In the first class, we did an interesting practice to write a short paragraph about what we observed in recent days. Listening to others’ cute stories was such an appealing experience, and from this activity, I also got a brief understanding of the studio purpose. We mainly focus on small things happened in everyday life, which is of course non-fictional, and describe them in detail. It sounds like doing vlogs in text, but needs us to express more mental activity. Also, we need to think how to make every story attractive and how it will look like in the final production. This studio demands not only writing skills, but also the ability to use EX3 camera. For me, who did a TV studio in last semester, it is a good opportunity to learn more about professional video camera, and to step forward in film industry.

After half a class, we went out of the classroom to do the first shooting exercise. Before starting, I thought it was a simple task. Just like our discussion on Friday, the material was short and plain. Aria and I decided to find two places within the media portal and to have different backgrounds for two of us. We saw a green chair and the yellow stairs and thought it might be good to have subjects sitting on these brightly coloured items. During the shooting, Aria firstly taught me to adjust the white balance, which was put a piece of white paper in front of the camera; then she told me about the zebra line to keep the proper exposure. When I watched the results, I came up with two possible improvements: 

  1. Maybe we could put the camera a little bit lower than interviewee’s eye-line, so he/she could look at the camera more naturally. 
  2. We should watch the results together on the camera and have some suggestions before handing in.

One of the most common ‘mistakes’ was overexposure. People’s faces or light clothing were almost blown out. Aria and I were doing ok because we checked the zebra line, and we learned that change the display to black and white could double check the exposure problem. I agreed to Robin that people could have their preferences such as they just want the image to be light. However, I still believe that video shooting should have some basic standards and that is what we need to learn as a student. For example, we know about the traditional composition of interviewing, and we think about the camera position, light, and focal length to deliver the right information. It is a positive way to learn these aspects from weekly exercise so we can quickly make adjustments in next practice. Another useful point from Robin was not to shoot any clips if you don’t want to watch it in the editing room. In the past, several times I sat in front of the computer and didn’t want to do editing because I was not satisfied with those clips. Editing is not a life saver that could turn bad materials into masterpiece, so I should always check the quality during shooting to fundamentally enhance my works.