Hey guys, I'm back in the studio
and as you can probably tell,
my hair is getting pretty long.
That's because we can't go to the hairdresser.
So I was wondering should I just keep it long
or should I cut its myself?
Let me know in the comments.
In the meantime, we'll just try to make the best of it.
We've got some hair wax right here.
There we go.
Isn't it good?
All right, first of all a big thanks to Full Sail University for sponsoring this video.
I'll talk more about them later, but until then
you can already check the first link in the description below to learn more.
Now, I was watching The Life of Pi the other day,
which is a cinematography masterpiece.
So if you haven't seen it yet,
definitely do.
And one thing in specific that got my eye is the aspect ratio.
There is a scene where they purposely changed the aspect ratio
to tell a visual story.
So being inspired by that, I brainstormed about other simple camera tricks
that you can do to leverage your story
or character emotion.
And let's start with that aspect ratio.
Adding black bars to the top and bottom
gives the feeling that you have a wider view.
Now is doing the opposite,
cutting from the left and right,
we narrow down the view and the audience feels that,
which is something that we can use to tell a visual story.
Say we've got a shooter who comes through the door,
and as he looks around he scans the area and has control over the situation
because he holds the weapon.
Cropping from the top and the bottom
enlarges that view.
The attacker sees everything and has all the space to walk in.
Showing the victim, we can do the opposite
and crop from the left and right.
We're boxing the person in,
we're trapping him.
He has nowhere to go.
We reflect his emotion and current state to the framing of the shot.
Now of course, you don't always need to work with different aspects ratios.
You could also use foreground elements that function as such a crop.
For instance, here we filmed through the door.
The walls are the crop and give the same feeling to the audience.
Gilles?
What are you doing, Gilles?
Please, Gilles. Don't do it.
Gilles.
Please, don't do it! Gilles!
So that's the first step playing around with different aspect ratios,
both in the edit or with foreground elements.
Next up is an inspiration that I got from Money Heist or Casa de Papel,
a series on Netflix,
and there's a character in there who always puts her hair together
whenever she's going to do serious work.
When she goes back to a resting stage,
or going away from work, she unties her hair.
It's kind of a tick which gives character to the talent
and also tells the audience when things get real.
It's kind of a ritual, like football players have when they have to go in the field,
or a serial killer who always drinks a glass of whiskey
before he goes to his next victim.
Or even something small like putting your cat backwards
whenever the serious work begins.
Jordy.
Gilles, the target is here. You can start.
Alright, I got it.
I've got three more very cool storytelling techniques
but first a little bit more about Full Sail Film bachelor's degree program,
that merges you into the world of filmmaking from every angle.
They also offer a digital cinematography
online degree program
that merges the artistic concepts of traditional filmmaking
with the technical tools used in everything,
from documentary filmmaking to commercial production and web video.
Now these degrees are offered in an accelerated format to get you into the field faster.
With hands-on projects, industry experienced faculty and professional equipment and sets,
you'll be prepared to pursue your passion.
Full Sail grads have gone on to work on some pretty incredible films and TV shows,
like Game of Thrones, The Avengers Endgame,
The Joker and The Mandalorian, just to name a few.
So if you want to find out more about these film programs and how to get started,
you can click the first link in the description down below
or go straight to fullail.edu/cinecom.
And in the meantime, I've got three more storytelling techniques.
Now say that you have a character that is doing something focused,
for example scratching a lottery ticket.
Now when the talent finds out he won,
an explosion of happiness will arise.
Now to give room for that explosion,
we suddenly cut from a close-up to a long shot.
Yes!
It's like the framing of the camera also explodes.
And like with the example the explosion can also be an emotion,
just as long as it suddenly happens.
A very typical technique is also where someone dies in the arms of a character.
The sudden explosion of grief can be visualized by cutting to a longshot.
And of course with an actual explosive we can also do that.
Here's a recent example that we did where we cut from a medium shot
to an extreme long shot.
Now this trick can also be used to fake suspension.
Let's say that we have an actual explosive
and the moment that the timer hits zero
we cut to a long shot.
So we're insinuating that an explosion will happen,
which the audience will expect.
But then nothing happens.
In scary movies this technique is also often used
to insinuate a scary monster jumping on the character,
but when the audience expects it, it doesn't happen.
So the audience calms down after that insinuation
and then the monster strikes, acting as a bigger surprise.
Hello?
Hey Jordy.
Boom.
Cinematography trick number four.
There's a character in his home or at work
and a second character, the bad guy, who is about to break in and do harm.
There are two ways that we could film this,
which is gonna get a different feeling to the audience.
The first one we stay with the main talent,
the person hears something and he gets scared.
He doesn't know where the bad guy is coming from so he panics.
We stay close with the camera,
boxing the talent in.
We're not showing the environment, only the panic emotion of the actor,
which makes the audience feel scared and trapped as well.
A second technique to film this
is where we show the bad guy and the environment.
This time the audience knows where the bad guy is,
but the main character, who we have empathy for,
doesn't and this gives a more stressful feeling to the audience.
I mean, we all know someone in our lives who start yelling at the TV during such a scene,
giving instructions to the actor, what he has to do.
It's really annoying actually.
So, Carl if you're watching,
please don't.
A great example is the film A Quiet Place.
Now we could also turn this around and have a good guy
hold hostage in his own house.
The police comes, knocks on the door
and the good guy hears that so he screams,
but the bad guy tries everything possible to shut his mouth,
so the police turns around and goes away.
We have this irritating feeling as the audience,
since the police is so close to saving the main character.
Now in the first episode of The Fall, which is on Netflix,
there's a great example of this.
And this brings me to the last one.
Say your talent is angry.
Does he have control over his anger or nuts?
You can visualize that with the way you handle the camera.
For instance, having a Slanted or Dutch angle
feels wrong, as if the camera is tipping over.
And this reflects on the character,
he's losing balance or control over himself.
And this works great with anger but can also be used with other emotions.
And when a character really loses control,
you can experiment with framings and angles that you normally don't do,
like putting the camera sideways on the ground
like it's thrown on the floor together with the other stuff that the actor is breaking.
A very good example is a scene in The Great Gatsby
where Leo loses control,
the camera angle also slants a little bit as he does.
And of course you have the typical steady motion when the talent is not angry
and when he loses control you cut to handheld motion,
but we've covered that already on the channel before.
Stupid chair.
You stupid chair!
I freaking hate you!
Stupid chair!
And those where my five visual storytelling tips.
Now, I've given some great examples of films and series that you should watch
so while you're stuck at home, you could do that.
Every Monday Gilles also gives a movie recommendation through the YouTube stories,
which you can see through the YouTube app.
Or you can also go and check out Full Sail University
and get yourself a film degree while you're stuck at home.
Thank you so much for watching.
Thank Full Sail University for the support.
And as always...
Stay creative!
I'm serious guys,
if you really want me to cut my hair I'll do it.
I'll do it myself live on camera next week.
What about that?
Really, let me know in the comments because if you don't want me to do that, I won't.
You know, we can go either way,
have like long hair Jordy
or short hair Jordy.
I prefer long hair.
I don't want to cut my own hair. I really don't.