Blog 7 - Copying an existing video

In this blog i am going to be developing knowledge on how a camera is meant to be properly operated, and what is required to shoot a music video. Doing this by copying and existing film that has already been produced. I am going to be doing this with my fellow peers that are in the same Media Studies class as me. We are going to be working together to re-enact the song '' Whetus - Teenage Dirt bag''. This song has been chosen because the video has been shot in a high school. The video being shot in this location makes it a lot similar for us to shoot because we can do i t during lessons without have to travel off campus because the college we our is already an appropriate location to shoot, as it corresponds to the High school in the video. We will be filming our video on a video camera that is going to be placed securely on to a tripod. A tripod will help to stabilise the shot and limit and movement or shaking of the camera. This is my storyboard. A story board is crucial when filming a video, this is because it allows the video to be planned shot by shot. Each individual section of the storyboard contains: a image, the shot type (ie, close up, medium shot, long shot or extreme close up) , camera movement (ie static or dynamic), description of the action (what will happen in the shot), sound or audio (referring to the lyrics in the song).

Before undertaking any test filming i was shown how to use a shooting script. A shooting script helps to monitor the effectiveness of the shot that has just been taken. The shooting script is similar to the storyboard in that it details the shot type and camera movements etc, but the shooting script also had a space for writing brief notes about each take of every shot that i have filmed. I was also shown how to use a clapperboard, a clapperboard is put in front of the camera before a shot is about to be filmed. The clapperboard contains the shot number and the take number, eg shot 1 take 1. Clapperboards and shooting scripts should be used in conjunction with each other to monitor which shots were suitable for use in editing.

I was also shown how to direct a shot. A director helps to keep everyone/everything on the set running smoothly by letting all of the participants know whet they are meant to be doing. i was the director, and was working with the camera operator to set up each shot, we then got the actors in to position, and shouted 'action' to let the actors know that we are about to start filming. During this process i also learnt how to setup a camera properly. The first stage was mounting the tripod, this enables stability for the camera when filming. It is useful for for zooming, panning and tilting the camera. The tripods at college have a spirit level on them which enables you to position the camera on a flat surface.

i learnt how to set the white balance on the camera. This has to be done suit the conditions that are being filmed in, whether in or outside. As the camera reacts to differently depending on the light conditions when filming outside the white balance has to be set to 'daytime filming', otherwise the footage might end up having a blue tinge to it.

The exposure of the camera should be set up using the manual settings on the camera, this is because using manual settings gives more control over how light or dark the footage is. The exposure can be changed using a combination of the shutter speed, aperture and gain.

The frame size can be changed to be like a widecreen film, which is called a 16:9 ratio. The normal camera setting is set to the standard frame size ratio of 4:3. Which ever ratio used ypu can apply the rule of thirds to help you compose the frame.

Depth of feild is also important when filming a music video. Depth of field refers to the focal range of the camera and can be used to centre the audiences attention on a particular part of the frame, by having it in focus whilst the rest of the shot is blurred. This is called a shallow or narrow depth of field.

Here is a link to our group testing film of the video:

http://blackboard.sussexdowns.ac.uk/webapps/portal/frameset.jsp?tab_id=_2_1&url=%2Fwebapps%2Fblackboard%2Fexecute%2Flauncher%3Ftype%3DCourse%26id%3D_654_1%26url%3D