Six Feet Under, Photography and filming style.

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Incubi
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Six Feet Under, Photography and filming style.

Post by Incubi »

Did anyone else watch the show Six Feet Under? If not, it is about a family that lives in a funeral home. Each episode begins with a death that ends up in the funeral home and is somehow related to the story of that episode. The series was shot with 35 mm film. The last part is something of a curiosity for me.

I could go on about how amazing the writing is, but I am at the moment wondering about the filming style. The show was filmed in 35 mm, and each scene looks like a moving photograph. Do films use the same basic principles of shooting a photograph, and I just noticed it more because this show was shot in 35 mm? Or is this just part of the artsy style of this show? Photography does play a role in many of the plots.

I don't know much about film, but have been studying photography recently and my curiosity is peeked about this aspect of the show.
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Post by Reido »

Speaking as an experienced amateur still photographer I can say that film does have a unique look to it, even among different types of film formulations compared to digital (which has it's own differences from one brand of sensor to another), however most of the uniqueness of film tends to disappear after post processing.

I would say that the 'look' of the Six Feet Under series has more to do with creative lighting/camera techniques as well as the lens focal length selection (the effects of which can range from subtle to very noticeable).

For instance if you take a photo of a person from the head down to mid chest where the subject takes up 50% of the frame and you take a shot with a telephoto from far away the subject and background will look VERY different than if you take the same shot from closer with a wide angle lens, it all depends on what kind of effect you want to achieve.

Most television and films stick to a very narrow range of 'safe' lighting and camera techniques usually because there's no budget/time to experiment or get creative so that when a movie or TV series does something out of the ordinary it tends to stand out.

The lighting of a scene can have a huge effect on the mood or what you want the viewer to focus on.

That last point is key, you want whatever technique you use (camera technique, lighting, motion in the case of film/video...etc) to draw the viewers attention to a particular part of the frame and then possibly have a natural tendency to move around the frame if needed.

And to finally answer your question, (sorry I do tend to ramble on) yes the techniques used in still photography are the same with moving film or video. I now have digital still cameras that have a sensor that's the same size as 35mm film, so lens of the same focal length have the same effect on both.

Anyway, I apologize about the wall of text, I haven't had a good think about photography in a while :D


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Post by Incubi »

Reido wrote:Speaking as an experienced amateur still photographer I can say that film does have a unique look to it, even among different types of film formulations compared to digital (which has it's own differences from one brand of sensor to another), however most of the uniqueness of film tends to disappear after post processing.

I would say that the 'look' of the Six Feet Under series has more to do with creative lighting/camera techniques as well as the lens focal length selection (the effects of which can range from subtle to very noticeable).

For instance if you take a photo of a person from the head down to mid chest where the subject takes up 50% of the frame and you take a shot with a telephoto from far away the subject and background will look VERY different than if you take the same shot from closer with a wide angle lens, it all depends on what kind of effect you want to achieve.

Most television and films stick to a very narrow range of 'safe' lighting and camera techniques usually because there's no budget/time to experiment or get creative so that when a movie or TV series does something out of the ordinary it tends to stand out.

The lighting of a scene can have a huge effect on the mood or what you want the viewer to focus on.

That last point is key, you want whatever technique you use (camera technique, lighting, motion in the case of film/video...etc) to draw the viewers attention to a particular part of the frame and then possibly have a natural tendency to move around the frame if needed.

And to finally answer your question, (sorry I do tend to ramble on) yes the techniques used in still photography are the same with moving film or video. I now have digital still cameras that have a sensor that's the same size as 35mm film, so lens of the same focal length have the same effect on both.

Anyway, I apologize about the wall of text, I haven't had a good think about photography in a while :D


Reido
On this subject I you can write a book and I wouldn't mind :D I recently discovered that I should have looked into photography years ago! I am falling in love with it. Thank you for that thoughtful post. I have a canon 40d and a rebel t2 film. ( some lenses are compatible with both :D ) I am looking forward to a 6d, but am waiting until after I get further along photography for that investment,
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Post by Terre »

If I were to offer any advice, it would be to get yourself a good quality colour match card, example along with a greyscale, example. Before each set of shots, set out the greyscale, in the scene lighting and take a light reading, then, if using a digital camera set the cameras white balance using the colour card, or if using film, take a reference image. This method will give you set starting point for each set of images.
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Post by Reido »

The best advice I can give is to concentrate on the art of photography and less on the equipment.

Know the basic rules of composition (when to use them and just as important when it's a good idea not to use them) and camera techniques and the strengths and weaknesses of the equipment you have to make the most of it, but don't get too caught up in specs. and acquiring the latest gear, I've been caught in that trap myself from time to time, just check out the forum at FredMiranda.com and you'll be hard pressed to find a thread that isn't about gear talk. Quite often when I talk to another amateur photographer it always seems to be a monumental task to steer the conversation away from the gear and more about the art of photography.

As the old saying goes "limitation breeds creativity". For some people (myself included) equipment limitations often lead to creative ways around the limitations of gear, sometimes leading to very interesting and creative results. With a good base of knowledge to work from you can do amazing work with inexpensive basic equipment.

I quite often go out on a camera walk with only one fixed focal length lens, that focuses my brain to look for compositions that fit that lens or if I see a subject that's really good that I just have to get a shot of then I have to find a creative way to make it work with the lens that I brought with me which sometimes leads to an interesting photo that I would have never taken if I had brought a zoom lens or a different length lens. I have professional grade gear but it only helps the creative precess in very limited situations and my photos were just as interesting when I had a 3.1Mp pocket camera, there's certainly things I can do now that couldn't with that camera such as isolating a subject with a shallow depth of field or shooting an eagle at 10fps as it swoops down to catch a fish , but the equipment only gets you so far, after that it's your knowledge and creative ability that really improves your photos.

Here's a good one. Find a VERY small capacity memory card (getting harder to find these days) for your digital camera and go out for an afternoon and make EVERY shot count (no on camera deleting of bad shots) as you'll be limited in the number you can take just as if you only had 1-2 rolls of film to use. This really makes you think about every shot carefully as you have to slow down and think it through.

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Post by Terre »

Reido wrote:Quite often when I talk to another amateur photographer it always seems to be a monumental task to steer the conversation away from the gear and more about the art of photography.
Agreed, try it! fail, look at the results, learn, try again. The first setting I look for on any new camera is manual, if the image does not work, it is my fault. Thirty plus years of failure have taught me to keep it simple and work from the foundations I mentioned earlier.
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Post by Incubi »

What is hard is finding my own voice, and remembering composition. I am too new to have my own style... yet.

I agree about the equipment, in fact I use my nokia lumia 1020 a lot just to get used to the idea of not relying on equipment to take good pictures. As far as cell phones go it is one of the better cameras, but no where near a dslr. I just want the 6d because it is a full frame dslr at the best cost / performance. Also as a reward for getting my certificates :D I agree that I do not need that yet. But you have to admit a field trip with a 40d for telephoto, film camera for black and whites, a 6d for full frame shots, and a lumia 1020 for point and shoot, is a pretty sweet setup for a newbie :D Also since the 6d rebel t2, 6d, and 40d share most ef lenses, I get to save on lenses in the long run.

I remember my instructor had me set my aperture to 1.8 and focus all the way out. I then had to take pictures with just that setting for two hours. It is a great exercise. But that was very limiting! I think that was the point.

For the grey/gray card I have a lens cloth that is grey and fits in a little keying holder shaped like a camera lens heh. I haven't got a color match yet, but that is a good idea. I learn more about colors in the spring semester.

The thing about Six Feet under is that it seems you can pause at any moment, and your looking at a great photo! Just watching it makes me want to grab my camera and go shoot at a cemetery lol.

As for amateurs talking equipment. I think it is because we haven't found a voice yet, have limited equipment ( in our minds at least ) and are still learning techniques and technical things, so our minds are on the technology. are just eager to have better as we learn more. Those thread that act as if the equipment is what makes the art, can be very annoying I very much agree.

That was a lot of great advice and information, thank you both. Heh wouldn't a community photography thread be fun :D

I have taken a liking to taking black and whites of my white cats.

[ external image ]

And I do like to take landscape pictures.

[ external image ]
I need experience with colors I think that is way over saturated. The real world is not that pretty.
[ external image ]
Same house as above, Not an easy shot, but it is my kids favorite :D

But I want to do weird stuff.

[ external image ]

I took this one with a nokia lumia 1020

[ external image ]

Another assignment I had was to use a film camera, choose a famous photographer, and take homage pictures. I choose Richard Avedon. The portraits I took of my family was my favorite pictures that I taken so far! Sadly I have not scanned any of them into digital version yet.
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Post by Reido »

Terre wrote:The first setting I look for on any new camera is manual, if the image does not work, it is my fault. Thirty plus years of failure have taught me to keep it simple and work from the foundations I mentioned earlier.
Good point about manual mode, it really helps shorten the learning curve since you very quickly learn which settings work/don't work for any particular type of scene and learn to anticipate what settings you might need and have something at least close when you need to take the shot.

Semi auto modes (aperture/shutter priority) are good to use if suddenly a new shot presents itself and you know that the last manual settings you just used are now completely wrong and there's not enough time to do a manual reset before the shot disappears. example: taking a closeup shot of a row of ants on a log in the shade then looking up and seeing a black bear silhouetted on a rock against and almost pure white background of sunlit water just before it's ready to pounce on a salmon (this actually happened about 3-4 years ago).

Full auto is reserved for when I hand my camera to a friend who wants to take a shot, then my camera becomes a large heavy clunky 'point and shoot' which most non-photographers are familiar with and they get the feeling of what it's like using a 'real' camera :D (they're ALL real cameras really, even the P&S's and cell phones, it all depends on how you use them).


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Post by Incubi »

I only shoot in manual, even on my phone. I may occasionally use the auto on the phone, but only when I am about to miss something adorable a kid is doing at the time. And yes, I find it much preferable to auto. I may use auto focus if I just need to focus on a single subject, I also leave white balance alone because I can change that in post processing if I don't like it.

Hmm your bear situation is interesting. I'll have to look into some of the semi settings to get a feel for when it would help.
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Post by Reido »

Incubi wrote: Hmm your bear situation is interesting. I'll have to look into some of the semi settings to get a feel for when it would help.
It's sounds more dramatic than it actually was. This was at a salmon hatchery about 30 minutes from here where the black bears congregate in the fall during the salmon run so I was expecting to see a bear eventually but sometimes it seems like hours between sightings so one tends to get bored and start tinkering with other things.


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