How to get Cinematic Shots on a Regular HD Camera

 Greetings, people of the internet. For those of you who missed yesterday's post and video, here they are:

How to Get the Handheld Look When Filming Yourself

The Video

 Now, let's get down to a topic that I think will be very helpful (and will save you a whole lot of money)...

 How to Get Cinematic Shots on a Regular HD Camera

 Without any editing software or talent

 If you are like me(and you also are trying to make a movie), then you are an inexperienced movie maniac who, from time to time, realizes the same thing- He sucks at what he likes to do. 

 What do I suck at? Not at creating interesting stories, but at displaying them in what should be an entertaining feature film. I don't know who to blame it on- is it my lack of a cast and crew, equipment or simply my lack of cinema skills(meaning getting the right image depth and color flow, etc.). The first issue might seem to be the cause, but it's not. I'm not sure about the second one(the camera I use is a full high definition 1080x 1920 Sony with a bunch of other features), but I don't think it's the cause. Nope. I think the cause is me. 

 Obviously, the first thing I did was to Google- How to get cinematic shots. The articles I read mentioned some big, professional movie cameras, which aren't in my reach right now(not to mention the lack of good audio I am dealing with). This got me thinking- how can I get great cinema results on my random camera?

 The answer? I don't know yet, but I'm planning to go out today and just shoot random footage. My goal is to get cinematic footage without having to touch an editing software. I will update this post later today with the test footage that I get.

To be continued...

The Solution

 After a few hours of thinking, I came up with this result. You might think it's not the absolute very best of cinema, but it is just the look I want my film to have. Apart from the letterbox I added(the black bars), I haven't touched a video editor.

 So here it is- How To Get Cinematic Shots.

 Go to your camera settings, to lighting settings. If you are filming at night, then go for the indoor option. If not, just go for outdoor. Never auto.

 Then go to Exposure(Brightness) and select manual. Try to get a well lit image, a bit overdone if necessary(going for lower brightness might end up in low resolution- looking bits of the screen).

 Last but not least, go to Focus and select Manual. If anything, try to always have something in the foreground. You can either focus on the foreground object or the background, depending on your shot. This will also give a sense of depth to the image.

 The Film Look(optional)

 If you have this setting on your camera and want to get a film look, then put up the image sharpness a little bit. Some people say this helps in getting a better look, but I don't think anyone really cares.

 That was it for today. I will see you people tomorrow...