Camera Operating Skills

Yesterday I had a XDCAM tutorial in the studio with Pete, so that we could book it out from the loan store and to use it to film our music video exercise as one of our projects for University. 

During this tutorial I learnt how to use and handle an XDCAM, although this camera tutorial is similar to the HM100 camera and JVC 750 camera tutorials there are also many differences as they are obviously different cameras. They work in different ways with different settings and record on different formats. The XDCAM records onto XDCAM disks which then has to be exported using an XDCAM Professional Disc Drive Unit onto Avid whereas HM100's and JVC 750's use SD cards and imports using a SD card reader. 

An advantage of using the XDCAM is that the XDCAM disc is bigger than the SD card so it would be easier to keep hold of and look after, as the SD cards are pretty small and it is easy to misplace them. Although XDCAMs have excellent quality, it is a struggle to use as handheld on your shoulder because it is fairly front heavy. Also carrying to various locations is a struggle as you would have to carry the camera and the tripod wherever you are shooting but Digital Single Lens Reflex cameras (DSLRs) are lighter and easier to film with, the only problem is that you might not get the same quality.

First Year of University

Moving to London for University was a big step for me, as I was educated in a small Town called Colchester in Essex. Growing up in Essex, having all my friends and family here and adapting to the place itself, then suddenly moving to the big City of London, where I knew no one, was hard but I knew I had to get into the real world sooner or later, so I choose sooner. 

Coming to University taught me to be independent in my learning, as College teachers chase you up on your work and literally spoon feed everyone, where as University lectures give you deadlines and briefs to let you get on with your own research and if you don't do it on time then your mark gets capped at the lowest possible score. The teaching styles in University are also different as the class sizes vary, depending on the course and modules you decide to choose. Now that I am living in London I have to be very careful with my spending as I have to pay rent, bills, travel and food and I can not rely on my parents anymore. I chose to do the course BA Film and Television Production at first as I was not aware that there was a Technical Arts course and half way through the course I decided would be more suited in the Technical Arts course. I have no regrets changing courses, as both courses were great but prefer editing and being on camera to producing and directing.

Once results day came, I was pretty nervous but I suppose that's natural right? Overall I did not do too bad receiving 2:1 in two modules and 2:2 in the other two modules, it was the essays that brought me down as I got an overall 2:1 for the practice portfolio. After coming back to University we got feedback some feed back from our lecturers, my downfalls in my essays are that I don't cross reference enough and lacking on types of different research sources such as books and newspapers instead of relying on the internet for sources. I am more of a practical person than I am writing essays, this benefits me as the course is 100% coursework. I also find it very hard to concentrate from a young age and I always struggle on how to structure and write an essay. 

To help me improve this year on my essay writing I am going to get help and advice from the Learner Developer Unit and also plan out what I am going to write, giving me plenty of time to research and complete the essays. We did a debate back in the first year and I got a 2:2 for it, being the unconfident person that I am, I bit my tongue and got on with it as everyone else had to do it as well. We were put into teams of two to help us debate against the other team but unfortunately my team member was not feeling very well, so I had to do my debate on my own but I managed to work though it even though I had a weak argument. 

Workflow of Iron Man 3

Introduction:

Iron Man 3, directed by Shane Black in 2013 is a very successful franchise film based on the Marvel magazines and cartoons. Iron Man is an American super hero film trying to save the world, defeat the evil villains and protecting the ones who are closest to him.

I decided to research the workflow of Iron Man 3 as I grew up to Marvel cartoons as a child and loved the Marvel films as well. Researching the visual effects in Iron Man fascinated me and made me realise how much hard work and effort has been put in by everyone to create this film. 

'A total of three hours and 15 minutes of footage were shot before editing, where it was brought down to 130 minutes (119 without the credits)'1

This marks the longest stand-alone Iron Man film out of the 3. 

Canon EOS C300:

Engineered to deliver 1920 x 1080 HD images, the EOS C300 Cinema camera integrates Canon’s Super 35mm CMOS sensor, which is modeled on the Super 35mm motion picture film standard. This, combined with Canon’s Digic DV III Image Processor, and a 50 Mbps 4:2:2 MPEG-2 codec, provides image capture even in low-light environments. In addition, the EOS C300 camera body weighs 3 lbs.

The Canon EOS C300 plays a big part in post-production in Iron Man as the visual effects supervisor (VFX), Christopher Townsend and his visual effects team created some scenes by superimposing computer graphic imagery onto live action stunt footage. They used six of these cameras as "witness cameras" for accurate close-up tracking of stunt actors' movements. "The Canon EOS C300 cameras gave us the main things we needed. Which were detail, sharpness and resolution," said Townsend. 

Sources:

1. http://www.gameh9.com/399/

Just a little bit about me, myself and I :)

About Me:

People call me Gavin Cheung, yes my parents have given me a Welsh name and it means 'White Hawk'.

My family call me 張嘉駿 also known as Cheung Kai Jun in English.

A few contact details… GavinCheung1994@hotmail.com or 07450249160.

I am currently in my second year studying 'Film And Television Production - Technical Arts' and I am loving every single second of it!

My parents are originally from Hong Kong but I was born in Ipswich, Suffolk but was brought up in Colchester, Essex as my parents were both working in Colchester. I moved to Colchester when I was about 12 years old, about to start secondary school at Colchester High School.

As I study at Middlesex University now, it would be really difficult for me to commute every morning from Colchester, so I rent out a term time address in Hendon which is a 15 minute walk to University in the mornings.

I am bilingual in Cantonese, Chinese and English, my first language is Cantonese, Chinese which my parents taught me to speak when I was growing up, then started to learn English once I went to Nursery. So I can speak them both fluently and I do sometimes end up speaking both Chinese and English in the same sentence, this is known as 'Chinglish'.

Past experiences:

I have always wondered what it was like to be behind the camera and behind the scenes from a very young age and also how some films are created with amazing special effects. My interests grew as soon as I was studying Photography, Media and Film Studies at College. Towards the end of my first year of College, after creating a few short films and editing them together during that year I knew from then on what I wanted to do at University as I enjoyed what I did throughout the two years of College, editing and filming.

I have learnt a lot whilst being at College and my first year at University and I am planning on learning more and taking more on board as time passes. I have made a few short drama films in College and did a lot of research. When I got to University, there was a couple of similarities and many differences from when I was studying at College. I filmed documentaries, dramas, music videos and did a couple of short exercises at University that our lecturers have set us with a time limit, to finish off editing our final pieces and upload them online. This is a great way for us to show our lectures what we know about about filming, so they can give us feedback on what we can improve on our short exercises.

The equipment I used for the first year of University was the 'HM100' camera mainly and used Final Cut Pro as the main editing software. After the summer I have purchased a few hardware and software to use for second and third year of University. I have got a Mac Book Pro laptop, which I have made to be compatible on Mac and Windows. I have got 'Final Cut Pro 7' which I can use for some projects but my Post Production lecturer, Catalin told us we will be focusing mainly on 'Avid Media Composer 7' this year, I am deciding whether to purchase it or not. I have also bought a 'Canon 650D' to use to do some shooting though out these two years along with a tripod, DSLRs are easier to carry than 'HM100' so it will be easier to carry them to certain locations. Backing up is essential while working with different types of projects, as you will need somewhere to keep all your footage and projects safe and secure. If something happens to your projects and you lose everything on it, you have lost all your hard work as you only had one copy. I have purchased a '1TB Buffalo hard drive' to keep all my work, footage and projects safe and backed up.

Primary Role Specialisms:

Editor
Location Camera

Secondary Role Specialisms:

Vision Mixer
Studio Cameras

Genre Specialisms:

Drama
Documentary

Statement Of Intent:

Whilst working on a few projects at College and my first year of University I was mainly working as the location camera man and the editor, so I have a bit of experience in camera work and editing.

Throughout this year and the future, I would like to expand on my knowledge and experience of editing and camera work to advance me through the industry. Additionally I would like to try out other technical roles like lighting and sound as I would like to broaden my knowledge on all technical jobs within the filming industry.

Availability:

I am free all weekend as I do not have a job yet, on Tuesdays and Thursdays I am at University, which makes me available on Mondays, Wednesday and Fridays.