ON THE SET

Wednesday 16^th September

On the set  

Brief account of learning the use of camera and tripods, what filming terminology to use on the set and good practice in editing.

This account is about what equipment we share shown when we were shown how to use the Canon cameras and Manfrotto tripods

 

Cameras and Tripods:

In my group we passes the camera around and individually practised how to candle the camera, insert the batter and memory card. When passing the camera around my group we proceeded to say ‘yours; and ‘mine’; to avoid the risk of dropping the equipment. We learned how to set up a tripod and to 'bubble' it using the spirit level to help make the camera balanced and in focus. We explored the camera such as how to focus.  The exposure on the camera is adjusted by moving the dial up and down.

 

White balance is the process of removing unrealistic colour cast, so that objects which appear white in person and rendered white in the photo. Proper camera white balance has to take into account the “colour temperature of the light” of a light source, which refers to the relative warmth and coolness of the existing white light. I learnt that by selecting the ‘WB” on the camera, it will then come up with little images representing different colour tones that are used in different lights which will give a more realistic effect.

 

We also learned about the 180 degree rule. This rule is a cinematography guideline that states that two characters in a scene should maintain the same left/right relationship (within the shot) to one another. When the camera passes over the invisible axis connecting the two subjects, this is called crossing the line and the shot becomes what is called a reverse angle.

 

On the set in my group we learnt the professional terminology used in the film industry on set. The director shout to the set “Standby” before filming to ensure everyone is ready and when they are they will reply “Standing by.”

 

When the director shouts “rolling,” everyone must be “quiet on set,”  then he/she will shout “action” where the actors will start the scene. After the shooting the scene, the director has said the last “cut,” he/she will say “strike the kit” which is the films crew’s cue t pack away, put the potteries on charge and ensure that footage is uploaded correctly.

 

Good practice in editing. We use Final Cut Pro and iMovie on the iMacs in the media studio. When we upload our footage, we create a folder to keep the specific shots. These folders are called bins and the unedited footage from cameras are called rushes.