Introduction to Video Camera

Before you can start shooting a frame you need to adjust certain camera setting such as the white balance, aperture settings, focusing and shutter speed. All of these settings affect the picture of the shot making it lighter and more focused. The white balance adjusts the colour proportions of the picture making the white actually seem white rather than blue or slightly orange. To adjust the white balance you have someone stand in front of the camera with either a white board or just a white piece of paper, then the camera operator focuses on the white piece of paper and does the white balance. On the school cameras this is done by pressing the ‘white balance’ button whilst on other cameras this is done by actually manually controlling the white balance and adjusting it until every colour looks right. The aperture adjustments are made by adjusting a wheel at the front of the camera. The aperture affects the amount of light entering the lens by opening up to a certain size every time an image is taken- this happens 25 times in one second. To focus the image on the school cameras you put everything in their positions, you then zoom in to a certain object/subject and focus on their eyes (if it is a person/animal/etc.) by adjusting the wheel at the front of the camera, you then zoom back out to adjust your frame in a way that you want it for your frame. The time code of the camera is determined by how many hours, minutes, seconds, frames you have already shot (Hours:Minutes:Seconds:Frames- 01:46:31:12) giving every frame a unique time code on that role of film. The viewfinder of the camera is the part of the camera which you look through to find your frame for a shot.

When you set up your tripod you need to make sure it stands securely as not to damage camera or tripod, you then secure the camera to the tripod. To assure that the frame is straight you need to bubble your tripod, you do this with the help of a water scale where you try to adjust it in a way that the bubble ends up in the circle of the water scale. This assures that your frame is not tilted to any sides, in some cases making sure that the horizon is straight. You also need to adjust the height of the tripod to achieve different effects such as the hero shot or making characters seem more vulnerable, by shooting from slightly above. If you do an over the shoulder shot the camera should be on eye level with the person on screen. The advantage of using a tripod rather than making it handheld is that your image is a lot steadier and that your video looks much more professional than if you did it handheld unless you want to achieve an effect of the characters viewpoint when running (eg:blair witch project).    

Different Camera shot types include:
Extreme Wide shot:                            Extreme Close up:
       

Mid Shot:                                   

                                                                    Two Shot:

 Over the shoulder Shot:                                 Point of view shot:

                           

Medium close up:                                       Cut Away:

   

Weather Shot:

To make frames in these shot types look nice you neednto remember the rule of thirds. This is a rule which determines the spatial placement of objects in your frame. If you split your frame up into 3rds diagonally and horizontally you get different areas of the image. The points of intersection are the so called 'hot spots'. These are the areas of any frame/image which we look at first as soon as we see it. So it is normal for the focal points of the frame to be on those hotspots to make the image easy on the eye. Some pictures work well if only certain areas of the frame are taken up by the focal point, so if a third is taken up by the floor and a third is taken up by the sky the image composure should work well. You would also want to avoid putting your focal point right in the centre of the image because it almost never looks good.

here his eye is on a hot spot and he is taking up two thirds of the frame which makes a nice image composure and works well together. 

Another important factor which includes the use of camera and editing is 'continuity editing' This ensures that the viewer understands the story line of a film and that there are no moments when the viewer remembers that they are watching a movie at the moment because of bad editing or continuity problems. Continuity editing is made up of two main factors- spatial continuity and temporal continuity. Temporal continuity is best preserved by avoiding any strong changes in light after a cut and by making sure that nothing changes back after it has already happened. So if in a fight scene for instance someone gets punched and breaks their nose and you see the blood flowing to the chin, you need to make sure that in the next frame the blood is in the same place, so it isn't further up or down as it might temporarily throw the audience and confuse them. Another way to preserve temporal continuity is not to break the ellipsis- this is a break in the natural time as portrayed by the editing of the film. As the editor you also need to make sure that the diegetic sound matches the action on screen in order for all of it to make sense. Sometimes video montage is used to portray the passing of long periods of time. Matching on action is also important- this is that as the editor you need to make sure that after a change of frame the action is picked up just where it left off in the previous frame. Another rule you should remember when shooting a scene is the 180° rule. Here you need to make sure that if two characters are having a conversation, the camera doesn't go any further around them than 180°.

In our preliminary task which we did in our lesson we had to shoot a certain scene. During our shoot I think we worked quite well together and did not make a lot of mistakes. I think we need to listen to one another more and bring in our own ideas whilst listening to other just as much. I also think we need to discuss with the whole group before we do anything, such as move anything in order to make t look nicer, without considering continuity. 

In order for everyone on set to know what to do you need certain key terms so no one gets confused. These are:

Stand by/Standing by- the director shouts this when he/she wants everyone to get into their places and get ready for filming.

Turn over/Turning over- this means that the Camera and sound are getting turned on which is crucial for any kind of recording.

Action- at the beginning of a take the director shouts this to let everyone know when to start acting

Cut- This is shouted at the end of a scene and it is a signal for the camera and sound to be turned of and for the actors to relax.

The difference between still pictures and videos is that when you video someone you see everything they do and you can see everything that is happening whilst when taking photographs you just have a period of time which ranges from 1/8000 of a second to 30 seconds (depending on your choice and use of exposure) in which you can see what is going on after you have switched off the camera. I personally love both kinds of devices as they both have their charm. Videoing someone is just as much of an art as taking a photograph of someone and make it look professional. So therefore I would say that I loved the change to video camera as much as I loved the first time I tried out my photography camera. I think it is difficult to say which I prefer as both are very different.