Lindsey Komson

Featured image by cottonbrostudio

Reading & Writing

Chapters 7 and 9 of The Bare Bones Camera Course for Film and Video takes us through the setup and production process of making a film, movie, show, etc. Chapter 7, “Lighting,” begins by describing the sun’s positioning over the course of a day and how difficult it is to film correctly outside due to the moving light source. To film quality shots outdoors, you’ll need to use reflectors or fill lights – these help cast light onto the main subject while maintaining a comfortable position for both them and the sun.

Filming indoors requires a different setup. The three basic types of lights used for filming indoors are focusing quartz, broads, and softlights. The standard camera setup for filming a subject indoors includes a key light, fill light, and back light. The key light is the main light illuminating the subject, and the fill light is used to fill in the other part of the subject’s face to eliminate unflattering shadows. The back light goes behind the subject and is used to separate it from the background.

Chapter 9, “Doing It,” covers the techniques and processes needed to succeed on set. Keeping track of your shots is critical in saving time during the editing stage. This is made possible by using a slate, a small board or piece of paper with information about each take. By using a slate and taking notes on each take on a film log, this cute out a ton of unnecessary time watching bad takes during the editing stage.

Shooting script and storyboards are other necessary resources to organize your production process. A shooting script is a list of shots you want to take and how you’re going to get them (ex. wide shot, close-up, extreme close-up, etc.). A storyboard features drawings or images of the scenes you want to shoot so you can visualize what your sequence will look like. This is also helpful in determining the order you’ll film each scene – it’s much easier and better for continuity when you film all wide shots in a scene together followed by all close-ups in a scene, etc. This ensures that every (for example) wide shot is filmed from the same place/angle and that all lighting is consistent as well.

Research to Inform

The trailer for the Netflix original documentary “The Comeback: 2004 Boston Red Sox” is very well produced and tells the story of the whole 3-part documentary in just over 2 minutes. The beginning sets the scene for everything that happened leading up to the 2004 season, the middle includes interviews from players to tell the story of how the Red Sox accomplished the feat, and the end leaves a great cliffhanger to encourage people to watch even though they already know how the story ends. The interviews are well lit, the music fits perfectly with the vibe and tone, and the clips are a great balance between interviews and footage from 2004.

The trailer for MLB Network’s documentary “Brett” features incredible storytelling. While it’s a 2-minute long trailer for an entire hour-long documentary, the trailer tells the story of Game 6 of the 1985 World Series so well, including clips from both the game and an interview with George Brett himself. The first 1:50 of the 2:12 documentary focuses on a singular inning (really one play) of one baseball game, but the interview and game feed spliced together along with the intense music and well-lit interviews make this an extremely compelling trailer.

This news story from the Today Show features the founder of Sprinkles Cupcakes, Candace Nelson, as she tells the story of how she created and grew her business. The story is told very well here, beginning from enjoying baking as a child to becoming a successful founder and bestselling author. However, there are several things that could be better in terms of production. First of all, the interviews were recorded remotely, so they don’t have the best video quality. Additionally, it seems that there was no intentional lighting setup (besides the window behind the reporter) so Nelson didn’t look 3D compared to the wall behind her. Lastly, both the reporter and Nelson recorded separate angles of their interviews from an iPhone, so not only was the video quality different between angles, but the orientation of the shots was different as well.

Create

I’ll be creating a mini-documentary on how sports fandom is passed down through generations. As a die-hard New York Mets fan, I know first-hand how fandom can be passed down through generations, as my grandfather became a Mets fan when they first became a team, and he passed it down to my dad, who passed it down to me. Intentional or not, sports fandom can bring families together, and I’ll be showcasing that firsthand by telling my family’s story of Mets fandom.

To get an understanding of all I’ll have to do to film and edit this documentary, I filled out the Pre-Production Planning Document. You can read my planning document here:

Now, it’s time to film. I have plans to film on Sunday, December 8^th for the whole day with both my dad and grandfather. To prepare for Sunday, I need to get all my lights and microphones, and gather all photos, memorabilia, and other Mets-related materials I want to use.