Taking Your Filmmaking to the Next Level- Video Review

    I probably have mentioned this before, but one thing that I continually struggle with is cinematography. I have a Canon T3i at home and I feel like I'm not aware of it's potential and all of the amazing qualities that it has. In the near future I hope to get outside and practice using the different techniques mentioned in this video. I really enjoyed the fact that these tips came from a professional film-maker, Seth Dunlap.

    One tip that I like in this video was the fact that not everything should be in slow-motion when it comes to expressing more cinematic shots. Slowing down the frame rate and editing clips in Post-Production can make shots steady and the shots can be aesthetically pleasing, but shots in short film don't need to constantly be in slow motion, which Seth Dunlap explains. He mentioned that a short film should contain 60% of the shots in real time and 40% of the shots in slow motion. Although this isn't the case for some films, like comedies, I feel like slowing down a more dramatic film would give it an interesting effect that is different from the usual chase scenes that I see a lot.

    Another thing that Dunlap mentioned was that framing subjects in shots is crucial and that there is something almost psychological behind the different types of framing. For example, he stated that he worked on a documentary about a mother who had lost her child. When she was talking about grieving about the loss, he framed some of his b-roll to where she was on the left side of the frame, showing lots of empty space behind her. This represented that she had so much in her past that had affected her. When she spoke about having hope for the future and being happier, she was framed on the right to show how much she had to live for and the good things that were yet to occur. I feel like spending the time to understand the psychological connections between shots can make my films more dramatic and intense.

    I feel like these tips will be very useful in helping my films become more cinematic and dramatic. Although these are some basic tips, I feel like I definitely need to work on these and to make more films so that I can master these techniques so that they become second nature.