Shots, Angles & Lights

Shooting the Scenes
The way the camera captures the shot adds a lot to the look and feel of a film. You only need to compare a thriller to a romcom to realise that. The very same camera operating techniques work for sketches too! That's even more true when tthe shots are chosen to poke fun at the format.

In this section I will briefly explain each type of shot (framing, angle, movement), give a famous example that illustrates what it's normally used for, and then show you a couple of examples from FAH sketches. There aren't that many different ones, because many of them require a large sound stage and expensive gear. But the basic ones are there, and sometimes used to great effect.

Types of Shots
Figuring out which type of shot you want to use in your scenes is called storyboarding. Storyboard artists are people who literally draw a whole film like a comic book, shot per shot, showing exactly how the director wants the subjects to fit in the frame. Find some wonderful examples for famous movies here.

The Master Shot
Every time a movie shows you the world the characters inhabit in full view, you're looking at an establishing shot (also called a master). It lets the viewer know where the next scene will takes place (the setting) and makes it a lot easier to follow the storyline. It's basically the context shot!

A sketch has no use for a master, because the whole story takes place in the same room. But have you ever wondered why Squatters, Ep 1 didn't REALLY feel like a sitcom just yet? I've taken the opening from the first episode of the comedy cult classic Black Books as an example and tried to create a parallel for Squatters. Compare the GIFs... What do you think?

The Full Shot
A full shot frames the subject from head to toe.

Lighting the Set
You need to light a set for many different reasons.

First of all, natural light (from the sun) is extremely hard to work with. Why? Because the colour temperature of daylight varies with the time of day. A single scene might take hours to get right, so you'd end up with colours ranging from cold (blueish) to warm (reddish). That takes some time to fix in post and the result may not be perfect.

Next, you will want some control over your shadows. Ordinary room light makes everything and everyone look 'flat' on screen. Using lights, you can bring out certain features while masking others, simply by throwing a soft shadow on the scene from a specific angle. The most important lights on set are a key light, a fill light and a rim light.

Let's take a look at some snaps of the lads' set and see what lights they use.

Continuity
Continuity is such a big issue in filmmaking that there's always a script girl on set to take notes: how full was that wine glass when she looked up, did he have his jacket on or off when he said that line, and so on. Film fans love to spot continuity goofs: they are hard to spot but happen ALL the time, even in big budget blockbusters.

But when the actors, cameramen and director are the same three people trying to be funny on screen, the first priority is to get the dialogue right and make the sketch work. FAH film their weekly sketches in a single day, maybe two.

At the end of filming day at the office, wondering if the footage will 'cut right', someone might suggest to film a couple of extreme close ups (hands twiddling, feet tapping, mouths grimacing,...) to make the scene more interesting to watch, and maybe even funnier.