TCF 312: It will be missed

Well my time in this class has come to an end. Sadly, I can't take it again because if I could I would. I have learned more about film making and cameras in this class than any other class but mostly I will miss the level of competition in the class. Though we were not necessarily competing in the class, most of my classmates created such great work that it lifted the class to a higher standard. I learned so much from those around me and it forced me to push myself harder and try to get shots that before I didn't think I would be able to get.

      From a more technical aspect I also learned a lot of the techniques in film making. Lighting being the main one. Before this class I knew the basics of light (key, fill, back) but I didn't really understand how to actually convert what I thought a scene should look like to what it actually looks like. It was great learning about all of the important parts of lighting, all of the technical things but what I found out to be the greatest part was all the experience I got. I liked the fact that we would spend hardly any days lecturing about techniques but instead would go out and actually shoot a lit scene. I will admit there were times when I felt over my head but but that actually help me progress. If I was lost on what we were doing Rachel would force us to use the equipment and push us to understand through doing. Even when that didn't work it would inspire me to go online and see how other did it and learn that way.

      There are so many things I could gush on about this class but I am going to move on and start talking about myself because after all I suppose this class is about teaching me. So, through this class I did learn a lot about myself. Before this class I didn't find myself particularly good at any part of film making. There were a couple things that I did that I thought looked ok but nothing that I thought were really that great, but now I think that I have found what I am good at. I enjoy shooting live events, and I am fairly good with hand-held shots. Right now I am working to get better with dolly equipment and smooth shots but  I believe that I have really progressed with hand-held and I believe that I am a lot better at capturing moments that a spontaneous and real. I suppose that is why I want to shoot documentaries and I believe that this class has really gotten me closer to achieving that.

Thanks Dr. R

The DSLR

   
  The DSLR is definitely an awesome camera. It has some of the greatest potential for such an unassuming camera. The camera is of course meant for shooting pictures but also has a video mode that allows the camera to capture great video. One of the main benefits of the camera is the fact that it has a fairly large sensor in it which can capture really great images but also makes it fairly hard to focus with the camera. Which brings me to another one of the camera's major issues which is the fact that it is a still photography camera. Which means that the camera is not originally meant for video, so a lot of problems arise like how the camera fits in your hand, adjusting focus and zoom during a take, or panning the camera which causes a rolling shutter as well as some aliasing issues. Other than these couple of issues the camera is a great camera for capturing video. It's small, it has a good sensor, it does well on time lapse shots, etc and after you get some peripherals a lot of the problems become a lot better. So just because it's a still camera, don't count it out.

Camera Movement

There are a lot of great camera shots that I like. I remember putting a couple in my second post so I will just post a couple and comment on them so first:

The Vertigo Shot

         I definitely think the vertigo shot is a great example of movement. Though it doesn't appear to be a movement shot it definitely is and I think it looks really cool so I'm leaving it.

Tracking Shot

 

     I've used this shot before but I can't help it. I really love this shot. It pushed the limits on what was an appropriate length to follow someone tracking. It was really nice.




 Another great tracking shot from Oldboy.


and finally a bad crane shot. Rule of thumb, Don't hit the camera.

Favorite DP

Nicola Pecorini 

     When choosing my favorite DP it took me a little bit of time because there are a lot of Cinematographers who have created beautiful work. But after a couple of minutes I decided on Nicola Pecorini because his style of lighting is something that I enjoy a lot and that I would like to try to duplicate some day. He was the DP for films like Tidelands and The Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassus. All of his works are very beautiful and he uses so many great wide shots but they all have a gritty quality that is just great. I also like the fact that he is a cinematographer who is always concerned with the story. If a film has a bad script he won't film it. Here is a little tidbit that I read from him that I thought was funny. "I'm not interested in making even big movies with shitty scripts. So for me the only thing is the story. I mean I'm in a lucky position somehow because I can make commercials; I can make a living without having to jump from one movie to the next, but really the scripts are more and more crap." Overall, I like just like his style.