Anyone know where I can find that book? We were straight into it this semester, learning the ins and outs of the EX3 in our first Film 3 class. Finding the switches was easy enough, understanding what they did was another thing entirely. I’m often the amateur photographer at family events, but even so my idea of setting up a shot is frame it nicely, then click. I knew exposure, white balance, focal length and a whole bunch of other words, as for what they actually meant, well…

This first class has begun to expand my understanding of exactly how much goes into setting up a shot, and we haven’t even got to the audio yet! Coming out of the class I did feel a bit clueless as so many new topics were introduced that I had little to no conception of, but at the same time I’m grateful, I finally know what I don’t know. That for me has been the hardest part of creating my own projects. I look at my work, then professional products, and I can see a difference but I can’t tell what exactly it is, or what I have to do to fix it.

The first class consisted of an introduction to the set up of the EX3 and its tripod, setting up focal lengths to 12mm, and then going out onto campus and framing a continuous still 50 second shot of action. We then had to review, revise and repeat with any changes we thought were necessary. My groups shot consisted of cars at an intersection, and our only change was a repositioning of the camera, but review once we got back to the classroom showed we should have been more concerned with our exposure. Its always tough to hear that you did something wrong, I have to remind myself that making mistakes at this stage in the process is a good thing, that way I can learn and not make them again later on when it matters.

It was a tough session for me to begin with, not so much in the material covered, but emotionally, as I felt at times overwhelmed by how much I don’t know. There were people in the class whose passion was obviously filming who already understood these concepts, which added to my fears, but there were also those who were in the same boat as me and had only the barest grasp of what a white balance was. All in all it was a good starting point for the semester, and a good motivator for me to implement some of my goals for the semester, which include independently researching topics outside of class and taking initiative when it comes to my own learning.