Cinematic Techniques for Beginners in Modern Filmmaking
Read a short guideline to create cinematic videos and improve your beginner skills.
Have you ever immersed yourself in a video, captivated by its visual storytelling?
There are factors that can transform a video into a mesmerizing work of art, such as:
- Camera movements that glide through a scene,
- Lighting and filter settings that set a mood,
- Precise framing that draws you deeper into the story.
We’ll delve into the fundamentals of cinematic techniques in more digestible concepts that beginners can grasp.
Cinematic Techniques
Cinematic techniques are methods used in filmmaking to create visually compelling and emotionally engaging stories.
While mastering these techniques can take years of practice and experience, beginners in modern filmmaking can start by understanding and experimenting with some fundamental factors below.\
Composition and Framing
Composition and framing determine how your audience perceives the visual elements in your shot.
Two techniques beginners must master are the rule of thirds and leading lines.
The rule of thirds is a guideline for using a 3x3 grid with horizontal and vertical lines.
The intersections of these lines are known as “power points.”
Placing your main subject or key elements along these lines or at the power points can create a balanced, consistent, and visually appealing shot.
Meanwhile, leading lines are elements within your frame that guide the viewer’s eye toward the subject or a specific point of interest.
These lines can be natural, like roads or pathways, or you can use converging lines in architectural structures.
Camera Movement
In cinematography, you must understand four common shots: static shots, pan and tilt, tracking shots, and zoom.
- Static shots
In this shot, your camera remains entirely still to create stable footage. This technique is massively used for documentary-style or for establishing shots.
- Pan and Tilt
Panning involves moving the camera horizontally from left to right or right to left. Meanwhile, tilt is moving the camera up or down.
Videographers use this technique to follow subjects, reveal new parts of a scene, or create a smooth visual transition between shots.
- Tracking shots and dolly
These involve moving the camera along a track or on a wheeled platform (dolly) to create smooth and precise camera movements.
Tracking shots follow a subject’s movement or explore a scene, while dollies can add cinematic fluidity to your shots.
- Zooming
Zooming is where the focal length of the lens makes the subject appear closer or farther away to create a dramatic effect or isolate details in a scene.
Lighting and Color Grading
Lighting and color grading are crucial elements in setting your film’s mood and visual style.
To create a cinematic look, understand how to use various lighting concepts, such as key lights, fill lights, backlight, natural lights, and artificial lights.
On the other hand, color grading is the process of fine-tuning the colors in your footage during post-production to achieve a specific look or mood.
- Color correction: The initial step of color grading is to adjust color imbalances in your footage to get a natural and consistent look.
- Color temperature: Here, you adjust your footage to appear warm (more yellow and red) or cool (more blue), which can evoke different emotional responses.
- Color contrast: Changing the colors of highlights, mid-tones, and shadows can create dramatic or subtle effects in your video.
Read: 7 Essential Video Editing Tips Every Beginner Should Know
Sound Design
Audio can greatly impact the viewer’s experience.
Poor audio quality can detract from even the most visually stunning video.
You can experiment with adding ambient sounds and music to create the mood and atmosphere of your videos.
In post-production, you must balance and adjust audio elements to achieve a harmonious blend.
This process ensures that dialogue, music, and sound effects are well-balanced and contribute to the overall impact of the video.
You can learn more about sound design here:
Story Telling
Understand the basics of storytelling, including the setup, conflict, climax, and resolution.
Write your scripts or shot lists with these narrative elements in mind.
Also, use visual cues, framing, and composition to convey elements of your story without relying solely on dialogue.
For instance, you can use close-up shots to show a character’s emotions or a wide shot to establish a setting.
Creating cinematic videos also requires you to understand videography techniques.
Read our resource about videographics, or learn how we create high-quality videos here: How We Create Top-Notch Explainer Videos.
