Camera Workshop No.1

Today we had our first camera workshop and we learnt all about the cameras and tripods

we’ll be using for our filming of our thrillers. We were shown how to set them up and the basic rules we need to respect when using them. For example, Paul talked about the ‘yours’ and ‘mine’ rule which was a rule as to how we need to handle the camera when it’s not on the tripod. This rule is placed so that we don’t drop the camera when handling it or passing to another person. If you want to give it to someone you say ‘yours’, when they know they have it they say ‘mine’ so that you know if you let go then the camera won’t be dropped.

We then learned about how to level, focus and set up the camera. To ensure the camera in level you have to check the ‘spirit level’ and make sure that the bubble in within the circle marked on the camera. If not levelled, the frame would look slanted and probably slightly disorientating for the audience. After establishing that the camera is level, you have to focus the camera. To do this, you have to zoom in on what it is you want to focus on within the frame, focus it manually, then zoom out. The cameras focus will stay on the thing you zoomed in on and will stay like that until you change it. 

ISO is the cameras sensitivity to light. If the ISO is quite high, the footage will be very bright, if low, it will appear darker. A disadvantage to using ISO to alter the brightness high because it can cause more noise to appear in the footage. The ideal ISO to use is 400 however, if filming in the evening or a very dark setting, you may have to increase it in order to see it.

The shutter angle is what alters the ‘frame-rate’ of the filming. The optimal shutter angle is 180 degrees as that is the setting in which the discs open and allow light to enter once per revolution to each exposed frame causing the camera to have a higher frame rate as it is the amount of time the sensor is exposed to light.



White balancing allows us to discard the more unwanted colours from the frame as often when something appears white in reality, on camera it looks slightly off because the camera hasn’t adapted to the different temperature of the light. If there is a high light temperature, the colour white would have a slight blue tint however if there’s a low light temperature the colour of the footage would have more of an orange tint.

When filming, it is important not to film with effects, instead you should add the effects during the editing process. This is mainly due to the fact that if you film with an effect, you have no other option in post-production but to use that effect however, if you film in ordinary colour, then you'll be able to edit the effects in any way you choose.