Getting Familiar With the Equipment

There was many pieces of equipment provided to us that we could utilise in the production of our film. We took time to assess what all the equipment can do, how to function them and their pros and cons. The shoulder rig caught our attention, so we decided to test that out when we were given permission to roam around the school and test out the equipment.

What we wanted to take out from this experience was to get grips with how we can use this equipment with full effect. We found the camera, JVC Everio, quite cool. It displayed everything in great quality. It was very easy to get used to. We attached it to the shoulder rig and experimented how we can use it to our advantage. We did not have much luck with it as it limited us to only a few different shot types although it was very easy to manoeuvre.

We eventually realised that the shoulder rig wasn't the best of choices we were given so we decided just to film outdoors with the camera handheld. We practised a few shots such as a wide shot of the school, an over the shoulder shot of two of our actors having a conversation and a close up. We had much more success using the camera handheld rather than the shoulder rig but it wasn't stable when watching it on screen as it was sensitive to movement. More stability was required, so we decided that using a tripod will be much more useful for our project.

We needed to research online about how to maintain great quality image when the camera is stationery. Using http://photo.net/canon-eos-digital-camera-forum/ , we learned that the common rule is to use a shutter speed equivalent (or higher) to the focal length i.e. 1/200 sec for a 200mm lens. This is because the higher the shutter speed, the less chance of camera-shake.