The fittings at the cinema what is it ?
The fittings at the cinema, in a film, it’s a bit like salt in the sea. If there is no salt… this is not the sea ! and well for the connections, it is the same thing, no fittings...not really film.
Finally, to be exact, you’ll have a film with no coherence and, therefore, full of false connections.
The false connection
The scripts have beautiful be vigilant, in all of the films that we see on tv or in the movies (all), there are false connections that is to say, an error that makes difficult the understanding of the film or make it weird in the image.
But what exactly is a connection to a film or video ?
A fitting that is the consistency between the two plans. I hear you from here : “Super ! but still !? “
As you already know the two sequences which follow are not necessarily filmed in the same day ! sometimes there are weeks between each sequence.
Let’s take an example : James is a man of 30 years. He lives in an apartment in the city centre. James leaves his apartment at 08H and go to work.
The first sequence would be.
Sequence 1 : Int – Apartment – Day
James leaves his apartment to go to the office. He slams the door.
Sequence 2 : Int – Office-James – A-Day
James works in his office, the nose riveted on the screen of his computer.
Between these two sequences there may be 20 minutes or 2 hours that have passed. But between the sequence of the apartment and the sequence of the office there may be a 3-week interval (in term of shooting). Moreover, for those who follow the Blog, you have noticed that I used the technique of the ellipse ;o)
In short, these two sequences are consistent, it will be necessary to think about the fittings. In the filming we will have to remember to dress James in the same way, with the same costume, the same accessories, the same cut of hair and the same beard (if he had one !) etc..
The fittings are also important between two plans. Take the example of James at his desk. You are the director and you want to make a field / counter field. And well there will be a atttention to what the objects, the position of James, as well as the ambient light are the same between the field and the counter field.
You can’t have a scope very clear and a counter field to the half in the black.
You can’t have James who is holding her telephone handset of the left hand in the field and the right hand in the counter field !!!
Connections that’s it ! be consistent from one plan to another or from one sequence to another.
To connect to a character (or characters) it is necessary to master three things :
-1. his position
-2. his leadership
-3. his gaze
But these are not the only connections that you need to be careful ! A little reminder all the same ! on a tray this is the script that handles well to be careful that the connections are respected.
The wizard staging should also pay attention to the fittings, including the fittings of the figuration.
In fact, the second assistant director place the figuration in each plan. He must ensure to send his figuration at the right time (if it is to move people in the field of the camera) so that the representation be fitting of a plane to another.
If the representation is fixed and sitting as in a restaurant, for example, it must ensure that it does the same thing in every shot and every change of plan.
What are the other fittings ?
There are connections of movements
There are the fittings of the masks
There are fittings panoramic
There are connections to the blur
There are fittings in the axis
There are the fittings looks
There are connections plan values
There is the rule of the 30 °
There is the connection sound
Let’s see what is in all these connections.
Don’t be impressed or frightened by all of the connections. It is true that this may seem a lot but it is like riding a bike or driving, once it was built-how it works, you don’t think about almost most, it is automatic ;o)
But we must remain vigilant ! ;o)
Fitting position
I’m going to take a very simple example. If James is sitting at his desk in a wide shot and he is positioned to the right of the frame (that is to say, on the cinema screen he will be on the right side of the screen). If you make another plan more tight James should be placed also to the right in the frame.
Connection direction
It is a mistake that I see commonly in the shorts lovers. Yet it is a fitting fairly simple. It is necessary that the viewer has a sense of unity in the sequence of plans (such as a chase by car or on foot etc…). To do this the character must be shown (filmed) in the same direction of travel.
Let’s imagine that our character James has to run.
If James court right-to-left, it will be to the left of the image to fit in the field to the right in the next plan.
ATTENTION : This sense of displacement can be reversed if in its course James changed direction. Let’s imagine that James enters left frame, then he is heading straight for us (facing the camera) and then decided to out to the left of the screen (because a prosecutor keeps going to the right), it will obviously exit the left frame.
In the next shot, it will come right to keep this new direction of travel.
Similarly, when the subject is a long fall. Today all of the filmmakers découperaient this scene in several plans, but whatever happens, the character will start at the top of the frame, will come out through the bottom of the image , and go by the top of the frame in the next shot ! logical not ?
As a general rule, if a character leaves the field of the frame (that is to say, of the image) and that one wishes to follow his action in the following image, it should go in the image from the opposite side of the one by where we saw it coming out, example :
– If james comes out to the right of the frame (the field of the image) it will have to go back to the left.
– If james leaves the field to the left of the frame, it will have to go to the right
– If James leaves the field by the bottom of the image, it will return in the following shot from the top
– If James comes out through the top of the field, it will go by the bottom of the frame in the following shot
ETC…
That’s it for this first part on the connections to the cinema. The result of the fittings to the cinema will be online as soon as Wednesday ;o)
You can also read other articles by returning to the site map by clicking on this link.
If you liked this article on connections be sure to share with your networks or click the “like” button at the top of the article. You will help of this way to get to know a little more on the blog. Thank you to those who will make it ;o)
Soon,
Tom