this particular kind of shake in order to give your scene a more natural feel. Its also a good way to make the viewers feel as if they are inside the scene, reacting to the action or the tension. You can create this effect by adding noise to your camera curves but, once again, be subtle and carefully observe how live-action cinematographers use handheld movements. Dont be tempted to overdo things.

shots from Annie & Boo show how each interacting character should remain on the same side of the screen, no matter where the camera is

MAKE USE OF CAMERA ANGLES

SHOT TWO Annie stays on the
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Cameras are very powerful tools for expressing a point of view. A camera placed at eye level gives a natural point of view that mimics what you experience in your everyday life. All other angles place the viewers in a special position. A low angle makes characters and sets look larger than life, while a high angle helps the viewers feel like theyre dominating a scene or spying on the action.

right of shot, even when the camera reverses direction. Similarly, the directions in which the two characters are looking always remain opposed

FIND A VISUAL CONCEPT

One extension of this principle is to use a point of view to create a visual concept for a shot. Keeping the camera at eye level and

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Cinematography tips | TUTORIALS

IN FOCUS | Understanding camera angles

following the action will make the viewers feel as though they are really standing inside the scene, making them feel closer to the characters. Alternatively, if you go for a frontal set-up in which the picture has no depth, this will cause the viewers to feel unwelcome in the scene, making them feel like outside observers. Another option can be to show the viewers things that the character never manages to see during the scene, or vice versa. HIGH ANGLE A high-angle shot makes the endangered position relative to their surroundings. These two stills are taken from The Adventures of Sharkboy and Lavagirl in 3-D, directed by Robert Rodriguez LOW ANGLE In contrast, a camera low on the places the viewers at the bottom of the image and accentuates the size of the characters: in this case, enhancing the sense of danger from the oncoming robots MID ANGLE Dont forget to stage things in depth, too, creating a foreground, For this scene from Hessi James, directed by Johannes Weiland, the position of each character helps to add depth to the shot
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characters appear in an inferior or

OPEN ON AN ESTABLISHING SHOT

The classic way to begin a sequence is by using a wide opening shot. This lets the viewers understand where the action is taking place and who the characters are. However, there are circumstances in which you may want to ignore this convention and begin on a close up. For example, if you want to mislead the viewers, you could start close in a detail which then takes on a different meaning when the camera pulls back. You may also want to create suspense by showing the viewers apparently non-related elements and holding back information about what happens next.

ground with a short focal length

CLOSE ON A PARTING SHOT

Particular care must be given to the closing shot because it contains the information the viewers will be left with. Every sequence should end with a strong emotion or a highly symbolic image that will keep them wanting to know more. For example, you may want to close on a wide shot to make the viewers feel as if they are walking away, letting the characters deal with their own emotions. Alternatively, you could focus on a characters face to get your viewers involved in his emotions. Or you may wish to end with a visual clue for whats coming up next, such as a close-up of the ticking clock sitting on top of the box of explosives that the characters missed throughout the entire scene ...

a middleground and a background.

EDIT FOR RHYTHM

Editing is a way to establish the visual rhythm between shots. This rhythm should reect the performance and emotions of your characters. Its especially important in comedy or action sequences, where timing is crucial. The animation should be your rst guide as to how to edit your sequences. Each change of shot should reect a change of thought, emotion or action in the character. If theres no change, theres no need to change your framing. Editing should also provide dynamics, which usually means an opposition between tension and release. This is the reason why Asian cinema makes such use of the contrast between slow and normal motion. Generally, the slow motion creates a tension that is released when the action goes back to a normal frame rate.

FURTHER READING | Good books on cinematography

Title: Setting Up Your Shots Author: Jeremy Vineyard ISBN: 0941188736 An excellent guide to the subject, including many examples from major movies to give you new ideas and to help you understand shot selection Title: Cinematography: Theory and Practice Author: Blain Brown ISBN: 0240805003 Know what the rules are and when to break them with this concise guide to theory behind the practice of making movies

KEEP SEQUENCES CONSISTENT

To get a sequence of shots that edit well together, take a few basic precautions. Follow the rules regarding opposing glances, make sure the viewers have a good sense of the space in which the action is happening, keep the lighting consistent, and dont forget that your characters also need to be consistent in their motivation from one shot to the next. And thats it. Now that you have mastered the rules governing framing shots, choosing viewpoints and editing action, we look forward to seeing the results in your own work!

Title: Film Directing: Shot By Shot Author: Steven D Katz ISBN: 0941188108 An in-depth exploration of the many camera-framing options that help to convey mood and emotions

Title: Grammar of the Film Language Author: Daniel Arijon ISBN: 187950507X An in-depth look at the lm language, as well as staging and framing strategies, with plenty of case studies and explanations

Title: Film Directing: Cinematic Motion (2nd ed.) Author: Steven D Katz ISBN: 0941188906 Following Shot By Shot, this book builds on its predecessor by explaining the art of moving the camera around the stage

Title: The Visual Story: Seeing the Structure of Film, TV and New Media Author: Bruce Block ISBN: 0240804678 Goes beyond the concept of framing, encompassing all aspects of visual storytelling

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