Recently, we have gained the possibility to use a full HD DSLR camera complete with 3 lenses, a microphone and a lighting system. This will greatly widen our creative possibilities when it comes to filming our two minute opening and the quality will be far better than we could have ever hoped to achieve with the other video camera's. We hope to test out some of the DSLR's capabilities before we go out on our filming days so that we can get familiar with the equipment and base the designs of our shot list on what we learn.
The camera is a Canon EOS 550D and I checked up the instruction manual to brush up on a few key commands and features the camera will offer us.
Interchangeable prime lenses means that we will not be able to zoom whilst capturing footage, but means we will get a far greater quality in the resolution and shoot style. Each of the three lenses lends itself to a particular frame. The 35 mm lens allows us to get nice wide angled shots that can have a large depth of field and is therefore useful when taking long shots. The 50 mm lens is most accurate to what the human eye sees, which makes it the perfect candidate for point of view shots, along with camera angles such as mid shots and over the shoulder views. The last lens the 75 mm provides the best view and set up for close up shots, giving us high detail and good focus.
Another thing we'll have to get used to is the manual focus ability that the camera has. This allows us to specifically altering the focus point within the frame, adjusting the soft and sharp areas of the shot. One thing that this makes me particularly happy about is that we can now experiment with these various focus points to produce whimsical or dramatic effects, focuses on the particular aspects that need to be brought to the audiences attention - a particular useful feature when it comes to our main task opening This focus slide can also be achieved whilst filming to quickly slide between soft and sharp focuses on objects.
And example of this [The Sorcerers Apprentice (2009)] The cameras focus slides from the female characters reflection to her physical self, drawing attention to the fact that she's noticed someone:
Filming...
Along with this, we also managed to finalise some plans for getting to film in a London Underground station. The application will hopefully be filled out and sent of at the end of the week and we should have a response from Transport for London by next week. If all goes well, we should be filming on 30th March, allowing us time for any last minute planning before we begin editing on 5th April. To meet the requirements for the application, it is required that we send the screen play and narrative synopsis of our film, a risk assessment sheet and information on insurance and local police and hospitals.
