Cinematography
This page is intended as a small breakdown of a couple of shots from my recent work on the Directive 8020 trailer(s) - that were recently showcased - to discuss their compositions and the visual story being told.
Guidelines & Preferences
Every project will have its own set of rules or guidelines to follow when designing cinematics, and each cinematic designer or camera artist will no doubt have their own preferences, specifically when it comes to lens kits or aspect ratios, its super important to discuss the design intentions of the cinematics early on, so that we can ensure consistency across the project.
In Unreal Engine, the filmback settings adjust the sensor width and height, which in turn determines how other camera attributes like focal length and aperture are interpreted.
The most influential aspect to the Directive 8020 project in terms of cinematography was the choice to use a custom filmback. Setting an aspect ratio of 2:39:1, we simulated an anamorphic lens on the cameras in the game.
Using an anamorphic lens consequently altered our framing and our choice of lenses throughout the project.
Shot 1
A person stands in front of a partially open doorway, purple light from inside the room illuminates the person.
The camera is placed behind so that we cannot see the person's face.
This shot was from the announcement trailer.
The cinematics of announcement trailers are very interesting, the goal is to create hype and excitement for the upcoming release, whilst also hinting at the themes to be found within the game. They should showcase intended quality and define the art style of the project.
Lighting
The most striking element in this shot is the purple light streaming in through the open doorway.
One of the most powerful visual components, colour, can communicate danger, safety, good, evil or a whole host of other emotions and/or ideas. This shot is setting up the use of colour to signify something to the audience.
The audience gets a first glimpse of the anamorphic lenses used, as the lens flare is slightly more oval than if a spherical lens had been used.
The light source coming through the door way and backlighting the actor shows of some nice sub-surface scattering as the light passes through their ears, helping to define the visual quality of the project.
Tone
Tone refers to the brightness of objects and can be organised using a grey scale.
Contrast of tone means two shades of grey that are as different in terms of brightness as possible. Shots that have similar brightness would be said to have an affinity of tone.
The contrast between the areas of light and dark in this shot increases the visual intensity which the audience will perceive as exciting or scary.
Space
Specifically, the depth created by the shot. There are three clearly defined elements, on three separate depth planes.
The background holds the light source, the midground has a door that is partially opened, the foreground holds the actor.
Not only is this visually pleasing because of the 'magic number' of 3 elements, but it creates that depth of field in what could have been a very flat shot had the light source been in a different location.
Framing
The first thing to notice is that the shot has been divided into thirds by the vertical walls either side of the actor.
These lines really close the shot and draw the eye of the audience to the actor. The lens used was wider than a classic mid shot lens so that the audience can feel the anticipation of the door opening, and achieves a quality/art style benefit of allowing the viewer to get a good first look at the outfit of the character.
The lower camera placement ensures the audience cant see through the doorway, creating anticipation. It also serves to make the character feel slightly powerful.
The shot avoided cutting the character off at the knees which has a tendency to feel weird, and there is some breathing room above the head which feels nice.
Result
These are just a few of the more notable features of this shot, but they all in turn help to communicate to the audience, a feeling of intensity, suspense and intrigue whilst displaying the project's art style and visual quality.
Shot 2
Two people sit at a table in a bar, the sun appears to be setting outside the window. There is a cake on the table.
This shot was from the story trailer.
The cinematics of story trailers are interesting in their own right. Needing to tell enough of the story to get players interested, introducing some characters or relationships, and yet not giving too much away.
They should confirm the art style and quality that was seen in previous trailers.
Lighting
The lighting in this shot attempts to simulate real-world lighting, specifically, 'golden hour', as the sun moves towards setting.
Rich golden yellow hues communicate feelings of nostalgia and happiness to an audience, however, stereotypes of colour such as 'red means danger' are often some of the weakest and least creative uses of colour.
Perhaps that is why one of the characters in the shot is pointing his finger, an aggressive motion, towards the other character, as a juxtaposition to the lighting.
Lines and Shapes
Lines and shapes are everywhere in the real world, they are closely linked because they define each other.
Audiences look at lines and shapes, in images and real life, often without realising they are doing so, but much like tonal contrast and affinity, lines and shapes helping alter the visual story by communicating intensity, or lack of.
In addition to lines found through contrast, like edges, or environments, such as doorframes, many objects have an invisible axis running through them, this is perceived as a line.
For example, a person standing has a vertical axis, a person laying down, a horizontal axis.
In this shot, I have highlighted in blue, lines within the background of the image. The characters in their positions, have a vertical axis, a vertical line, running through them. This shot has an affinity of orientation within it, and therefore, as also confirmed by the tone, has less visual intensity.
Tone
Differing from Shot 1, this shot has a greater tonal affinity.
The shades on the greyscale are more similar in terms of brightness levels.
We can see that our main focal points in the scene, the characters, have a large contrast with their background, helping them to stand out.
A shot with more tonal affinity has less visual intensity than a shot with tonal contrast.
Framing
I marked up a rough grid of thirds on the shot above (white lines). The viewers' eyes naturally travel along these invisible grid lines, searching for points of interest within the shot. Placing the subjects along these lines, the shot feels more balanced yet still dynamic.
In this shot, it is apparent that the actor on the right is one doing the talking, they have leaned forward and matched up with one of the vertical lines on the grid.
If the actor on the left was to take part in the conversation, you can imagine them also leaning forward and matching up with the other vertical line on the grid.
The characters are of differing heights, and so efforts have been made to keep that top horizontal line somewhere close to their eye level, this usually feels good to the audience. The shot could have been craned up a bit to hit this line, but there could be reasons why it wasnt, such as clashing lines or lighting.
The top of the cake also just brushes one of these lines, and the lit candles provide some of the brightest contrast points in the shot, implying some significance there too.
Result
This shot contains more elements of affinity than contrast, the colours and lighting, it all communicates to the audience a feeling of positivity, closeness, and connection. The framing feels nice and natural with good character placement.
Shot 3
A group of four people stand backlit in a doorway, they stand apart from each other.
They face towards the camera.
Another shot from the story trailer, and one that is quite interesting. The shot relies on the poses of the characters to communicate the visual story as much as any of the cinematic techniques employed.
Movement
Movement is the first visual component to attract the eye. Movement can come from objects on screen, or the camera itself.
We should remember that these shots are still images taken from a trailer, and when we watch the trailer as a whole, there is a lot of movement throughout, of characters, objects and cameras.
We then reach this shot, 4 people standing, near enough to each other that they should be together, but something about their posture tells us that they are not. 4 people, who are not moving. Contrast and affinity can occur within a shot, from shot to shot, and from sequence to sequence. There is a noticeable absence of movement in this shot, and the greatest contrast to object movement is no movement at all.
Lighting
The lighting, or perhaps more accurately, the darkness, in this shot feels very intentional. However, perhaps it could have been done differently.
The characters all stand backlit against a diffused turqoise light source. This light pairs really nicely with its opposite colour on the colour wheel, this deep orange glow coming from the right of the shot and creates a contrast of hue.
Using colours that are opposites on the colour wheel creates a contrast of hue, and increases the intensity of the visual story.
Something that might have been nice in this shot though, would have been to see how it looked with a more chiaroscuro vibe. There looks to be some interesting organic shapes illuminated by the orange light, and so by using some more light sources, perhaps we could have exagerated the shadows and highlights even more, creating a dramatic shot that doesnt rely entirely on the backlighting.
Tone
Of the three shots, this one has the greatest tonal contrast.
If it wasnt obvious before I changed the shot to greyscale, this shot has the largest brightness differences on a brightness scales, meaning high visual intensity.
The characters are lit in such a way that they are almost completely shadowed, and they are against a background that almost hits pure white, there is no confusion about where the eye is meant to be drawn in this shot.
Framing
If I was to draw a thirds grid over this shot, the four characters, and probably the majority of the doorway, would be in dead centre.
Whereas placing objects on the grid lines can add tension or interest to a shot, placing objects in the very centre creates a feeling of orderliness. Whilst order is normally associated with calmness, when actors are the subject to order, especially when they are then posed in such a way that they feel a bit strange, this can create a strong feeling of unease.
Something else to be aware of when framing shots where the subject is centred, is to make sure that the surroundings are simple enough to not pull the audience's eyes away the intended focal point.
I used a nice wide lens on this shot to 'stretch' the perspective, creating that feeling of distance and reduce the depth of field.
Result
This shot contains some really nice visual components highlighting the contrast within it. The movement, or lack of, and the character poses are doing a lot of work to communicate that feeling of unease, and the camera work/framing and visual elements are there to back it up.