Category Archives: Production

Depth of Field in Depth

By admin | Published: April 5, 2015

When you set the focus on a lens you are picking the mathematical distance to the subject that will be perfectly in focus. Depth of Field is the area in front of and behind that mathematical point that also looks in focus. Depth of Field can be shallow (only the exact subject is in focus) […]

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Hair before Beauty

By admin | Published: October 2, 2014
hair brush

When working with a limited budget (who isn’t?) consider hiring a hair stylist BEFORE a makeup artist. You’ll find most actresses can do a decent job of doing their own makeup (especially clean beauty looks) but even the best hairstyle looks awful on camera with random fly-away hairs. Have a hairstylist (or someone with a […]

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First Aid Plus

By admin | Published: September 29, 2014
first aid kit

Purchase a basic $10 first aid kit or two to have on set. This will cover you for the basics including bandages, antiseptics, and a chemical cold pack. Make sure to add the following 3 items however: A tube of triple-antibiotic ointment (brand name Neosporin – but who buys brand name?) Apply to all nicks […]

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Matching Cut-ins

By admin | Published: September 19, 2014

To match a wide shot with the medium shots and close-ups that show the same players or objects we use a very simple rule to avoid jump cuts in the final edit. For every change of view (moving from wide to medium or medium to close-up for instance) we change not just the focal length […]

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Framing Faces

By admin | Published: September 19, 2014
DaVinci drawing of a man's face

Here’s a quick guide to framing shots of people’s faces using two concepts from classic photography. The first is the Rule of Thirds (or the Golden Rule) which divides the frame up into 9 equal rectangles using two vertical and two horizontal lines each 1/3 of the way in from the edges of the frame. […]

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What’s my 20?

By admin | Published: September 19, 2014
walkie talkie radio

Here’s a quick guide to Walkie-Talkie Talking: John for Larry, over. – “I’m John and I want to talk to Larry” Go for Larry. – “I’m Larry and I’m listening for your message” What’s your 20? – “Where the hell are you?” 10-20 at craft service. – “I’m currently at the craft service table” Roger […]

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Ah-Ah-Ah-Choo?

By admin | Published: September 19, 2014

During a take you occasionally have the urge to sneeze. Don’t. Your best bet a stifling a sneeze is to press your thump and pointer finger on either side of your nose right where you feel the bony part of your skull begin (about the mid-way between the bridge and the tip of your nose). […]

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Scene 4A take 5… I mean 4

By admin | Published: September 19, 2014
movie slate marker

Everyone who’s done slate has done this at least once. You slate take 3 and while the scene is being shot you erase your 3 and write in a 4. Then the scene is over, you check the slate and forget that you’ve already incremented the take so you erase it again and write 5. […]

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Scene 3A Take 2… I mean 3

By admin | Published: September 19, 2014
movie slate marker

When reading the slate at the start of a take, actually READ it. Don’t rely on your memory of what it says. Position yourself slightly in front of the slate and read it’s contents out loud. This will save you valuable time not re-slating things when your memory fails you.

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fghjkmnp

By admin | Published: September 19, 2014
movie slate marker

When using letters to denote shots of a scene on the slate, always skip the letters that can be confused with numbers: Scene 47F Scene 47G Scene 47H (Skip the letter ‘I’ – Looks like the number 1) Scene 47J Scene 47K (Skip the letter ‘L’ – Looks like the number 1) Scene 47M Scene […]

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