Workshop | Cameras 1: SWEFF (28th September 2016)

(Or, Sounds, White Balance, Exposure, Focus and Framing)

Today we were in the studio getting an introduction to the Sony PMW cameras we will be using throughout the course.

Jason and I trying to work our way around one of the rigs

We started off practicing with the camera focus, and zoom by tracking one of us walking toward the camera, and trying to maintain the clarity using the focus.  This proved a difficult challenge initially, but we more or less got the hang of it (still a lot of room for improvement though) - this as because we had to do three things at once, using only two hands, not to mention the level of precision required to maintain the focus, whilst tracking.

We also tested out some of the audio equipment, including a barrel microphone, boom pole and the 'dead wombat'.  It was interesting to see how drastically different speech can sound when recorded using a proper directional microphone; it really improves the quality of the video we were recording, which highlights the importance of effective sound engineering in TV production.


We also briefly looked at white balance, which I struggled with a little bit on account of my colour blindness, but the cameras allow for this to be carried out without too much hassle.

I enjoyed our first camera workshop, as it was a big step up from the low-budget equipment I am used to using, which will prove useful later on, but there is still a way to go before I would consider myself confident enough to shoot using these tools.