Motion-Picture Filming

the most important stage in making a film; it is both artistic-creative processes and production and technical processes, with participation of the principal members of the film company (the actors, cameramen, artists, and sound operators; their assistants and helpers; and film editors and production organizers), as well as shop and department workers in the film studio under the supervision of the producer-director.

Filming is done with a motion-picture camera and sometimes with special devices, such as dollies. The result of the filming and subsequent laboratory work on the film is a series of negatives of the successive phases of movement or changes in the state of the object being filmed. The conditions under which the filming takes place determine the type of film. It may be a studio film (shot on specially equipped sound stages in the film studio), a film shot in buildings other than the studio, or a location film.

An important role in filming is played by lighting, which is used to illuminate the texture of the object being filmed, change the tonality, convey a sense of space, and achieve special effects. In terms of technology, a distinction is made between sound filming, in which the shooting and sound recording are done simultaneously, and silent filming, in which the sound is recorded before or after the shooting or is not used at all.