Explore the creative process of professional photographers and filmmakers. Extreme motion control configurations: Discover the Composing Project by Sebastian Jern.
CONCEPT
I always ask myself a lot of questions when starting a new project.
Is this concept strong? What feeling will this evoke? What do I need to create depth in the image, is it through colour contrast or physical objects? How will the light reflect on the surface?
When the camera moves on the slider, what will the parallax effect look like?
Then I start visualising the concept I have in my mind with the help of sketches and reference images. Research is important to understand all the details about the project I’m about to create.
COMPOSITION
I carefully plan out the composition, camera slider movement and lighting technique, all before I start to shoot.
It’s important for me that the creative process is smooth all the way from concept to finished product. That's why the gear I use really does matter. I need gear that I can trust. The slider needs to be easy to use and very stable as I'm shooting a lot of close-up shots.
Manfrotto has this covered because they make a whole range of products that fit into the same ecosystem which is really helpful for me as a creator. The shooting part can take a long time or a short time depending on the concept and how clear a vision I have. I always try five to ten different lighting setups, different camera moves and so on. It's important for me to get a variety of shots before I remove all the elements from the production.
SETUP & SHOOTING
Canyon - For this scene the goal was to create a realistic landscape, a classic canyon atmosphere. First, I cut into Styrofoam using a hot wire. To structure the Styrofoam, I used acrylic colors together with fine sand to get the right stone structure. Next step was to configure my camera setup and decide which background chroma key colour.
When I found the Manfrotto StudioLink Chroma Key Background System (available in
and kits) I thought it was a very clever product since it enables me to connect multiple panels together using the and connection kits to create a 12 meter background which can be changed from green to blue in less than 10 minutes using the additional
and covers, which is a great feature.
Then I planned out the composition and set up the slider to do a small camera move going forwards. The most important thing for me is that a slider is stable and that it's easy to use, even when doing macro shots. The
For the first shot I wanted the light to look like a timelapse, so I moved a small light over the canyon miniature. For the second shot I wanted to have sand coming down from the top of the canyon. Here I used slow-motion and five small lights aimed at the sand beam and the canyon corridor to get the shot.
Silhouette glacier mountain -I knew going into this miniature project that I wanted the set to be mostly in silhouette and that the background was an important element to build up the scene. I made the mountain using Styrofoam. Since its (the) colour is blue, I changed the background to green screen to have a clean key in post-production. I added myself with hiking gear into the shot as an extra element. For the first shot I added a few small rock pieces, then used the
in combination with the which thanks to its lightweight structure, makes easy to change camera angles in my productions.I started to move the camera forward, creating depth in the image and a nice parallax effect. The lighting on this set was a 300w light with a 90cm softbox. For the second shot I worked on the transitions between the shots, together with a closeup shot of the mountain, using the
. This was controlled via the Manfrotto motion app to set up keyframes and create multi-axis movements whilst using the to speed up my workflow even more and reduce time-consuming setup.FINAL RESULT
The shot I gathered from filming the set is a template for the whole process which comes into post-production. It's in this space I can start to see my vision be brought to life and when I edit the final touches, I can really feel like I’ve travelled to that location I just created. When my viewers watch my content and feel the same way, then I’ve achieved my goal.
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Sebastian Jern| author
Sebastian Jern is a Swedish creative director and visual artist who can turn a mix of art forms into a unique blend of creative concepts.
Director, producer, miniature sculptor, VFX, cinematographer, editor and lighting wizard, his work is defined by a unique creative style that has established him worldwide.