Production Skills #5

This weeks production skills session was an extremely fun one. We were properly introduced to the super 8 cameras, and allowed to record some footage on them. To me this was an amazing exercise as I have such an interest into the process of filmmaking. The process is often a very disciplined one, as we all know film costs money. Unlike digital, every shot must be lit and framed to perfection to save money. As students with ultimately no budget to work with, this is important. In the session we were allowed to experiment with lighting, with use of the lighting meter. The lighting meter is a compulsory tool used to work out what F stop the camera should be set at. It is a simple process. Pointing the lighting meter at the camera (from the subject) with a click of a button the small machine translates that into information on screen. For example, if the lighting is low and the subject is shrouded in darkness, the F stop which the lighting meter picks up is that which the camera should be set to. This way the lighting the camera picks up will capture what is in the frame without being under or over exposed. 

Below is an image of myself, using the super 8 camera attached to a tripod. In this shot I am looking into the camera to see if the subject which we were framing, was indeed framed correctly. To help us with our goal we used a small piece of glass, which we placed over the lens and traced the outline of the subject. This way we were able to place the glass over the lens to see if we were framing the following shot similarly, or as close as we could possibly get to the shot before. 

This is another image in which I am framing up the shot, this time showing the subject seated on the sofa. This shot allows you to see the distance we were working at with the super 8, from subject to lens. There is nothing in the foreground of the shot, or the middle. This again simplified the process as we had no worries of lens perspective. I assume that will come in the more elaborate stages of learning the super 8 cameras and even 16mm.

Finally, a graceful shot of the entire class. This shot was taken after the super 8 exercise. I believe as a class the weekly production skills not only teach us through key technical exercises, they allow us to bond as a group.