For Spencer’s Evoking Childhood project, I used the Black Magic Cinema Camera. We used this camera because Spencer wanted to get a variety of shots in a variety of lighting locations and he wanted to be able to make the images work together. We thought the dynamic range on this camera would help with that.
For the shots that reflected Spencer’s childhood, we just used natural light (either through a window or by being outside). This helped give them a realistic feel and a brighter feeling than some of the other, more stylistic shots. For the other shots, we just used a single spot light from the Lowell kit, to give things a harsh, one-point light feel. This was to give these shots an eerie, other worldly feel, to make them feel more conceptual than narrative.
I learned a lot about operating the Cinema Camera, especially that its power situation can be awkward and that it helps to come prepared with a person or a rig to help carry external batteries. I also learned (after screening the film) that smooth movements have to be smoother than you would think as you are doing them. In the future, I will watch these shots back and ensure that they are as smooth as I think before moving on from them.
I think the contrasting lighting turned out really well, especially considering how little lighting practice I have. I was also happy with the composition of several of the shots, which used space in various ways to various effects. I was especially happy about this because I forgot how much this camera crops the image and did not get any particularly wide lenses. In spite of this, I think we overcame the space issue fairly well.
There are a lot of things I could have done better. I could have created smoother moving shots, I could have prepared better with more lenses, and I could have created better lighting on a couple of the childhood shots which were a little backlit. I also could have been more prepared for capturing audio than I actually ended up being.
Watching it with an audience in some ways turned out better than I expected. I worried that people would see my one-point lighting as amateurish, but people seemed to understand the effect I thought it evoked. I thought Spencer used pretty much all of my favorite takes as well. I was happy to see how he organized it, because I wasn’t sure as I was filming it what the shot order would be. I was disappointed with the shaky shots, and there were a few shots I wished we would have gotten more takes of because I didn’t like the movement.
This was a huge learning opportunity for me, because I had never operated a camera with these kinds of specs before. I now understand a lot more about how it’s done and how I need to prepare for the future.
Film 1B DP Reflection
ReplyDeleteFor Spencer’s Evoking Childhood project, I used the Black Magic Cinema Camera. We used this camera because Spencer wanted to get a variety of shots in a variety of lighting locations and he wanted to be able to make the images work together. We thought the dynamic range on this camera would help with that.
For the shots that reflected Spencer’s childhood, we just used natural light (either through a window or by being outside). This helped give them a realistic feel and a brighter feeling than some of the other, more stylistic shots. For the other shots, we just used a single spot light from the Lowell kit, to give things a harsh, one-point light feel. This was to give these shots an eerie, other worldly feel, to make them feel more conceptual than narrative.
I learned a lot about operating the Cinema Camera, especially that its power situation can be awkward and that it helps to come prepared with a person or a rig to help carry external batteries. I also learned (after screening the film) that smooth movements have to be smoother than you would think as you are doing them. In the future, I will watch these shots back and ensure that they are as smooth as I think before moving on from them.
I think the contrasting lighting turned out really well, especially considering how little lighting practice I have. I was also happy with the composition of several of the shots, which used space in various ways to various effects. I was especially happy about this because I forgot how much this camera crops the image and did not get any particularly wide lenses. In spite of this, I think we overcame the space issue fairly well.
There are a lot of things I could have done better. I could have created smoother moving shots, I could have prepared better with more lenses, and I could have created better lighting on a couple of the childhood shots which were a little backlit. I also could have been more prepared for capturing audio than I actually ended up being.
Watching it with an audience in some ways turned out better than I expected. I worried that people would see my one-point lighting as amateurish, but people seemed to understand the effect I thought it evoked. I thought Spencer used pretty much all of my favorite takes as well. I was happy to see how he organized it, because I wasn’t sure as I was filming it what the shot order would be. I was disappointed with the shaky shots, and there were a few shots I wished we would have gotten more takes of because I didn’t like the movement.
This was a huge learning opportunity for me, because I had never operated a camera with these kinds of specs before. I now understand a lot more about how it’s done and how I need to prepare for the future.