Reflection WEEK 3

Last week Robin gave us an in-depth tutorial on many of the different functions and features of the Sony EX3 Cameras. This was a very informative session. While I had used RMIT cameras before, and considered myself a functional user, I had never quite understood each function in depth. These are some things that I got comfortable with that I wasn’t an expert at earlier:
– Exposure – the f stop, what the adjustments actually do and why
– Zebra filter – a very effective little tool for checking exposure levels
– ND filter – another function that I had never heard of, and had probably accidentally turned on several times.
– The gain function
– setting up the tripod effectively, and making it comfortable for you to use before you shoot anything

On Monday we watched some short clips in class (can’t remember the source), one featuring a very long single take of people on the street, somewhere in Eastern Europe. It was apparently all real and not staged, which at first intrigued me but then Robin mentioned that it doesn’t really matter, and that either way it’s still an amazing bit of footage. It was beautifully shot and really gave a snapshot of the time. We also watched some other short clips that utilised the static shot to great effect. I find static shots, when done well, can be some of the most intriguing and interesting shots in a film, as they force the viewer to stop waiting for something to happen and start looking for things themselves. They notice things they would otherwise ignore.

During this week I also shot my single-shot assignment with Nathan after class, however I will go into more detail on the final results in my assignment reflection. We went to shoot at the basketball courts behind Building 80, as it is a spot with plenty going on and lots of different angles to consider, without being too busy or over done.