Introduction to cinematography

The strand choice, that I set as my primary, was cinematography. We have currently been given workshops on how to light a shot, how to set up a new camera (XF305), and the general logistics of shooting a film.

We are supposed to be split into groups of 5, to go a short film that puts emphasis on colour and two characters that never meet. I have yet to find a group, which has left me somewhat disheartened, however I am currently the camera operator for a no budget film that is being shot on sundays outside of university hours. The film is called 'Lovers Die Softly' and it is a general psychological piece of film. We were supposed to be filming last Sunday but due to unforeseen circumstances, caused the shoot to be cancelled. So, the first day of filming that I will shoot will happen this coming Sunday. I am using the XF305 for that project and as such have taken the camera out and given it a few test shots, which sadly are unable to appear on this blog as I had to return the camera before I could import the footage.

Hopefully I will be sorted into a group for cinematography, and also will be posting updates of the filming of 'Lovers Die Softly' as filming goes on. The XF305 I must say has an amazing focal lens, and when it comes to altering the focus of the shot, I have discovered the movements to be subtle but incredibly sharp, which gives me mersonal enjoyment to play around with. using the camera was slightly confusing at first, as the XF305 is bigger than the XF100 and the buttons are more spaced out, so it took a while to find them, but once I got used to them I could admire the smoothness and quality of the camera. This cinematography strand has been very enlightening, and I look forward to going ahead with it.

XF305