First and second workshops

First workshop:

On the first practical lesson, we were taught how to  set up a tripod, adjust every side, and where to screw in the rotating handle. After figuring out the tripod we moved on to the camera, how to slide the camera on to the tripod and how to fix  the spirt level/ “the bubble” which shows that the camera is stable and is standing perfectly straight. Then we could finally move to the camera itself, but first we were shown how to slide on a battery, after which the camera would turn on. We were explained a couple of things like how to focus the camera, fix the lighting and what different buttons meant. We mainly used the Black Magic Mini URSA cameras, but we were also introduced to cameras like:  Sony NX5, Sony FS100 and Sony FX7. Also we learned 2 terms that you use while passing a camera to somebody, once you have the grip of the camera you say “mine” and if you're handing it to somebody you say “yours”. When we finished, we were asked to pack everything away, we did that pretty quick and that was our lesson which I found very fun.

Second workshop:

The second lesson was about getting a bit deeper into what we started on the first lesson. We were taught which angles were appropriate in different situations, and how to make different shots look good. For example the rule of thirds- the shot is divided into thirds with two imaginary lines vertically and two lines horizontally making three columns, three rows, and nine sections in the shot, so that you can avoid cropping later to retain as much of the image as possible and avoid reducing the quality of the shot, The depth of field- makes us understand how far the object is, but can also create an illusion, 180 degree rule- if you have 2 objects/ characters in one shot, you need to remember and keep them on the side that they were on, so if you have a girl and a boy and a boy is on the right, you need to make sure that no matter how you move your camera he has to stay on the right side in the shot. After learning all that we got to practice, making a scene with different shots. Our little film was just me taking my phone out sending a text, we used a mid shot, over the shoulder shot and low angle shot. We also learned terms like: standing by, rolling and action, those are some terms that we use on a set to make sure everyone is at their place and ready for the scene. After filming our scene we were again asked to pack everything away. It was really fun because it really felt like we were professionally working in a studio even tho it was just a practice.