As independent filmmakers, we’re always chasing that elusive “cinematic look.” The end goal is often to improve production values and create something akin to a high-end feature film, even on a tight budget. Filmmakers often look to the technical aspects of production (camera settings, recording formats, lighting science, etc.) as a means to achieve a more cinematic look and feel. But more often than not, it’s the creative choices that determine everything, not the technical ones.
For the record, I’m all for leveraging technical knowledge and tools to increase production value. I’ve written a lot about How to achieve a cinematic look when shooting digitallymost of which involve technical considerations—usually in the lighting, camera, or color departments. But in order for a film project to have a truly cinematic feel, it needs to offer audiences more than just the “look” of a film. It needs to evoke a certain mood or emotion in the audience on a subtextual level, which can only truly be created through careful creative decision-making. Technical aspects should only serve to enhance existing creative intent.
With that in mind, here are some key creative considerations to consider when making your next film:
non-traditional coverage
I’ve seen countless indie films that were beautifully shot, but ended up being covered in a way that looked more like a 90’s situation comedy than a feature film. Unfortunately, this one-size-fits-all approach can have a detrimental effect on the viewing experience and can detract from the originality of the film as a whole.
Coverage, of course, refers to the way you choose to shoot scenes during production, including how many angles are covered and how many scenes are shot from each angle. Many film schools teach their students a very standard type of coverage where a master shot captures the entire scene and then close-ups capture each actor’s dialogue or reaction shots. It’s a fairly basic approach that can work well at times, but in many cases the filmmakers fail to express their scenes in the most interesting way. This may be a wasted opportunity, as unique scene coverage is one of the most effective ways to make your movie more captivating and “cinematic.”
For example, instead of shooting the dinner table scene with a wide master shot and a close-up single shot of each actor, imagine shooting all the scenes in one take. As each character speaks, the camera can switch from one character to another, or it can stay on just one of the characters while leaving the others off screen. Both options tell the audience completely different things about the scene.
Using the same basic scene example above, you also have the option to shoot a lot of coverage for the scene, capturing lots of tiny detail shots – cutlery, chewed food, light bulbs buzzing, etc. in addition to extreme close-ups of the actors. This will allow you to create really crazy tones in the editing room.
There are virtually endless options when it comes to covering scenes, so don’t always feel like you need to preset the same traditional wide/close-up coverage every time. In some cases, standard coverage may be the best option…but oftentimes you’ll be better served by really identifying the core of your scene and then building your coverage around it.
Location and Art Department
It’s not uncommon for filmmakers to spend a lot of time on camera and lighting preparation and very little time on location, art direction, and set design. This unbalanced approach can result in a piece that looks pretty good on a technical level but is visually lackluster in other ways.
During pre-production, the time available is limited and must be balanced between many elements—casting, crew, location scouting, costumes, camera prep, script revisions, and more. The more time you spend in one area, the less time is left for another. If you focus too much on one area (usually the camera department), you’ll miss out on opportunities to develop a unique visual style for your film in other ways – most commonly in the choices of your location/art department.
Personally, I’d rather shoot with a DSLR in a gorgeous location with beautiful production design than shoot with an Alexa in a location that isn’t suitable for film. Don’t fall into the trap that many filmmakers do and get obsessed with their camera/lens package without paying attention to the bigger picture. I have made this mistake once and deeply regret it!
Let’s say you are the director of a project and you are responsible for the mood and tone that is conveyed to the audience. The locations you choose and the production design associated with those locations are absolutely crucial to the world you’re creating. At the end of the day, these choices will add tremendous value to your production that nothing else can make up for, so always prioritize them – even if it means cutting back on your budget in the camera department or other areas.
Create a visual language
Great films are able to express a unique visual language, identifiable themes, or other aesthetic qualities that result in an extremely unique viewing experience. These visual cues often stem from the thematic or moral center of the story and serve as constant, subtle reminders of the underlying message behind the film. Sometimes rules are set even before the shoot, which may dictate how to compose your shot, what focal length to use, and how to handle camera movement.
For example, a dramatic film about characters who feel isolated from society will have a very different visual language than a comedy film centered on a group of friends. In the previous example, the director might decide to always shoot the isolated protagonist in a single shot (no two shots or group shots), visually separating them from other characters who might be framed together. You may also decide to build certain shots with lots of headroom or negative space to make the protagonist feel very small.
These are just a few simple examples, there are no hard and fast rules when it comes to developing a visual style that may guide your film. You might choose to shoot everything on a single shot, or you might decide that all camera movement must be limited to dolly movement. Maybe you decide to light your main character differently than the other actors, or maybe you choose to use a wide-angle lens for all your close-ups….
Whatever decisions you make, always make sure they are in the best interest of the story’s moral center. Don’t make a decision just because it’s convenient or helps your movie look “better.” Instead, root them in the story’s thematic premise, allowing the audience to connect with your film on a subtextual level.
Limit editing
Not all discussions about the look of a film need to involve the production. There’s a lot you can do in a post-production suite to enhance the cinematic quality of your film – and I don’t mean just color grading. By the way, color grading is a great way to further enhance the visual style of a film, but for the purposes of this article, I want to focus on image editing.
Assuming you’re making a movie with reasonable coverage, you have the ability to completely reshape the tone of any given scene in the editing room. This is both a blessing and a curse. Many filmmakers feel the need to use as much of their footage as possible in their edits, just because it was shot or because it looks good. But for the most part, a more restrained and purposeful approach to editing works best for the film.
Imagine you are editing a scene where character A enters a room to talk to character B, who looks depressed and stares out the window. If you shoot a lot of coverage, you might choose to do an obvious shot in the editing room – starting with a wide shot of Character A walking in, then switching to a close-up once Characters A and B’s conversation begins. This might work…but what if you did the opposite? What if you started the scene with a close-up of Character B and kept it there for a long time? You might only start using a wide shot in the middle of a conversation between two characters, during a tense moment. This would be a less traditional, less expected choice that might make more sense for the scene.
This is of course just a theoretical example, but the point is that you should always be looking for ways to rework scenes in the editing room. Sometimes a more traditional approach to scene editing may work best, but you’ll never feel the need to use every coverage in your edit. Doing so may result in you cutting the scene in a more generic way that is much less powerful and less specific to your story.
creative sound design
While this article is primarily about the “look” of a film, there is arguably no better way to enhance the visual feel of a film than to combine it with powerful sound design.
Many filmmakers think of the sound design process as primarily technical, and in many ways it can be that way. That said, sound design (and music) affects an audience’s emotions more than anything else, which is why it needs to be taken into account early in the creative process. It should never be an afterthought.
Great sound design starts in pre-production. A director who has a strong vision for his film has very clear ideas early on about how to sound in post. Take, for example, a movie like “Bang the Drummer.” The film’s treatment of sound was so intense that it won the film an Oscar for sound editing, and much of its success in the sound department can be traced to the script – in which key sound design choices were actually written script. From the beginning of development and pre-production, an in-depth description of how sound would fit into the film was given, ultimately creating an aural experience that greatly enhanced the execution of the story.
Whiplash is certainly a unique example in that it takes place in the world of music and so naturally focuses on sound. With this in mind, we can all learn something from this attention to detail, and we should all look for ways to create original soundscapes that relate to our stories and themes to enhance the overall viewing experience.
final thoughts
There are countless ways to make your movie look and feel more “cinematic.” A lot of it is technical, but as much as the idea, a harmonious marriage between creative intent and technical execution will make your project feel more cinematic or cinematic – whatever that means to you personally…
It’s always important to start your process with creative decisions rather than technical ones. Your first step should be to identify the theme or moral center of your story. From there, ask yourself some important creative questions about visual, editing, and sound choices that might further enhance or at least support your thematic premise. From there, you can move onto the technical side and ensure that any technical decisions made fully support the creative choices that are already in place.
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