Equipment at Our Disposal

It was important to prepare prior to production because being ready beforehand reduces the likelihood of mistakes being made. An area we focused on was which equipment we would use for the production of our film. The purpose of this process it to use the functionalities of the correct equipment correctly and know when to utilise them. We began by becoming familiar with which pieces of equipment we have at disposal when filming. This is because it will save time and hassle. From our past experience from AS Media Studies, there were times where we didn't have the appropriate equipment at the time was necessary thus making us having to go back to the media room to get the equipment. The detrimental disadvantage of this is wasting a lot of time which frustrates the actors and causes a lot of inconveniences. 

Our priority was having the camera on us at all times as it is the piece of technology used for filming. We had two choices we could choose from: Canon 7D or JVC HD Everio. We opted to film with the JVC HD Everio because of its impressing specs.

Along with the camera, it was important to bring along a spare camera battery just in case we wanted to shoot any extra footage or if we hadn't charged our main battery the whole day.

We used a tripod because we wanted some of our shots to be stationery and not to pan. This would allow to keep the shots on screen stable and clear for the audience to see. The tripod we used was called Sony VCT-R640.

The advantages of the tripod benefited us as it meant we were allowed to film without holding the camera. If we were to film handheld, the film would have looked very shaky and not help making a fast flowing film which maintains continuity. However, we realised that there were some camera shots that needed to be recorded while handheld. Fortunately, most editing software have automatic stability correction functionality that will reduce the amount of shaking on-screen. 

An important aspect of our film was audio, especially dialogue. To ensure that voice and background sound was good, we had to acquire a high quality microphone. We had the option between 'Rode' and 'Zoom H2 Handy Recorder'. We chose to use the Rode because unlike the Zoom H2, it has a microphone jack that can be plugged into the camera and record sound during filming. The quality is very crisp and produced excellent results.