Introduction to video cameras

This lesson was focusing on the specifics on how to use a video camera. To shoot our practical work, our school uses a Sony pd170.

We learnt about how to adjust the specific technical aspects that allow you to shoot good quality consistent audio visual material.
First we learnt the basics of the video camera, such as how to focus the camera and how to zoom in and out. We learnt that there are two different areas of zoom on the camera. We then went on to learn about the more vital and specific details on what a video camera can do. These are things such as how to change the shutter speed. We learnt that shutter speed needs to be adjusted to the action in the scene, for example, a faster more action packed scene would probably have a faster shutter speed to emphasise the pace of the scene. We also learnt about white balance, and how you need to change the white balance depending on whether you are using false light (light bulbs or stage lights) or natural external light (daylight). You can also use the gain on the camera, which enables you to borrow light and enhance / exaggerate the existing light the camera can see. However, gain should be kept on 0 at all times if possible to create a naturalistic feeling in the shot. It is also possible to control the exposure, which is the amount of light enabled to enter the cameras lens.

The last thing we learnt in this lesson is how to set up the tripods, which was fairly straight forward. We learnt that we had to bubble the camera whenever we change the shot type, and make sure the bubble is in the circle before shooting.