Monday 27 June 2011

Evaluation - I-D Magazine



We started off on our own in this Wednesday assignment and then we got put into groups, although I don’t mind working within a group I prefer working on my own ideas etc.
I found working in our groups became a lot easier when we all put our ideas together and I feel like we have worked well within our team and we each had a job to do.
Taylor and Alex are Graphics based and worked on the magazine layout, Charlotte worked on the styling and make up on our models and I did the photography.

I think our overall idea has come across really well in our final piece, having Rave and New Romanticism fused together has produced a really bold, colourful and strong fashion image which Rave and New romanticism are both youth cultures and I believe this is what we have achieved in our magazine, a unique individual magazine which I-D is after all.

The only thing I would do again is maybe allow myself more time to spend with my group, as I have had a few days off due to personal reasons etc.

I think if we did it again I would research our male models make up more thoroughly
As it is supposed to represent “new romantic styled make up” and I feel it could have been done better and it could have looked stronger than it does.

Our female model was perfect, she was a natural in front of the camera and I could direct her really well and she seemed to enjoy it, which made our pictures better.

I have enjoyed doing this assignment as its made us research into areas most if us have never photographed before and we all enjoy music and fashion.

Evaluation - Band Identity

To be done.....

Wednesday 2 February 2011

Flip Camera vs Sony HDR-FX1

I feel that using the Flip camera was nowhere near as beneficial as using the Sony HDR-FX1, this is because you have far more manual control using the Sony. The Sony is a big piece of equipment and is quite heavy to carry around and you also need a tripod for it to keep it stable and avoid camera shake.
Although using the flip cam has its advantages, it is small and very lightweight but the quality of the final video is not entirely that good.

Sony HDR-FX1 - Pro's - Much more control - More manual features - Better quality of filming -
                              Con's - Heavy - Not easily accesible - Need to use a tripod

Flip Camera - Pro's - Lightweight - Extremely easy to use - User friendly -
                       Con's - Less control of manual features - Lesser quality of videos -

At the end of the day it really depends on what you need to use each piece of equipment for and how much quality you need for your final video

Wednesday 26 January 2011

Using the flip camera

Today I had the opportunity to use the flip camera, I went into the studio during a friends photo shoot.
Although the flip camera is small and very lightweight I found that you do not have as much control over what you do film, with the Sony video camera I felt you can do so much more with it. You have much more control over zooming and other manual features.












Select your clips by dragging the slider across them (the yellow line)


To save - Share - Export using Quicktime - Broadband High






Wednesday 19 January 2011

Camera Movement Techniques- http://www.videomaker.com


Here I have found a website that gives explanations about what camera techniques we have used and also some that we haven't used as yet, these are the more fancier moves and maybe we could incorporate into our music video at the end of the term.




The Basic Camera Moves

Let's look at the basic moves that are used in every video and film production, from those used by your wedding videographers to those used by Spielberg himself. Our pictorial examples show a videographer using these moves with a hand-held technique, but they apply best to tripod and dolly use.
Tilt: Moving the cameras lens up or down while keeping its horizontal axis constant. Nod your head up and down - this is tilting.
Pan: Moving the camera lens to one side or another. Look to your left, then look to your right - that's panning.
Zoom: Zooming is one camera move that most people are probably familiar with. It involves changing the focal length of the lens to make the subject appear closer or further away in the frame. Most video cameras today have built-in zoom features. Some have manual zooms as well, and many have several zoom speeds. Zooming is one of the most frequently-used camera moves and one of the most overused. Use it carefully.
Pedestal: Moving the camera up or down without changing its vertical or horizontal axis. A camera operator can do two types of pedestals: pedestal up means "move the camera up;" pedestal down means "move the camera down." You are not tilting the lens up, rather you are moving the entire camera up. Imagine your camera is on a tripod and you're raising or lowering the tripod head (this is exactly where the term comes from).
Dolly: Motion towards or motion from. The name comes from the old "dolly tracks" that used to be laid down for the heavy camera to move along - very much like railroad tracks - in the days before Steadicams got so popular. The phrase dolly-in means step towards the subject with the camera, while dolly-out means to step backwards with the camera, keeping the zoom the same. Zooming the camera changes the focal length of the lens, which can introduce wide-angle distortion or changes in the apparent depth of field. For this reason, it's sometimes preferable to dolly than zoom.
Truck: Trucking is like dollying, but it involves motion left or right. Truck left means "move the camera physically to the left while maintaining its perpendicular relationship." This is not to be confused with a pan, where the camera remains firmly on its axis while the lens turns to one direction or the other. You might truck left to stay with a pedestrian as she walks down a street.

The Fancy Camera Moves

Now that you understand the basics, here are few more advanced moves. Some of these usually require the use of a steady device and one or two crew members to execute smoothly.
Handheld Shooting: Sometimes the action is moving too quickly or too unpredictably for the camera to be on a tripod. This calls for making the camera more mobile and able to follow the action of a scene. Most times the camera will simply be held by the operator, who will then employ a number of basic camera moves by moving the feet - trucking in and out, dollying in one direction or another, tilting, panning, zooming - and combinations of all of these.
Floating Cam or Stabilizing Shot: The Steadicam was invented in 1971 by Philadelphia native Garrett Brown. Famously used in the jogging sequence in Rocky and extensively with exceptional effect in the Kubrick masterpiece, The Shining. It uses a series of counterweights (and gyroscopes on more-expensive models) to keep a handheld camera's motion very smooth. Although the term "Steadicam" is used often, this is a trademark name belonging to the Merlin company. Similar to Kleenex for tissues, we call the devices that are non-Steadicams "stabilizers". Stabilizers for the small-business video producer are plentiful, much more affordable and are widely used today.
Crane/Jib: A crane can be used to lift a camera (and operator, if it's big enough) from low to high shooting positions. Less expensive jibs can support the weight of a camera and lift it several feet off of the ground. Sometimes called a boom, but the boom term usually applies to the device that holds a microphone aloft.

Pull / Split Focus Tutorial




Have you seen that shot in a movie where a subject in the foreground is in focus
and then the focus changes to the subject in the background or vice versa?
Well, this is a focus pull.
Difficulty: Moderate

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

  • Camera with a manuel lens
  • 2 subjects
  • Tape
  1. 1
    Arrange the camera and the two subjects so that one subject is in the foreground and the other is in the background.
  2. 2
    Decide which subject will start off in focus and which subject will end in focus.
  3. 3
    Adjust the focus ring until the subject that will end in focus is in focus.
  4. 4
    Mark this point on the barrel of the lens by placing a small piece of tape next to the marker of the focus ring.
  5. 5
    Adjust the focus ring so until subject that starts in focus is in focus.
  6. 6
    Proceed to take the shot and at the point which you want to do the focus pull turn the focus ring until the marker aligns with the piece of tape.


Read more: How to Do a Focus Pull | eHow.com http://www.ehow.com/how_2113396_do-focus-pull.html#ixzz1BTNhSybq

Wednesday 12 January 2011

Our first attempt





We used iMovie to edit and upload our video (Screen Grabs above)



We used the Sony HDR video cam for our first attempt. We managed to get on with it pretty well although we did miss out the "Pull Focus" which we will try again next time.