An acount of my camera training

Setting up the camera and tripod
The past week I have been learning about how to use a camera. I have learnt how to set a camera up on a tripod, all the different camera displays, the shooting processes, zoom and focus.
Before I could begin filming I had to set up the camera and tripod. A tripod is a three-legged stand for a camera, used to stabilize and elevate the camera. They are necessary when slow-speed exposures are being made, or when zoom lenses are used. A tripod is also helpful in achieving precise framing of the image. For maximum strength and stability, most tripods are braced around a center post, with collapsible telescoping legs and a telescoping section at the top that can be raised or lowered. At the top of the tripod is the head, which includes the camera mount, several joints to allow the camera to pan and tilt, and usually a handle to allow the operator to do so without jostling the camera. You place the camera on top of the head and lock so it is stable and wont fall off.

Importance of the camera display
The camera display is very important when filming. Its displays lots of important information about the camera which includes; Battery and tape indicators, shutter speed, exposure, white balance and gain. These are very important when filming as if it’s not the right balance the shot will look unrealistic and possible not very visible.

Battery and tape indicators
Battery and tape indicators on the camera display indicate how much battery is on the camera and whether a new tape is needed. It is displayed in the middle of the screen. These are important so you’re able to see instantly how much battery you have left so it doesn’t waste time.

Shutter speed
Shutter speed is the length of time a shutter is open; the total exposure is proportional to this exposure time, or duration of light reaching the film or image sensor. Shutter speed is one of several methods used to control the amount of light recorded by the camera's digital sensor or film. It is also used to manipulate the visual effects of the final image beyond its luminosity. It is important as if it’s not in proportion the image can look fake and unrealistic and also makes it hard to see.

Exsposure
Exposure is the total amount of light allowed to fall onto the camera. The exposure will change whether your outside on inside. It is important to change it when you’re in different surroundings as sometimes it can be too bright or too dark making it hard to make out what’s on the screen and to make it look as realistic as possible. Obviously it depends what effect you want but in most cases they want the image to look realistic.

White balance
Colour balance is the global adjustment of the intensities of the colours. An important goal of this adjustment is to render specific colours – particularly neutral colours. White balance refers to the adjustment of the colour temperature of an image in order to achieve a white display of objects that are usually perceived as white. It is important to get this correct so the image can be seen clearly and the correct colours can be seen and identified. Again this is very important in shots so the colours can be seen correctly and signifies what they are meant to signify.

Gain
Gain is electronically brightening a dark picture image in camera. It is measured in Db. It is important to get this correct otherwise the shot will look different and not very professional. This control helps to set the contrast and make the shot look good.

Zoom and focus
Zoom allows you to close up on certain objects or people. However it’s important that this zoom is in focus otherwise the screen will turn blurry. Focus is when the point where light rays converge, to produce an image that is clear and sharp in definition. If your camera is focused you will able to see a clear and distinct image. Without the focus my filming with have been blurry and not visible. To focus I had to zoom in at a point, focus it to make the image as sharp as it could be then zoom out to where I wanted to begin filming.

Shooting process
Shooting process is very important when filming. It lets the actors or actresses, the camera men and everyone standing around know that filming is about to begin. The words are never really used in normal context of speech so it is recognized as a command. The words spoken are ‘standby, standing by, turn over, rolling, action’. The underlined words are those of which the camera man speaks. When they say ‘rolling’ the camera rolls for a few seconds before ‘action’ and the filming actually takes place.
It’s important when filming from several different angles that the positioning of the characters remain the same. As there are so many shots we did we had to make sure it didn’t go past the 90 degree line. As you can film a person from the left then the right looking the same way which is unrealistic so doesn’t set the scene and confuses the audience.

Storyboards
For our task we had a storyboard. A storyboard shows a series of illustrations or images with specific descriptions to tell the story of the scene. Storyboards are important as it has all the details of what type of shot and angle the image is and what the image is. It also reveals the story line so you understand what’s going on.

What i learnt from shooting my previous task
I learnt the basic key skills of the camera in my task last week. I learnt how to set up a tripod and how to apply the camera on top and lock it. I also learnt how to use the tripod, using it to pan and tilt. I learnt key angle shots to make people or objects have status e.g. low angle shot increases the person or objects status. I was taught about the importance of the camera display e.g. Shutter speed, exposure, gain and white balance which is imperative when filming.

What i learnt from the preliminary task
I was able to use this experience when shooting the preliminary task. I had made a few mistakes in the previous tasks which included the shooting process (not letting the tape roll before action) and the 90 degree angle. I also had trouble with the contrast and lighting. In this task I was able to take on board what I had learnt previously and make sure it didn’t occur again. The task was successful as I was more experienced and knew what I was doing and with the help of the storyboard and the training I hope I managed to show off what I was capable of.