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To capture images like these...
"- Yes, yes. No, no!"
...you can't just point the camera and press record.
Great image-makers are equal parts
artist and technician.
There are three mechanisms of exposure
that every filmmaker should understand.
We begin with the first aspect of exposure.
Aperture.
"- Roll camera.
And begin."
This is "What is Aperture?".
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First, a bit of biology.
A camera lens functions just like the human eye.
The pupil is responsible for how much light is let in.
To allow more light to pass through
the pupil opens up or expands.
And to allow less light
the pupil closes or shrinks.
Aperture works the same way.
Aperture is the opening through which light travels
and eventually hits the camera's sensor.
It is the size of the aperture's opening
that not only affects the brightness of the image
but it directly affects the area of a shot
that is in focus.
This is known as Depth of Field.
The smaller the aperture, the greater the depth of field.
Conversely, a large aperture
gives us a shallow area of focus.
The size of a camera's aperture is expressed in f numbers
or f stops.
Based on how open
or closed the aperture may be.
"- No shit."
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Small aperture.
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When you want to establish the setting of a scene
you may want everything in frame to be in focus.
This requires a large depth of field.
To get this,
you might choose a smaller aperture like f/16.
This is important in wide shots
that juxtapose subjects in the foreground
against large crowds.
Or landscapes.
Or a guided tour of a haunted hotel.
"- Boy, I bet we could really have a good party in this room, huh."
Smaller aperture can be used
to capture character reactions in group shots.
Director Sam Mendes
and cinematographer Roger Deakins
capture both setting and character
in this opening shot of "1917".
By using a smaller aperture and deep focus,
we can clearly see the context around these characters.
We see soldiers washing clothes.
Getting haircuts.
And even cooking, doing dishes.
We get a sense of these characters.
Their world
and how long they've been on the front lines.
"- What you got there?
- Ham and bread.
- Where did you find that?
I have my uses."
If Deakins used a larger aperture
these important details would be out of focus.
And we would miss their world world-building qualities.
Instead, this scene is full of information,
depth and life.
"- Tastes like old shoe.
- Cheer up.
This time next week, it'll be chicken dinner."
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On the opposite end of the spectrum
is the large aperture
which creates a shallow depth of field.
For example, f/1.4 on a lens.
Filmmakers often utilize this
to isolate a subject from the rest of the frame.
This can be done to draw focus toward an important plot point.
Or to a character's emotion
during moments of devastation.
Fear.
Or anxiety.
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In "Joker",
Todd Phillips and cinematographer Lawrence Sher
use a large aperture
to create an intimate portrait of Arthur.
And communicate his isolation.
"- We wanted just to draw the audience in
psychologically to this character and feel empathy
and really feel this transition
that he was going through
in his descent into chaos and madness."
Through the mirror,
we can see the out-of-focus presence of others in the room.
We can't make out the details of these characters
but their blurry presence reminds us
that Arthur is isolated.
Even when others are present.
By using a large aperture,
this opening visually establishes the tone,
themes and intimacy of the film.
So we've covered the two extremes.
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But what is aperture's role
when we want something in between.
Say an f/8.
While a wide open aperture or shallow focus
draws focus to the internal world of a character.
And a closed aperture or deep focus
helps capture the external world.
A medium aperture mediates the two.
Shots with a medium aperture
are able to draw focus to a subject
while keeping their environment present.
"- Can I hide in the bathroom? - Yes.
- Okay."
This can be used in dialogue.
"- Uh, you know what?
- He just left."
Or any situation
where you want to prioritize
multiple objects in the frame.
"- This is the best soap. - Why, thank you, Susan."
In this scene from "Marriage Story",
the main characters Charlie and Nicole
hire lawyers to carry out their divorce.
"- Charlie is entitled to half her TV money,
present and future earnings of the show."
Although the focal point of these shots are the lawyers,
we can still make out Charlie and Nicole
reacting to their verbal barbs in the background.
"- Which has turned Charlie's world upside down.
It amounts to an ambush.
- Witholding, Jay?"
"- Most often the focal length is going to be on the lawyers.
Charlie and Nicole are often out of focus in the background.
You're watching the lawyers
but if you actually think to look or do look
there's almost this sort of slightly out of focus
expression in the background
which I think in a way is more effective."
"- Alienating?
Well, those are fighting words.
- Nicole has admitted to hacking Charlie's computer
and reading his emails."
If a larger aperture were used,
Charlie and Nicole would fall out of focus.
A medium aperture here
perfectly communicates the main point of this scene.
"- Do you really want me to go there?
- Yeah, let's go there. - Okay."
Charlie and Nicole are losing control of their own divorce.
"- Councel?
This remains an LA family for the time being."
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To truly understand an aperture,
we must learn how it works
in relation to the other two elements in the exposure triangle.
In the next episode, we'll explore ISO.
And how you can use it to control the brightness
and texture of the image.
"- You met me at a very strange time in my life."
In the description,
you'll find more resources about the exposure triangle
and other techniques we didn't cover in this video.
Click subscribe
and ring the bell to find out what we do next.
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