THE FUTURE MARKETACADEMY
Your classroomRoom 04 · Creator Studios
School of Creators

Cinematography: lenses, lighting and composition

What you'll be able to do
  • Set frame rate, shutter and resolution on purpose so your phone footage looks cinematic and matches from shot to shot.
  • Choose the right lens or focal length for the story, and know what each one does to space and faces.
  • Control exposure with manual tools, locks and a histogram instead of trusting auto.
  • Light a scene with colour in mind: Kelvin, white balance, three-point lighting, diffusion and bounce.
  • Use external lights safely, with cords and power handled properly.
  • Compose shots with depth, lines and frames, and move the camera with a gimbal or tripod for a reason.
  • Choose recording formats, plan storage and run a shoot-day workflow, then make a graded project you can show.
Words in this course 57Open the Vocabulary Hall
01

Cinematic settings: frame rate and shutter angle

In simple words

A movie camera blinks very fast and every blink makes one picture. How long each blink stays open changes how blurry moving things look. Cinematographers choose that on purpose.

Before this course: Phone Filmmaking: storytelling and audio (course 4.4.2), which follows Filming with Your Phone: Light, Sound, Framing (course 4.4). You can already plan sequences, keep continuity, lock focus and exposure, and record clean sound. This course moves from "shooting well" to "shooting with cinema techniques".

Key facts
  • Apple says that depending on your iPhone model you can record in HD or 4K and change the frame rate to 24, 25, 30, 60 or 120 fps. Tap the resolution and frame rate values at the top of the Camera screen in Video mode, or go to Settings, Camera, Record Video. Faster frame rates and higher resolutions make larger files.
  • 24 fps is the traditional film look; 30 fps is standard video; 60 fps is smoother and lets you slow footage down. Pick one frame rate for a whole project (course 4.4).
  • Shutter angle. A 180-degree shutter means the sensor is exposed for half of each frame interval. At 24 fps that is half of 1/24 second, which is 1/48 second. The 180-degree angle is considered normal motion blur. Tight shutters give a stuttering, sharp look sometimes used in action scenes.
  • Rule of thumb: shutter speed = 1 divided by (2 times the frame rate). At 24 fps that is 1/48, at 30 fps 1/60, at 60 fps 1/120.
  • Most phone camera apps choose shutter automatically. Blackmagic Design's free Blackmagic Camera app, for iPhone and Android, adds film-camera controls: frame rate, shutter angle, white balance and ISO, plus a heads-up display with histogram, focus peaking, levels and frame guides.
  • Apple says supported iPhones record video in Dolby Vision HDR, which can be turned off under Settings, Camera, Record Video (menu names depend on model). Keep this the same for every clip in one project.
Frame rate180-degree shutterTypical use
24 fps1/48 sFilm look
30 fps1/60 sStandard video
60 fps1/120 sSmooth motion, slow motion
Step by step
  1. Choose one frame rate for your project (for example 24 fps) and write it in your shot plan.
  2. In the Camera app, open Video mode and tap the format values to set that frame rate and resolution (options depend on your model).
  3. Install a manual camera app such as Blackmagic Camera, or use the one you already have.
  4. In that app set the frame rate, then set the shutter angle to 180 degrees (or the shutter speed to 1 divided by 2 times the frame rate).
  5. Film a person walking across the frame, once at 180 degrees and once with a much faster shutter.
  6. Play both back and write which one looks smoother and which looks sharper and more stuttery.
  7. Check: all clips in your project have the same frame rate and shutter setting.
Watch on YouTube
Blackmagic Camera app tutorial part 1: shutter speed and shutter angleVision In Motion · YouTube · youtube.com
Shutter angle in cinematography explainedIn Depth Cine · YouTube · youtube.com

Videos by other creators on YouTube, for reference. They are not made by or affiliated with The Future Market.

LESSON 01Cinematic settings: frame rate and shutter angle
LESSON 01 / ANIMATED LESSON / AI VOICE00:00 / 01:00
Read the video script
[Host] "Cinema has a look. A big part of it is how long the shutter stays open."
[Text on screen: 24 fps, shutter 1/48] "At 24 frames per second, a 180-degree shutter is one forty-eighth of a second."
[Screen: person walking, normal blur versus sharp stutter] "Normal blur feels natural. A very fast shutter looks sharp and stuttery."
[Host] "Pick one frame rate, set the shutter on purpose, and keep it the same all project."
Try it now

Film the same walking shot at 24 fps with a 180-degree shutter and with a faster shutter. Write one sentence on what the viewer feels in each.

ClaudeStuck? Copy a ready-made prompt for Claude

Copy this, open Claude, paste it, and Claude will walk you through the lesson step by step.

For a grown-up: Claude is for adults (18+). Copy this, paste it into Claude, and use the answer to explain the lesson to your child.

I'm learning "Cinematography: lenses, lighting and composition" on The Future Market. Lesson 1: "Cinematic settings: frame rate and shutter angle".

What the lesson teaches:
- Apple says that depending on your iPhone model you can record in HD or 4K and change the frame rate to 24, 25, 30, 60 or 120 fps. Tap the resolution and frame rate values at the top of the Camera screen in Video mode, or go to Settings, Camera, Record Video. Faster frame rates and higher resolutions make larger files.
- 24 fps is the traditional film look; 30 fps is standard video; 60 fps is smoother and lets you slow footage down. Pick one frame rate for a whole project (course 4.4).
- Shutter angle. A 180-degree shutter means the sensor is exposed for half of each frame interval. At 24 fps that is half of 1/24 second, which is 1/48 second. The 180-degree angle is considered normal motion blur. Tight shutters give a stuttering, sharp look sometimes used in action scenes.
- Rule of thumb: shutter speed = 1 divided by (2 times the frame rate). At 24 fps that is 1/48, at 30 fps 1/60, at 60 fps 1/120.
- Most phone camera apps choose shutter automatically. Blackmagic Design's free Blackmagic Camera app, for iPhone and Android, adds film-camera controls: frame rate, shutter angle, white balance and ISO, plus a heads-up display with histogram, focus peaking, levels and frame guides.
- Apple says supported iPhones record video in Dolby Vision HDR, which can be turned off under Settings, Camera, Record Video (menu names depend on model). Keep this the same for every clip in one project.
- Frame rate - 180-degree shutter - Typical use

The exercise I'm working on:
Film the same walking shot at 24 fps with a 180-degree shutter and with a faster shutter. Write one sentence on what the viewer feels in each.

I'm stuck. Please:
1. Explain the main idea in plain, simple words with one everyday example.
2. Walk me through the exercise one small step at a time. Ask me what I've done so far before giving the next step.
3. Don't just give me the final answer. Help me do it myself, and check my work when I share it.
I'm a parent helping my child (about 8 years old) with a lesson called "Cinematic settings: frame rate and shutter angle" from the course "Cinematography: lenses, lighting and composition".

Here's what the lesson says:
A movie camera blinks very fast and every blink makes one picture. How long each blink stays open changes how blurry moving things look. Cinematographers choose that on purpose.

The activity:
Film the same walking shot at 24 fps with a 180-degree shutter and with a faster shutter. Write one sentence on what the viewer feels in each.

Please explain this so an 8-year-old understands: short sentences, a fun everyday example, and no hard words.
Then give me 3 simple questions I can ask my child to check they understood, and a way to do the activity together, one tiny step at a time.
Open Claude
Sources
My notes
02

Lenses and focal length

This lesson is part of full access: every course and every level for one payment.

03

Exposure and manual control

This lesson is part of full access: every course and every level for one payment.

04

Light I: colour and the three-point setup

This lesson is part of full access: every course and every level for one payment.

05

Light II: shaping light and using external lights safely

This lesson is part of full access: every course and every level for one payment.

06

Composition and camera movement

This lesson is part of full access: every course and every level for one payment.

07

Formats, gear and the shoot-day workflow

This lesson is part of full access: every course and every level for one payment.

++

Final project

This lesson is part of full access: every course and every level for one payment.

??

Quiz

  1. At 24 fps, what shutter speed is a 180-degree shutter?

  2. What does a lower Kelvin number mean?

  3. What do you do on iPhone to lock focus and exposure?

  4. What is the default focal length of the 1x Main lens on supported iPhones, according to Apple?

  5. Name the three lights in three-point lighting.

  6. Where is the key light usually placed?

  7. Why shouldn't you plug many cords into one outlet?

  8. What does Apple say ProRes is not available in?

  9. Why does Log footage need colour grading?

  10. What is a frame within a frame?

EX

Final exam

This lesson is part of full access: every course and every level for one payment.

CE

Certificate

This lesson is part of full access: every course and every level for one payment.