What makes any film great from good relies on many factors involved in its production. The production phase of a films development is vital because this is where the moving image is created. The lens transfers the ‘3D’ light from the surrounding environment and focuses onto a 2D sensor, transferring the light input through the processor and into code. Digital cameras work in this way. The reason why I am talking about this is because the ‘image’ is what makes cinema, cinema. The aesthetic quality of an image can act as a vital tool to help progress plot. For example an independent film made in 2016, which uses a 35mm film camera, could heighten the production value to indicating to the audience the film should be seen with an artistic lens. Then maybe a high budget film such as Transformers may decide to use an IMAX 3D Digital Camera. The filmmakers may decide they want the audience to feel as if they are in the world of the film by making the quality of image as high as possible.

Over the past 10 years the boundaries for film students to form higher quality images is blurring with professional looks. The advancement in digital technologies and DSLRs means it’s cheaper to produce that warm fussy cinema look. When you compare the quality of mid range video cameras now to 2007 there has been a massive jump. Being at RMIT also means that we do have access to some great equipment which doesn’t hurt our poor sorry university debts.   Despite this equipment I’m still kind weary on using the big camcorder cameras. They feeeeel excessive and it seems as if they don’t produce the kind of image you would expect from something that big. Last year in the studio Go out and do good work I used the Sony EX3 camera (which we have been using in class) to film some interviews and record field work at the Queen Victoria Market. The image seemed to look good and I really liked how the camera ‘just worked’ without having to make too many adjustments. One aspect of it which I loved was the auto focus which would be able to follow moving targets.

When I got back to editing the footage I was actually kind of shocked because a lot of it was quite grainy. I checked if it had been on the wrong settings but there was nothing wrong. Another thing I found annoying was that all the files were tucked away in annoying folders, unlike the type of filing systems DSLR cameras usually have. I understand that these type of professional cameras order in this way because it’s ‘more professional’ for large-scale workflow but for student projects which I was producing this was not true to form. Also doing interviews with a big bulky camera often would put people off from wanting to be interviews because it legitimised me away from it being a student project. As if I could have been making something for the news.

I ended up completing the project using a canon 6D because it gave more of a documentary aesthetic with the soft shallow focus lens. With projects in this course I will try to master the camera now because if I want to progress in a professional way I will need to learn how to use cameras I do not like.