Camera Work

In one of our media classes we had been taught how to set-up a camera, the most basic camera options, and some filming techniques. when we started out our lesson all we had was a bag of a folded tripod and a hard case for the camera. The teachers had split the class into groups and had shown us how to assemble the whole tripod with the camera securely attached to it and afterward made us do it. It was not my first time assembling the tripod, I have done it numerous times before so I was not the one who set it up but I was the one who helped my group mates assemble it. As we finished assembling it we had to make sure that the camera is at the right level, you do that by bubbling the camera which is to make sure bubble is in the marked area that will mean that the camera is leveled.

When we had it all set up the teaches had started talking about the most basic camera options, there was at first the focus. The focus is what makes a shot sharp or blurry, the blurriness all depends on how far is the subject that you are filming. The next thing that we went through is the iris, the iris is the bightness in the shot, when the iris hole is fully open that means that the camera lets in more light to give a brighter shot, when the iris is maximally closed it makes a very dark image, they close the iris if the shot is too bright. Then there is the white balance which is the color of the area in the camera, normally if you're filming in a room without the camera being white balanced then the room will look orangish type of look because the lights in a room will always be orange, to make the room look normal you will have to white balance it. To white balance it you have to focus on something white in the area where you are filming and press and hold the white balance button.

We also learned about framing of a shot and which is the best way of placing your character in a shot. We were taught about the 180 degree rule where when two people are having a conversation there is a imaginary line in between the two people which does not allow the camera to cross over to the other side of the conversation, otherwise that would confuse the audience and make it look like one of the characters is talking to himself.

When we had the lesson with Matt we were supposed to film a short sequence for continuity, continuity is the flow of the movie and if it fits perfectly and not having any continuity errors. One example of a continuity error is when in one shot the main character is having their armes crossed and then in the next shot we see that the character's armed are just hanging down. In the sequence we had used many different types of shots, in our movie we had used a Mid-shot, Close-up, and a Wide shot. I found the sequencing really fun and it was a great practice.