The creative intention for the week
‘To develop my cinematography skills and practice advanced techniques which can be used for expressive meaning in film.’
Session 1 – Filming with Canon DSLR cameras
Menu & Settings
- Setting the White Balance
- Grid display
- rule of thirds / composition
- Auto and Manual Focus
- Recording Mode – (movie rec size)
- 50 fps, 1280×720 (frames per second / resolution)
- ISO (light sensitivity)
- darker environment – higher light sensitivity & ISO number
- lighter environment – lower light sensitivity & ISO number
- Aperture (quantity of light coming into the lens)
- low number (eg F1.8 = larger amount of light let in = shallow depth of field)
- high number (eg F8 = less light let in = deeper focus)
Session 2 & 3 – Play Time
Choose a minimum of four techniques to research and practice this week. Two from each list:
List 1
- Depth of Field & Pulling Focus
- The Trombone Shot
- Bokeh
List 2
- The Rule of Thirds
- Frames within the Frame
- Symmetry & Leading Lines
- High Contrast Lighting (Low Key)
- The Quadrant System
You will need a clear example of what you’re trying to achieve and also a tutorial video or web page on how to achieve it practically.
For each technique you should aim for either a shot of about 10-15 seconds or two to three different shorter examples of the same technique being used in different ways.
Our Class Research on Composition in Film
Session 4 The Edit
- Use WeVideo to edit.
- Upload your footage
- Create a montage of cinematography techniques,
- Name the kit / technique in a caption at the start.
- At the end use a caption to suggest a potential meaning or impact of the technique on the audience
Reflective Journal
Inquiry
The advanced cinematography slideshow
A slide show with how to change the settings of the camera when in video mode. This should have an image of the DSLR which you used. A call out, which labels the buttons, describes how to change it and outlines the reason for changing the setting.
Take a copy of this slideshow template.
Action
A description of how you used the camera during filming in order to achieve the effects you selected in the edit.
Reflection
A short 1-2 minute video of your various experiments with composition. This will have been exported from WeVideo and downloaded to your drive (directly). The videos should include captions of the technique that you employed.
A reflection on how it is possible to use advanced techniques in order to communicate meaning.
