Can we trust the viewfinder? Before Friday’s class happened, I’ve never thought about this question. By learning from our practical experience and this detailed tutorial, we came up with the answer — it can’t be trusted completely.

From my perspective, the second class practice is an imitation of Lumiere Brothers’ film. Just like Lumiere’s well-known ‘Employees Leaving the Factory’ clip, we try to figure out the relationship between documentary and directed film. For me, the second take should reveal more personal point of view or more meaningful information. On this point, I satisfy with the changes of composition we made.

The first take was shot from a side view and it mainly focused on the running tram. It was a pity that we didn’t catch the backdoor and passengers getting on and off the tram. Also, a light pole stood in the middle of the frame but it was actually unnecessary and even distracts audiences’ attention. After discussion, we decided the theme of this short film might be busy traffics and people in the city. Therefore, we filmed straightly across the street to make it seem like an environmental shot. Instead of having a main subject, the second take is aimed to show the overall street view. Coincidentally, two students got up from the bench next to our camera within the 50 seconds, this movement in the foreground brings the strong sense of layers. 

Moving on to the disadvantages, Robin mentioned two points that I agreed with: first, the picture is not horizontal that the tram seems to climb the slope. It was our problem that four of us stood around the camera during the shooting and no one went very close to the viewfinder to check this detail. I have learned this technique from Robin’s demonstration that we should always look from the eyecup instead of the screen because it distinguishes between audience and cinematographer. Second, and the most significant, is the exposure problem. During the shooting, Aria actually checked with me about the exposure of that glass rooftop across the street. I looked at the viewfinder and thought it was fine. However, when watched the video from a big screen, it was clearly over-exposed, which led to the question I mentioned at the beginning. An accurate viewfinder is the premise for the proper exposure. Although I know EX3 is a complicated camera, it is still shocking that we spent almost half of the class to adjust the viewfinder. The hour we spent is valuable which helps us to know about the function of each button and to better ensure the right exposure.