PRODUCTION SKILLS/TECHNIQUES

Cutaways and Dailies

Cutaways

Cutaways are a technique used by film makers to prolong a scene by directing the audience to something else. The cutaway doesn't need to be relevant to the plot or what the characters are doing, for example - if a film has a shot of the main character walking down an alley, a possible cutaway could be focusing on a cat leaping out of a garbage can and hissing at the character. The cat scene wouldn't mean anything to the story - but it does create tension leading up to the next scene. A film would use cutaways throughout, relieving tension or even creating it.

A cutaway could also be used to show the audience valuable information. For example, if a character is talking about a mysterious killer in a horror movie - the director may cutaway to the face of another character, perhaps alluding that this character is suspicious, and the audience and cast shouldn't trust them. (edit this)

cutaways can also be used in a creative way to create a films own special effects using only the footage filmed. If there was a scene in a movie where a girl was fighting a zombie - the girl may try to decapitate the zombie. Without effects, the camera could film the girl preparing to swing an axe, then cut to a shot of the axe swinging through the air. After, cut to the zombie's head rolling onto the floor or its bleeding neck. Although the audience can't see what happened - they can interpret what happens thanks to the relevant cutaways. This kind of technique can be effective and could be use in most genres.

Below is a montage of cutaway footage that I recorded with my group. We were instructed to keep the footage unedited - although, we did add some image stabilisation to solve the image appearing too shaky.

A roll and B roll

The A roll and B roll are two sets of footage used for films. A roll footage consists of the 'action' and 'dialogue'. Whenever a person is talking or doing something that contributes to the movie's plot - this is the kind of footage that would count as A roll footage (primary photography). A specific term for when someone is talking on screen is called a talking head - this means the production team will need to keep the camera on the person talking at all times, unless the director wants shots of another person who is listening (to film their reaction or response).

B roll footage is very different from A roll but just as necessary. This kind of footage would consist of alternate angles and 'cutaways'. Cutaways being footage that prolongs the movie by interrupting the characters or plot in some way. Without cutaways and alternate angles - the audience can get bored of the same perspective, and the movie would end up being around half its real run time if it didn't have enough footage to filter the story through.

Dailies

Dailies are essentially raw, unedited footage. Everything the film crew has recorded from the scene is gathered up and put into a kind of montage for the director to review. This is particularly helpful for sorting through unnecessary footage that the director might want to cut - instead of letting the editors work tirelessly on it and then being told it needs to be cut. The footage must also be connected to each other and flow from scene to scene - this way, the director and story boarders can check whether the footage rolls together perfectly or needs to be re-filmed.

Dailies may also be called rushes in parts of the UK, India and Canada - which is important to know if your filming with people who call it something different.

Not only does the director view the dailies - but most other crew members view them too. The cinematographer, editor and actors may also have a glimpse at what they have recorded. The cinematographer may want to re-shoot a scene at a different angle and actors may need to reflect what they could do to improve their performances. These dailies discussions will also allow the director to speak with the editor and point out what parts of the footage need to be cut, edited or left as it is.

LENSES

Modern cameras are designed to capture amazing images efficiently and with excellent quality. However, even our modern technology alone can't always capture photos in certain conditions. Perhaps you wanted to take a picture of a bird, but each time you crept near - it flew away. Or your friend is out surfing the waves and you want to take some shots of them against a mountain of water - but your worried of dropping your camera into the water. The regular zoom on your camera alone won't be enough to capture all the detail you could pick up with your own eye. So, you find yourself a strong lens. 

Aperture

Aperture is, to put it simply, is the opening in a lens where light passes through to enter the camera. This concept takes inspiration from the way your eyes work. When you move between bright rooms to dark ones, your iris can either expand or shrink which controls the size of your pupil. The same concept is giving to cameras - when you enter a dark room, your camera's aperture will adapt to the new lighting for you to take a clear photo. Dilating the aperture will allow your camera to take in as much light as it can to brighten up dark photos.

Below is the effect that different aperture sizes can create. 

Image Stabilisation

If you've ever taken a video with a camera or camera-phone, you may look back at your footage and notice the excessive shaking and blurring happening as you try and hold the camera still. If you haven't noticed, your device may already have image stabilisation embedded. Image stabilisation is where your camera removes unnecessary motion when filming. Getting a lenses that stabilises your footage will give you footage that is smooth and pleasing.

The alternative for this would be the effect Warp Stabiliser in Premiere Pro. This effect, when placed onto your footage, will stop any minor or excessive shaking and give you buttery smooth footage. The one down side of this effect, is that when you stabilise everything - the footage zooms in. Depending on what you need shown in the shot, this will be a massive disadvantage compared to if you used an image stabilisation lens.

The image below shows you a very shaky and disorientated photo on the left and a stable and professional photo on the right.

Focus Pulling

Focus pulling is where you change the focus distance on your camera to match the subjects. For example, if you had a subject stand still in front of the camera and then have them move to reveal a flower behind them - you would pull the focus from the subject (person) to the flower. You basically focus in on a subject that is out of focus. If you had a lens that had focus pulling, you would be able to automatically focus on whatever you wanted instead of doing it manually - which is especially useful when filming or if you have your hands full. Having a lens that that has focus pulling should be a priority when looking to take up photography/filming - and so try to look out for this feature in future.

Audio Production

Within audio production, there are three components; voice, sound FX and music. Audio is the most important aspect of a film - because just like the visuals, bad audio can ruin a film. Whether the dialogue is stale and un-synced or the sound effects are overused and cliche - audio is what people use to immerse themselves in your story.

Dialogue

In film, dialogue is created when a character talks on, or off, screen. Dialogue is essential for moving a plot forward and for providing entertainment for the audience via humour. However, the topic of whether dialogue is necessary for creating a good film is debatable. In the early days of cinema, the inspiring Charlie Chaplin managed to produce some of the most memorable films in film history. Without dialogue, Chaplin could make audiences cry out in laughter and applause with only his actions and music.

Sound Effects

Sound effects are used to emphasise what is happing on the screen, to the audience. Sound effects are generally single sounds such as a bell or a bird chirp - not to be confused with ambience sounds which have many sounds mixed together to create an atmosphere, such as bird chips with wind and a waterfall.

Sometimes, sound effects are used for storytelling - without saying any words or visuals. An example of this could be one of those scenes where the character walks through the dark, you can only see their cartoony eyes, and every time they bump into something you can hear a loud thud or other wild sound effects.

However, sound effects are almost essential in any film. After all - footsteps, fighting, eating, clapping and any noise you might hear everyday counts as a sound effect and is beneficial in immersing your audience paying attention to every detail.

Music

Music can be used in films to manipulate the audience's emotions. If you wanted a sad scene, you would have a heavy-hitting and emotional score (music composed of classical instruments like violins are best for this). If you wanted an intense fight scene that reeked of adrenaline, you'd add music which had multiple beat drops and loud base.

Diegetic and Non-Diegetic Sound

Diegetic sounds are recorded on set, and not edited in. Instead of using ADR in their films, directors may decide to use boom mics or hidden lavaliers to record the dialogue on set and saving the actors having to come back to the studio after filming. Recording sound onset may also be the only way to capture original and unique sounds that would be difficult to get later. In the The Dark Knight - a scene were a hospital is blown up was actually done in one take because they blew up a real hospital. If they used special effects instead of the real thing, the editors most likely wouldn't get all those individual sounds of windows braking an other such things.

Non-diegetic sounds are edited in after filming. In cases like cartoons - everything is diegetic, but if you were filming a movie like Disney's live action Jungle Book, you obviously can't have a real tiger roar on set with a young boy and so you add it in post. ADR also comes under non-diegetic because the actors are coming back to repeat their lines - maybe the set was too noisy or they were too quiet.

Sound Bridges

A sound bridge, to describe it simply, is a type of sound editing in which the sound connects one scene (visual) to another. These transitions are famously used in flashback scenes - where you can hear the next scene before the last scene has even ended, below is an example of a sound bridge being used in this way.

Panning

Panning is a common type of sound editing - used to immerse the audience and indicate where certain sounds are coming from. Cars are mostly paired with this effect - the sound coming in from one area and zooming past to the opposite side.

Ambience

Ambience is used to immerse the audience in a scene and to act as filler if nothing is happing on screen. It is a combination of many sounds that you could find in that kind of scenery - for example, in a forest you might hear birds, light wind and the rustling of trees. Using ambience makes the world you're creating appear busy and full of life, letting your audience know that there is so much more happening outside of the protagonists story - and allows for the characters to interact with their surroundings.