All articles
Everything on Cutlight Field Notes, organised by topic.
Directing & Editing
- How to Block a Dialogue Scene — Block a dialogue scene by mapping the location, identifying what each character wants, and attaching movement to genuine changes in information, tactic,…
- Color Correction vs. Grading: A Clean Workflow — Color correction establishes a dependable technical and visual baseline by interpreting camera inputs correctly, balancing exposure and white balance, and…
- Dialogue Scene Coverage That Cuts Together — Dialogue coverage should protect the scene’s geography, performances, story information, reactions, overlaps, transitions, and sound.
- Direct Actors with Playable Objectives — Direct actors with playable objectives: actions pursued toward another person, such as reassure, corner, distract, recruit, test, or escape.
- How to Edit Dialogue for Performance — Edit dialogue by mapping each performance’s objectives, turns, reactions, overlaps, silences, and physical actions before selecting individual lines.
- How to Make a Shot List from a Script — Make a shot list by marking the script’s actions, reveals, relationship changes, reactions, sound, props, effects, continuity, and production constraints.
- How to Shoot and Edit a Match on Action — A match on action carries one movement across a cut between angles.
- How to Find a Scene’s Pace in the Edit — Find a scene’s pace by mapping its information, actions, performance turns, tension, and release before trimming.
- Screen Direction and the 180-Degree Rule — The 180-degree rule keeps cameras on one side of a line between characters or along movement so eye lines and left–right screen direction remain…
- Storyboard vs. Shot List: When to Use Each — A storyboard communicates composition, movement, geography, transitions, and shot order through images.
Camera & Light
- Camera Angles and What They Do to a Scene — Camera angles change visible surfaces, background, scale relationships, eye lines, and the audience's position toward a subject.
- A Practical Camera Test Workflow — A camera test should answer written production questions with controlled, labelled footage and a decision report.
- Depth of Field as a Storytelling Choice — Depth of field controls how much space around the focus distance appears acceptably sharp.
- Exposure Tools for Cinematography — Expose cinematography with tools documented for the exact camera and monitor, not by monitor appearance alone.
- How to Build Motivated Lighting for a Scene — Build motivated lighting by connecting production light to a visible or implied story source such as a window, lamp, screen, or hallway.
- Shot Sizes: A Visual Storytelling Guide — Film shot sizes control how much of a subject and its surroundings the audience can see.
- Shutter Angle and Motion Blur Explained — Shutter angle or shutter speed sets each frame’s exposure time and therefore affects motion blur.
- How to Test Focal Length and Perspective — Test focal length and perspective by defining a scene question, recording every setup, and comparing lenses under controlled conditions.
- White Balance for Mixed-Light Scenes — White-balance a mixed-light scene by identifying important sources and deciding which subject or source is the colour reference.