CINEMATOGRAPHY BASICS

I Year (Integrated)

THEORY
UNIT I –
CAMERAS & FORMATS:
Image Formation, Pinhole, Lenses, Lens Aberrations, Single Lens Reflex ,TLR, Film, CCD
&CMOS, Digital Still Camera And Digital Motion Picture Camera,Formats (Digital & Motion
Picture),Shutter Speed Effect (Motion Blur & Arresting Motion )

UNIT II –
COMPOSITION:
Simplicity, The Rule Of The Thirds, Lines, Balance, Framing, Mergers, Golden Section, Subject Of
Emphasis, Depth, Light, Diagonal, Cropping, Viewpoint, Forms, Masses, Movement, Colour And
Monochrome, Colour Symbolism, Gradation Of Brightness And Scale

UNIT III –
LIGHTING:
What Is Light, Visible Spectrum (Electromagnetic Radiation), Artificial And Natural Light, Candle,
Flames And The Sun, Tungsten And Tungsten Halogen Lamps, HMI &Fluorescent Light, Lighting
Quality, Hard And Soft Light, Importance Of Colour Temperature, Reference To Genre (Film Noir),
Sun Path And Its Significance, High Key And Low Key Lighting, Renaissance, Chiaroscuro,
Silhouette & Notan,3-Point Lighting, Key, Fill & Backlight(Effect Light)

REFERENCES:
 Ralph Jacobson, Manual of Photography, Focal Press, 2000,
 Peterward, Picture composition, Focal Press, 2003

 Joseph Mascelli, 5C’s of cinematography, Silman James Press, 1998

 Kanal A.S., The Cinematographer’s Handbook, Vikshi Institute of Media Studies, 2001

PRACTICALS :
Students have to experiment & practice in picture taking, Concentrate on Framing, Exposure,
Emotion of the subject.

Introduction to Photoshop Software.

 PROJECT : BASIC SHOTS & EXPOSURE
UNIT I –
BASIC SHOTS
9 Basic shots from Extreme Long Shot to Extreme Close-up composed and shot on a Digital Still
Camera

UNIT II –
EXPOSURE:
3 different images of the same object shot on a digital camera with 3 different exposures for final
evaluation
 ADVANCED CINEMATOGRAPHY
DIGITAL CINEMATOGRAPHY
THEORY

UNIT I –
EXPOSURE:
Exposure Meaning, Film And Digital Media, Incident And Reflected Light, Exposure Meters, Units
To Measure Light, Concept Of 18% Grey, Under And Over Exposure, Ansel Adams And The Grey
Scale, Grey Scale Application In Film And Video, 18% Grey And IRE Units, Sensitometry,
Significance Of DI Suite.

UNIT II –
ANALOGUE VS. DIGITAL
Color Systems; Digital Imaging & Sensors: CCD Construction & its Lingo And Problem,CCD Vs.
CMOS Tonal Range Of Video, 3-Chip Technology And Foveon Single Chip, Foveon, 3-Chip &
Film.

UNIT III –
ELECTRONIC SIGNAL PROCESSING
Bayer Filter; Rolling Shutter & Jello Effect; Zone System in Digital World; Sensor Size &
Resolution; Sampling And Chroma-Sub Sampling, Sampling Frequency, Raw Files, JPEG, MPEG,
H-264 And H-265; Resolution, Compression.

REFERENCES:
 Herbert Zettl, Video Basics, Wadsworth Cengage Learning, 2007

 Paul Wheeler, Digital Cinematography, Focal Press, 2002

 Ian David Aronson, DV Filmmaking from Start to Finish, O’Reilly 2006

 David Samuelson, Hands on Manual for Cinematographers, Focal Press, 1998

 MOTION PICTURE PHOTOGRAPHY
THEORY
UNIT I –
HISTORY & BASIC ASPECTS OF MOTION PICTURE
CAMERA
Brief History of Cinematography; Basic Construction Of Motion Picture Camera: Shutters And
Shutter Angle, Shutters & Shutter Speed & Frame Speed; Aspect Ratio, Hard Matting &Soft
Matting, Silent Era And Sound Era Camera Speeds, Blimp; Motors: Flicker Camera Motors.

UNIT II –
ANATOMY OF MOTION PICTURE CAMERAS
Film Gauges & Formats, Silent Film Speed And Sync Sound Speed, Film Magazines, And Coaxial
Magazine &Displacement Magazines Vs.Mitchell Magazine, Daylight Loading, Integrated Video
System, Gate & Pressure Plate, Locator Pin Or Registration Pin, Links, Servo Motors For Film
Drive;

UNIT III –
MOTION PICTURE CAMERAS& TECHNIQUES
Camera Through The Ages: Arriflex Cameras: Arri II, Arri III (3 Versions), Arri 435 (All Models),
Arri 535, Arri 16 Mm Cameras; Mitchell, Panavision, High Speed Cameras For Special
Applications; Techniques During Production: I Lenses & Data Recording; Panning Speeds; Ramping
Techniques: Shutter Angle Change, Linear and Exponential Ramping; Postproduction Techniques:
Digital Intermediate & 2-Perf, 3-Perf,4-Perf Pull Downs in Super 35mm And Super 16mm Cameras;
Negative And Positive Perforations

REFERENCES:
 Stephen Burum, American Cinematographer Manual (9th Edition), ASC, 2004
 David Samuelson, Hands on Manual for Cinematographers, Focal Press, 1998

 Kris Malkiewicz, Cinematography, Simon & Schuster (A Fireside Book), 2001

 Douglas C. Hart, The Camera Assistant: A Complete Professional Handbook, Focal Press,
1996
PRACTICALS :
Focus pulling, Pan, Tilt, Zoom, Moving shots hand held, Track & trolley practice…exterior & interior 3
Point Lighting Practice.

Work shop : Art direction workshop for 2 complete days from an expert from industry..Saturday &
Sundays.

PROJECT : ONLINE SHOOT

Online coverage of a 10-12 minute Talk-Show with three video cameras within a stipulated time of 4
hours. Direction students need to prepare the script.
 SEMESTER – 2/1
Cinematography

THEORY
UNIT I –
CAMERAS, FORMATS & TECHNIQUES
Digital Cameras: Arii Alexa, SI-2k, Genesis, Red One, Scarlet Motion Control Camera; Digital
Formats: S-35, Super 16 And Compatible Ratio; Image Size, Sensor Size,Field Of Coverage;
Recording On Chip Vs. Recording On Tape; Raw File And Compression Techniques: Aperture & F.
Stops, Depth of Field, Lens & Focal Length; Anamorphic Video, Frame Rate & Video Standards,
Video On Your Computer, Pixel Aspect Ratio; Monitors & View Finders

UNIT II –
DIGITAL IMAGE VS. FILM IMAGE:
Film vs. Video; Film Camera vs. HDTV Camera; SDTV And HDTV Cameras & Storage, Film
Camera Lenses In HDTV Camera; Scanning: 1K, 2K & 4K Scanning, High Resolution Projection
Systems, 3-D Cameras And Human Visual System, Cameroon Pace Camera, Low-cost And High
End Cameras; Film & Digital Intermediate; 3-2 Pull down (50Hz & 60 Hz for video), Digital
Standards & Display Standards; Image Sensor Vs. S-35

UNIT III –
PICTURE NEGATIVE& ELECTRICITY:
Negatives: 16mm, 35mm & 65mm; Tungsten vs. Daylight; Colour Film vs. Black & White Film:
Anatomy & Layers; Electricity: 3–Phase Generators And Power Requirements; Ohm’s Law,
Resistance In Parallel & Series; Use of Dimmers & Practical Lamps

REFERENCES:
 Herbert Zettl, Video Basics, Wadsworth Cengage Learning, 2007
 Paul Wheeler, Digital Cinematography, Focal Press, 2002

 Ian David Aronson, DV Filmmaking from Start to Finish, O’Reilly 2006

 David Samuelson, Hands on Manual for Cinematographers, Focal Press, 1998
PRACTICALS :
Analyze Dialogue sequences of various films by masters, execute dummy shoots with proper lighting
scheme of interiors, exteriors, various times of a day/night, It’s advised to visualize all in B/W rather
than color.

Workshop on sound recording with boom & lapel mikes, in this workshop students have to get the
knowledge of what sound track laying & mixing is.

Lighting practice of a small space where 3-4 characters movement is possible, places like kitchen, living
room, dining hall, corridor..etc are provided to students for practice both b/w & color motion picture
capture. Direction students can join in this practice to explore their ideas, Editing students can shape the
rush into a scene.

Workshop :
Introduction & Demonstration of various High End Cameras..i,e, RED,ALEXA. Visit of a production house
to check Different types of High End lights i.e HMI, Flicker free HMI,Sky panels, Dino, Dido, KINO,
Fresnal, Openface tungsten, Disco/DJ lights.

Workshop on Make-up & styling..3,4 days with an industry expert

PROJECT :
Picturise a Dialogue Exercise in B/W Format 4-5 min., No Camera Movement allowed i.e. No Pan, Tilt,
Zoom.
 SEMESTER – 2/2

VISUAL EFFECTS CINEMATOGRAPHY

(For both Direction, Cinematography & Editing )

THEORY:

UNIT I –
STORYBOARDING PRINCIPLES & TECHNIQUES
Storyboard Building:Planes & Perspective; Drawing Humans in Action & Human Proportions;
Design, Composition & Colour: Light, Shadow, Colour & Black & White, Design & Composition;
Illustrating Action in Storyboard; Animatics & the Future of Motion Control: Sequencing, Editing,
Special Effects & A Real World Animatics

UNIT II –
BLUE & GREEN MATTES & CGIs
Blue and Colour Screens: Uses & Techniques, Walking on Green Screen, Shooting Chrome on
Green Screen, Driving Shot, Shooting & Removing Green\Blue Screen, Screen Replacement &
Digital Time Slice Photography; Live Figures in CGI Background, High Dynamic Range Imaging,
Real Light & Software Simulation, Crowd Replication; Motion Control & CGI

UNIT III –
GLASS SHOT:
Modifying a Building; Adding Reflections to Shot; Sign Replacement; Changing Weather;
Removing Objects from the Frame; Removing Actor From the Scene; Location: Creating a 3D
Room, Scene Extensions, My Evil Twin, Cityscape Fly-Through Animation
UNIT IV –
ACTION, HORROR & SCIENCE FICTION EFFECTS
Action: Vehicle Explosions, Building Fire, Creating Realistic Gunplay, Cliffhangers & Tornadoes;
Horror Effects: Evil Eyes, Zombie Faces, Digital Dismemberment & Ghostly Apparitions; Science
Fiction Effects: Creating 3D Planet Earth, Alien Planets, Star fields & Light Speed, The
Disintegrating Man, Light Sabers, Morphing & 3D Spaceship Dogfight

REFERENCE:
 John Hart, The Art of the Storyboard, Focal Press, 2008

 Bill Byrne, The Visual Effects Arsenal: VFX Solutions for the Independent Filmmaker, Focal
press, 2009

 Mark Sawicki, Filming The Fantastic: A Guide to Visual Effects Cinematography, Focal
press, 2009

 Mitch Mitchell, Visual Effects for Film and Television, Focal press, 2004

PRACTICALS :
Analyze Mise-en-scene of various films by masters, plan & practice long take in various spaces in
collaboration with Cinematography students. Imparting Color psychology and technology into film is an
agenda here.

Crane, Track & Trolley, steady cam rigs, Gimbols used extensively.

Lighting practice to create mood and time of a day/night of spacious places with color gels & filters, 40-
60 kw lights provided for practice.

Workshop on drone usage…one day Demonstration

PROJECT :
Picturise a Mise-en-scene Exercise in color Format, we can have all types of movement in camera and it
has to be a single long take for 4,5 min.
 SEMESTER – 3/1

CINEMATOGRAPHIC STYLE & TECHNIQUES

THEORY:

UNIT I –
FILM SPACE& LENS LANGUAGE:
Cinematic Techniques: Subjective & Objective POVs, The Building Blocks Of Scenes; Character
Shots; The Fine Art of Cheating; The Master Scene Method; Transitions; Coverage, Plan Scene;
Hitchcock’s Rule; Triple Take & Overlapping Method, Montage & Mixture of Techniques; Lens
Language: Depth Of Field, Perspective, Deep Focus, Selective Focus& Image Control

UNIT II –
CAMERA DYANMICS:
Motivation And Invisible Technique; Types Of Moves; Moving Shots, Dolly Terminology, Cranes,
Car Shots, Aerial Shots, Track In/Out, & Use of Steady cam, Motion Control; Cinematic Continuity:
Content, Movement, Position, Time; Screen Direction: Breaking Rules, Reverse, Cheating the
Turnaround; Jump Cuts &Six Types Of Cuts; Exposure: ISO, Zone System, Gray Scale, Place &
Fall; Lighting as Storytelling: Film Noir & Visual Metaphor

UNIT III –
COLOUR THEORY:
Color Wheel: Hue, Chroma, Value; Film & Video Color Space; Controlling Color: Color
Temperature, Color Balance of Film, Color Separation, Correcting Light Balance, Light Balancing
Filters, Correcting Off-Color Lights, Stylistic Choices in Color Control

UNIT IV –
SET OPERATIONS & TECHNICAL ISSUES
Set Operations: The Shot List; Director of Photography; Camera Crew, Electricians & Set
Procedures; Technical Issues: Locating Sun Path With Compass, Flicker, Filming Practical Monitors,
Chroma Key & Ultimatte, Lighting for Blue & Green Screen, Working with Strobes, High Speed
Photography, Lighting for Extreme Close-up, Underwater Filming & Effects
 REFERENCES:
 Blain Brown, Cinematography: Theory & Practice, Focal Press, 2002

 Dennis Schaefer & Larry Salvato, Masters of Light: Conversations with Contemporary
Cinematographers, University of California Press, 1984

 Leonard Maltin, The Art of the Cinematographer: A Survey & Interview with Five Masters,
Dover, 1978

 Gerald Hirschfeld, Image Control: Motion Picture & Video Camera Filters & Lab
Techniques, Focal Press, 1992

PRACTICALS:
Analyzing various documentaries and realizing the difference between fiction and documentary.

Analyzing various types of documentaries by watching master film makers in documentary.

Practice shooting video in hand held, understand and adopt guerilla style of frilm making , where
minimal crew and equipment for production is sought over.

Practice lighting different products/props which are the main source of selling in advertising era. Study
& Explore various lighting techniques for metal,glass,cloth,,,etc products with extreme detail/Glamour.

PROJECT:
After lot of research & planning as a combined project with direction students make a documentary of
any desired issue/subject for a duration of 20 min.

As a combined project with direction students, make a 15 sec commercial or social advertisement on
any desired subject.

EXAMS /ASSESSMENT FOR ALL ABOVE SEMESTERS

:

THEORY EXAMS:
Students have to write answers for a given questionnaire.. 50 marks

PRACTICAL EXAMS:
Based on performance in Project , Attendance, Attitude…50 marks.
 SEMESTER – 3/2
Workshop on film music & song recording, Foley recording, importance of
background score & various mix technologies...2weeks.

Workshop on playback/song exercise for all students for 2 weeks, here we start
recording a song with lyrics, and we divide shots in consideration of rhythm and
choreography of the same, along with director, a choreographer from industry
join the workshop and demonstrate the whole process in shooting.

INTERNSHIP:
Students will undergo for an internship for a month under an industry expert of their concerned
stream, here they compare & contrast their film school learning/knowledge with actual field
experience. Students have to submit a certificate from the industry expert from where they
approached.

THESIS:
Students have to choose one of their desired master in film making from any industry of their
choice and make a serious study of his/her’s work, prepare a thesis, have to make a
presentation in front of the class where all students and faculty members present.

FINAL DIPLOMA PROJECT:

Students have to write/choose a script, in fiction, from which they have to travel the journey from script
to screen and finally submit the film for not more than 20min and less than 10min. As a part of the story,
a song/play back can be incorporated as a choice in the film for 3 minutes.

EXAMS /ASSESMENT :
Final Diploma 50 marks
Internship…25 marks
Thesis & Presentation..25 marks