The Cinematographer's Process (Part 1):

Breaking Down the Script

Most people know what the cinematographer does
on a set. However, have you ever wondered what
exactly cinematographers do during the
pre-production process? What about what they do
once the production has wrapped? Over the course
of the next few months, No Film School will put out
a series of articles that describe in detail the
various steps that a cinematographer and his team
must complete in order to take a project from a
script to a finely tuned finished product. Today's
post: taking a script and breaking it down for
technical, subtextual, and character concerns.

Earlier this month I was hired to DP a short science

fiction film called Pater (latin for "father"). Since the
film provides a number of unique cinematographic
and special effects challenges (especially
considering the minuscule budget,) it seemed
prudent to write about the process from start to
finish. Hopefully we'll be able to demystify the
many facets of cinematography pre and post
production, and by the end, have a distinct and
in-depth definition of the cinematographer's
process.
So what is Pater about? In short, it's the story of
two extraterrestrial beings, the Progenitor, who is
wise and stoic, yet rapidly aging, and Janus, who is
toeing the line between childhood and adulthood.
Together they are searching desperately for an
advanced civilization that has not engineered its
own demise.
Planet after planet, and disappointment after
disappointment, the pair are now locked onto a
signal coming from a mysterious tan planet. They
land, and search the desolate city from which the
signal is coming, only to have their worst fears
realized. They were too late. With the Progenitor's
health failing rapidly, the pair receive a transmission
from one final planet, and they know that it is their
last hope.

Script Breakdowns? For

Cinematographers?
Script breakdowns are a fact of life for UPMs,
various folks in the art department, actors looking
for character arcs and beats etc. However, script
breakdowns aren't often considered part of the
traditional cinematography pre-production process.
They should be.
Shane Hurlbut once said something along the lines
of, "If you make every choice as a cinematographer
based on the emotions of your characters, you will
hit a home run every single time. Everything about
cinematography is emotion." Hurlbut is 100%
correct in this statement, but achieving
cinematographic emotion isn't as simple as
pointing the camera in the direction of a great
performance. It takes an intimate knowledge of the
characters and the overall subtext of the film. The
only way to achieve this, of course, comes from
spending a little bit of quality alone time with the
script.

This is where the script breakdown comes into

play. It doesn't have to be anything like a traditional
script breakdown, where you mull through scenes
and categorize every little detail. No, your
cinematographic breakdowns can be anything you
want -- a word document, notes in a script margin,
a pile of sticky notes -- literally anything, as long as
it can be filed into a production notebook for future
reference. I do, however, recommend keeping your
script breakdown as organized as possible so that
it is accessible to other members of the visual
team.
With all of that said, let's finally get into the process
of how to break down a script as a
cinematographer. However, before getting into the
nitty gritty of how to determine the emotionality of
your script, let's talk about the very first thing that
you should do upon reading a script.
The Technical Breakdown
The technical breakdown is just what it sounds like.
It's a process in which you scan the script for
technical issues and viability based on the budget
of the film. Scan through the script, line by line, and
look for instances of actions or entire scenes that
may be difficult to achieve in a technical sense. Do
you have extended scenes that need to be shot on
location, or at night? Do you have extensive
practical or digital effects shots? Do you need to rig
a camera to the side of a blimp (for some reason?)
Whatever it is, if it's going to be technically
challenging for the electric, grip, camera, or any
other department, write it down and point it out.
Getting these various concerns into the minds of
the appropriate people as soon as possible is an
absolutely crucial step. As the DP, you are
expected to be prepared, and to help the
production prepare, for the various technical
challenges that a film faces. And the earlier that
you start looking for and pointing out said technical
challenges to the production team, the better off
the production is going to be. Additionally, you'll
want to make sure the technical problems and
solutions that you come across are ones with
which you are familiar. If not, it's time to start doing
some research.
The script of Pater has numerous technical
challenges beyond the daunting task that we've
laid at the feet of our art department. First and
foremost, digital effects and compositing will play a
large role in the post-production of the film.
Because I'm relatively inexperienced with digital
VFX (it's important to know your weaknesses,) my
technical breakdown of the script includes notes on
shots that will definitely require extensive green
screen work, or for plates to be shot in post.
Through meeting with the VFX supervisor and
discussing how to achieve our effects shots this
early in the process, we are setting ourselves up for
success.

This leads us to the next, and arguably the most

important step of the cinematographer's process:
analyzing the script for subtext.
Subtext Analysis
Finding the subtext of a script is a very personal
process, and no two people will do it the same
way. Personally, I use what I call the "Three Pass"
method, in which I read through the script three
separate times, taking a different approach each
time. The first pass is about working in broad
strokes. I read through the script from cover to
cover without making any notes until the end, at
which point I jot down the overarching subtextual
themes that are prevalent throughout the script.
In the second pass, I go through and find individual
instances (certain lines, actions, etc) that support
the original analysis from the first pass. This pass is
essential because it forces you to find important
subtextual moments in the script, moments which
you will certainly want to highlight through your
cinematographic choices later on in the process.
The third and final pass is sort of a clean-up pass,
in which I try to find other, more concealed
subtextual content that might not be essential to
the plot. Of course, whatever you find throughout
the process of searching the script should be
discussed with the director so as to avoid conflicts
of interpretation.
The subtext of Pater is twofold. First and
foremost, Pater is a cautionary tale for humans. As
we see the desolation of a similarly advanced
civilization, and with the knowledge that countless
other advanced civilizations have destroyed
themselves, we humans should be asking
ourselves if our planet will meet the same fate, and
more importantly, if there's anything we can do to
stop it.
Secondly, Pater is a film about parent/child
relationships, and the responsibilities that parents
have to teach their children how to survive in their
absence. However, this subtextual thread takes on
additional weight as these two characters might
just be the last two living beings in the entirety of
the universe. Add to that the fact that the
Progenitor is on the verge of death, and you have a
situation in which the stakes for the
teaching/learning aspect of the pair's relationship
couldn't possibly be higher.
Character Breakdowns
In Shane Hurlbut's statement about how to achieve
cinematographic emotion, he said that the choices
you make with your camera and lighting need to be
based on the emotions of the characters. In order
to do this, it is essential to have an immaculate
understanding of what each character is feeling
and thinking at any given moment in the script.

Again, the process for determining this is a

personal one. You can go through the script, line by
line, and jot down notes about each character as
you go. Every time that character speaks or
completes an action, you should be asking yourself
what their motivation is, what they're trying to
accomplish, and what emotional state they're in.
Using as much detail as you can will ensure that
your understanding of the script's emotionality is
as high as it can be.
In addition to picking apart the script line by line,
you should also be considering the character's arcs
as a whole. Where does this character start in the
script? More importantly, where do they end up,
and what was the series of events that got them
there? Having a clear understanding of your
character arcs as a whole will help tremendously in
the process of helping to tell that story in a way
that is visual and meaningful.
Conclusion

Cinematographers are responsible for conveying

emotion and meaning through the images that they
create. This might be one of the most challenging,
yet artful tasks known to man, as it takes a
tremendous understanding of emotion and
technical precision in order to be able to
accomplish it properly. Through analyzing the script
for technical concerns, subtextual themes, and
character emotion, you are setting up yourself, and
the work that you produce, to be successful.

he
Cinematographer'
s Process (Part 2):
Defining Your
Camera Strategy

Cinematography is the art of making informed

visual decisions in the pursuit of telling a story.
After breaking down your script for emotionality,
subtext, and character arcs, you can begin making
informed visual decisions in the process of building
what I call the "cinematographic visual concept".
This document (or series of documents) lays out, in
specific terms, your plan for conveying the
subtextual and emotional overtones of the story,
using the cinematographic tools of lighting and
camera. In today's post, we'll talk about how to
take subtext and turn it into an informed strategy
for using the camera to its full storytelling potential:
The Cinematographer's Process series is meant to
be a study in not only the concepts of
cinematography, but in the practical application of
these concepts. In order to accomplish this, I'll be
talking about these broad concepts within the
context of a film that I am currently in the process
of DP-ing. The film is called Pater, and for those of
you who missed the previous installment of the
series, which talked about script breakdowns for
cinematographers, here's a rundown of the film's
plot and its subtext:

Pater is the story of two extraterrestrial beings, the

Progenitor, who is wise and stoic, yet rapidly aging,
and Janus, who is toeing the line between
childhood and adulthood. Together they are
searching desperately for a planet with an
advanced civilization that has not engineered its
own demise. Planet after planet, and
disappointment after disappointment, the pair are
now locked onto a signal coming from a mysterious
tan planet.
In a subtextual sense, Pater is first and foremost a
cautionary tale for humans in that these "dead
planets" that the pair discover are allegorical
stand-ins for earth. However, the emotional core
of Pater is the relationship between these two
wayward individuals. It's a film about parent/child
relationships, and the responsibilities that parents
have to teach their children how to survive in their
absence.

With all of that said, let's get to meat and potatoes

of this post: creating a well-informed visual
concept for your film!
What is a Visual Concept?
The idea of the visual concept is a simple one. It is
essentially a definitive strategy for how you plan to
visualize your characters' emotions alongside the
subtext of the film. The term visual concept can
mean entirely different things depending on the
department, however. In the art department, it has
to do with the physical creation of a unique world in
which the characters can exist. For
cinematographers and their crew, on the other
hand, the visual concept has to do with using the
two primary tools at our disposal, camera and
lighting.
Some visual concepts are written out in vague,
overarching terms that describe the tone and mood
of the piece, rather than with the specifics of how
to achieve those things visually. Personally, I try to
be as specific as possible, at least as specific as
one can be early on in the pre-visualization
process, so that I can begin to effectively
communicate visual ideas with the various people
within my department like the gaffer, key grip, cam
op, etc. The more specific information I can give
them early on, the better everyone's understanding
will be as to the cinematographic goals of the
production, and how we intend to achieve those
goals.
My process for building a visual concept starts with
determining the key subtextual thread that you
want to work from in the film. This gives you
something concrete on which to make all of your
visual decisions. In Pater, despite the fact that the
film is meant to act as a cautionary tale so that
humans don't destroy themselves, the emotional
core of the film lies in the relationship between the
young Janus and the rapidly aging Progenitor.
Through focusing on the subtext of this humanistic
father-child relationship, we hope to engage the
audience in the emotionality of the film, rather than
the message.
Now that we know which subtextual thread to
focus on, let's get started with the creation of the
first half of the visual concept, the camera strategy.
The Camera Strategy
The camera strategy is, without a doubt, one of the
most expansive and important pieces of visual
pre-production that you will do as a DP. The
strategy can be broken down into numerous
different subsections or categories, but there are a
few that are absolutely essential. They are format,
composition, and movement. However, you can
certainly use additional categories (such as lenses,
focus, filtration, etc) in order to tailor your camera
strategy to your individual film.
Format: This refers to the capture medium which is
best for the film. Will you shoot on film, or will you
shoot digitally? What will the film or sensor size be
(s16, s35, full frame, 70mm), and why? If shooting
on film, what stock or stocks will you use? If you're
shooting digitally, which picture profiles or LUT's
will be applied? What resolution will you shoot at,
and why?
For Pater we are choosing to shoot digitally with
Sony's F5.  The primary reason for this is the
absolutely absurd sensitivity of that camera, which
sits at a whopping 2000 native ISO, and stays
relatively clean even at 6400. Since we'll be
shooting in some extremely dark environments
(missile silos, abandoned granite quarries), that
extra sensitivity will allow us to build a good portion
of our lighting into our custom-designed space
suits and augment with small, battery-powered
units so as to avoid the need for a generator.
CISSP® Certification
Higher pass rates than all official CISSP® Courses. 7-Day Boot
Camp

infosecinstitute.com/C.I.S.S.P.

Another reason for the F5 is that the image from

the camera is relatively clean and sterile straight
out of the camera. This is perfect for the space ship
set that we're building because the sterility of the
image can be used to enhance and augment the
physical sterility of the character's environment.
Lastly, despite the fact that the film will be
mastered in 2K, it will be shot in 4K with Sony's R5
recorder. The additional resolution is important
because not only is oversampled 2K cleaner and
more detailed than native 2K (which will help with
the sterile aesthetic described above,) but because
there are certain shots throughout the film that will
require tremendous amounts of compositing. With
that additional resolution, we are giving our VFX
artists a template on which they can be as precise
as possible.
Composition: How will you compose your images,
and how will those compositions convey the
underlying subtext of you film? This all starts with
choosing the aspect ratio of your film, something
which I've talked about extensively in previous
posts.
Once you've found your ratio, you need to decide
how you'll frame your characters and why. Will you
shoot from low angles, high angles, or from eye
level? Will you frame in closeups or will you stay
wide, and why? How will you utilize negative space
in the frame? How will you utilize depth?

With Pater we chose to go with a classic

widescreen 2.39 aspect ratio because of the
additional negative space that the wide framing
provides. Because Pater is a story about loneliness,
in that our characters might be utterly alone in the
universe, we can place our characters at the
extreme edges of the frame and use the negative
space to visually portray their isolation from each
other.
In our exterior shots, when the pair explore the tan
planet, a good deal of that sequence will be framed
with extreme wides (with the characters minuscule
in the frame) in order to emphasize that sense of
loneliness in the universe and to foreshadow the
fact that their journey to this planet won't end as
they hoped.
Since we are focusing on the relationship aspect of
the film, a good portion of our scenes will play out
in moving or static master shots that will allow the
character relationships to be conveyed through
blocking. Well-composed wide frames with various
levels of depth can be an extremely powerful tool
for conveying the power dynamic in these types of
relationships, but it is essential for the blocking to
be well-established ahead of time.
Movement: What stabilization method do you
intend to use for your film? Sticks. Steadicam,
dolly, jib, handheld? How will one of (or a
combination of) these methods help you tell your
story and emphasize your characters' emotions in a
visual way? What kinds of camera movements will
you employ, and why? Will the camera stay locked
down; or will you have subtle movements? Fluid
movements or frenetic movements?

CISSP® Certification
Higher pass rates than all official CISSP® Courses. 7-Day Boot
Camp
infosecinstitute.com/C.I.S.S.P.

Pater is inherently a story about emotional restraint.

The Progenitor, despite the emotional shit-storm
that he is going through, is, for the most part, able
suppress these emotions and act rationally. That is,
until the sobering reality of the pair's situation,
coupled with his failing health, causes a powerful
and emotionally charged catharsis, the likes of
which one would not have thought possible from
such a stoic character.
In order to mirror this emotional journey, we intend
to keep movement to a bare minimum (on sticks
and a dolly) through the first part of the film, the
part in which the Progenitor is stoically disengaged
with the tremendous emotional implications of his
illness. Through moving the camera very slowly
(almost imperceptibly) during this segment of the
film, we can visually convey the emotional
undercurrent without explicitly stating it.
However, when the Progenitor goes into
catharsis-mode, so does the camera. Through a
subtle use of frenetic POV handheld work, we can
both emphasize and mirror this man's emotional
state, thus hopefully making the audience feel the
same thing.
Lenses and Filters: What kind of lenses will you use
for the film? What focal lengths are best suited for
your characters. and why? How will the
compression of space and depth of field help you
to tell your story? How will you set your aperture,
and why? Will you use any creative filtration (such
as contrast or mist filters) in front of the lens? Why?

Because of the Progenitor's emotional restraint

characterization discussed above, we are also
going to mimic his shift from stoic and clinically dry
to cathartic through our lens choice. The first part
of the film will be lensed relatively wide, with the
masters playing out at 18 or 21mm, the OTS
coverage with a 35mm, and close-ups and inserts
with a sparsely used 50mm. This wide-ish
perspective will be maintained until our moments of
catharsis, where we will shift to the longer lenses,
such as the 85 and 135mm.
In terms of the type or brand of lenses that we're
using, the plan right now is to shoot with Zeiss's
CP.2's because of their crisp, high contrast look
and relative affordability. Ideally, I would use Master
Primes for a project like this, but believe me when I
tell you that those things are goddamn expensive.
Too expensive, in fact, so CP.2's it is.
Lastly, with the exception of ND's and the
occasional polarization filter, we will not be using
any creative filtration effects like color casts or Pro
Mist or anything of the sort. The clean, high
contrast look that we are going for can be easily
accomplished through the camera choice and the
lenses.
Summary
As you can see, creating a solid camera strategy is
a vital step in the cinematography pre-production
process. Through making these types of technical
and creative decisions based on the script, the
subtext, and most importantly, the emotionality of
the characters, you are setting yourself up for
success, and you are allowing the cinematography
to be a powerful aspect in the telling of your story.
With that said, the camera strategy is just one half
of the cinematographer's visual concept. Next up:
the lighting strategy!