During this week’s exercise, we had to learn how to operate the Sony EX3 video camera. Coming out from the Exploding Genre studio, Dan covered the camera in a crash course during one the first few weeks of last semester, therefore going through this week’s exercise served as more of a refresher than anything else. Personally, I am more of a DSLR person, but I understand the capabilities of a proper video camera, as well as the limitations of a DSLR. I do, however, enjoy the fact that I have an array of lenses I get to choose from, rather than just limited to one. Having said that, the one that is fixed on the EX3 has quite a good range in terms of focal length, and aperture, to get the really nice bokeh.

So my group and I headed out to the streets of Melbourne to shoot various subjects. We found it a challenge initially to figure out what we wanted to shoot. Having the whole world to our disposal, it was relatively daunting at first to narrow down on certain subject matters. We tackled this brain lock by just walking down swanston street and just look out for anything that might catch any of our eye or attention. Just outside the state library, there was an art exhibit where people were spray painting on wooden doors, and we thought this could be a good subject matter.

We swung into action, setting up the tripod, and preparing the camera. When all the practices in the classroom were being put to the test, we couldn’t get the tripod ready in time for the camera to start rolling, and before we know it, the artist has changed his position and we had to rotate to a different spot to shoot him as he paints. So we tried again, and this time the tripod being half-opened from the first attempt, and we managed to roll for a good minute or two, dealing with the Sun and various people starring at us wondering what are these bunch of ‘clowns’. Honestly, there were so many things going on at the same time, it was pretty hard to look ‘cool’. Or at least, that’s how I would picture in my head. Getting the right exposure, right framing, making sure the spirit level is centred, and of course, hitting the right button so that the camera actually is set to record. Once that was done, we played back the file and was generally quite happy with the outcome.

Then it hit me, if I were to do all these alone, it would have been one heck of a job balancing all of the different elements together, almost like a juggling act -if you drop one, you drop all. I guess what I’m saying it, we rely so much on teamwork that when it happens, we tend to take it for granted, always assuming someone’s got you covered, or somebody is going to fix that. There is this saying that goes on sets, “fix it in post!”. And having experienced working in a post production company, more often than not, it does get fixed, but there is not much room left for the artists to have any form of creativity input, since the shot is already tainted. (ie. it’s not easy to work with).

One of my goals for this semester would be to create shots that are easy to work with, therefore when it gets to post, there will much less cleaning up and more room for exploring different ideas or maybe even just boosting the aesthetics in the shot.