1st Edition

Digital Cinematography

By Paul Wheeler Copyright 2001
    214 Pages
    by Routledge

    214 Pages
    by Routledge

    High end digital cinematography can truly challenge the film camera in many of the technical, artistic and emotional aspects of what we think of as 'cinematography'. This book is a guide for practising and aspiring cinematographers and DOPs to digital cinematography essentials - from how to use the cameras to the rapidly emerging world of High Definition cinematography and 24p technology.


    This book covers the `on-the-set' knowledge you need to know - its emphasis lies in practical application, rather than descriptions of technologies, so that in this book you will find usable `tools' and information to help you get the job done. From `getting the look' to lighting styles and ratios, what is needed for different types of shoots and the technical preparation required, this is a complete reference to the knowledge and skills required to shoot high end digital films. The book also features a guide to the Sony DVW in-camera menus - showing how to set them up and how they work - a
    device to save you time and frustration on set.

    Paul Wheeler is a renowned cinematographer/director of photography and trainer, he runs courses on Digital Cinematography at the National Film & Television School and has lectured on the Royal College of Art's MA course and at The London International Film School. He has been twice nominated by BAFTA for a Best Cinematography award and also twice been the winner of the INDIE award for Best Digital Cinematography.

    DIGITAL CINEMATOGRAPHY 1.1 Why Digital Cinematography 1.2 Exposure Meters 1.3 Tonal Range 1.4 Exposure Control 1.5 Image Stability 1.6 Greater Perceived Detail 1.7 Repeatability 1.8 Portability

    THE DIRECTOR of PHOTOGRAPH's CRAFT
    2 CREATING A LOOK 2.1 Decide What You Want 2.2 Sharp or Soft
    2.3 Cold or Warm 2.4 Saturated and De-saturated 2.5 Skin Tone Control
    2.6 The Film Look

    3 LIGHTING 3.1 Useful Styles 3.2 Soft Lighting 3.3 Hard Lighting
    3.4 Coloured Sources

    4 LIGHTING RATIOS
    4.1Defining a Lighting ratio 4.2Visualising Lighting Ratios 4.3 Different Lighting Ratios for Film and Television 4.4 Using Lighting Ratios on the Set
    4.5 Controlling the Whole Scene 4.6 The Effect of Not Recording the Whole Scene

    5 COLOUR TEMPERATURE
    5.1What is Colour Temperature? 5.2 Filters and Mired Shift Values
    5.3 The Colour Temperature Meter 5.4 Location Sources
    5.5 Correcting Lamps

    6 FILTERS
    6.1Camera Filters 6.1.a Colour Compensating Filters 6.1.b Colour Correction Filters 6.1.c Skin Tone Warmer 6.1.d Sepia, Coral, Tobacco etc.
    6.1.e Graduated Filters 6.1.f Neutral Density 6.1.g Low Contrast
    6.1.h Ultra Contrast6.1.i Fog 6.1. Double Fog
    6.1.k Pro Mist 6.1.l Star Filters6.1.m Nets 6.2 Matching Shots
    6.3 Enhancing Filters6.4 Fluorescent Light Correction 6.5 Polar Screens 6.6 Filter Factors 6.7 The Pan Grass

    THE SHOOT
    7 EXAMPLES OF SHOOTS
    7.1 Drama 7.1.a "The Queen's Nose" 7.1 "The Merchant of Venice"
    7.1.c "Small Hotel " 7.2 Documentary 7.2.a "The ABBA Story"

    8 CREWING 8.1 For Fiction 8.1.a Should the DoP Operate? 8.1.b Do you need a Focus Puller? 8.1.c Do we need a Loader? 8.1.d Do we need a Clapper Board? 8.1.e Do we need a Grip? 8.1.f Sound 8.1.g Electricians
    8.2 For Factual 8.2.a Crew size 8.2.b Clapper boards

    9 THE DIRECTOR of PHOTOGRAPHY's PREPARATION
    9.1 Technical Schedule 9.2 Camera Lists 9.3 Lighting Lists

    10 TECHNICAL PREPARATION FOR A SHOOT
    10.1 Technical Checks 10.1.a The Tripod 10.1.b The Camera Base Plate
    10.2 Camera Checks - Record / Playback 10.3 Lens Checks
    10.3.a Back Focus and the Star Chart 10.4 Time Code
    10.5 Accessories 10.6Matte Boxe 10.7 Follow Focus Devices 10.8 Viewfinders 10.9 Monitors 10.9.a Choosing a Monitor 10.9.b Nine Inch Monitors 10.9.c Fourteen Inch Monitors 10.9.d Lining up a Monitor 10.9.e My Approach 10.9.f Why take such trouble? 10.9.g Lining up a PAL Monitor 10.9.h Helpful Hints 10.9.i Lining up an NTSC Monitor 10.9.j Ambient Light 10.9.k Cabling your Monitor 10.9.k.i Termination 10.9.k.ii Serial monitors 10.9.k.iii Best Practice
    10.9.l On Screen Monitor Information

    THE TECHNOLOGY
    11 THE CAMERA 11.1The Television Image 11.2 Additive Colour Imagery
    11.3 Resolution 11.4 The Digital Camera 11.5 The Camera Head
    11.6 The Image Sensors 11.7 The Sensor Chip 11.8 The Image Signal
    11.9 The Internal Circuitry

    12 THE VCR
    12.1 The Video Cassette Recorder 12.1 Helical Scan 12.2 Mechanical Considerations 12.4 The Scanning Drum 12.5 The Drum Lacing Mechanism
    12.6 A Jammed Mechanism

    13 WHITE AND BLACK BALANCE
    13.1 White balance 13.2 What is White Balance? 13.3 White Balance Using a White Card 13.4 White Balance Using a Coloured Card 13.5White Balance Under Fluorescent Lighting 13.6 The Inner Filter Wheel 13.7 Black Balance

    14 TIME CODE AND USER BITS
    14.1 User Bits 14.2 Time Code 14.3 Record Run Time Code 14.4 Free Run Time Code 14.5 Time of Day Time Code 14.6Setting Time Code 14.7 Resetting Time Code After Removing a Tape 14.8 Synchronising Using a Cable

    15 DELIVERY SYSTEMS
    15.1 Television 15.2 Projection 15.3 Transfer to Film

    HIGH DEFINITION TELEVISION

    16 High Definition
    16.1 High Definition Image Capture
    16.2 The Sony HDCAM
    16.3 The Sony HDW-F500 Digital Recorder
    16.4 Inputting to Non Linear Editing
    16.5 Panavision Digital Cinematography
    16.6 Panavision High Definition Lenses
    16.7 Depth of Field
    16.8 Camera Control Cards
    16.9 Digi Beta / HDCAM Familiarity
    16.10 The Camera Menus
    16.11 Projection
    16.12 What Does it Actualy Look Like?
    16.13 HDCAM - A Replacement for 35 MM?
    16.14 Conclusions

    THE Sony DVW IN-CAMERA MENUS
    17 The Sony DVW Camera menus 18.1 The Set-up Card 18.2 Reading Data from a Set-up Card 18.3 Film Gamma Cards 18.4 Making Adjustments
    18.5 Rate of Change 18.6 The User Menu 18.7 The Menu Pages
    18.8 Fathers and Grandfathers 18.9 The Individual Pages 18.10 Different Software - The Quick Reference Lists 18 The Sony DVW 700 Quick Reference List 19 The Sony DVW 700 Menus 20 The Sony DVW 790 Quick Reference List 21 The Sony DVW 790 Menus


    DIGITAL CINEMATOGRAPHY 1.1 Why Digital Cinematography 1.2 Exposure Meters 1.3 Tonal Range 1.4 Exposure Control 1.5 Image Stability 1.6 Greater Perceived Detail 1.7 Repeatability 1.8 Portability

    THE DIRECTOR of PHOTOGRAPH's CRAFT
    2 CREATING A LOOK 2.1 Decide What You Want 2.2 Sharp or Soft
    2.3 Cold or Warm 2.4 Saturated and De-saturated 2.5 Skin Tone Control
    2.6 The Film Look

    3 LIGHTING 3.1 Useful Styles 3.2 Soft Lighting 3.3 Hard Lighting
    3.4 Coloured Sources

    4 LIGHTING RATIOS
    4.1Defining a Lighting ratio 4.2Visualising Lighting Ratios 4.3 Different Lighting Ratios for Film and Television 4.4 Using Lighting Ratios on the Set
    4.5 Controlling the Whole Scene 4.6 The Effect of Not Recording the Whole Scene

    5 COLOUR TEMPERATURE
    5.1What is Colour Temperature? 5.2 Filters and Mired Shift Values
    5.3 The Colour Temperature Meter 5.4 Location Sources
    5.5 Correcting Lamps

    6 FILTERS
    6.1Camera Filters 6.1.a Colour Compensating Filters 6.1.b Colour Correction Filters 6.1.c Skin Tone Warmer 6.1.d Sepia, Coral, Tobacco etc.
    6.1.e Graduated Filters 6.1.f Neutral Density 6.1.g Low Contrast
    6.1.h Ultra Contrast6.1.i Fog 6.1. Double Fog
    6.1.k Pro Mist 6.1.l Star Filters6.1.m Nets 6.2 Matching Shots
    6.3 Enhancing Filters6.4 Fluorescent Light Correction 6.5 Polar Screens 6.6 Filter Factors 6.7 The Pan Grass

    THE SHOOT
    7 EXAMPLES OF SHOOTS
    7.1 Drama 7.1.a "The Queen's Nose" 7.1 "The Merchant of Venice"
    7.1.c "Small Hotel " 7.2 Documentary 7.2.a "The ABBA Story"

    8 CREWING 8.1 For Fiction 8.1.a Should the DoP Operate? 8.1.b Do you need a Focus Puller? 8.1.c Do we need a Loader? 8.1.d Do we need a Clapper Board? 8.1.e Do we need a Grip? 8.1.f Sound 8.1.g Electricians
    8.2 For Factual 8.2.a Crew size 8.2.b Clapper boards

    9 THE DIRECTOR of PHOTOGRAPHY's PREPARATION
    9.1 Technical Schedule 9.2 Camera Lists 9.3 Lighting Lists

    10 TECHNICAL PREPARATION FOR A SHOOT
    10.1 Technical Checks 10.1.a The Tripod 10.1.b The Camera Base Plate
    10.2 Camera Checks - Record / Playback 10.3 Lens Checks
    10.3.a Back Focus and the Star Chart 10.4 Time Code
    10.5 Accessories 10.6Matte Boxe 10.7 Follow Focus Devices 10.8 Viewfinders 10.9 Monitors 10.9.a Choosing a Monitor 10.9.b Nine Inch Monitors 10.9.c Fourteen Inch Monitors 10.9.d Lining up a Monitor 10.9.e My Approach 10.9.f Why take such trouble? 10.9.g Lining up a PAL Monitor 10.9.h Helpful Hints 10.9.i Lining up an NTSC Monitor 10.9.j Ambient Light 10.9.k Cabling your Monitor 10.9.k.i Termination 10.9.k.ii Serial monitors 10.9.k.iii Best Practice
    10.9.l On Screen Monitor Information

    THE TECHNOLOGY
    11 THE CAMERA 11.1The Television Image 11.2 Additive Colour Imagery
    11.3 Resolution 11.4 The Digital Camera 11.5 The Camera Head
    11.6 The Image Sensors 11.7 The Sensor Chip 11.8 The Image Signal
    11.9 The Internal Circuitry

    12 THE VCR
    12.1 The Video Cassette Recorder 12.1 Helical Scan 12.2 Mechanical Considerations 12.4 The Scanning Drum 12.5 The Drum Lacing Mechanism
    12.6 A Jammed Mechanism

    13 WHITE AND BLACK BALANCE
    13.1 White balance 13.2 What is White Balance? 13.3 White Balance Using a White Card 13.4 White Balance Using a Coloured Card 13.5White Balance Under Fluorescent Lighting 13.6 The Inner Filter Wheel 13.7 Black Balance

    14 TIME CODE AND USER BITS
    14.1 User Bits 14.2 Time Code 14.3 Record Run Time Code 14.4 Free Run Time Code 14.5 Time of Day Time Code 14.6Setting Time Code 14.7 Resetting Time

    Biography

    Paul Wheeler BSC FBKS was trained at the BBC rising to become a Senior Drama Film Cameraman. Paul Shot one of the first BBC Drama Series to be photographed using the then new Digi Beta cameras, by which time he was freelance. He is a renowned cinematographer/director of photography and trainer, he has been Head of Cinematography at National Film & Television School and still runs courses on Digital Cinematography there. He has also been Head of Cinematography on the Royal College of Arts MA course. Paul was invited to become an associate of Panavision in order to help them introduce the Panavised version of Sony's HDW 900f camera which meant he joined the HD movement 3 days before the first Panavision camera arrived in Europe. Despite all this he is still very much a working cinematographer. He has been twice nominated by BAFTA for a Best Cinematography award and also twice been the winner of the INDIE award for Best Digital Cinematography. His previous books, "Practical Cinematography” and "Digital cinematography”, are both published by the Focal Press.