Table of Contents

INTRODUCTION
1. FILMSPACE
Cinematic technique
Subjective and objective POV
The building blocks of scenes
Character shots
The fine art of cheating
The master scene method
Transitions
Coverage
Plán scene
Hitchcock 's rule
Triple take or overlapping method
Montage
Conclusion:a mixture of techniques
2. VISUAL LANAGUAGE
Design principles
The three dimensional field
Depth
Forces of visual organization
Film and video composition
Basic composition rules for people
3. LENS LANGUAGE
The lens and the frame
Lens perspective
Deep focus
Compression of space
Manipulating perspective
Selective focus
Image control
4. CAMERA DYNAMICS
Motivation and invisible technique
Types of moves
Moving shots
Camera mounting
Dolly terminology
Cranes
Car shots
Aerial shots
Other types of camera mounts
Steadicam
Motion control
5. CINEMATIC CONTINUITY
Types of continuity
Continuity of content
Continuity of movement
Continuity of position
Continuity of time
The line
What establishes the line?
Screen direction
Deliberately breaking the rules
Reverse
Cheating the turnaround
Cutability
Other issues in continuity
Introductions
Other editorial issues in shooting
Jump cuts
The six types of cuts
6. EXPOSURE
Light as energy
F/stop
Exposure,ISO and lighting relationships
Inverse square law and cosine law
ISO speeds
Light and film
Densitometry
Brightness perception
Contrast
Determining exposure
The tools
The Zone System
The grey scale
Place and fall
Exposure and the camera
7. COLOR THEORY
The nature of light
Color perception
The color wheel
Hue,chroma and value
Color mixing
Complementary
Advancing and retreating color
Film and video colorspace
Color harmonies &the interaction of color
Color models
Additive colors
Subtractive colors
The CIE color system
Digital and electronic color
8. THE TOOLS OF LIGHTING
HMI
Xenons
Carbon arcs
Tungsten fresnels
PARs
HMI PARs
Soft lights
Color corrected fluorescents
Cycs,strips,nooks and broads
Chinese lanterns and spacelights
Self contained crane rigs
Lekos
Balloon lights
Portable units
Day exteriors
9. LIGHTING AS STORYTELLING
Origins of motion picture lighting
Film noir
Light as visual metaphor
10. CONTROLLING COLOR
Color temperature
Color balance of film
Correcting light balance
Light balancing filters
Correcting off-color lights
Stylistic choices in color control
11. OPTICS
Physical basis of optics
F/stop
Focus
Circle of confusion
Depth-of-field
How not to get more depth-of-field
Hyperfocal distance
Macrophotography
Frazier lens and Revolution
Lens tests
12. VIDEO AND HIGH DEFINITION
Basics of video
The video signal
The waveform monitor and vectorscope
SMPTE color bars
The vectorscope
Setting up a color monitor
The PLUGE
Camera white balance
Analog and digital colorspace
Digital video encoding
Is it broadcast quality?
Timecode and edgecode
Video frame rate
Drop-frame and non drop-frame
Shooting High Def video
10 things to remember when shooting High Def
Lighting for High Def video
Shooting digital video
Transferring video to film
NTSC and 3:2 pulldown
Prepping for telecine
13. IMAGE CONTROL
Color printing
Controlling color and contrast
How flashing works
Varicon
Bleach bypass and other processes
Skip bleach
Exposure compensation in bleach-bypass
Other techniques
Cross processing
Printing negative as interpositive
Transfer from print
Filter types
Diffusion and effects filters
Nets
Contrast filters
Conversion filters
Using filters in black-and-white photography
Polarizers
Density filters
14. SET OPERATIONS
The shot list
The Director of Photography
The team
Camera crew
Electricians
Grips
Set procedures
TECHNICAL ISSUES
Sun location with a compass
Flicker
Filming practical monitors
Chroma key and Ultimatte
Lighting for bluescreen/greenscreen
Dimmers
Working with strobes
High speed photography
Lighting for extreme close-up
Underwater filming
Effects
Professional Formats
Acknowledgments
Bibliography
Filmography
Index

Promotional Information

*The definitive guide to cinematography
*Up-to-date coverage of technical topics, including High Definition and digital imaging
*Full color throughout brings issues of color and light to life

About the Author

Blain Brown was educated at C.W. Post College; M.I.T. and Harvard Graduate School of Design. He began in New York as a commercial still photographer before starting in the film business. After working as a gaffer, be became a cinematographer doing primarily commercials and music videos.After completing his first feature film, he moved to Los Angeles where he has been Director of Photography on 14 feature films as well as national commercials, promotional films, industrials, music videos and documentaries. He has worked in many states in the U.S. as well as Mexico, Canada, India, Italy, France, the Philippines and Jordan.His experience includes 35mm and 16mm projects, as well as 24P High Def, DigiBeta, BetaSP and DV. He has completed projects as a director, editor and screenwriter; with three screenplays produced. He has also taught courses in storytelling and visual communication. As a Director of Photography specializing in features and commercials, he is now based in Los Angeles.His books include A Sense of Place; Motion Picture and Video Lighting and The Filmmaker's Pocket Reference. His work can be seen at www.BlainBrown.com.

Reviews

"A gorgeous piece of work that bids to become a classic text on cinematography....Few books on cinematography meld aesthetics and pragmatics as deftly as this one."
American Cinematographer

"The gorgeous illustrations bring movies to life, and the modern approach that incorporates digital as well as film means that this book can be used for years to come."
Judy Irola, ASC
Head of Cinematography
USC School of Cinematic Arts

"The book is a wonderful, well-organized and knowledgable collection of all information a cinematographer may need. I recommend it highly."
Andrew Laszlo, ASC

"This book shows that there is more to the DP than holding the light meter--he needs to understand so much more about using photography to tell a story, create a mood, evoke an emotion. No other text I know of stresses this to this extent."
Douglas C. Hart, First Camera Assistant, Instructor, and Author of The Camera Assistant

"Blain Brown has created a masterpiece. Cinematography is the best reference book I have ever seen..the theories and practices revealed here will never go out of date. This is a "must have” book for anyone claiming to be a cinematographer that hasn't got at least two Academy Awards sitting on their mantle." - Rick Gerard, Creative Cow