Camera Workshop 2

CAMERA WORKSHOP

Today,  the 18th of January we carried out our second camera workshop where we learnt a variety of the key camera skills needed for film. The 180 degrees rule in film is used in order to maintain visual regularity, the camera must stay on one side of the imagery line breaking up the characters. This makes certain theres no confusion for the viewer as-well as making clear the geographic context. 

We then covered the rule of thirds which refers to the division of the frame into thirds both horizontally and vertically. This enables you to view the hot-points, where you should place objects or the actors in order to make it more visually pleasing due to the camera focusing on this. The top right hot point being the most important due to the viewers eye initially being drawn there ( eg- reading left to right). 

The order which is usually seen as correct to shoot in is a wide shoot due to it establishing the scene, then  a medium and close shot enabling a closer, clearer perspective.  We were also taught how vital continuity is when cutting from shot to shot and from scenes, as if when filming continuity does not persist the clips will not flow and it could both confuse the viewer as well as looking un professional. We were then introduced to marks and why they are used, discovering that there in use to make sure actors consistently go to the same spot again portraying continuity.

Furthermore, we were made clear of the essential call outs that are vocalised by the director,  The first one being 'Stand by' referring to getting reading, in response everyone around would reply 'standing by' to make clear everything is in place to start filming, 'roll camera' which is stated by the director vocalising  to start  filming. 'Camera rolling' stating the camera is rolling, and then 'action' and 'cut' referring to when the scene starts and ends.

You film before saying action to give the actors some time to get into character and know when to start and creates time to make sure everything is in place to start the scene, eg- camera is in the right shot, switched on etc. Additionally you keep the camera rolling after saying cut to make sure you dont cut out anything that could be used as you can always edit after but cannot add.

Lastly we were told that you should never watch the footage back on set, this is firstly because it wastes time and also for the actor sake so they dont see the way their doing something or the way they look and act differently.