Lighting, Camera and Directing Workshops

The various workshops I have attended have been very insightful as to how to properly use the equipment.

Lighting:
The lighting workshops demonstrated how to create effective lighting for our own projects. The positioning of the various lights is key. Too much lighting will cause overexposure on certain parts of an actors face, while too much light on one side can create very dark shadows on the other sides of their faces. Also, too much lighting behind the actors can completely put shadow over the actor's face. I realised that it can take up to ten minutes just to sort out the right amount of lighting.

However, I realise that, because of my short amount of shooting time, I will try to use more naturalistic lighting, positioning actors near windows to provide lighting. I must try not to overexpose the lighting, however.

Camera:
Our camera workshops demonstrated several uses of the different types of filming equipment. One of the many options given to us was to use the DSLR cameras (looking like a more traditional camera) rather than our usual Sony EX cameras. It was interesting seeing the different type of camera quality we could get through the uses of different cameras. However, the DSLR camera appeared more complicated to use than the Sony EX, especially in regards to recording sounds. For these reasons. I wish to just stick with using the Sony EX as I am more comfortable with this and it seems easier for me to use.

Other aspects included the use of a rail for the camera to travel on to get effective travelling/ tracking shots. I tried using these piece of equipment to some success and I personally liked using these. However, I wish to go for a more handheld style and will try to emulate certain shots through and held techniques.

Directing:
The directing workshops mostly including the utilisation of using the Master shot for entire scenes. The master shot is a continuous shot that lasts the entire scene with the actors reading through all of the lines and the director staging the actors. I found that I need to not use too much movement with the camera during the master shot. Each movement of the shot needs to be made through character movement. I shall try to utilise this advice in my own project.