This week has been all about practicality. And by that I mean, we learned more about how to use the Sony EX3 camera and how to record audio using them.

I was introduced to a new term, which considering the fact that I’ve never heard of it means that there truly are a lot of things about filmmaking that I still need to learn. Anyway, that term was Tungsten. We learned about how adjusting the settings on the camera can affect the lighting being recorded and the appearance of the video overall. The first time we filmed using this camera last week, when viewed in colour, the footage appeared more blue and cold. This was due to the fact that the camera was set on tungsten and we were shooting in daylight. If we were to shoot outside, the camera has to also be set on daylight to ensure that the lighting and overall colour of the footage being camera was the same, or closely similar to reality. We also learned how to do a white balance to aid in our lighting decisions and the appearance of the footage we captured.

Something that was emphasised throughout this exercise was that the things we capture with this camera, or better yet in general, should be a matter of choice and not accident. I believe this to be true as I’ve had previous beginner filmmaking moments where the footage captured was different to what I originally pictured due to coincidences rather than a decision I had made prior to filming.

We also learned how to record audio using the Sony EX3 and using a boom pole in our second class. The terms omnidirectional, cardioid and omnidirectional were dropped and I recalled the meanings of each from a lecture we got last semester on sound and affordances. It was really cool learning about simple tips and tricks on how to get a clean recording, from first knowing what kind of microphone it is, where it will collects its energy from and what angles will it pick up sound from, to wrapping around the cord around boom pole so to avoid it hitting up against the pole when you move it and picking up that sound due to the sensitivity of the microphones.

To be honest, I didn’t really have much of an interest in audio recording until I got into this course. And even when filming, I never really thought of it in a more complex matter such as this when recording as long as I get a clean sound. But after this exercise, I got more of an eye opener on its significance and the important decisions that you need to make to ensure that, not only do you record the visuals that you want, but also the audio to accompany that.