Cinematography Techniques

Making a movie from scratch requires a wide variety of skilled workers. Everything from actors to make-up artists and even lighting specialists will be utilized; however, it’s easy to take one of the most important jobs for granted: the cinematographer. Although it may seem as simple as holding a camera, a skilled cinematographer, with insight as to how a scene should be filmed, can make or break a movie. Varied filming techniques throughout a movie are important so as not to lose interest, but certain themes work well among genres. It’s also important to avoid trying to use every known filming technique in a single movie as it can create a sense of overwhelming confusion. A skilled cinematographer is one who brings these ideas together …show more content…
Perhaps most notably this cinematic technique was used in the western “The Searchers”. This movie opens with a on their front porch, looking out at a man on a horse approaching, and ends with the same man walking away into the desert, from the same porch. This technique is a good way to receive closure, as viewers will remember the first scene and understand that seeing it again means that the movie has come to a close. I’d like to have the ending part of this two-part scene to be paired with the reveal crane shot . What I mean by this is I want to zoom out of the window, show Ed disappear, and then transition to a bird’s eye view of the campus away from the window, exactly as will have been done in the opening scene . This idea can serve a few interesting purposes highlighting the duality of the story, and of Henry’s life. Despite everything that will have transpired between the opening and closing scenes, certain aspects of the landscape will remain untouched, giving the feeling of continuity; that despite the fact that a serial killer tried to destroy a college campus, life will go on. It also represents futility, as I plan to show a select few instances where the killer did make a difference (a broken railing where the football player fell, an empty window where a dead classmate used to live, crime tape over a fraternity house, etc). Also, to be clear, the …show more content…
These varied techniques avoid making for a visually boring film while still keeping it from being excessively busy. A cinematographers job is make the most out of camera angles and viewpoints pertaining to the plot of the movie, and I believe that for my movie, “Freshman Orientation”, I have accomplished this