For our lesson on Tuesday the 7th, we were taking into the media studio to collect a camera, to record our first full sequence of film. We split into a group of 4 and descended to the Media classroom to film. After volunteering to act for the scene I had to quickly learn the simple lines before we started filming. We placed markers to indicate where the actors should stand to correctly fit the parameters of the camera frame. Although it took a few takes to focus completely, we soon grasped the initial idea of the task and worked as a team to manufacture the same scene but with a variety of camera angles and camera shots. Although I was assigned to act for the scene, I did observe what my group were doing behind the camera, in shots where I was not needed to appear, I discovered that filming the closer shots were much more difficult for us to complete as the other actor was much taller than me, so we had to constantly alter heights and distances to achieve the perfect shot.
Our director was effective in keeping the group focused and attentive on the task at hand, we quickly became familiar with the 'Standby' 'Rolling' and 'Action' commands to prepare us for filming. After finishing the task with some time to spare, it was suggested to us that we experiment with different uses of camera angles and try to include more versatile camera movement, we also explored with levels, and how the certain height of a camera can affect the status of a character, for example, we tried using a low shot to convey a sense of minority compared to the character being filmed.
In conclusion although the task in question provided some difficulties concerning camera angles and concentration between the group, I found the task thoroughly enjoyable and useful in extending my knowledge of cameras and being filmed by them, I have also learnt how to convey different emotions through camera work, and although I knew before, experiencing how the angles can differentiate emotions.
The next few lessons we focused on editing our clips together to create a coherent sequence. Using Adobe Premier Pro we were quickly introduced to the format of the program and how to use the more simple processes, such as 'Cut'.
After we got used to using the program the process of editing our clips together became much simpler, for the majority of our sequence we used a simple 'Straight Cut' between each camera angle, however we made sure to make full use of the different angles we had filmed, we eventually finished editing and made sure all the clips were smoothly connected and the entire sequence looked polished and professional. We also learned about different ways to end a scene, for example, we experimented with 'fade to black' which we felt was a more interesting way to end the clip.
Our second camera lesson, consisted of us learning some important rules when filming, such as the 180 degree line, which was the line in which we should not cross when filming a particular scene at a particular angle, and if crossed, we would have to change the toms gay set up of the camera. After we learnt about the 180 degree rule, we formed groups and worked on filming a simple scene between our group, we decided that me and Gabriel shaking hands was simple enough, we filmed the scene and different angles after each take. We also learned the terminology concerning starting to film and finishing, for example, the terminology used when starting to film a certain scene, we learned that before filming a cameraman should say 'Rolling' and the director should say 'Action' which is when the actors should start to begin to act.
After we filmed our scenes we then watched them over with Jason, who gave us feedback on what he thought was good and what could be improved about our pieces. With our group he said that we should try to experiment with a few more variations of camera angles in our scenes. For example, although our positioning of the camera changed, we did not experiment with levels, which after trying, proved to help create some more interesting variations of scenes.
In conclusion, I found the second camera lesson very helpful in establishing my knowledge of not only the camera its self but also the terminology associated with the procedures carried out while filming.
