I have recently visited the culturae mundi website and check their events calendar from now until February and informed everyone who is on the Facebook group page about it so they all know when they are needed. Below is a copy of the list.
2nd Meeting – Culturae Mundi
This morning we had a meeting with Steve at 10:00am about the projects to follow and we had to sort out what role each individual wants to do so of course I wrote down that I wanted to be either Editor, Producer. or Camera op. Steve also asked if anyone wanted to take the roles of DOP, Executive Producer, and Chief Editor, and I volunteered to be the Executive Producer as it is something I am good at and know I can do extremely well in plus Steve mentioned that it will look fantastic on our professional portfolio. He also told us to check out skillset.org and see what an executive producer does and what is expected, it is a lot of work but I have no problem with that I enjoy being challenged it makes me feel that I am learning. We organized a meeting for Monday the 14th November at 12:30 to discuss what we are going to do and how for all these projects and by then roles would have been sorted.
Power at the M.O.D
20/10/2011
My Power presentation is all about ‘Uniform’ and that is why I have chosen to go to the M.O.D in Beaconsfield and take a few images of the soldiers. Once I recieved a reply from then informing me that it was fine to come down and take my images I was thrilled. On Friday the 21st of October I will be making my way to take some images of the soldiers.
Power!
For my Power artefact I have decided to do it on Uniform. I will show different uniforms and how they show power. The ‘type’ of uniforms I am thinking of are –
Soldiers
Metropolitan Police
Security guards
Corporatees
I chose uniform to represent power because when you think about uniform you instantly link it to power and it does not matter what sort of uniform you wear as what ever uniform you wear you have a certain way of thinking and acting. If you are wearing school uniform then so long as you are in your uniform you need to act sensible as if you act wrong that would be bad representation of your school. The samething applies for anyone who wears uniform.
5D Mark II – Pros & Cons !
Advantages
Below I have written a few bullet point of the positive side to the 5D Mark II –
•Interchangable lenses
The lenses on the 5D Mark II can be rapidly replaced with other Canon lenses which fit the job/type of shot which you are going for. More than 100 lenses are compatible with the 5D.
• Full Frame CMOS Sensor
One of the main benefits from a full frame sensor is that a shallow depth is more achievable than with smaller sensors for example you have the m4/3 sensor or the 550D’s 1.6x crop sensor. Also another advantage of the 5D is that it avoids the dis-advantages of the DSLR/Micro systems camera sensors.
• Lack of noise at high ISO settings
When comparing to other DSLRs, you will find that the 5D can reach a high Isos without plastering much noise over the shot like other cameras.
• Cheap in comparison to Video Cameras
If you look at the price and quality for DSLRs you will find that they are extremely good. You could purchase a 5D Mark II for a significantly lower amount than let’s say a Sony HVR Z5U Video Camera which cannot meet the same quality image.
• Versatility of shooting with DSLRs over Video Cameras
The small size and in most cases weight of a DSLR means you can out them in more confined spaces, you can even use the mic stand as a tripod, depending on the weight of the camera than a Vide Camera.
Below is a link which will take you to a website which I found which compared the 5D Mark II vs Sony D700
Now the the dis-advantages –
• Expensive Memory Cards
Not appealing for students and individuals who have certain budgets. Usually you would purchase a normal SD card which is for other DSLR cameras like the 550D and micro system cameras for this you would need to purchase a pricier CF card.
• Rolling Shutter
It does not allow you to film as it does not like any harsh movements it copes better and is used only for handheld photography as the Sensor creates the images by scanning.
• 30 Minute Recording Limit
Due to the Law the 5D will only record for 30 minutes at a time. The amount you are going to record also depends tremendously on the bit rate you are recording with the card you use.
• Prone to Overheating
If you are using the CMOS sensor in warmer places it will certainly amplify noise, this occurs because it does not have a built in cooling system which then leaves it to over heat.
Making ‘Our War’ – Colin Barr
Today I attended the Coventry Conversation Making ‘Our War’ documentary by the executive producer of BBC Colin Barr. The documentary consists of a series of conflicts in Afghanistan. How this documentary came about was through a soldier who had filmed his daily life a few years back and then his footage made its way to the BBC.
Colin Barr could not do anything with the footage until the M.O.D gave him confirmation which they would support the documentary series. Without the confirmation and support of the M.O.D he would not have been able to do anything about the raw footage he had in his grasp. Mr Barr had informed us that the M.O.D were ‘very very very nervous about letting us (the BBC) anywhere near it’ and that the M.O.D then took four months before they got back to them letting them know they have their support. He added the M.O.D were ‘Happy with the reception of the series’ and had no editorial role in the making of the series, however, it was compulsory to show them the footage as they needed to make sure there was not any information which could be given out which could tip off the enemy or fall into the wrong hands.
Most of the filming was done by the soldiers them selves and this was done by using something called the ‘helmet cams’. The helmet cam are cameras which are placed on your helmet and once filming it records everything you see, everything from your point of view, it acts as an extra pair of eyes which allows us to see what they see. The helmet cams were not supplied by the M.O.D nor the BBC but were being purchased by soldiers themselves as in 2006/2007, they became affordable. The soldiers loved this idea as they wanted to be their own camera man and record everything which takes place from the minute they are awake til the minute they are in bed. Mr Barr said that ‘Everybody’s a director now and a camera operator’. You can even find some of the recordings from the soldiers uploaded on one of the famous websites like YouTube.
Mr Barr informed us that the programme took a lot of ‘Proper journalistic research’ and they would ‘Retrospectively build a story around the footage’ having spoken to the individuals who shot the footage and to the ones in the footage meant that he would have ‘Multiple perspectives’ of what had been filmed. He also mentioned there was 1000’s of hours worth of footage which was not surprising as each soldier is recording each minute of their day. They tried to ‘Grade the footage as they came in’ also one of the more emotional aspects of watching the footage was the fact that you ‘Never quite know what’s round the corner’ as mentioned by Mr Barr when he had described the analysis of the footage. He also mentioned it is hard watching individuals breathing heavily, trying to save their friends, panicking, the videos are ‘Not at all romantic or heroic’ as you might imagine.
During the lecture something fundamentally important was brought up as when we were watching the short clips of ‘Man Down’ one said he wanted to kill the man and another said how he enjoyed killing one from the Taliban and quoted ‘This is for Chris’. So Mr Barr had discussed whether or not it was ethical to broadcast this as these are statements which they could be judged for. Mr Barr said ‘We agonised over it’ when asked whether they had any doubt about transmitting these clips with people’s true feelings about killing someone but Mr Barr also said ‘Both of those opinions from my point of view are really really important.’
Mr Barr really sat down and thought about how he was going to portray the series of footage as he didn’t want them to turn out looking like a montage of events he wanted to show everything. He needed to have conscent from everyone that knew the soldiers in order to be legally able to show the footage. What I also found interesting is when he began to speak about the mirror box which is where the interviewee looks straight into the camera lens and can see the interviewer.
Overall, I did enjoy this talk and it is always ‘cool’ and interesting to see someone from an industry you would like to work in to talk about a segment which you have interest in.
APT Group
This morning we had a group tutorial with some 1st and 2nd years. It felt good to hear what they had to say, give advice on what they should do and they asked us about what we thought about their group ideas which they need to do at the moment. It felt good to give back. What we as 3rd years learned was ‘lucky 1st years’ as when we were in their shoes we only had 72hours to create a media artifact whereas they have 4 weeks. There was one 2nd year student who when I was talking to him he informed me that he enjoys editing just like myself, so if I need help with editing for my Final Project or need editing feedback and/or ideas I will surely ask him. Unfortunately I have forgotten his name but not face, however, we are creating a Facebook group page for all the 1st,2nd and 3rd years so that it would be easier to talk to which ever student we need or want for help and they could do the same for us.
Overall, it was a good morning and we all learned a few things from everyone, well I did anyways.
Final Project Research
Ok so I am not sure what my final project is going to consist of however I do know that I want to create a short film. I have been doing some research about it and have found a few student final projects. The style which I am thinking of, to be different from quite a few people is to create a short film like Charlie Chapman. We have all heard of him and know how funny he is even without the audio and that is what makes a great film. So I know what ever my storyline will be, it will be in black and white, with an old film reel tape effect.
A videos I have found on YouTube so far.
Actually when looking at more films I have decided not to restrict my idea by just thinking of a comedy. Below is a film which I found and really enjoyed it after one minute. When the time hit 5:30 the camera was not smooth if that was not the look he attended then a camera stand
The following link is not by students but it was an inspiration to creating a short film. I loved it.
Below is a link to an Award Winning student short film. I loved the editing for the images very smoothly done.
APT 1-1
Just had my tutorial session with Pete and he was really helpful. I had discussed with him what I was thinking of doing for my final media project but didn’t really have an idea. I am thinking of creating a short film, Pete could not stress enough that I should choose something I enjoy the most whether that be animation, 3D animation, stop motion so on and so forth. I informed him that because I want to create a short film I needed actors, and there are two theaters near my house in London, however he told me that if I do choose actors from the theater it might not look so good or even real as they act very theatrical and on films you need soft actors. He did mention he has connections with a woman in Birmingham if I did need actors so that would be fine, and if I needed help from either with camera, sound etc that it is possible to work with a few people especially since I will be doing all the editing on my own that is for sure.
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