Filmmaking 101: Developing characters
Welcome to Brading images. We are a Photography and Videography studio in Manchester, Salford, Irlam. We primarily do music videos and family photoshoots in the studio. We particularly enjoying doing: Newborn photoshoots, one year old photoshoots, toddler photoshoots, kids photoshoots, fairy photoshoots, mother daughter photoshoots, maternity photoshoots and siblings photoshoots, here, in manchester! Outside the studio, we run a film club called The Stage and Screen Academy, where we teach filmmaking 101. So once you’ve worked out how many characters you have, you should make a list of them. You need to give them all names and then describe them. How old are they? Remember. This isn’t theatre. A 10 year old can not play a 60 year old, it will be obvious that it looks wrong. The age needs to match the people you have available as actors. If all your actors are between 10 and 16, then your…
Filmmaking 101: Script Writing
Welcome to Brading images. We are a Photography and Videography studio in Manchester, Salford, Irlam. We primarily do music videos and family photoshoots in the studio. We particularly enjoying doing: Newborn photoshoots, one year old photoshoots, toddler photoshoots, kids photoshoots, fairy photoshoots, mother daughter photoshoots, maternity photoshoots and siblings photoshoots, here, in manchester! Outside the studio, we run a film club called The Stage and Screen Academy, where we teach filmmaking 101. A straightforward way of making an exciting script, is to think about the rough outline, a “skeleton script”. But first, think about what locations you can access and what potential cast? Let’s start simple. Most people can access a room with a table and 4 people to act in it. So what could be happening around a table? Playing a game? Having a meal? Playing poker? Book club? Summoning a spirit? Even with this very simple location, the…
Filmmaking 101: Sound recording
Welcome to Brading images. We are a Photography and Videography studio in Manchester, Salford, Irlam. We primarily do music videos and family photoshoots in the studio. We particularly enjoying doing: Newborn photoshoots, one year old photoshoots, toddler photoshoots, kids photoshoots, fairy photoshoots, mother daughter photoshoots, maternity photoshoots and siblings photoshoots, here, in manchester! Outside the studio, we run a film club called The Stage and Screen Academy, where we teach filmmaking 101. Sound is 50% of film, so recording good sound is just as important as recording good video. In fact, it’s often more important as people are more likely to put up with a bad looking film with great sound than a great looking film which sounds terrible. When recording sound, there are four main things which affect the quality: how close the microphone is to the subject, what type of microphone is used, the amount of gain used…
Filmmaking 101: Lighting setup
Welcome to Brading images. We are a Photography and Videography studio in Manchester, Salford, Irlam. We primarily do music videos and family photoshoots in the studio. We particularly enjoying doing: Newborn photoshoots, one year old photoshoots, toddler photoshoots, kids photoshoots, fairy photoshoots, mother daughter photoshoots, maternity photoshoots and siblings photoshoots, here, in manchester! Outside the studio, we run a film club called The Stage and Screen Academy, where we teach filmmaking 101. So which light should you pick? There are naturally harsh lights that will create dark shadows, like fresenells and soft lights, like LED lights. You will use dark shadows when wanting to film horror films for example but you will want soft lighting if you are trying to create flattering lighting for a TV presenter for example. So where should you position your lights? There are many lighting set ups, but we will focus on just one, that…
Filmmaking 101: Lighting gels
Welcome to Brading images. We are a Photography and Videography studio in Manchester, Salford, Irlam. We primarily do music videos and family photoshoots in the studio. We particularly enjoying doing: Newborn photoshoots, one year old photoshoots, toddler photoshoots, kids photoshoots, fairy photoshoots, mother daughter photoshoots, maternity photoshoots and siblings photoshoots, here, in manchester! Outside the studio, we run a film club called The Stage and Screen Academy, where we teach filmmaking 101. There are many different lighting gels you can use to change your lighting source. You would use ND gels to adjust how intense your light is, without changing any other aspect of the light. These gels are see through black. They might be called ND3, ND6 or ND9. ND9 will darken your light more than ND3. Diffusion gels look like see through white. The more see through it is, the less strong it is. A full diffusion gel…
Filmmaking 101: White Balance
Welcome to Brading images. We are a Photography and Videography studio in Manchester, Salford, Irlam. We primarily do music videos and family photoshoots in the studio. We particularly enjoying doing: Newborn photoshoots, one year old photoshoots, toddler photoshoots, kids photoshoots, fairy photoshoots, mother daughter photoshoots, maternity photoshoots and siblings photoshoots, here, in manchester! Outside the studio, we run a film club called The Stage and Screen Academy, where we teach filmmaking 101. Did you know that white is not always white? White objects are actually the colour of the light that is hitting them – and light can be different colours depending on where it is coming from. Colour temperature is how we can measure what shade of white is being produced by a specific light source and is measured in Kelvin and ranges from candlelight at 1000 Kelvin, to a Blue Sky at 10,00 Kelvin. Low colour temperatures are…
Filmmaking 101: Camera Exposure
Welcome to Brading images. We are a Photography and Videography studio in Manchester, Salford, Irlam. We primarily do music videos and family photoshoots in the studio. We particularly enjoying doing: Newborn photoshoots, one year old photoshoots, toddler photoshoots, kids photoshoots, fairy photoshoots, mother daughter photoshoots, maternity photoshoots and siblings photoshoots, here, in manchester! Outside the studio, we run a film club called The Stage and Screen Academy, where we teach filmmaking 101. Camera exposure is how bright, or dark, your image is and is one of the most important things to understand in order to get a good shot. Good exposure is where the scene looks natural and all the details are visible. Over-exposure is where the image is too bright and brighter parts of the image may turn to pure white. Under-exposure is where the image is too dark, and darker parts of the image may turn to pure…
Filmmaking 101: Camera Movement
Welcome to Brading images. We are a Photography and Videography studio in Manchester, Salford, Irlam. We primarily do music videos and family photoshoots in the studio. We particularly enjoying doing: Newborn photoshoots, one year old photoshoots, toddler photoshoots, kids photoshoots, fairy photoshoots, mother daughter photoshoots, maternity photoshoots and siblings photoshoots, here, in manchester! Outside the studio, we run a film club called The Stage and Screen Academy, where we teach filmmaking 101. Unlike in photography, in film we are able to move the camera whilst we are taking a shot. This can be used to create a huge variety of effects and help to tell your story. The most simple camera movements can be achieved by just using a standard camera tripod. First, the Pan – this is when the camera turns from left to right, or right to left. It is often used to follow the action in the…
Filmmaking 101: Framing terms
Welcome to Brading images. We are a Photography and Videography studio in Manchester, Salford, Irlam. We primarily do music videos and family photoshoots in the studio. We particularly enjoying doing: Newborn photoshoots, one year old photoshoots, toddler photoshoots, kids photoshoots, fairy photoshoots, mother daughter photoshoots, maternity photoshoots and siblings photoshoots, here, in manchester! Outside the studio, we run a film club called The Stage and Screen Academy, where we teach filmmaking 101. Let’s say you had two characters talking to each other. You might start off showing the 2 of them. This would be referred to as a 2 shot. Once this is shot, you’ve established the “line”. This is referred to as the 180 degree rule. Imagine an invisible line linking the 2 characters. Think about which side of that line the camera is. Once you’ve worked that out, the camera should not go on the other side of…
Filmmaking 101: Camera Height
Welcome to Brading images. We are a Photography and Videography studio in Manchester, Salford, Irlam. We primarily do music videos and family photoshoots in the studio. We particularly enjoying doing: Newborn photoshoots, one year old photoshoots, toddler photoshoots, kids photoshoots, fairy photoshoots, mother daughter photoshoots, maternity photoshoots and siblings photoshoots, here, in manchester! Outside the studio, we run a film club called The Stage and Screen Academy, where we teach filmmaking 101. So at what height should you position your camera, and why? A low angle, looking up at a character, will be used to make someone look powerful and imposing. This is perfect for heroes and villains. Next, let’s look at the opposite, the high angle shot. A high angles shot will be looking down at a character, making them appear small and weak. A bit more of a standard angle, would be shooting at eye level. This should…