As I wasn't here for this session, I had to pick everything up as we were shooting our preliminary task. Most of it was fairly straightforward for anyone that has ever used an electronic device before: On switch, battery remaining indicator, things like that. Next was the time code, which is in the corner of the screen and is broken down into 4 number readings.
From left to right they are: HH:MM:SS:FF, the last being frames per second. Usually on the cameras we use, there are 25 fps.
Next I was shown how to use the zoom and focus, and was instructed to zoom all the way in and then out again, to make sure the subject is in focus.
Next I got a quick briefing on exposure, shutter speed and colour temperature, which wasn't too difficult as it is the same as in photography. Exposure is shown in F stops, ranging from 1 to 22, which measure the amount of light in the shot. By raising the shutter speed, you increase the clarity of the shot and by lowering it, you can blur it. With colour temperature, you first need to set the white balance, by focusing on a white flat surface in the general location of your shoot.
Last week we began discussing ideas for our thriller opening scenes, but as half of my group were away on a business trip, we only had input from the 2 of us that day. However we did get some good ideas floating around, some of which were
- Possesed child,
- Mysterious deaths in boarding house
- Terrorist siege/attack
- Ghostly CCTV images in police station
We also had a few more imaginative ideas, but we passed those off because they were either too complicated or too long.
Storyboarding is the visual idea of what a movie will look like, and is basically a comic book of the film before it is put into production. To the left is an example of a storyboard in its early stages. A detailed storyboard is essential for any film, as it means that shooting can go ahead if there is a last minute change of crew, or if something goes wrong on the day.
A good storyboard provides the director with an outline of what needs to be shot, as although he may have an idea of what he wants to shoot, he won't have thought of every single shot that is required. Storyboards are there as a sort of guideline, and often on the shoot day, directors will change elements in the shoot or alter the shot order if, on camera things don't look quite right.
From left to right they are: HH:MM:SS:FF, the last being frames per second. Usually on the cameras we use, there are 25 fps.
