Classtime with Devin and the Early Stages of Working with Cameras

This week, on Wednesday, our group met downtown to put together a small presentation for the class that would give the class and Andrea an idea of where we were at on research, questions for Chris, etc. We were supposed to start to create the concept for our film using our research and the ideas we've covered in class. I really enjoyed this meeting because it was the first time the group had gotten together to really discuss what we envision for the film. I'm really hopeful that we are going to produce a good film because it seems that between the four of us we have some interesting ideas that will work well together! I think we are all looking to make a film that is not overly artistic or complicated. None of us are overly enthused about a lot of background music or fancy effects. I know I'm not overly familiar with camera work and editing so I think it will be best that we keep things simple and 'elegant' and avoid crazy shots, etc.

In class on Thursday night we had a guest lecturer, Devin, a former student who produced a film in Ghana called Mango Driftwood while doing work for Dr. Stahl. I really liked this class because we got to interact with a someone who had done this type of project before and because Devin and Andrea were helpful in going over different shots and concepts during the movie, and afterwards we got to discuss different film techniques and shots. We looked at different things that he did in his film that he liked, as well as aspects which retrospectively he wished he hadn't done/ used in his film. I found this especially helpful because it was helpful to hear him reflect on the shots he had taken before, and what he would possibly have done if he had done this now. This gave us a few ideas of what are good things to try and capture in our film and things that we should try and avoid. One thing we talked about was that we should never Zzzzooooooommm in on someone in a documentary style film, especially during an interview.

This class was a big class because, with Devin there, the class went over a variety of stylistic techniques. We looked at what was stylistically pleasing when you are filming. This included how to get proper lighting when you are shooting, depending you whether you are inside our outside and depending on what kind of lighting there is in a room. We looked at the 'white balance' or how to adjust lighting on the cameras we will be using so that colours are balanced and not altered.
I hadn't really thought about this before, but it makes a lot of sense thinking back to short movies my friends and I made in Jr. high for class projects. The lighting was ALWAYS wrong and everything and everyone always looked so sickly green/yellow or overly white... NOT that the white balance was the only problem in those clips.. but perhaps they wouldn't have been so god awful if we had at least been a normal colour. We also looked at how to position people in a way that that the lighting works with the camera instead of causing weird shadows, angles, lighting, glare, etc. and how to use those fun screens with the white, gold and silver reflective screens for filming, and talked about which is most useful in what kind of lighting. Something I was a little bit familiar with is rule of thirds, another thing that I learned about in Jr. High (I know, look, apparently I actually learned things in my youth...). I originally learned this in art class when we talked about positioning things when you create art on paper. This is something that over the years I have been conscious about when watching movies and looking at photographs because it really does make a difference. Photos typically look pretty shotty when you neglect this, so that was a good refresher, and definitely something important to consider when we are filming and editing! We also went over different types of shots on the chalkboard: long, medium, close up, extreme close up, which I hadn't really ever thought about before Anth 309, and was kind of just guessing when we talk about these kinds of shots last semester. Luckily i was right.. not rocket science, but still good to keep and eye out for and pay attention to in our film!