Role of the Director

Write an in depth reflection on what the role of the Director is.  What are their duties in the production?

    A director's job is to bring their vision to life. The primary duties of a director involves decision making. They are responsible for guiding the cast and crew in order to reach solutions and achieve their vision. When it comes to actors, they should give clear direction about what their character may be thinking and what their goal(s) are in that moment. This often leads to an overall better result than line reading, which is where the director only really focuses on surface level acting and may cause the actor to just copy how the director does it, restricting creative choice and meaningful performances. During pre-production, the director coaches the location scouts, work with set designers, props, and costumes to decide the visual mise en scene, and during filming the director works with hair and makeup and the special effects department to work out the details of the story telling, and the director decides where the camera goes.

Cinematography Unit Reflection

Explain in detail three key things that you have learned during the scope of this unit.  What are two things you still have questions about or want to learn more about?

    Three key things that I have learned during this unit are the history of cinematography, lighting, and composition. During this unit, I have gotten a more in depth look at the history of cinema and cinematography, which includes how technological limitations and advancements influenced the art of film and the visual storytelling. For example, the introduction of sync sound films also altered the aspect ratio as the strip now had to include the sound. An important area that I learned the most about has been lighting. I have learned the basic principals with 3-point lighting, fill, key lights, back lights, etc. Furthermore, I have learned ideas such as Rembrandt lighting, chiaroscuro, the use of shadows, etc. Another thing that I learned about was a deeper dive into composition. In this unit, we went beyond the basics that we've learned in the beginner class. Different framing and compositional techniques that change the visual story telling of an image. Two things that I want to learn more about are more techniques and staples of horror films and more complex lighting principals and techniques.

Cinematography Scavenger Hunt

Why did you choose this film? What makes it interesting to you?  Use what you've learned in this unit to study the lighting and write a reflection on what you've learned about how the cinematographer uses lighting to communicate the story.

    I chose this film because it was one that I really enjoyed watching. It contained a lot of funny references to a variety of historical figures, events, and time periods. Some things that I learned about how the cinematographer used lighting to communicate the story was during the Vietnam scene

Don't Complicate Lighting

What is Geoff Boyle explaining in this video?  Why is it so important to keep this in mind?

    Geoff Boyle is explaining that ... It is so important to keep this in mind because ...

Grip Gear Scavenger Hunt!

Explain what piece of grip gear this video is about.  Walk us through its features.  What did you find interesting about it?  Why did you choose it?

Film Lights Scavenger Hunt!

Explain what kind of light this video is about.  Walk us through its features.  What did you find interesting about it?  Why did you chose it?

Practical Lights

What is a practical light?  How is it used differently than regular film production lights?  What is Bradford's advice in using them for film?

    A practical light is a motivated light source that the audience is able to see in the shot, such as a lamp, candle, screen, etc. Practicals are used differently than regular film production lights as the audience knows where the light source is coming from relative to the actors; thus, when the actor moves, the direction of the light maintains a fixed position, whereas production lights are more subjective in where they come from, which allows more movement. Bradford's advice in using them for film is to plan the placement and type of practicals based on the location and the blocking in order to effectively communicate the scene to the audience.