Work, Work, Work! (Third Post)

Hey guys! The past few days I spent time learning about my equipment, as well as camera angles, movements, and shot framing. 

Below, I posted the first and second renditions of my vlogs! I will be posting vlogs for most, if not for all, the phases I will be completing. This is opposed to doing one blog mid-project. The first vlog is simply me speaking over a video of myself setting up equipment, to "Understand How to Use Equipment". I wanted to show you I was familiar with my equipment and that I know how they work. I actually do not show me utilizing the green screen in the video, but you will get to see that in action in a future video.

http://youtu.be/9C2iW4URaT4
(I tried to upload this on Vimeo but it was sadly too large. Also, Blogger only seems to allow one video to be embedded per post so this one is a link.)

As you can see, I undetstand how to set up the camera, tripod, and green screen. Now, of course, I must utilize their abilities. Some helpful tricks I learned specifically about a tripod from http://digital-photography-school.com/how-to-use-your-tripod-its-not-as-simple-as-you-think, will overall improve my shots. These basic tips, such as placing one of the tripod legs at the subject to open up the shot, are simple things that most people don't know can improve your shot.

Anyway, the next phase I completed, Phase 2, was "Learn Appropriate Camera Angle Use/Camera Movement". As I previously explained (blog post 1), http://courses.iddl.vt.edu/DEDCM001/sa/index.html provided me with a majority of the camera angles and movements I can use in my recordings. Listen to the vlog for further explanation of each angle and movement. Not only did I learn about what the purpose of basic camera angles and movements, I also learned some helpful shots that I can possibly use in my final product, mostly from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jURepXxuiGE. For example, one of these shots is called the "zolly" shot. In the "zolly" shot, the camera is moved away from the subject while the videographer zooms in at the same speed. This provides a very cool effect of the frame opening up although the subject and/or camera does not seem to be moving. Unfortunately I do not have a dolly which is required for this shot, but I can use a the trick of sliding my camera aross a tabletop while it is on a towel, that I learned from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tbeVSx1Gf4k. A attempted to perform this below.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RZi5bGhE_7c
(I tried to upload this on Vimeo but it was sadly too large.)

There you have it. The majority of the shots and movements videographers use in real movies. I will be using them as well in my final product and movies I make on from here on out. Each of these outlined frames, movements, and angles have very different uses. With camera frames, for example,  an extremely long shot (ESL) can be as an establishing shot before getting into the heart of a scene. This is unlike the extreme close up (ECU), which is more used to feel better connected to the subject. In terms of camera movements, a dolly shot or truck shot, for example, can be used to spruce up a scene, as opposed to stationary shots throughout the whole scene. Finally, with the camera angles, as I explained, a higher angle can portray the subject as weaker, and vice versa with a lower angled shot. 

Ok then, I guess that is it for this blog. See you guys soon! Peace.