Master Shots Vol 1, 2nd Edition: 100 Advanced Camera Techniques to Get an Expensive Look on Your Low-Budget Movie

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Jordan (DiCaprio) navigates the chaos of his world with ease, which supports both strong character development and the theme of The Wolf of Wall Street.

Master shots are complemented by other camera angles that cover specific detail within the scene, including establishing shots, low shots, close-ups, and medium shots. If you have a truly complex master shot, it should be able to work on its own, even from the very beginning of the shot.That’s because the purpose of the master shot is to cover your entire scene so that you have, at the very least, one shot that can eliminate possible gaps in your edit. Master shots have the power to immerse an audience into the cinematic experience like no other shot because of their realism and action. Last year I worked on a comedy that has a scene set at a school play, the main action taking place in the audience. Also, while it’s not a necessity to dive in deep, I’d highly recommend that any aspiring filmmaker or cinematographer at least learn enough about film and video editing to understand how scenes are constructed in the post-production process.

Just set up your lighting and staging, find the optimal angle to film the action, and start rolling. Let’s examine the differences between the master shot and other shots for which it’s often confused.If you can start with the master and feel good about having at least one or two solid master shot takes, you can then explore moving into the more cinematic shots, like the many that you can see above. Howard’s End (1992): In one exterior master shot, director James Ivory stages his two leads, Henry Wilcox (Anthony Hopkins) and Margaret Schlegel (Emma Thomason), in the garden outside the film’s namesake house. But there’s not much use for these other shots in filmmaking unless they’re balanced against a high-quality master shot. So, I was wondering how should I plan my short so I can have a fluid editing and enough time to shoot it. Wildly successful, he was obviously compelled to revise and publish a 2nd edition, which is what I'm reviewing now.

A great read if you want to expand your mental archive of shots, but if you are just starting out I would recommend some other more in-depth books. This is particularly true if you shoot in 4K, which has such high resolution that you can zoom in on any part of the frame and still have fantastic image quality. In addition to including his protagonists, Ivory’s master shot includes the namesake house and its gorgeous English gardens.A master shot is the principal camera shot that a director and cinematographer use when filming a particular scene. The printing quality is woeful, and much squinting and peering is required to make sense of any darker stills. Narratively, this is fitting since Welles’ character is the object that all other parts of the film gravitate toward. Your master shot will show you if your lighting is right or wrong, which is crucial to know from the jump.