Would using a star filter for cinematography be too weird?

[Pete Cofrancesco]

Ryan has this inexperienced art student mentality, spending his time and energy trying to be different, instead of letting the needs of the project dictate the approach. While there’s always degree of latitude of what could be done, Ryan needs training wheels until he can prove he’s mastered the basics. There’s nothing wrong with film study and theory but he has a misplaced emphasis on these things while struggling with the fundamentals . He wants to be a director but in every project he takes it’s the one thing he consistently avoids.

Talented people like Kubric have the right instincts and convey there vision to the crew who carry it out. It’s academics who analyze their work and come up with terminology and theories to describe it. Whether you need to read a book or learn hands on, all that matters is whether you can put it into practice. The end result is what matters not how you get there.

Ryan seems to emulate end results without understanding the underlying purpose and context behind it. Same thing for these rules and plans he tries to apply.

[Ryan Elder]

Oh okay thanks for all the advice, I really appreciate it. Sorry if I seem stubborn in taking suggestions, it's just with each suggestion, there are possible problems or disadvantages I see in the shots. So I say to myself, "thanks for the suggestion, but wait a minute, there is possible problem in that suggestion that you didn't address, or that should be addressed". So that is why I point out things and ask about them in the suggestions, cause I feel I need to address such issues before proceeding with them, if that makes sense.

[Brian Drysdale]

You are over complicating something that a high school media student could do as an exercise in one of their lessons.

[Ryan Elder]

But whenever I try to keep things simple, I am told I didn't put enough thought into it though.

[Brian Drysdale]

This is a simple scene, which doesn't require anything more than mechanical coverage.

[Ryan Elder]

True I only have three shots planned for the next shoot. It's just if none of them are perpendicular, I am afraid they may not look different enough when cutting from one to the next.

[Pete Cofrancesco]

Originally Posted by Ryan Elder

Oh okay thanks for all the advice, I really appreciate it. Sorry if I seem stubborn in taking suggestions, it's just with each suggestion, there are possible problems or disadvantages I see in the shots. So I say to myself, "thanks for the suggestion, but wait a minute, there is possible problem in that suggestion that you didn't address, or that should be addressed". So that is why I point out things and ask about them in the suggestions, cause I feel I need to address such issues before proceeding with them, if that makes sense.

Maybe if you could concisely list what suggestions would lead to problems? There are only handful adjustments that need to be made. This job isn’t reel worthy material. Do the best you can for the client, gain some experience filming instructional style video and move on.

[Ryan Elder]

Well I just feel that shooting a non-perpendicular angle could cause some of the arm placements to be more hidden. I also feel that not using POV shots for some of the moves, can make the moves, more difficult to grasp compared to it looks they are doing them from their own POV.

[Pete Cofrancesco]

Originally Posted by Ryan Elder

Well I just feel that shooting a non-perpendicular angle could cause some of the arm placements to be more hidden. I also feel that not using POV shots for some of the moves, can make the moves, more difficult to grasp compared to it looks they are doing them from their own POV.

If you’ve ever take a martial arts class students observe the instructor from the audience position much the same way you view any performance. Look at all those Youtube videos they don’t use pov.

This is a promo demo to show their teaching chops. It doesn’t matter if we can’t see everything, they can sign up for classes if they want to fully learn what is being shown.

We are suggesting a more 3/4 view for a better look. No pov is needed. It will only make your job more difficult. You are more likely to get jarring disjointed cuts if you try to re film their demo again from another angle since it’s not tightly choreographed. Further more they don’t have the time or interests doing multiple takes for different camera angles.

[Brian Drysdale]

Since it's a promo, you could shoot it with dutch angles and it wouldn't make any difference.

[Ryan Elder]

Okay thanks, it's just I am worried about too many angles looking too much the same, that it looks jarring like I was told before. So I felt if every shot is 3/4, then I might have the same problem.

I've take martial arts before, so I thought that if I were to see it from a POV that would help, but just going by my own experiences. And I know it's a promo to get people interested in taking the class, but the instructor really wants the movies to be seen though.

[Pete Cofrancesco]

You can adjust your position during the shot as long as you can do it smoothly. Each segment could have a different angle but you need medium talking shots or some sort of transition between segments to prevent jump cuts. Even those polished stabilizer review videos by that girl there were jump cuts. I don’t like them but you see them all the time with one camera low budget productions. That’s why people shoot two cameras to avoid the time and hassle concealing jumps.

[Ryan Elder]

Oh okay thanks. I like jump cuts in movies that skip ahead in time, sometimes, but not for instructional videos per say. But if I change positions, should every position be a 3/4 then?

[Brian Drysdale]

No, you're looking for rules again, Shoot what works for each action and have differing shot sizes that are appropriate for these moves.

[Pete Cofrancesco]

Originally Posted by Ryan Elder

Oh okay thanks. I like jump cuts in movies that skip ahead in time, sometimes, but not for instructional videos per say. But if I change positions, should every position be a 3/4 then?

If you’re not using a middle transition shot, there needs to be a significant difference of angle change or framing. That’s the “30 degree rule” you’ve mentioned before. It doesn’t need to be that precise. You could test this out at home. But I would try to film as much as you can continuously. I noticed on your first video he doing his introduction and 5 seconds in there’s a cut to a different angle. There’s no jump cut but you can tell he made a mistake and you spliced two takes together. The intro should have been re shot until you got one continuous good take. Same thing for the action scenes don’t use 30 degree as a crutch. If it’s 5 minute demo and they mess up at minute 4 they’re not going to want to redo the whole thing over. The more cuts and sub takes the worse it looks.