Camera Workshop 2

We did a second Camera Workshop on 18^th January, we learned more about shooting and practiced.

We first discussed an important rule while filming during a conversation: the 180 degree rule. This means while filming two characters, the camera should stay on one side of the line between two characters which is about 180 degree. The camera can’t shoot from one side then cut to another side, this will confused the audience. So base on this rule, no matter what angle the lens is cut to, the people on the right will be in the right side of the screen and look left all the time, and the people on the left will always be in the left side of the screen and look right. This rule helps a lot when there is a conversation between two characters with masks, so people can distinguish them clearly.

Then we looked at a few typical camera compositions, among them the rules of three is very useful. It is to put people or your subjects in the left or right third of the camera. So when we filming, we can think of different camera compositions which helps to create good visual effects. 

While shooting a scene, we should always shoot the wide first, because we can block the scene and also we can get all the action in a wide first for safety in case there is some problems later on. Then, we can shoot the mid shot and the close up. When shooting the different angles, the actor need to do things repeatedly. We need to be careful of the continuity which means making sure that the movements, props, lighting all need to be the same in every shot. It is really important that they have consistent details which makes it more realistic. However, there are two movements are super hard to be consistent and repeat many times, which are eating scene and makeup scene. In order to help with the continuity, they will always give actors marks which shows the points that they need to walk in and out of a scene. So the actor hits their mark while filming which allows they stand in the same position every time we shoot.

 

When we practiced shooting, we need to say “Stand by” first, this is a signal to begin as this can make everyone stop what they are doing and be completely silent. Then the camera operator says “Camera rolling” and start to recording on camera. And the director says “Action”, so the acting begins. When the shooting ends, says “cut!” and stop recording.

We need to film before saying action and keep the camera rolling after the scene before saying cut. Because this can prevent some details from being missed, and it may be possible to capture some other material that can be used when editing later.

Last but not least, we shouldn’t watch the footage back on set because it would waste too much time if we had to look back every time. If we shoot it over and watch it again, we double the shooting time. Furthermore, if actors see their movements in the shot not looking good, they may end up paying extra attention the next time we shoot and it will become unnatural which will affecting the quality of the shot. So when we are shooting, when we feel that this shot is good, we started the next one.