Hollywood camera technique is what filmmakers everywhere try to duplicate. It is unmatched in it's ability to entertain and tell a story. Both a craft and an art form, the end result is what makes Hollywood's blockbuster films so popular. Blocking and staging are the accurate terms to use to describe the steps that a cinematographer and film director use to determine how to best place the lens of the camera to follow the action of the actors.
The style has gotten more complex over the last 100 years as innovations have appeared and improved. Filmmakers will find only one way to quickly learn these indispensable skills, but more on that in a moment.
In the early days of silent movies the actors were shot using a stationery tripod which tended to give the look of a filmed version of a theater performance. Intercutting of close-ups and wider shots added more variety and storytelling tools.
Among the early developments were back projection and dollies. Mounting the tripod on a dolly mounted to roll on tracks allowed the audience to participate in moving action. Back projection caused live actors to seem to be in exotic locations or inserted them into impossible special effects shots. The silent Thief of Baghdad combines monsters and live actors using back projection. The same technique also allowed live actors seems to be in the stop-motion world of King Kong.
Alfred Hitchcock was just one of many master directors who used the bird's eye view possibilities of a crane shot to disorienting effect. His films, Notorious and Psycho, contain excellent examples of using crane shots.
The invention of the Steadicam device allowed scenes to be filmed with the feeling of flying or floating by a camera operator rigged with the special stabilizing harness.
Chroma key which uses green or blue background screens allowed color film productions to combine live actors interacting with models and special effects in a more flexible and believable way than back projection.
Most Hollywood films now incorporate all of these methods using computer controlled moving cranes to achieve a hand held camera feel in scenes where live actors interact with CGI 3D elements and scales models.
It takes years and years of practice to put together all the methods of camera placement that can be combined to imaginatively present a story. Film schools don't have the range of equipment or the time to devote to teaching cutting edge scene staging and blocking. At any time there are only a handful of the most well-experienced filmmakers who have the full depth of understanding of the power of camera manipulation to tell a story.
Movie makers who lack an understanding of how to fully use the camera as a partner for the storytelling process are always limited and their films will constantly not meet audience's expectations when compared to Hollywood's best. Frequently smaller films don't win an audience precisely because they don't have the polish regardless of how superior is their acting and script.
Filmmakers outside of the U.S. are especially unable to learn the best ways to film a story because they don't have access to the few sources that can teach the techniques.
In 2004 that all changed when a visual learning course, appropriately named Hollywood Camera Work, became available on DVDs from Per Holmes. Mr. Holmes, a highly well-experienced music producer, music video director and film director, wanted to expand his understanding of blocking and staging only to discover that there were no textbooks or courses that taught the subject in any depth.
He began with a multi-year process of observation and discovery to collect and classify all the methods used by the master directors and cinematographers across the years. He realized that a book or conventional video course could never fully explain the complex interaction of camera and actors. The only solution was to make computer generated 3D virtual actors, sets and cameras so the student could observe the techniques from all angles as well as seeing the final result.
In all you will get more than 9 hours crammed into 6 DVDs covering every method of cameras placement and scene staging from the most basic to the most advanced. Hollywood Camera Work is simply a complete master class and has been accepted as the standard reference by all the leading film schools. Hollywood's own studios are now among Mr. Holmes biggest customers.
Mr. Holmes recommends that film students take responsibility for their own education as film schools rarely give the depth of information required to actually make it in the filmmaking world. Products such as Hollywood Camera Work give a level of access to knowledge that no film school instruction can match.
He says, "What you really need is access to quality knowledge, and then you must train and train."
Even though the course costs less than a single class at a top end film school that is still costly for some struggling starting movie makers. Check the Hollywood Camera Works site for sample videos to see if the product will be useful for you. Click on this next link to learn more about Hollywood Camera Work.
The style has gotten more complex over the last 100 years as innovations have appeared and improved. Filmmakers will find only one way to quickly learn these indispensable skills, but more on that in a moment.
In the early days of silent movies the actors were shot using a stationery tripod which tended to give the look of a filmed version of a theater performance. Intercutting of close-ups and wider shots added more variety and storytelling tools.
Among the early developments were back projection and dollies. Mounting the tripod on a dolly mounted to roll on tracks allowed the audience to participate in moving action. Back projection caused live actors to seem to be in exotic locations or inserted them into impossible special effects shots. The silent Thief of Baghdad combines monsters and live actors using back projection. The same technique also allowed live actors seems to be in the stop-motion world of King Kong.
Alfred Hitchcock was just one of many master directors who used the bird's eye view possibilities of a crane shot to disorienting effect. His films, Notorious and Psycho, contain excellent examples of using crane shots.
The invention of the Steadicam device allowed scenes to be filmed with the feeling of flying or floating by a camera operator rigged with the special stabilizing harness.
Chroma key which uses green or blue background screens allowed color film productions to combine live actors interacting with models and special effects in a more flexible and believable way than back projection.
Most Hollywood films now incorporate all of these methods using computer controlled moving cranes to achieve a hand held camera feel in scenes where live actors interact with CGI 3D elements and scales models.
It takes years and years of practice to put together all the methods of camera placement that can be combined to imaginatively present a story. Film schools don't have the range of equipment or the time to devote to teaching cutting edge scene staging and blocking. At any time there are only a handful of the most well-experienced filmmakers who have the full depth of understanding of the power of camera manipulation to tell a story.
Movie makers who lack an understanding of how to fully use the camera as a partner for the storytelling process are always limited and their films will constantly not meet audience's expectations when compared to Hollywood's best. Frequently smaller films don't win an audience precisely because they don't have the polish regardless of how superior is their acting and script.
Filmmakers outside of the U.S. are especially unable to learn the best ways to film a story because they don't have access to the few sources that can teach the techniques.
In 2004 that all changed when a visual learning course, appropriately named Hollywood Camera Work, became available on DVDs from Per Holmes. Mr. Holmes, a highly well-experienced music producer, music video director and film director, wanted to expand his understanding of blocking and staging only to discover that there were no textbooks or courses that taught the subject in any depth.
He began with a multi-year process of observation and discovery to collect and classify all the methods used by the master directors and cinematographers across the years. He realized that a book or conventional video course could never fully explain the complex interaction of camera and actors. The only solution was to make computer generated 3D virtual actors, sets and cameras so the student could observe the techniques from all angles as well as seeing the final result.
In all you will get more than 9 hours crammed into 6 DVDs covering every method of cameras placement and scene staging from the most basic to the most advanced. Hollywood Camera Work is simply a complete master class and has been accepted as the standard reference by all the leading film schools. Hollywood's own studios are now among Mr. Holmes biggest customers.
Mr. Holmes recommends that film students take responsibility for their own education as film schools rarely give the depth of information required to actually make it in the filmmaking world. Products such as Hollywood Camera Work give a level of access to knowledge that no film school instruction can match.
He says, "What you really need is access to quality knowledge, and then you must train and train."
Even though the course costs less than a single class at a top end film school that is still costly for some struggling starting movie makers. Check the Hollywood Camera Works site for sample videos to see if the product will be useful for you. Click on this next link to learn more about Hollywood Camera Work.
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