STORY-TELLING UNIT: Camera Workshops

Filming Chris

For the past two weeks, we've been having camera workshops with Fergus Moloney, our course's tech. assistant, who has taught us how to work SONY XD/EX cameras, as well as the basics of setting up the camera and controlling the audio levels, lighting/ white balance, colour, focus/ auto-focus, etc.
Once Fergus finished explaining the basics to us and how to use the 'peaking' and 'zebra' buttons on the camera (which basically control the colour of our image) and how to use our lights & microphones, we were split in to groups of three (or in our case, four), and started setting up a tripod and placing the camera on it.
Then, we had to record a short scene and each one of us had to have a different role: either controlling the sound by wearing the headphones we were given and holding up the Rode microphone, or filming and controlling the image & colour of our video, or simply being in front of the camera and presenting something or setting up a mini interview amongst ourselves.

Me & Kate using the camera

This was a very interesting process and task, as we kept changing roles so that each one of us got the chance to get control of the equipment we were given and be more confident when using them for our own film-making process and filming days.
I personally enjoyed being in this particular group, as we had Chris and Kate who had worked before with the camera and helped me and Ruby in understanding how to use the camera and the equipment by using simpler words and terms (as Fergus kept using complicated words and terms that neither of us understood).
Finally, I would like to say that during these workshops I learnt a lot and had a lot of fun during the process, and I would love to have more workshops as they were very helpful to me and, I hope, to my classmates too. Fergus not only taught us how to properly work a camera, but also taught us various aspects of filming, such as different angles we can place the camera and what type of shots we could take.
Thanks for reading, I'll surely keep posting about my newest 'adventures' in UCA and in general about my little ideas for my project, "The Meeting".
Yours,
I