Year 10 Unit 1: Lesson 8 October 3 2011.

Today's class was very busy because last week we missed a lesson because of the Typhoon. As part of the Pre-Production stage, all the groups would plan out where and when they would film, in order to borrow rigs (equipment). We were the busiest group because we would be the ones that would start filming first, which was this Wednesday (the public holiday). The reason being was that we needed to show how traditions in Hong Kong are changing (our issue), therefore the festival on Wednesday gave us a lot of opportunities to do so. 

Throughout the entire lesson, we were given another camera/mic lesson and also shooting mock interviews and angles. We all took turns paying a different role of either, operating the camera, operating the mic or being the interviewee. Understanding the camera functions such as the aperture and shutter speed wasn't so difficult for me because I have a DSLR. But it was the operating part that was hard because some of the functions didn't state what they were, or I didn't know what button to press. I learnt how to properly frame the interviewee with the right lighting and angles. Operating the mic wasn't difficult either, however we made a slight mistake. At first we couldn't hear anything through the mic, it turns out that we didn't put the battery in. One crucial point I learnt from last year's film course was to always use headphones when operating the mic. One time we didn't do that and our whole footage was mute, causing us to re-film the entire sequence. We also learnt how to achieve the best sound possible. We would put the mic as close to the interviewee and if it was in the camera frame the cameraman would say "In". The mic operator would move the mic a little further until it was fully off screen when the cameraman would say "Out". 

Overall this lesson really helped me grasp the knowledge on how to operate a camera and mic. I've realized that you can't just go out there and press the record button. You have to fix the lighting and sound until you can acquire the best quality possible. I hope that these attributes will help us on our actual film day.