Master shots pdf download

Instead, focus your cameras attention on one actor, rather than the two as a pair. The difference is subtle, but it is important. As the actors come to a stop, hitting a wall or falling down, you can then change pan angle, camera height or distance, as this emphasizes that their motion has come to an abrupt end. It tells the audience that things are not going well for the character, and that the fight is being lost. On set, though, this can mean putting your actor in danger, or spending money on a stunt person.

A cheap alternative is to show your actor being punched, then cut to a close-up of the ground as your actor goes down. This tends to feel staged, however, and doesnt have the power of a single shot, taken without cuts. The solution is to combine the Long Lens Stunt with a simple camera move, which hides your actors gentle movement to the ground. Rather than having your actor fall dangerously to the ground, you can disguise a gentle sit-down on to the floor and make it look like a dramatic moment.

These stills from Patriot Games illustrate the point. Harrison Ford fakes being punched, while the camera remains at head-level. He then gently sits back onto the ground.

Once hes dropped out of sight, the camera moves down to the ground, where Ford acts as though hes just hit the ground hard. Its extremely simple misdirection, but with the right timing and use of sound it looks completely convincing. Set your camera up at eye level, behind the attacker. As the punch is faked, the victim fakes being punched and lowers gently to the ground and lies down. At the same time, the camera drops down to the victims eye level, with the attacker shielding the victims movement from view.

It helps if the attacker continues to make aggressive movements toward the victim during this camera move, so the audience has something to watch other than the camera move itself. Patriot Games. Directed by Phillip Noyce. Paramount Home Entertainment, In films, kicks can be used throughout a fight, but are especially useful when showing the build-up to a defeat. One character is on the ground, and the other is kicking.

This can even occur after the main fight is over, and the winner is enjoying the victory. How do you shoot this type of kick, without getting involved in complex stunt work? The best way is to shoot with the edit in mind from the outset, getting coverage that will enable the editor to make the kick look effective. You cut from the shot of the attacker to the shot of the victim, at the exact moment of impact. By planning for this edit, you can get a better result than trying to show the entire kick-and-reaction in a single shot.

To emphasize that one character has the upper hand, everything should be shot from down low. Point your camera up at the aggressor, who can kick something soft thats out of shot. Dont have your actor kick thin air, as that looks fake. Always put a mattress or some padding in there, to give your actor something to work with. Your camera should be quite close to the actor, so that the audience really feels the kicks.

For the second shot, again position your camera low to the ground, some distance back from the victim of the kicks. Use a long lens, which shortens apparent distance between aggressor and victim. On action, the aggressor should simulate the end of a kick by pulling his foot upward or backward. At the same moment, the victim should recoil, as though the kick has landed. By itself, this will look terribly fake, but with sharp editing and sound, it will convince.

When it comes to editing, let the first shot of the attackers face run for one or two kicks to give the audience the idea whats happening , then at the moment of the third impact, cut to the lower shot and see the victims reaction. Superman Returns. Directed by Bryan Singer. Warner Home Video, In film, it usually takes a while longer, but characters who fight usually end up scrabbling on the floor after the real punching has been done.

Partly this is clich at work, but it also reflects the paradoxical intimacy of a fight. It shows that your characters arent just thumping each other for the sake of violence, but are involved in a confrontation as personal as a loving embrace. When your characters end up on the floor, the imbalance of power is more obvious.

After all, somebody is on top. The same person may not stay on top for long, of course. Most fights usually end on the floor, because you can see whether one person wins, or whether a truce is reached. Its simple to shoot toward the ground, over the shoulder of the character whos uppermost, but a little more effort is required to see this uppermost characters face in the reverse shot.

Placing the camera on the floor, even without a tripod, will put it too close to the actors face. You could opt to widen the lens to compensate, but lens choices should be dictated by you, rather than by the constraints of the location. The solution is to raise the actors onto a platform or table, so the camera can be placed below them. This lets us see the uppermost characters face, and share in the second characters feeling of defeat. In both shots, use the same lens, and keep the camera the same distance from the face thats in shot.

It goes without saying that great care should be taken, and that padding should be placed around the table. Dont have your actors carrying out complex choreography on the raised table; save these close-ups for the point where the fight is coming to an end. Dark Blue World. Directed by Jan Sve rk. Sometimes, your film requires a strong implication of violence, without actually seeing the impacts that are taking place. These frames from Sideways show one character beating another with a motorcycle helmet.

She repeatedly hits him in the face with the helmet, breaking up his face. Its vital for the story that we sense the extreme nature of her anger and violence, but as this is more of a comedy than a thriller, it would be completely wrong to see his face being smashed to pieces.

The solution is to show her attack, but not its result. This technique enables you to create the effect of a violent attack without great risk to your actors. Set up your camera at about waist height, looking up at the attacker, who simulates repeated blows to somebody who is on the ground. It works best if we see the victim upright in the shot, before the attack begins, so use one of the other techniques in this chapter to introduce the victim and get them on the ground, and then continue with this shot.

The actor playing the victim should, of course, roll out of the way and be replaced with some padding, so that the attacker has something to actually hit. The real strength of this technique is that it requires no cuts, and allows a direct view of the attackers face. It reveals far more energy and character than a sequence that relies on stunts and cuts.

Directed by Alexander Payne. In film, this usually means that the victor sits atop the loser and either knocks him out or kills him, but before that moment, its important to relish the moment of victory. As these stills from Patriot Games show, the choice of lighting and lens are completely different for each actor.

The victor is shown sitting atop the loser, and we see his expression and read whats going on in the depths of his character.

The victim, meanwhile, is shot in an almost surreal light, with a long lens, from the point of view of the victor. The contrast in styles shows the contrast in their predicaments.

At the very end, the loser falls back out of sight, leaving Harrison Ford alone in the frame. This is important, because it signals that the fight is over, and allows the audience to refocus on the hero of the story, and watch the emotions play out. The first set-up, showing both actors, can be the same as Down on the Floor, or you can simply shoot from ground level, with the camera off to one side. The second set-up can be shot with a long lens, high above the actor, or a short lens, with the camera close to the actor.

Each will give a different effect, and the choice depends on the requirements of your particular story. Open navigation menu. Close suggestions Search Search. User Settings. Skip carousel. Carousel Previous. Carousel Next. What is Scribd? Master Shots Vol 1, 2nd Edition.

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Anthony Saab. Riva Bhattarai. Shaqlain Shayon. Quick navigation Home. Jun 18, Olivia rated it liked it Shelves: comics. Very useful. Knowledge can easily be transferred to the art of comic making, since so much of making comics is the deciding of what angles are most effective to draw the scenes in. Oct 09, Will Caster rated it it was amazing. This film directing book is a great book to have for all film-making weather your new or well experience in the field of film-making.

I would highly recommend this book to have in your tool-kit I found the book quite useful but I had problems with the quality of the images. Apr 22, Srinidhi rated it liked it. Very good book Jan 17, Paul Davis rated it it was amazing. I've read the first two of these books before, but I find them helpful to re-read to find any inspiration before filming something.

It's rare that I actually pull from the book, but they're good to get the mind working creatively about shooting angels.

Will read the third one soon. Mar 12, Steve rated it it was amazing. Loosely technical. You still need to work throught these shots as you go or need them. Every filmmaker should work through these to understand how they really work so you can then bend or break the rules. Great intro to the basics. The stills on the right page were sometimes not helpful at all. Very useful reference guide. Feb 01, stains rated it really liked it. Many are kinda hard to understand on how it should be filmed.

May 22, Bealsebub rated it it was amazing. I look forward to getting every book in this series. What a triumphant collection of technique, style, and reference for filmmakers and film lovers everywhere. I had the best shit of my life last night. It was partly because of all the fiber in the beans I had for lunch, but most of it was due to this simple and succinct guide on choosing the right camera angle and motion for particular scenes.

It makes you think why you want the audience to see the action with camera position A than B, and how that has the ability to magnify the emotion in the shot. Jan 17, Joakim Gustafsson rated it really liked it. Great albeit a bit shallow analysis of what makes specific scenes work and where to place them. A great read if you want to expand your mental archive of shots, but if you are just starting out I would recommend some other more in-depth books.

Oct 14, Jacob rated it it was ok Shelves: least-favorite , filmmaking. This book is just barely acceptable as a tool of learning film making.

The publishers decided its extremely long, thin shape was a good idea, for some reason, even though it just makes flipping through pages--which the book requires a lot since none of the films pictured are identified on the pages where they appear, but rather in the appendix--a pain. And, for all its examples, the authors provide no time stamp during which the technique in question appears.

They must assume you have the time t This book is just barely acceptable as a tool of learning film making. They must assume you have the time to watch or fast-forward through a feature-length film to see one technique.

Only one example comes with each camera technique the book outlines, and, from that, there is just a few frames from the actual film and a few more from an imagined film represented with graphics that look like they came from virtual reality circa Generally, these don't do much to explain the technique in question either. Similarly, for some reason, there is a still from a film with the default "watercolor" photoshop filter at the title page of every chapter to make it appear stylish, one supposes.

All the font in this book is way too big and the language not nearly economical enough. It's as if the authors knew their product was lacking and thought flash would make up for it. Overall, this book points toward some interesting technique, but doesn't do enough to make sense of them; it mostly wastes its own, strangely-shaped space.

View 2 comments. Apr 11, Mike Calla rated it liked it. Passable read on framing and blocking. However the kindle version is tedious to read as you can either view the example OR view the text. After converting the kindle book to PDF, it was much easier to digest. Although the examples can be long winded, it's still an easy read for a novice, and a passable refresher for the working camera op. Jun 17, Askar Ibragimov rated it it was amazing.

Useful series of books about cinematic "shots" that also a storytelling photographer can possily benefit from. Interesting read. The only downside is black and white screencaps from movies, it is not clear why they were not published in color. Aug 31, Fggfgfdgd added it. Apr 12, Kartikye Gupta marked it as to-read. View 1 comment. Fabulous book for shot sequences. Wish the images were better quality. May 01, Alex rated it it was ok Shelves: Feb 26, Fullfaun Faun added it.

Good how they explain the work the lens have to do in each shot and give examples from movies. A true masterpiece on camera shooting. Useful techniques. There are no discussion topics on this book yet. Be the first to start one ». Readers also enjoyed. Media Tie In. About Christopher Kenworthy. Christopher Kenworthy. Books by Christopher Kenworthy. It's the time of year for soups, sautees, and stories!

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