CINEMA CITY
TECHNOLOGY
There are many kinds of film technology. Click on a type to learn about it.
Cameras | Filming Techniques | Special Effects
There are many types of cameras used for many different things. Some are used to film special effects, some used for under water, some that are all purpose. One camera used to film special effects is called the Steadicam. The entire setup for a Steadicam is a camera, a vest, a balancing weight, and an "arm". The camera is connected to the "arm". The arm has springs on it to absorb all bounces if a cameraman has to run around. The arm is also the balancing weight. The arm is connected to the vest, which is worn by the cameraman. This is one of the greatest breakthroughs in modern technology. But even if it is one of the greatest breakthroughs in modern technology, it's a pain to wear. It weighs eighty-five pounds!
There have been many other technical advances with cameras. One camera, called the Arriflex 35 III, is very advanced. This camera is much smaller than most others. This camera, like many others, has a special lens, can be operated by remote control, and have motors to activate zoom. There are also things called matte boxes that fit around the lens on just about every camera there is. A matte box is a little box that has a little square opening so that things can be filmed. The matte box reduces lens flares. As well as having many technical advantages like motors and lenses, this camera can go underwater. A special case is put around the camera and all of the air is pumped out. Then it is put into the water and films scenes up to one hundred and fifty feet away. But if it is opened on dry land before air is pumped back in, it will implode, or crush itself. On land, without the air pumped in it, the waterproof camera weighs sixty-five pounds.
Many different filming techniques are used to capture unbelievable scenes in shows. The most common way is to use a blue-lit screen. Then, the actors that are being filmed in the scene are filmed using color negative film, which is invisible to photography's primary colors-red, blue, and green. Then, using a computer, the image is isolated from the blue background. Then, the blue is replaced with the required background. In one film called Memoirs of an Invisible Man, the actor, Chevy Chase, had to disappear. To do that, he wore a special all blue bodysuit that let the special effects experts erase Chase's body piece by piece while keeping the clothing visible. Some of his shadow was taken out as well to make him look even more invisible. The result is a set of clothing hovering in midair.
Blue is not always the color used for the background though. Sometimes green, yellow, or orange color bachgrounds are used. It all depends on what is being filmed. Blue is used in filming people mainly because4 blue is a color that is least found in human skin. With the movie Lost in Space, when one of the space ships was filmed, it was filmed against a green screen, because creen was the color that was found least in the model. In the movie The Borrowers, a blue screen is also used, but when the people were filmed, there were also props that were larger than life! Everything hade to be built to scale. If you were four inches tall and had a pencil that could fit in a normal person's hand fit your hand, there would be a big problem mainly because the pencil would actually be the size of a pin. So, if one thing was wrong sizewise, the effect would be ruined.