When you think of making a digital short, the first thing to pop into your mind might shooting footage with the camera you probably have on your smartphone. But in the age of digital media, you don't need to pick up a video camera at all to make a movie. You could create and illustrate your own motion graphics, special effects, and animations to build virtual scenes, or rely on the work of online artists, photographers, and videographers for great graphics to use. But even if you never click a video record button for this entire project, you still need to know the basics of how traditional cameras work, and how video producers talk about film. After all, today's digital media tools and terms evolved out of yesterday's cinematography.
Frame
In the way that painters use a canvas or writers use a page, videographers use frames. The frame is like a window to a wider world, and what goes into that window at any time is up to you. When it comes to making video, the word frame works as both a verb and a noun: you can frame a shot by choosing where to point your lens (verb), or you might refer to a single frame of video (noun). Either way, it's an essential building block of any film. Shot
A shot is a single, uninterrupted segment of film. A shot can be long or short, stationary or dynamic, simple or complex. Part of pre-production is not only visualizing each shot, but planning and composing them too-- deciding how to frame your actors or subjects, what action will take place, how the camera will move, and more. Each shot should reveal a little more of your story and help the viewer understand what's going on, much like a panel in a comic book or graphic novel. The above clip is an example of a single shot. SceneWhile there's no strict definition, a scene can be thought of as a collection of related shots that take place at the same time and location. Well-composed shots can be strung together to establish a setting, advance your story, and realize your artistic vision. Scenes can be pretty simple, like these similar shots of a craftsman working with glass:
Scenes can also be extremely sophisticated. Check out the opening scene from the Christmas classic It's a Wonderful Life. The director cleverly combines shots of the snowy houses around Bedford Falls with voiceovers of people praying for the lead character, George Bailey. This not only establishes the setting, it grabs the viewer's interest (Who is George Bailey? Why are all these people praying for him? Why is he in trouble?). It also moves the story forward, as it transitions to the next scene where the prayers fly up to heaven and are heard by a certain aspiring angel.
SequenceA director can build shots into scenes, and then edit those scenes into a bigger sequence. These sequences are then assembled into a larger movie. Just like a scene, there's no real hard and fast rule about what does or doesn't count as a sequence, but you can think of it as a collection of related scenes that make up a big part of the story-- almost like a chapter of a book. For example, if you want to show your viewer that two new friends are bonding, you could edit together a short sequence like this, maybe set to some fun music:
In It's a Wonderful Life, the director Frank Capra uses an early sequence to help structure the rest of the movie: he introduces the love interest (Mary), the villain (Mr. Potter), and establishes George's strength of character as he confronts his heartbroken boss, Mr Gower. This sequence is an essential building block of the film, and strongly reinforces the story and its meaning.
For this project, your digital short will be about one sequence in length. |
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Something to Sink Your Teeth Into
You can't go wrong when you study the masters, and there are few filmmakers as masterful as Steven Spielberg. This analysis deconstructs a pivotal moment from the 1975 blockbuster Jaws, and will help you understand some of the artistry and craft that goes into building a successful sequence.
Analysis of Steven Spielberg's Jaws by Julian Palmer
