Practical Session 2: Introduction to Camera

Yesterday we went into the studio with Matt, we focused on how to set up the camera equipment that we will be using to film our opening sequence.

Firstly he showed us how to set up the tripod which holds the camera. Matt said its much easier to release the three locks on the bottom of the tripod and then pick the tripods head up which will change the height to your preference, then to get someone to lock the three tripod legs. Once this is done he showed us how to handle the camera and taught us to always say "yours" before giving the camera to someone and make sure they say "mine" before passing the camera to them.  This ensures it will never be dropped accidentally.

Once you have the camera you slowly slide the camera onto the tripod head making sure that you are pressing the metal clip on the tripod head so the camera can slide not the tripod. Then once the camera is in the middle of the tripod to tighten the handle on the side of the tripod to secure the camera. We then secured the stick to the camera which is used to move the camera up and down and side by side.  Matt showed us that you can change the resistance of the movement of the camera to either have it locked in position or to allow the camera to have full movement. We then secured the battery to the back of the camera by gently sliding it onto the back of the camera. Matt showed us that to unclip the battery to press the button on the side of the battery which releases it. Matt then showed us how to turn the camera on and how to focus the camera which he showed us to zoom into the object if its a person to zoom into there eyes and to use the lens to focus on the eye and then to zoom out to make sure its fully focused.

Finally matt showed us how to change the lighting on the camera to adapt to different lighting which is done by using the different options available on the camera to e.g. filming outside with the camera settings on inside makes the lighting look blue.