During this week’s workshop we were given this exercise and were taught how to use the Sony MC50 as well as how to use a tripod. Yes, it may seem quite fundamental, but it is just going through the formality of explaining how everything works so that everyone’s got a good understanding and that we’re all on the same page. Besides, it serves as a good refresher for those who might already have worked on a Sony MC5, or something similar, as well as using a tripod. The exercise requires us to head out to record 2 interviewees and an interviewer, and some wide shots and cutaways. We had a little directional microphone attached to the top of the camera to pick up the audio from whatever the camera is pointing to.
From the picture above as you can see that little red knob is slanted and the 3 of us who were grouped randomly by our tutor had a hard time scratching our heads on how to adjust that red knob to be flat. Despite getting the bubble dead center, the visuals wouldn’t be straight on the screen, or in technical terms, it would have appeared canted. However, despite having that problem, we decided to work our way around that and just adjusted the camera till we got a relatively level image on the screen and didn’t touch the settings on the tripod, except for folding the legs in while we were moving from location to location. Overall we managed to shoot what was required in the exercise brief and most importantly had fun taking up the different roles of being the interviewer, interviewee and the guy who stands behind the camera to press the little red button and gesture to the subject that we’re recording…
Other little minor hiccups we encountered were trying to find the right location around RMIT’s building 80. Since it was raining outside and we didn’t have that much time to run out to other venues, we decided to just find little pockets of the building where it was quiet and were not crowded. Obviously, some were taken up by other Media 1 groups doing the same exercise, but it was all good, there was enough space to go round.
After gathering all our raw footages around building 80, we transferred the files into our computers where we could edit and create a sequence from there. I’ve done a rough cut, but might want to fine tune it a little more before rendering and exporting it out into a final cut.
In a nutshell, I think it was a good exercise for us to get our hands on the little Sony MC50 which served as a good prequel to what’s to come in future assignments and exercises when working in the different studios. Oh and we did raise the issue we had over the tripod to our tutor, and she managed to find the nut that was locked and prevented the red knob from moving, so in future, when it comes to using the tripod, I think I would be more versed in doing so.
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