This post is about the use of a DV camera.
While i was at college i used DV cameras on alot of diffrent projects so i know some of the best ways to use them.
I have used DV cameras on the following :
A 3 camera set up of a live music performance
A music video
A single camera drama
A short 30 minute movie
An advert for a selected project
Also have done live editing using a very old style of editing.
These proects were all during college and i really learnt the ins and outs of a camera so in this post i will talk about some of the details but not in any massive detail.
So on a digtial camera you have the following things:
Digital zoom
focus
White blanace
A microphone
I will talk about these details.
Digital Zoom :
So on each camera the zoom is very important, helps to get close up shots and show emoition.
When you start filming you may be in a medium range shot but then in the scene you will want a short of the face area but it looks best if you dont zoom show the zoom in during the editing process, if you cut to the zoom in shot it looks alot more professional.
Focus :
Focus is needed so that any shots you take are not blurred, now on most cameras you will have an auto focus choice but if you want a certain type of focus shot then you can do it yourself, you really need a steady hand for it however.
Like the zoom its best to not show you focusing in on something during the editing.
White Balance:
The way white balance works is that you hold a peice of white paper up to the front of the camera so its gets the rite colour during filming because it may show up as all colours loking normal but during the filming process some colours will look odd.
for example you record something yellow and it shows up orange.
When i first started using a camera i always forgot to use the white blanace but its something you cant change it during editing.
A microphone:
Most Cameras have an onboard microphone that is decent but you can change the settings to how much sound it picks up.
Sound levels matter aswell because if they are too loud they sound really distorted and this is something againt that you cant repiar during editing.
however you can get another microphone and plug it into the camera for extra audio.
you can use diffrent microphones such as directional pic or a pin on mic which are used for live shows alot.
The boom mic is the most popular with alot of proudctions as it gives the boom mic holder alot of control about how the microphone picks up audio.
There are many diffrent filming ways in the world and here are a few, Now these films have been landmarks that really added something new to the film world:
300:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wDiUG52ZyHQ
300 was filmed mostly on Green screen and uses alot of slow motion and very close shots of the action.
The Matrix :
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UM5yepZ21pI
In 1999 this film came out at the same time of star wars : episode 1 and beat it at the box office.
It had one certain filming way that started a whole trend, Bullet time.
the way they filmed bullet time was by having cameras all around the stars and then slowed it way down so you could see all the details, like this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cZh787eKeEw
They then edit and turn it into this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WhxbYTMNMxo
This set of a trend which alot of films started to follow.
More details here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Ci3aCdJ-cU&feature=related
Transformers :
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XnwmUZuF5OY
When you talk about CGI you think of films like Spiderman or The hulk that needed alot of CGI to make the movies action scenes but in my eyes the most important CGI heavy film to come out in recent years is Transformers.
Now the story of transformers is big mechs called the autobots fight the evil decepticons but the film takes place on earth this time and the CGI took over a year to reate perfectly.
Sometimes CGI can look a bit too cartoonish but they tried to make the transformerslook as real as they could.
All three of these films have something about them that are really important about films today.
My next post will be talking about the importance of audio in films and music videos.
