We are Rolling! The Photography Stage of the Filmmaking Process & Bringing a Movie to Life
The saying that a picture is worth a thousand words implies that a picture can do in its stillness what it would take many, many words to achieve.
Photography is often something seen as a hobby, or reserved for those who have been fortunate and talented enough to make a professional career of capturing and creating images.
But what photography brings to the filmmaking process and overall depth of a story that a film tells is much more than a hobby or pretty pictures. Photography, when it pertains to filmmaking, also sometimes gets grouped in with the production phase of filmmaking when in reality it deserves its moment to shine.
In this seven part blog series on filmmaking, we’ve been diving into the seven stages of film production and what it takes to bring a motion picture to the big screen.
So far we’ve covered:
1. Development
3. Production
4. Photography
5. Wrap
6. Post-Production
7. Distribution
In the first few blogs in this mini-series, we began analyzing how a film begins to come to life from the very beginning — development. In those blogs, you’ll find a thorough breakdown of how films begin from simple ideas, that move to script format and then to pre-production and productions, following a detailed production schedule.
This blog is the fourth in our filmmaking series and covers movie photography.
One would argue that the photography stage of film production is one of the most expensive aspects of creating a movie. This stage is also the most intricate from a visionary perspective.
The photography crew in film production is tasked with creating emotion in the visual environment that accompanies the verbal script and actors’ lines. Such importance doesn’t come without due process.
That’s right, a process within a filmmaking process! In the photography stage, that includes:
- Preparation
- Main Filming, and
- B-roll Footage.
Preparation Makes Perfect
If you’ve been following along with our previous blogs, then you will have noticed a couple of common themes that continue to arise throughout the filmmaking process:
- The importance of preparation
- Creating and adhering to a budget, and
- How sticking to a schedule is vital to the success of the film.
Preparation makes perfect and is a filmmaker and crew’s best friend, hanging out throughout the entire filmmaking process.
So how does that translate during photography?
By now, a detailed shot list, schedule and script has been distributed to everyone involved with bringing the film to life.
Actors and crew alike take their places on set and are ready to make the magic happen.
And that’s where photography gets to shine.
Known on set as principal photography, this stage can actually be executed live on the set or recreated in a studio, depending on what was planned for in the budget. Generally, aspects that help filmmakers and investors in the project decide include location, permits and other fees. Props and transportation (for the crew) to the filming location are heavily considered when regarding the budget for shot locations.
As you might imagine, much more planning is required when photography is done live, on location, while studio photography warrants the comfort of control and budget when it comes to travel costs, props, etc. In a live setting, more planning and preparation is needed when considering weather and/or terrain setbacks. However, most of these preferences will have been chosen as early as in the development stage and certainly finalized during pre-production.
Picture Me Rolling
As previously mentioned, it is no secret that photography is the most expensive aspect of filmmaking. This is largely in part due to salaries for the actors, directors and crew.
Major motion pictures work with actors and contracts to set aside a hefty chunk of the budget to pay actors, but much more goes into a scene than paid talent.
In fact, the primary filming objective is to capture all the footage, stills, different takes and other photography needed to create a scene in its entirety.
Photography is the point of no return for investors and producers in the filmmaking process. The prep is over, sets have been built, and contracts negotiated.
When the film starts rolling, the shot schedule is in full action.
Photography is masterfully incorporated to capture what words cannot accomplish and truly sets the emotional tone while telling the visual story together and independently from the lines being spoken.
Angles, lighting, and positioning of actors, environment, props — and so much more — are all a part of creating the perfect shot.
When filming, multiple shots are done on a single day or at one time — scenes are filmed in a sequence to get the most from the budget — not in the story line order.
The B-Roll
Graphics quality and the attention paid to even the finest details continue to become more and more fascinating with the advancement of photography.
Think about those aerial views that make one feel inside the movie, or the knot in your stomach as we hang on the edge of our seat in anticipation of the main character’s parachute opening just in time!
Much of this type of footage is not actually captured during the actual shot with the actor involved, but rather pieced together — like a puzzle — in post-production.
The b-roll are all the scenes that are not included in the main action, and generally don’t include the lead actors and/or subjects interacting with one another or the camera. This footage is added to those scenes later to bring them fully to life.
Before the advancement in digital video/photography, b-roll footage was a major contender in finessing a film’s nuances and tying the entire visual story together.
What was previously used to splice different footage together to create a cohesive scene has now become tools for post-production and aligning the budget. B-roll footage is used for smoothing the transitions between scenes and reframing the shot without losing the entire scene. When all the photography comes together with the acting incorporated, we get what would be considered a rough draft of the film!
Conclusion
Photography in filmmaking is its own artform. It is thought-provoking, and when done well, seamlessly brings the visual aspect of the story to life, right before our eyes.
However, as you now better understand, achieving a seamless visual story isn’t simple.
The photography stage in filmmaking is carefully planned and curated. This consideration and attention to detail, as well as the intricate process of creating the shots gives audiences more than a mere film. Photography creates the type of stimulating visual experience movie-lovers crave.
None of it is possible without meticulous preparation and planning before and during cameras rolling!
When filming a movie’s footage the videographer must adapt and execute the shot needed to create the right context of the scene. A perfectly curated scene incorporates both the main filming footage and photography, with the b-roll footage supporting a director’s artistic view.
How’s that for movie magic? Don’t miss next week’s blog as we continue diving into what it takes to bring a movie to life.
To learn more about ritestream and how our media ecosystem in Web3 is transforming the creation, monetization and consumption of film & tv content via the Blockchain and NFTs visit restream.io.
RITE tokens are now live and available for purchase on the following exchanges:
We also invite you to join our Discord: https://discord.com/invite/RJPj522Qccand our Telegram Group: https://t.me/ritestream where you can find information on how to participate in the ritestream vision.
