Cin·e·ma·tog·ra·phy; The art of making motion pictures.

What is Cinematography?

Cinematography is the art of visual storytelling in a motion picture. Cinematography comprises all on-screen visual elements including lighting, framing, composition, camera motion, camera angles, film selection, lens choices, depth of field, zoom, focus, color, exposure and filtration.

Camera Settings

Camera settings are a crucial part of filmmaking. It affects how smooth things move and how bright your scene is. Settings I like to use are having my FPS (frames per second) at 24, my shutter speed set to 1/48, and my ISO below 1600, I usually use 400. I leave my exposure on 0 because I can change that later in editing and my white balance set to wherever the lightning in my scenery is. I recommend using manual focus because it allows you to choose what to focus on rather than the camera guessing for you.

Getting Your Shots

If you want an interesting film, you need interesting shots. One of my favorite shots in the movie “Hereditary” is when the mom is walking down the hallway and the camera starts upside down and follows the mom to where the camera becomes upright.