You've got an idea for a story but are not sure what to do with it.  Maybe your film will be about two cops from another movie who are now washed up and looking for work (our example for this article).  In this article we will discuss the basics of operating the camera and getting that story on your hard drive.  We will assume in this article that you are using digital video, because I know nothing about splicing film and then transferring it to digital format.  I'd recommend, first of all, that you stick with digital video.  The advantages are numerous, not the least of which is that most editing packages and software available for home use right now are geared toward digital.  It also has the distinct advantage of the ability to be shown on the internet.  But I'm probably preaching to the choir here.  Certainly if you are reading this you don't have to be converted to the digital cause.  I'll leave the digital argument, therefore, to George Lucas and his hordes of ILM geeks. 

The first thing you will need is a camera.  I personally just use the camera that comes with LEGO Studios, which is a Logitech Quickcam in a LEGO compatible shell.  It's great for those close up shots but unfortunately is not the greatest quality and has a manual focus ring.  The debate of which camera to buy is long and colorful one, but weigh the following versus price: 

• The ability to mount the camera on a tripod or crane (nice to have)
• The highest resolution the camera can take video at (320x280 is adequate, but 640x480 or better is nice)
• The ability of the camera to take a series of still shots and string them together (required)
• The ability of the camera to plug directly into your computer or be stand alone (a laptop is nice for those that require a computer)
• The focus range of the camera (extreme close-ups are nice to have, but usually more expensive)
• Manual or automatic focus (automatic is more expensive)

For instance, in the LEGO Studios setup, you go into the software and decide you are going to use the camera for stop motion animation.  To start a clip, you press a button.  Every frame you take, you keep pushing this button.  When you finish a particular clip, you have a moving clip stored on your hard drive as an .avi file.  The process of stringing these clips together is called editing. 

Lighting

Almost any cinematographer or cameraman you meet will tell you lighting is the most important aspect of photography.  A properly lit shot can mean the difference between an orange glowing home movie and Deep Impact.  Well, that and several million dollars worth of special effects.  Even the cameras themselves are designed around this all important feature.  For instance, for Barry Lyndon, Stanley Kubrick had a special camera invented that could take film using only a few candles on the set.. 

Let's look at three shots of the cops by their hovercar: 

This shot is poorly lit.  The figures are barely perceptible.  The detail of dark areas is lost.  In many digital cameras, poor lighting also results in heavy pixelation, resulting in poor image quality.  If you need a night scene, the best thing to do (assuming you don't have a Kubrick budget camera) is go old school: change it artificially.  A blue filter or making the the video blue or darker later will give the perception of night.  Cheesy cricket sounds are also a good way to drive that nail home in the audience's head. 

This shot is too bright.  Notice the character on the left is shining with direct light.  Detail of light areas is lost here.  It is probably better to have a little too much light than not enough, but overexposing your shots will give them a bright, false look.  Overexposing may be helpful in a few instances.  For instance, if there is an explosion in the scene, you can overexpose or light up the set a bit for a few frames.  Imagine the above shot is being taken as the cop on the left fires a gun.  Now the light makes sense when a gunshot flash is added to the film during post-production. 

This shot is baby bear's stuff, and you are Goldilocks the expert cinematographer.  Just right.  Not too bright or too dark.  The minifigs do not reflect too much light.  The car gives off a slight shadow for perception of depth.  Texture is visible on the bricks.  The background is less lit, giving a nice depth effect there as well. 

Please note that in most cameras, regular tungsten light bulbs will give shots an orange glow.  This is why home movies always look orange on film.  A florescent light or a filter will take care of this.  It is also a good idea to diffuse light.  On a small scale like a LEGO set, you are essentially filming a "still life".  You can use techniques such as pointing a light at a big white piece of paper or cloth to give the set a nice, natural light look. 

Focus

Most digital video cameras have a fixed f-stop.  For instance, the LEGO cam has about an f-stop of about 3.  F-stop controls the depth a camera can focus at, for instance a close and far object at the same time.  There is also a difference in the focal length of camera lenses.  Focal length controls how close the camera can focus.  So, unless your camera can change these settings, which is expensive, you will be stuck with a certain kind of shot. 

Most shots in a LEGO film will be close up shots, or "macro" shots.  When you buy a camera, be sure it can focus on things very near to it.  The LEGO cam can do this surprisingly well, and has a focus distance of about one inch.  It can theoretically focus an infinite distance away, but shots would be so pixelated at that range that is is useless for very long shots.  Unless you are planning on making a full-scale primordial jungle to go with Henry Lim's Stego, you will only have to worry about close shots. 

Let's look at two pictures of the cops. 

In this shot, we see the figure in the foreground is the center of attention.  Even though he is not in the center of the frame, he is the center of the action.  If the car behind him was moving, the attention would be drawn briefly to it.  This is a great way to guide the audience through a complex shot.  Whatever is moving and in focus is the highest visual priority.  If there is lots moving, it's whatever is in focus.  If everything is in focus and only one thing moves, that becomes the visual center.  How about everything in focus and everything moving?  Usually these kind of shots look chaotic and busy, which may or may not be the effect you are going for.  If both are out of focus and not moving . . . well, you pretty much suck as a cameraman. 

Focus can not only be used to draw the action to a particular figure, but can be a cause of frustration for some.  If your camera has manual focus is becomes fairly easy to adjust the camera without moving the camera.  But if it is manual focus, you might jar the camera mid-clip if you change focus.  Remember, every little change in the camera's positioning or the positioning of the figures and set will be noticed by the camera.  This includes dumb thing like tripping over the USB cord as well as tiny things like not taping down the baseplate during a scene.  I personally use plastic-tac to hold down sets and temporarily hold figures in strange positions or poses. 
 

Scope 

Notice the next time you watch a movie how many shots make up any one scene.  You may have close ups of characters talking, then a shot of somewhere they are walking, then a ground level shot of them pausing to get run over by an elephant.  In modern films it seems shots get faster and faster.  One movie I watched a few days ago had an entire 15 minute sequence where no one shot or angle was more than 4 seconds long.  And strangely, it didn't seem all that frenetic.  Compare this to older movies and notice how much less often they switched camera angles during editing. 

In order to get all these different shots, you must change the scope of your shots during filming.  Modern filmmakers use multiple expensive cameras, but in stop-motion animation, we can be a little more tricky.  We can film a scene over again using the same camera more easily because our shots happen in still frames, not real-time action.  Our actors don't' care how long they have to stay in one position.  We can leave them upside down with a sword in their side for days on end then come back and resume filming. 

The "scope" of a shot is my term for the combination of angle and composition of a shot.  Let's look at a set below from our cop movie. 

In this shot we have a close up of a character.  We can see a little bit of the set around him.  The focus is on him, and the camera angle is at his level.  It looks like we are right beside him. 

This shot is further back, at a slightly higher angle.  We can see more characters and more set.   This angle would be better for a fight or for introducing another character. 

This shot is very wide.  It is too far for any detail.  This would not be a good shot for dialog, but might be good for a large explosion or a shot showing the physical isolation of a character.  One limitation you will have to overcome is the size of your sets.  In the first two shots I didn't need anything outside of the immediate area of the cops.  But here, I might need to build more set to cover the space around them.  All be sure to move environmental obstacles such as LEGO boxes, empty beer bottles, and sleeping dogs. 

Well, that's it for this installment.  Now you have the basics to begin filming.  Remember, choose a camera that suits your needs and budget.  Find or buy software for capturing the string of shots.  Light your sets properly.  Keep in mind focus and scope while shooting. 

Next time, we will discuss another aspect of filmmaking.  Any suggestion?  Leave them in the forum.