The Camera:
- STEP 1: Set up the tripod. The tripod has three feet that stable the camera. Depending on the height you want you can adjust the tripod accordingly with knobs on the side of each tripod foot. When dissembling the tripod you must always be careful to hold the camera by its handle to assure that it will not be damaged in any way.
- STEP 2: Fasten the camera to the tripod. In order to do this there is a knob on the side of the top of the tripod that you have to press inwards to slide the camera on and fasten it tightly. To make sure the camera is secure you shake it slightly. This ensures that the camera will not move or fall in the middle of a shot.
- STEP 3: Mastering the controls. To work the camera you need to know the basics of how to turn it on and off and start and stop recording. To turn the camera on you would need to flick a switch on the lower part of the camera upwards. Next would be the recording button which is located on the top of the camera and you would simply press it once to start recording and press it again to stop.
- STEP 4: Controlling the shutter speed and checking the bubbling. This is essential to do as the camera will need to be balanced and at a straight level on the tripod for filming therefore whilst bubbling a camera you need to make sure the dot on the bubbling sensor is in the middle of the circular sensor as it will then be level. The shutter speed is very important in camera work. This measurement determines the amount of light that will be let into the camera lens. Generally the shutter speed on the film camera should be about 1/50 sec and this will let a sufficient amount of light in through the lens.
- STEP 5: Operating the camera zoom and focus. In order to make sure the quality of your shot will be in focus, whether your doing a close up or a wide shot, you must always zoom in on the object you want to film, adjust the focus until the quality sharp and full of clarity. Then if you are filming a wide shot you can just zoom back out accordingly and with a close up shot, commence filming at that distance.
- STEP 6: Correcting the white balance. This is essential to do as the light intensity will vary in different locations and the camera will not know the difference between artificial and natural light therefore you must find a white wall or background or simply a white piece of paper and hold it in front of the camera lens. Once you do this you need to press a small button on the side of the camera labelled 'WHT BNCE'.
- STEP 7: Inserting the battery. Once you have accomplished all the other steps you will need to make sure the camera is fully ready for filming and this is done by checking the battery is inside. To insert the battery you have to slide it in the back of the camera and push it down until it clicks.
Now the camera is secure, focused, balanced and ready to start filming. As next we were asked to film a short scene including different camera viewpoints using zooming and altering of the tripod. We were put into groups to manage the camera and film the scene therefore we all had different roles. The roles consisted of director, cameraman, continuity person and actor. We all changed round roles twice so we had a chance to try out something different. Before each take, the director would have to call out, "Stand by" to which all the crew would answer, "standing by" which means everyone is ready to start shooting the scene. The director would then tell the cameraman to "roll it over", meaning to start recording, to which the cameraman would reply, "rolling". It would then be time for the director to shout "ACTION" to all the crew so the actor could start acting the scene. When the scene ended the director calls out "CUT" so the camera man would know to stop recording and the crew would know the scene was over. Sometimes a director might like to create a dramatic effect by leaving saying "cut" until after a long pause, which is what happened in my group a couple of times!
When shooting the scene we decided to start off with a wide-angle shot, which let the potential audience acknowledge the whole location of the scene. So the actor came into room, picked up her phone off a chair, checked the time on the phone, looked at it for a couple of seconds and threw it back down on to the chair. We were told to make the scene as simple as possible so we would not have to shoot the scene more times than necessary from different locations. After the wide angle shot we decided on filming a close up shot of the phone on the chair, this worked well as the actor came in and picked it up, so the phone would not be on the chair and then when she threw it back down the phone landed in exactly the same place as where she picked it up. Next we shot a close up of the actors face therefore before we started recording the scene we had to position the camera correctly to where she would be standing so we could capture her face perfectly, at the right angle. Lastly we decided to film a medium shot of the scene in order to show the range of viewpoints which can be achieved and to add variety. So when the shots are altogether we would end up with a wide angle shot to introduce the scene and setting to the audience as the actor walks into the room and picks up the phone. Next would be the close up shot of the actors face as she checks the time on her phone. After that would be the close up shot of the phone thrown down onto the chair and the medium shot of the actor walking out of the room. When watching the clips back we thought the filming had gone successfully and we could edit together a professional looking scene! I found this exercise extremely interesting and quite easy after a bit of practice. It has really opened my eyes to just how long filming a simple scene can take as most film crews are on set for months or even years filming a movie!
The camera we used was the Sony NX5 which is an excellent quality camera and is also basic and easy to use.
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| Sony NX5 Film Camera |
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