Shooting Cinematic Corporate Films

Introduction

I’m often asked “How do you make it look so good?”, not a bad position to be in! But usually there is a lot going on ‘under the water’ to make something normal look extraordinary.

My mantra is – if the feel of a film keeps changing then it becomes distracting and doesn’t lend itself to a viewer to get drawn into it. To avoid the feel of a film changing you need consistency, and it is that consistency which gives you ‘cinematic’ results!

Creating a Consistent Look

To create a consistent look I first consider frame rate, do we want cutaway sequences in slow motion or normal speed? Are we going with a heavily handheld, tripod or gimbal look, we can mix and match but if you wide shot on every sequence is a gimbal push in, then you create your consistency.

When it comes to shooting interviews, are the interviewees looking at camera or off camera? I will always aim to shoot interviews on the same focal length and f stop, along with similar lighting, to create consistency between that element of a film.

This also goes for B-Roll, I might aim to shoot all the wides at 24mm and closeups at 50mm – you then create a consistency between your sequences.

When looking at working at speed, don’t box yourself into a corner, if I setup 6-7 lights for an interview because I have time, on the next shoot I’ve now got to setup 6-7 lights and I might not have time! So keeping it minimal can sometimes be a positive rather than negative for keeping things consistent.

Conclusion

By creating consistency in your cinematography you create a look, this look then becomes the film’s style. Then along with editing, sound design and all the rest you can create something which is ‘cinematic’!