Lets talk about the hair cut and other stuff.

[purefilm]

What is the deal with the hair cut? Americans love it, the japanesse don't. Where did the hair cut come from and when is the best time to uses it? What are the rules to using the haircut, if there are any?

I have heard some DP's mention the Hollywood stop. What is it and is it real?

Does Hollywood DP's have secrets that was not taught in film school for composition, lighting ect...?

[Nathan Buxton]

The best time to use a hair cut is when you're trying to get laid.

[NateWeaver]

I think it's about what looks good.

Or, I don't frame hair in the shot unless there's a reason to. A close up is about eyes and facial expression.

Once, a long while back when I was a 1st AC, I got the chance to operate on a indie short. The DP was a working A-list 1st AC building his reel. So finally on the last day, I get to operate a little and the shot is a single CU on an adult male. I frame it up, and he comes running over from video going "You're giving him a haircut! Frame up! Frame up!". He then corrects the shot, making sure not one hair on the actors head was out of frame. I have no idea why this was so important...maybe the hairpiece needed it's SAG card.

Anyway, now I know it's not about the damn hair.

[purefilm]

Could is a possibly a method for place the eyes on a converging line ( Rule of thirds)? If it does not fit with head room, cut the hair to make it fit?

[NateWeaver]

When I first caught myself doing it, I asked myself, am I trying to make the eyes land on a third? The answer was, sometimes yes, sometimes no. In the end, I just frame up what looks "right" to me.

I do think there's conventions that change with time. Older american movies often have crazy ideas (by my young whipper-snapper mind) of what was appropriate headroom...sometimes I wonder if the operator was framing for a magic trick that is supposed to pop out of the lead actress's head.

In the end I think what's happened is that there's less care for being "proper", and what has come about is a combination of what just looks right and lack of "proper" training.

[purefilm]

To achieve the hollywood look. Are there any secrets to making a movie look like a Hollywood feature. What about this hollywood stop? I heard it is a T:4 and Black pro-mist. Any truth to this?

[Paul Hazlett]

Alot of the answers you seek are not so white and black...promist(get it) heheh.

Alot of it has to do with what style is in now. 60 minutes loves the chin to forehead look others want to keep all of a behive hairdo as the tightest shot.
ESPN does collarbone to top of the head, no haircut. its all a matter of taste and style of the time or producer/network/studio/director...yada yada yada

I you are doing your own work experiment with different looks and find your own style and maybe people will start using your look.

looks and styles come and go, its good to know basic lighting and composition
and branch out from there.

[purefilm]

I am interested in Feature Hollywood film, Not TV unless we are talkin about a narrative series.

[arrinick]

I do think there's conventions that change with time. Older american movies often have crazy ideas (by my young whipper-snapper mind) of what was appropriate headroom...sometimes I wonder if the operator was framing for a magic trick that is supposed to pop out of the lead actress's head.


Remember that a lot of old movies may have been composed for 1.85, but the TV telecine would be the whole 4x3 "big TV" frame, so head room is completely off. You will sometimes see booms for the same reason.

Cheers,

Nick

[Paul Hazlett]

I am interested in Feature Hollywood film, Not TV unless we are talkin about a narrative series.

There is no book that says Step 1. compose your shot....

But if you study the masters and learn good composition and lighting then you
can, as I said, make your own mark. Without that foundation, its tougher to find a look I believe.

[Mike Prevette]

It' about how it looks on the big screen. If you haircut on a movie screen the persons face is HUGE, if you haircut on a tv screen it's less of a big deal. for commercials and tv work I haircut, for movies i always think twice about doing it.

[Charles Angus]

My rule of thumb is ECU is eyes to mouth, CU is a haircut, MCU maybe haircut, MS has whole head.

Rule of thirds I find very appropriate for 3:2 format compositions, but not so much for widescreen (16:9, 1.85:1, 2.4:1).

In my opinion, the "HUGE" closeup on the big screen is totally amazing. Can make the sequence.

[Joel Kaye]

I am interested in Feature Hollywood film, Not TV unless we are talkin about a narrative series.

You're basically asking how much spice should be in the chile. Find your favorite movies, see how they shot it and emulate them to get going. Then when you see things another way give it a try.

[purefilm]

I have actually spent the past week watching movies on my ipod touch without sound just for the reason to study composition, motion and lighting. It has been very eye opening.

[dracul]

purefilm,

you are making the same mistake i was years ago. Forget how its supposed to be done. Use your own judgmente and eyes. If it looks good shoot it. If some other authority onset thinks your wrong, change it but hold your good judgment.
btw, what the heck is a haircut?

[purefilm]

When no head room is given and the head is chopped to line the eyes in the upper thirds.

I study to develop my eye, just like as a painter would study the Masters work. I study the master to surpass the master.

[dracul]

When no head room is given and the head is chopped to line the eyes in the upper thirds.

I study to develop my eye, just like as a painter would study the Masters work. I study the master to surpass the master.

ah, ok so its a cu or big cu. yes, to prove my point it is exactly about your own judgement. For 2:35 i noticed these Big cu generally look better cause you frame them to one side, looks more cinematic...

For tv 4:3 the same big Cu looks almost pathetic and must be centered but i remember several times asking myself how tight should i bring the headroom or maybe no headroom.. It would all depend on how much of the face , body is in shot. If you were on a zoom and messing with it zooming in and out (sloppy dp tool) you will see when it looks wrong. I developed my eyes studying hundreds of features mostly in the theatres but you also need to shoot.

[Kinosaur]

My rule of thumb is ECU is eyes to mouth, CU is a haircut, MCU maybe haircut, MS has whole head.

Rule of thirds I find very appropriate for 3:2 format compositions, but not so much for widescreen (16:9, 1.85:1, 2.4:1).

In my opinion, the "HUGE" closeup on the big screen is totally amazing. Can make the sequence.

I think this post gets it right, where people have differing veiws on headroom is largely on MCU's and wider, in recent years there has been a trend towards framing much harder , cutting often mid forehead even on quite a loose MCU, this may be a conscious effort by some to place eyes on or near the upper third, to my mind the framing looks uncomfortable if the eyes end up on or below the half way line,(If you frame a head from top to chin the eyes end up exactly half way in the frame, and it looks completely wrong IMO, tilt down even slightly and all is fine) framing,thankfully like so many things is a matter of personal taste, I personally have grown to like the tighter headroom look,but it's sometimes pushed too far.

[Charles Angus]

Ultimately, I think the important thing is finding a consistent language that allows you to talk to your director about it. It's their vision and their story, and they should know what they want to see.

Personally, I like haircuts on MCU's (head and shoulders to head and nipples), but it's the directors opinion that's most important.

[meeotch]

My rule of thumb is ECU is eyes to mouth, CU is a haircut, MCU maybe haircut, MS has whole head.

Rule of thirds I find very appropriate for 3:2 format compositions, but not so much for widescreen (16:9, 1.85:1, 2.4:1).

I was taught eyes-on-the-upper-third-line as a rule of thumb (or, I guess, rule of eyes) for most shots... but I feel like I've been seeing haircuts even on /medium/ shots recently. Drives me freaking nuts, looking all the way up at the top of the screen to watch someone's head.

Then again - I saw a Japanese film where half of the shots had the actors' heads sitting just above the bottom of the frame. Wish I could remember the name of it - really interesting film.

[Nathan Garofalos]

Can we say that your look and style you go for would be how you describe your ECU's to ELS's and everything in between to other cinematographers?

[ChrisLyon]

I think Nathan as a nice haircut.

[ibloom]

I'm a big haircut guy, and I think my reasoning is pretty sound. I think people who are afraid of haircuts are missing something pretty fundemental about the composition of the human face.

Artist understand it fundamentally that if you look at the entire skull head on, the eyes are almost half way down the face.
http://www.reduser.net/forum/uploaded/582_1203877719.jpg

So a closeup that attempts to get the entire skull in the frame, not to mention whatever hair is sticking up, is going to be awkward IMHO. I've definitely been asked to frame up a "Closeup" with no haircut. The composition is essentially chin to crown, and it doesn't work.

However once the shoulders are in frame, a haircut does start to feel quite strange.

IBloom

[purefilm]

I was watching a steadycam operator work the other day, and I noticed he would haircut on everything, except the Wide. The MCU had haircuts. It looked a lit odd to me, but the DP seemed pleased.

[Nathan Garofalos]

I think Nathan as a nice haircut.

Thanks Chris! It was that short after I cut it for Emo Olympics when I had a Mohawk for a day! Now its grown out to about 3 and a half 4 inches...

I think what Ian is saying makes a lot of sense. Since your eyes are in the middle of your face, using a hair cut makes the shot feel right.

[adaml]

I suspect that the aversion to haircuts comes from the influence of painting. In portrait drawing, which is the foundation of portrait painting, it's unnatural to cut off the head. Doing so breaks up the flowing gesture lines that are the beginning of a good drawing, and messes with the practice of conceiving the head as a three-dimensional form with structural integrity. When I say it's unnatural to cut off the head, what I mean is that it makes the act of drawing the head feel less fluid and more contrived.

Photography and cinematography aren't subject to the same forces. To my eye, a haircut is appropriate whenever it serves the composition. Obviously an extreme close-up requires a haircut. A shot framed from the top of the head to the bottom of the chin looks like a severed head, and seems to call for some adjustment - either framing wider, framing tighter, or tilting down. I agree with ibloom's post above, but, IMHO, even if our eyes were above our eyebrows - and therefore occurred a third of the way down the face - framing the head from just the top of the skull to the bottom of the chin would still look awkward. :) On wide shots I tend to think it's only appropriate when used for specific compositional effect, otherwise it tends to call attention to itself. It also makes a difference whether or not it's a conventionally framed shot and whether or not the character in question is the main focus of the shot.