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What Is Cinematography?

Cinematography is the art and craft of making motion pictures by capturing a story visually.
Though, technically, cinematography is the art and the science of recording light either
electronically onto an image sensor or chemically onto film. It is the creation of images you
see on screen, a series of shots that form a cohesive narrative. Within Film, Cinematography
involves lots of techniques during scenes such as lighting of the set or location, choice of
cameras, angles, lenses, filters, film stock (what the film is actually recorded on) and the
integration of any special effects used. Cinematography has been used since the very start of
film. Dating back to late 1800s cinematography was very different to how it is now. One of
the first motion pictures was created by a zealous racehorse breeder, Leland Standford who
lived in California. Standford created this motion picture to prove that at some point in a
horse’s gallop lifts all four hooves off the ground at once. Conventions of 19th-century
illustration suggested otherwise, and the movement itself occurred too rapidly for perception
by the naked eye, so Muybridge experimented with multiple cameras to take successive
photographs of horses in motion. Finally, in 1877, he set up a battery of 12 cameras along a
Sacramento racecourse with wires stretched across the track to operate their shutters. As a
horse strode down the track, its hooves tripped each shutter individually to expose a
successive photograph of the gallop, confirming Stanford’s belief. When Muybridge later
mounted these images on a rotating disk and projected them on a screen through a magic
lantern, they produced a “moving picture” of the horse at full gallop as it had actually
occurred in life. In 1882 The French physiologist Etienne-Jules Marey invented the
chronophotographic gun, a camera shaped like a rifle that recorded 12 successive
photographs per second, in order to study the movement of birds in flight. On March 4th,
1896 Charles Raff and Frank Gammon buy the Jenkins-Armat phantoscope from Thomas
Armat on behalf of Edison. They rename the projector " Edison's Vitascope", and it is hailed
as Edison's latest invention. By selling exclusive Vitascope exhibition rights for specific
territories, they make a windfall profit. Charles and Emile Pathè found a company called
s"Pathé-Frères" in Paris. By the next decade they will become the largest producer of films in
the world.

March 4, 1891 The Motion Picture Spread Thomas Edison's assistant, W.K.L. Dickson,
begins devoting himself to the "motion picture project". He and his staff develop a
horizontal-feed motion picture camera

March 4th, 1899 vaudeville theatres establish permanent relations with motion picture
exhibition services. Biograph introduces a new tripod head that allows quick, smooth panning
of the camera. Although the vast majority of films still consist of a single shot, a few multi-
shot films begin to be included in the catalogues of film companies. At the National Export
Exposition in Philadelphia, Sigmund (or "Siegmund") Lubin constructs the first purpose-built
movie theater.
Later in the 1930s Ensign had a complex history of mergers with many company names, but
started making cameras in the early 1900s. The Ensign Selfix range was introduced in the
1930s and continued after WWII. They were folding cameras that generally used 120 film
and were available in different frame formats

1989 – 1994: Larger Formats and Higher Speeds Filmmakers had been interested in larger
formats from the moment Edison and Eastman standardized the 35 mm 18x24 mm frame.
The ARRIFLEX 765 arrived in 1989. It was silent, sync sound, 2–100 fps, with an adjustable,
motorized mirror shutter, and a separate motor for the camera movement, synchronized
electronically to reduce noise — something unheard of at the time. This principle would be
used in the next cameras, the ARRIFLEX 535 in 1990 and 435 in 1994.

The next camera that would change the world of cinema came to us in 2010 by ARRI again
which was called the ARRI Alexa. This is still being used today in most high budget films. It
costs start around £10,000 - £50,000. 87 predefined creative colour gradings, each in three
intensities - Makes on set look management available to productions of all budgets - Helps to
save time on set - All looks can be used as a basic to create new colour gradings 35 mm
format film-style digital camera - Natural skin tones - Recording up to 200fps - High
dynamic range with 14+ stops of exposure latitude - Optional ARRIRAW and 4:3 licenses
Rapidly interchangeable lens mount - PL or LPL - Mount for cine - style lenses, including
those compatible with the ARRI lens data system - B4 lens mount permits the use of 2/3"
video style B4 lenses - EF lens mount provides compatibility with a wide range of stills
photography lenses Lightweight body with sturdy designs - Sealed electronics - Non
condensing splash and dust-proof - Built in motorized FNSD filters 0.6, 1.2, 2.1 For 360
degree VR 3D and VFX application - Synchronizing up top 15 Alexa minis with one master
Alexa Mini - Permitting the entire multi camera setup to be operated as if it was one camera

Birdman
Guardians of the galaxy
dawn of the apes
fault in our stars
Godzilla
captain America
iron man 3
These are just some of the biggest films that were recorded by the Arri Alexa.

The main reason why the arri alexa is the most used film in most big budget films is that
camera gives film makers control, meaning that they had so many options in how to film
scenes differently such as with colours, framing, speed, angles and locations to make the film
exactly how they want it and making it much more entertaining for the audience. Another
point is that even though the camera is worth £10,000+ it is still quite cheap compared to
other cameras used in holly wood movies meaning that they can have quite a few of them and
make movies much better and quicker. 1) How lighting tells a story in film : Make
Importance Shine - the eye is drawn to the brightest thing in frame. Film moves quickly so
making the key objects brighter tells the audience what's important and what to be looking at
when watching the film. 2) Light Characters for How Protagonists See Them: Beyond
drawing the eye lighting can tell the audience how the main character feels about other
characters. Glowing soft light on the characters the protagonist is talking to shows a love for
them and positive feeling. in contrast having a villain lurking in the dark. So that there's just
enough light to see the evil in their eyes. Lighting can also foreshadow characters effects or
motives during the film. 3) Choose the light or dark side : lighting can be used to separate
sides . Frontal light shows unity but back lit light shows loneliness. However the same type of
back lighting can be used to show multiple characters being brought out from the back, this
halo effect can make the characters united against everyone else or in a romantic world of
their own. 4) Soft lighting for soft moments : Matching the quality of light used to the
emotional impact of that scene. Creates soft shadows and soft illumination. It is best to use
this type of lighting for scenes when characters are joyful or feeling emotionally filled. Soft
sunset for iconic romance. On the other hand hard lighting is used to communicate difficult or
dark times as it creates hard shadows and illumination. 5) Use Colour To push Emotion:
Using colours that the audience should feel about that scene. Warm tones like Orange and
Amber make us feel connected, intimate and nostalgic. While cool tones like blue makes us
feel cool and detached. Saturated red is used for urgency, passion or danger in a scene. 6)
Moving lights for chaos: When the main character is running away using police sirens or
torches it creates a more energetic and chaotic atmosphere. On the other hand slow moving
lights like a fade from black to a character can show how much the character loves or feels
for another character. what's Lumiere Brothers brought us the thrill of cinema 'movies are
dreams' - 'windows into worlds and lives that are not our own heart of cinema is the
cinematography' - 'is not only about how we capture the scene it is how we show that action
to the audience' - cinematography is all about communicating with the viewer - built on
principles of concrete understanding (space odyssey clip playing in background) One of my
personal favourite cinematography techniques is the match cut transitions. One The most
famous match cuts is in the film A Space Odyssey directed by Stanley Kubrick. This match
cut is one of the most famous match cuts used in a film because of the meaning. In the
beginning of the scene a group of apes are shown using a bone as a weapon to hit another
ape, it then cuts to a slow motion shot of the ape throwing the bone up into the sky flipping
around in the air until it match cuts to a rocket flying through space. With this match cut it
shows the whole evolution within 5 seconds because its portraying apes using items such as
bones as tools and weapons comparing to modern technology like space shuttles and how
humans have developed so much over time. As of this I created my own match cut, inspired
by Kubricks - cinema = language 0 in on the words and meanings 'embrace the glossary of
high angles, low angles, wide lenses, depth of field and the colour palette - show someone's
scared - high angle, looks down on the victim showing the victim is in a place of threat -
cinema emphasises not just about the information (what's happening on screen) its the way
that information is being shown the way it evokes emotion - goes right past the connection in
our brain and dives straight into our nervous system its able to do this because it understands
perspective - want to emphasise the victims feeling it would switch to a low angle with the
victim looking up at the monster. - Our perspective would be their perspective the monster
would tower over us making us feel the same way as the character - we instinctively
understand this - cinema is a lie it moves just like with angles the way the camera moves tells
us something to - the smoothness of a steady cam or tracking shot instils us with confidence,
ease empowering us to go through action with clarity - shaky camera movement or handheld
makes us feel uneasy like we are witnessing the real world - where you put the camera tells
you what to think and feel about the story you are watching Use these as background videos :
1. La La Land (I) (2016) 2. The Killing Fields (1984) 3. Glory (1989) 4. Inception (2010) 5.
Schindler's List (1993) 6. Fiddler on the Roof (1971) 7. Saving Private Ryan (1998) 8. Master
and Commander: The Far Side of the World (2003) 9. Avatar (2009) 10. Gravity (2013)