A Short film on DSLR : In between

This is my recent work and one of most satisfying outcome so far. I worked on this along with few friends of mine for almost 6 months. The edit, the music, the story - all looked kinda very difficult for us to be convinced. Two months back, we got a proffesional editor to work on the footage. He did his best but we weren't very happy because the story line remained quite confusing.  Finally, I decided to edit it myself on Windows Movie maker and Cyberlink power director. Here is the final version :-



This was one of most exciting project to work on. First of all, I liked the concept and I decided to shot in full HD. I went to Bangalore to meet a friend and we decided to finish the shoot in a day as I had to come back the next day. We did some hardwork and finished shooting and were quite happy, until we saw them later and realized that the storyline is too confusing to anyone but us.


Original Storyline :
Story of a man who ,like most of us - lives in future, has dreams and wishes and doesn't expect to die anytime too soon. However , one day he just dies while the life moves on.

Specifications : 
Canon 600D , Canon 50mm prime lens, Canon 18-135 mm zoom lens, Full HD (1080p)

My learnings from the project : 
1.) Better plan your shot : We did the shoot in one day, almost adhoc with no planning. Later, I so wished that I could go back in time and reshoot few more shots and it'll make the movie much better. I had no choice but to use the footage I had. Better planning would have really created a better movie and much less work in editing and post production.

2.) Avoid silly mistakes : Be Meticulous 
There are some really silly mistakes in the movie like the ciggrate during the first shot is of different company while the ciggrate during the second shot is of a different company. (Infact, in a retrospect - I think the entire ciggrate scene was unwanted, why should we promote smoking when the story line can do without it.)  In the other shot (time lapse) shadows of me and my friends kept changing the lighting arrangement in the frame. Such mistakes might be noted only by keen observers, but nevertheless it makes the work more amateur.

3.) Shoot close ups : Strength of DSLRs 
DSLRs spill magic when we shoot them in close shots. They are aren't best camera if you want to have wide angle view (unless you've an expensive wide angle lens). Depth of Field is quite fantastic and the composition  comes out pretty good if we shoot not from too far. You can see that we used lot of close up shots in the movie, it came out better than all the long / wide shots I've done before. Basically, shoot only for what you've got right lenses.

4.) Better story telling :
I think any movie with good story line is worth watching. The story line in this movie doesn't come out so well. I think this is a movie that needs certain explanation to the audience to really communicate what I wanted to show. A good movie will be self explanatory. I need to learn this one.

5.) Editing can do wonders : 
After watching some 4-5 different versions of same footage, I realized the power of editing. Editing can completely ruin or improve the footage and story telling. I think editing is as important to shooting itself. I learnt a lot about non-linear editing, using flashbacks and various symbols to communicate the message in this short film. However, this is perhaps my first real editing project. I need to grow a lot here.

Thanks for reading all the way. Wish you all the best. Please share your feedbacks to help me improve.

The biggest pitfall for beginners in DSLR : Exposure

Having a good camera and lens kit is just the beginning. To be able to shoot right shots is totally a different ball game. I've seen much better movies on Canon T2i than those shot on 5D ! So, it is more about the creature behind the camera. By the way, here is one of the superior product from Canon Rebel T2i , a very famous DSLR short film : Uncle Jack -

 As I began learning about DSLR - the first words to demystify were shutter speed / aperture and ISO. Lovely articles are available on internet, various videos explain it clearly and these concepts aren't very hard to understand anyway. Once I got some hang of these terms, I thought I am through ! Yeah, I know what aperture and how it works. I know shutter speed and its dynamics and I understand the meaning of higher ISO. I thought - I am game for the best DSLR movie to be shot.

 I went out and almost all of my shots are either - Underexposed or Overexposed. I don't have additional accessory to see the LIVE OUTPUT, I rely on my eyes (which don't have 6/6 vision) and the small LCD screen in camera to decide the exposure. Everytime I finished shooting, I had to reduce contrast, increase brightness or at times completely Re-Shoot the entire sequence.

 Right exposure was and still is one of the biggest challenge I faced while filming with DSLR. I think it is a skill to be learnt. Here are some tips which I use to get right exposure :-

1.) Histogram : The greatest benediction for right exposure 
I never really took the while crazy mountain like ugly graph that sometimes popped up on my camera screen.    I thought it is some spooky stuff for the highly technical guys ! Only later I learnt that Histograms can be the best friend of the budding DSLR filmmakers to get the right exposure - without which any movie is a waste product.


Histograms can help know on the spot , while shooting - whether our shot is underexposed or overexposed. It is a great help. Spend time to learn about it. 


Here are few good tutorials : -


http://www.luminous-landscape.com/tutorials/understanding-series/understanding-histograms.shtml


www.mdavid.com.au/photography/histograms.shtml

2.) Play with Aperture and ISO not as much with shutter speed : 
One can change exposure by changing either -
1.) ISO
2.) Shutter Speed
3.) Aperture
4.) Lens
5.) Filters

Lens and Filters are to be used only in advanced and exceptional situations while DSLR filming - you cannot really use very high shutter speed as it makes the video look very jerky and funny. (unless you plan to use it creatively in your storyline). Thus even shutter speed is more or less fixed for DSLR film makers. Infact , for film look the shutter speed is fixed to 1/50th of the second for 24 fps recording.
This means the only tools to play along to get right exposure are Aperture and ISO. 


Use combination of ISO and Aperture to get right exposure. Keep an eye on histogram.

3.) Use your natural sense of lighting : 
Right exposure means nothing but right amount of light in the scene. Our eyes and brain - know whats right ! Use it. Simple things like - shifting shooting time to softer sunlight around 9-10 AM instead of bright afternoon at 12-1 can help in getting right exposure with minimum exposure. Other things might include changing orientation or camera angle, switching OFF/ON any artificial lights.

4.) Do a test run :
Last but not the least would be just do a small dummy shot with desired setting, come back and check on laptop or bigger screen to see if you are happy with the exposure. This small investment of time will help us avoid regrets at the end of entire day's shoot !

Right exposure is not only important for film making but also for our own life ! Going out of one's comfort zone, meeting different people, travelling - allows one to become a better footage ! ;-)  

Deadly Sins of DSLR filming

Some deadly sins I committed while DSLR filming : 

As I learn more about movie making and DSLR. I realize how pathetic I've been in some cases. After understanding some very basic rules of film making, I sometimes feel like having committed a sin. So here is a small list of sins I realized that I have committed :-

1.) Thou shall not zoom : 
Zooming is fun but only when done really very selectively and carefully. DSLR zooming is not very easy and smooth when recorded. It can makes the video look immature and gives a feeling that the movie maker is confused about what he wants to show in this scene. Keep it simple. Static shots to begin with. No wonder most proffesional film makers only use Prime Lenses most of the time.

2.) Thou shall not Pan :
I liked the landscape , I wanted to share with my audience. I panned. It sucked ! My story had nothing to do with the landscape. Furthermore, panning added nothing more creative or artistic to the scene. Finally it was not very smooth and done at a really funny shutter speed. What a sin ! Pan only if you can't avoid and story demands it.

3) Thou shall not hand held : 
I have scene the cameraman mostly carrying a camera on them, in their hands.Cameraman stereotype is to hold one on your shoulder or hand. I wanted to look like one. I took the "hard to fit in hand" DSLR and handheld shot most of my scenes. As if using tripod would make me look unprofessional ! Beautiful shot screwed up cause I handheld it. Ofcourse handheld has its use, but till you know exactly WHAT ! Stay with Tripod/Monopod !


4.) Thou shall not use Autofocus and Auto-Exposure mode :
You are supposed to have the subject in focus and well exposed, well in advance - not when one starts to record ! I committed the sin - I started recording and as my subject moved - I half pressed the focus button to change the focus and exposure (auto mode) and got it recorded ! Not to forget , the bonus - sound of focus ring motor. Plan your shots,well in advance. Decide what areas need focus and how will your achieve it (in case of dynamic subjects when you need to change focus area) - Choose an exposure well in time and ensure its compatible with rest of the footage.

5.) Thou shall not use high ISO : 
To get exposure, at times I changed ISO to 800,1600 or more, instead of finding a way to change shutter speed/aperture,adding additional light or using another lens. Higher ISO gave me a very grainy footage - almost unusable. Stay with ISOs 800 or below  unless you know what you are getting into with higher ISOs.

These are just some of the mistakes I made. There are many more I keep making. I'll keep sharing my learning about them as I go along.

Wish you all the best for your filming.