What information should a Look Book be included?

[jeff791107]

Good day for all the masters in this forum!

I am wondering as stated in the title.

In the early stages of production, after the discussions between the director and the cinematographer, the cinematographer will put together a Look Book. I’d like to inquire about what should be included in the Look Book.

I find that the Look Book I create lacks a professional touch, and I hope to learn how professional cinematographers typically approach it.

Currently, I can think of identifying appropriate visual tones for the story, including aspects of contrast, color, high key or low key style, as these are related to aesthetics. Should camera movements be described in the Look Book? (Since Look Books can’t play videos, it’s challenging to convey specific details through tex alone.)

Furthermore, should technical information be included in the Look Book?

Topic

[Roger Deakins]

Not every film begins with a look book. Some of them are created by a director in advance of the film. being given a green light, some by the production designer and some, less often in my experience, by the cinematographer. I will gather references if that is the way a director likes to prepare for a shoot but I don’t do it for my own sake. What I do are sketches of possible shots and staging as well as detailed diagrams for lighting. I find that the style of the film’s cinematography, camera movement and so forth, comes from discussions that happen during location scouting, when a director and I get time to talk through a script, or not until the actors go through a blocking rehearsal on the day of the shoot.

[Baudelaire]

I found a “sizzle reel” (a short basic edit from existing movies) very fast , useful and an effective way to convey projects , especially to people who are outside the industry  who may not be used to some rough forms of creative notation. Several feature films have been green lit just from sizzle reels. Importantly for me It also means you can  use a piece of music or audio design that helps convey an atmosphere that often can be difficult to convey in text or image.

[Author]

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