Monday, December 8, 2008

What's in a Camera Angle?

It's what the camera shows. Or rather, perhaps it's better described as what the camera doesn't show.

That's kind of important. Think of the old studio films. Did you ever wonder why you never saw the ceiling in a room? (You probably never have; but hey, let's pretend that this has always been something you've wondered about.)

The answer is, of course, that those rooms had no ceiling... to allow for the lights to illuminate those delightful film stars.

But that's a set.

We don't film on a set. We film on location. And, yes, we have to deal with ceilings. (Although, come to think of it, it'd be a might easier on the crew if some of the rooms on our locations had no ceilings. Just think of all the crane shots!)

First AD Michael standing in front of the boarded up windowSometimes, as a filmmaker, you have to get creative with your camera angles. When we were filming Dear J, we had just one such pull towards creativity. The courtroom scenes of the movie were shot in a church. We didn't have to worry too much about low ceilings there! Our problem? ...Windows. Boarded up windows.

While we were location scouting, the church was in the middle of renovating their stained-glass windows. One window at a time. As their window workers fixed each window, it had to be boarded up.

Well, as it came closer and closer to our production time, we realized that they weren't going to get finished before shooting began. And they were slowly coming up to a window we really needed; not only for ascentic reasons, but also for lighting purposes. We talked to the pastor of the church and he put a halt to those window renovations. (Thank-you, Pastor Dave!)

Even so, we still had to deal with a boarded up window. Basically, Jake (our camera operator) just had to make sure he didn't get it in any shot... The window always was to be just out of frame.

And, you know what? Because of those camera angles, you wouldn't even know that it's there. The only place you'll find evidence of that boarded up window is in a few production stills...

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