Aaaaaah…we had our first day of shooting with Bindni`s Play parade project yesterday. It has been a real fun and exciting day to learn a few things but most of all to get a taste of the whole crew working together ambient, which for someone used to work alone like me was really a great experience. I`m looking forward to the next sessions, hope I can do a good job of whatever task I`m assigned the next time (or the same). Meanwhile, I thought I would upload some of the videos we did while doing the camera training with Leslie, the last week. Since the project would be filmed using a HD camera, Leslie went through some of the basics of camera operating and through the exercises that followed, we, hopefully, learned them. We also did a bit of sound recording. The exciting part was that we got to direct, film, record and act out scenes in turns. I found that a good idea because it not only gave each of us the opportunity to boss around….ahem…sorry, I mean…to try out different roles…but also to get a sense of the importance of each individual role and of their coordination for the success of the final shot.

Here are some of the exercises. The first one is a close-up of Bindni indoors, and without sound.

Mid shot, with Matt as director, me recording the sound, Ben as subject and Sam at the camera (hope I got that one right).

Wide mid shot, with Matt acting, Ben as cameraman, Sam recording the sound and me as director (oh, yesssss!)

Not really the sort of material you would use to show-off. Clearly, a looooooooooooot to learn still. Nevertheless, the part of setting up the shots was a really engaging one for me, because photography and image manipulation is still the area that I feel most confortable in and which gives me the best opportunity to experiment and express visions.

Extra....extra(work)...read all about it!

Two weeks ago, we got an email from Bindni Karia, a 3rd Year Multimedia student asking for any volunteers to help out with her project. I, along with some of my 1st Year colleagues (I`m trying to memorise all the names, I promise I will) have replied and...here we are...involved in this project. We have had a first meeting last Friday, discussing mainly what we would like to do and of course, what we are needed to do, but there isn`t any definitive list yet. We will probably here more about it this Friday when Bindni will tell us (I guess) Who, When and What For?

Let me say a few words about the project. The basic aim of the production is to highlight the importance of having a safe and nice place to play in, outside the confinement of the house. There will be several interviews on the matter and the plot follows along the efforts of a team organising a play parade (why didn`t they have one of those when I was a kid?). And, hopefully, there will be a happy, happy end to it all, commanding a tear from the viewer`s eyes and making him more aware of how bad play deprivation is for the hearts and minds of those little brats....sorry, I mean....for those little angels.

Also, today we had a training session for operating and HD camera. Quite exciting, seeing that we got to do some work too and try our luck. I haven`t retrieved the footage yet but I`ll post it as soon as I can. It was fun fun fun because we not only got to handle the camera, but also had to try out different roles, from directing, to sound recording and acting (well, posing is a better word for it). Oh, I just got excited, really excited...I know I hide it well, but I did...

Trying to make good use of my enthusiasm for the day, I`m also looking at some Youtube videos on camera angles and shots. I`ve read about some of these, like the dolly and bird`s eye view, but it is definetly more interesting and makes much more sense to see them `in action` as it were, in shots from movies so that one can get a better perspective of what the visual potential of a certain angle or positioning is.