Our second class of The Scene in Cinema was mostly covering with technical details surrounding camera lenses and the factors that contribute to a shot’s ‘depth-of-field’.

Previously I’ve done quite a lot of work as a photographer, so I was already familiar with a portion of the content we covered, however, I found some of the film specific terminology we covered very interesting. I was reminded that when using zoom lenses, it is always wise to zoom in all the way to get your focus, and then zoom back out to get your framing. In photography this doesn’t usually work, as most the time you are either using auto-focus, or a photography lens which isn’t parfocal.

I learnt that the difference between a measurement in F Stops and T Stops is negligible today, however historically the quality of the glass used, and the internals of the lens, would lessen the amount of light getting through.

I also learnt the terminology for describing an iris value between the established f stops.

• Halfway between f4 and f5.6, would be described as ‘half-4-5-6’,
• a quarter of the way from f4 to f5.6 would be described as ‘quarter-close(d)-on 4’,
• a quarter of the from f4 to f2.8 would be ‘quarter-open(ed)-on-4’

I think the most valuable nugget of practical wisdom I got from this class was that a shot’s gain shouldn’t be changed during a scene (in order to keep consistency in the rendering of colours). Considering it further, this makes a lot of sense, and someone who can be a bit lazy with the lighting I think I tend to rely on manipulating my gain a bit too often.

Another thing I enjoyed trying out was recording all of our shot information on camera sheets. I think this might be a useful way to quickly see if there are any gaps in your coverage while still on set, and I can definitely see the huge value it would add when shooting on celluloid film. I imagine it could also be of some value to an editor who is looking to quickly find a specific angle/piece of coverage when cutting the film together (this only applies if you’re actually slating your shots though).