Camera = Filmmaker ???

To become a filmmaker what all things you need ???

Camera

Story

Script

Actors

But the most important thing remains the way you tell a story, Storytelling.

Storytelling is a unique talent that everyone has and they use it differently. No one can copy your way of telling a story, they can copy your idea but not the way you tell the story to the audience. Because what matters is how impactful your story will be and how the audience perceives it.

Now what about the camera? You would think that you need a DSLR, high range expensive camera to shoot a video. But actually, you have that camera in your pocket. Mobile, the Smartphone. Phones are getting smarter, so why not we too get smart and utilize what all we have. You don’t need professional equipment, you just need a story and your way to tell it to the audience.

Ok, the story and  the script are ready and the shooting is also done. How to edit now?  I should have the knowledge about professional editing software? Absolutely no, a windows movie maker which is already installed on your Windows PC or iMovie on MacOS are enough.

And if you want to be a pro, you can learn ANY software with the help of YouTube. Editing is not technical, you are just trying to align the story with the appropriate shots to tell your story to the audience. Editing is something which should not be visible or noticeable to the audience. This process should be so smooth that the audience focuses solely on your story.

My movie is complete, now where to showcase it, how to show it to people, where to find the audience? Well, it is not as difficult as it may seem. I am sure everyone has a Gmail Account, and even if you don’t have one, then just create one in a minute and upload your video on YouTube. We visit YouTube to watch someone else’s content every day but this time, visit to watch yours first. It’s easy and simple to upload a video, that’s also can be learned from YouTube.

If you know all this or learned everything, then to become a pro in filmmaking, I am going to share some rules:

Eye-level framing – While shooting, try to keep your camera to subject’s eye level. It gives equality between the audience who will watch your video and the subject.

You can do other things with this theory as well. If you want to show something or someone small in nature then keep your camera above the subject. With this, the audience gets to know the subject’s nature. On the other hand, if you keep the camera below the subject, then the subject feels powerful and the audience gets to know the subject’s dominance.

Subject looks to the opposite side of the frame: This means place your subject on the left side of the frame when the subject is looking to the right side and vice versa. With this, the audience thinks that the subject is looking somewhere outside the frame.

Rule of thirds: It’s basically the lines of guidance which help make composition of the subject. Two horizontal parallel lines and two vertical parallel lines with equal space in between them divide the frame in 3X3 grid and you should keep the subject at the meeting points of the lines, either left or right.

Adequate headroom: Whenever you are shooting and making a frame, always keep in mind to keep small space above the head of the subject.

180-degree rule – It’s a cinematography rule where you make an imaginary line when you shoot a subject and cut into half. With this, you can either use the 1st half or the 2^nd. Using both is not recommended because it creates jerk in audience’s eyes.

30-degree rule - This is also related to cinematography that you should shift camera at least 30 degrees relative to the subject after one shot. If you make the shift less than 30 degrees, then it will look like something unusual happened in front of the eyes of the audience.

Match on Action - It is an editing technique where we show in one shot, hand is going down and in the next shot, the hand still stay in the path of going down and complete the motion by reaching the destination.

 Eyeline match - It is an editing technique where to show a man watching TV, first we show a man's front shot then a TV in the next shot. With this, the message that the character is watching TV is communicated properly.