CinemadaMare 2014

VADEMECUM
TECNICO
An introduction to film directing
By Nicol Piccione

An introduction to sound techniques

By Andrea Fusaro

Exporting specifications
By Alessandro Pocci

By Fedra Galassi

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INTRODUCTION
This Vademecum is a guideline for all the guys of CinemadaMare Film Festival who want to
make cinema and need a guidebook to keep in their rucksack.
It is easy to read and it is divided into three sections written by three young men of our staff. It
deals with the basics and the prime notions of film directing, field recording and editing,
especially during the last and most complicated phase: editing.
We hope to help you improve the quality of your films not only from the point of view of
creativity and content, but also from a technical point of view.

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Introduction to film directing

By Nicol Piccione
SHOT TYPE

Shot types are different framings (portion of

space framed) of a human figure. If the
framing includes what surrounds the subject,
we can call this a field. Everything that is not

from head to chest.

A Cut-In shows one part of the subject
or object in detail. In both cases this is
used to draw attention towards a detail.

in frame in called off-screen.

There are three Shot types:

Wide shot where the subject takes up

the full frame.

Close up when only the head and
shoulders of the subject take up the

full frame. The subject is the only

protagonist of the image.
In the Extreme Close up the face of
the subject gets right in and it takes up
the full frame. The subjects hair and
chin are sometimes cut out. It is used
to enhance the subjects expression.
The American shot frames the
subject from head to knees. This type
of shot was often used in western
films in order to give more attention
to the subject and his gun tied to his
belt.
Mid shot frames the subject from
head to waist. The framing is wider
than a close up and shows more
details of the subject: not only his/her
face but also his/her clothing, which
can indicate where he/she lives or
what his/her job is.
Medium Close up frames the subject

FIELD

A field, as already mentioned, refers to the

width of the space in frame,
photography and in cinema.

both in

A field is a framing that does not highlight

specific objects or subjects, but shows a
number of subjects and objects in a whole. It
includes everything that is framed without
making any difference between one subject and
the other.
There are different types of fields. These show
the width of the field of view and they depend
on the type of lens used.

An Extra wide field of view is when the

field of view is so wide that it becomes
impossible to recognize small objects
and human figures.
A wide field is when the field in frame is
very wide, but it includes recognisable
subjects and/or objects in a wide space.
A total field is when a whole space is
framed and the figures and objects in it

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are highlighted.
A medium field is when an entire
space is framed, which seems
occupying the whole frame but in
fact, figures and objects in it are
perfectly distinguishable.

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Introduction to sound techniques

By Andrea Fusaro
What is sound?
When a given object is hit, it oscillates
creating vibrations, which propagate though
the air or another medium: water, soil, iron,
plastic etc These vibrations reach our ear,
which transform the mechanical waves into
auditory sensations:

The origin of sound, which consists

in the vibration of objects.
Material medium through which the
sound can propagate.
A sensory organ, which transforms
the mechanical waves into an auditory
sensation.

The vibration generating a sound, create a

sound wave. The simplest sound wave is the
sine wave. This type of sound wave is very
rare in nature, as it is produced by pure
sounds. The complex waves are in fact more
frequent and these are formed by different
sine waves.
There are different types of sound waves,
each having a different shape. Generally, a
sound wave can only be defined according to
specific parameters:

Frequency
Amplitude
Wave length
Wave shape
Initial phase

Here, we will focus on the first three

parameters.
The frequency is the number of oscillations
(mentioned above) per second and it is
measured in Hz (Hertz). We perceive the
frequency as height of a sound, which can
be either acute or deep. Our ear can only hear

sounds in a range of frequencies that go from

20Hz to 20,000 Hz. Everything that is below
this range is called an infrasound and
everything that is above it is called an
ultrasound. An infrasound can be perceived
by elephants, whereas an ultrasound can be
perceived by dogs or bats.
The amplitude is the maximum value of a
wave determined by the pressure it has on
the medium of propagation and therefore on
our eardrum. It is what we perceive as
volume, which is measured in decibels, dB.
The wavelength is the spatial period of the
wave per second. We perceive it as timbre.

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Field recording
MICROPHONES USED IN VIDEOMAKING
Four different microphones need to be used
for a good field recording. Each of them has
different characteristics and are used for
different purposes: Zoom H4N, VideoMic,
Shotgun and H2N.

average microphone and it is used to pick up

on-camera dialog. It can be either mounted
on the boom pole so that it falls from above,
or it can be held like a gun. It is connected
through an XLR cable to the INPUT of the
H4N multi track recorder.

H4N
It is a multi track stereo recorder. This means
that it must be used as a sound recorder on
an SD card. It works in two modes: stereo and
4CH. For the first mode mentioned, a
panoramic microphone can be used on top of
the recorder or the two INPUTS at the bottom
of the recorder (not at the same time),
whereas the second one mentioned enables
the simultaneous use of both the panoramic
microphone and the two INPUTS.
Both a jack and XLR cable can be plugged into
the inputs. The XLR cable can be used to
connect the shotgun.

The H2N is the H4Ns younger brother. It

does not have more INPUTS but it can record
a 360-degree sound field. It is excellent to
record ambient sound.

BOOM KIT
The Boom Kit is used to bring the shotgun
close to the actors and it comprises of: a
boom pole, a windshield blimp supported by
a gun, and the shotgun positioned on an antinoise elastic system.

VIDEO MIC
Is a microphone that is positioned on the
camera and it is connected to it by a mini-jack
plugged into the INPUT Mic of the camera
itself. It is an excellent way to pick up good
sound without using the camera microphone.

SHOT GUN
A Shotgun has narrower focus than an

Fields: outdoors and indoors

Sound is picked up in different ways
according to the type of field.
For outdoors sounds, we must listen
carefully to what surrounds us and be
creative in finding a good solution. Firstly, it
is a good idea to avoid standing by noisy
areas, or else wait until the noise stops. Last,
a drastic solution is to change the acoustic
conditioning on set.
Indoors sounds give us more chances to
intervene. Firstly, we need to close all doors
and windows, afterwards we must turn off all
electrical equipment that generate noise such
as air conditioning, fridges, washing
machines, etc). Indoors lamps often make
noise that is perceived by the microphone.
The best solution in such cases is to unscrew

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the light bulb without having to switch the

light off. When picking up sound indoors, we
must be very careful to echoes, therefore when
recording a dialogue we must not record from
a too long distance, otherwise the sound will
not be clear.
How to deal with noises and wind
Wind is one of the worst enemies of recording.
How can we deal with it? Use a good micover
windscreen. If you do not have one there are
other alternative methods, such as using a sock
over the microphone or wrap a t-shirt over it.
However, these must not make any noise on
the microphone. If the wind is so strong that it
becomes impossible to hear the dialogue, turn
off the microphone and dub that take in postproduction.
There are many noises that we can reduce in
order to hear what we are recording more
clearly. This also requires creativity. In an
indoor set for instance, we can put gripper
pads under the chairs so that when these are
moved around during one take they dont
make noise.
Clapperboard
Other than being a referring point instrument
for editors, the clapperboard is also used for
the audio-video sync during the editing
process. During the phase of post-production,
the wave shapes (the ones alike) of the sound
coming from the camera will be synced with
the sound recorded by the microphone. THE
CLAPPERBOARD IS IMPORTANT: IF YOU
FORGET TO USE IT, YOU CAN USE IT AT THE
END OF THE TAKE.
During the shooting, the sound technician
keeps his headphones on almost all the time. It
would be nice to avoid shouting and making
noise with no reason. Noises that may sound
irrelevant to you, are perceived much louder
by the sound technician. It is therefore
recommended to avoid doing so for the safety
of both you and the sound technician.
Some simple examples on set:

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MASTER

CLOSE UP

AMBIENT

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Exporting specifications
By Alessandro Pocci
Films for the weekly competitions must be handed in on a pen drive in the following format:

FORMAT AND RESOLUTION: films must be exported in Mp4 or Mov, full HD, 1920x1080 or
720x576, H264 (this applies both to the intro jingle and the film).

RUNNING TIME: 10 minutes maximum

SUBTITLES: Subtitles must be centred and white. Font size: 50. Outer strokes: black. Font: SansSerif. Line-spacing: 20.

Filmmakers are not allowed to present more than one film.

The dimension of the font varies according to the editing program used
(Premiere, Avid or Final Cut or any other editing program). It is
important the subtitles are big enough so they can be easily read on
screen.