Colour correction

Colour Correction
As part of our course we were taught how to use colour correction tools on Final Cut.

We were given various pieces of footage to practice on with several problems that needed to be corrected on the footage.

One of the problems was how to correct white balance; white balance being the correct toning for objects and people taking into account different heat of the light sources. For example the camera records natural light (sun light) as being orange hot and indoor lighting as blue hot.

Another problem is super white (super white being where the light goes above 100% white and flares). We correct this by opening up the colour correction windows and choosing the waveform window, which then gives us a graphical representation of the whites and blacks in the shot, showing us how much super white there is and therefore allows us to bring the super white back down to 100% white. In one scene super white occurred when the actor turned on a lamp in a darkly lit room causing the lamp bulb to be flared out.

By learning about these issues at the start it made us aware of the potential problems and equipped us with the knowledge to militate against them whilst filming to limit or reduce the effects of incorrect white balance and over or under exposing our shots.

Vox Poppii

Vox Poppii
On Tuesday 24 March 2009 we held our team production meeting in the morning at the Velo Lounge in Bath. After discussing what we needed to do and who was doing what we realized that we still had some time left to continue with other sections of our assignment. Therefore we decided that to make the most of the time leftover we would do some Vox Pops outside to find out what people think about Laser Eye Surgery.

We used Chris’s Handycam to record them, setting the camera up on my tripod to steady it and to ensure we had no camera shake. Naturally we asked the owners of the shops whether they had any objections to us recording outside their premises; we found the shop owners were very interested and very supportive of us and our project. We stood to one side on the pavement so as not to impede any pedestrians who did not want to take part.

We used a sound recorder to capture what was being said and decided that I would clap so that we could sink the footage with the sound at a later date in the production.

We found that everybody we approached were very helpful and polite, even if they declined our offer to take part. Those who did take part were very interested in our project, and all wished us the best of luck with it.

slideshow of photos

Mark Fox Phone interview

On friday i did an interview over the phone with Mark Fox who is a editor that was worked on many programmes in a 20 years long career. The interview was really informative for me as i would like a career as an editor.

[url=http://www.divshare.com/download/6276887-d5d]DivShare File - Nathan interviews Mark Fox editor 1 fina.aiff[/url]

We went talked about his favorite project he worked on and the future of the industry.

Autocue and Presentation

For the last two weeks on Fridays we had been doing presentations on specific jobs in the broadcasting industry. These were recorded on the Sony HDV Z1 and we used two lamps to light the presenter correctly. We had to write the presentation on the job and give it in a electronic format so that it can be loaded up onto the autocue and laptop. We were organised into pairs for this so we all had a go at presenting and technical experience behind the camera by operating the autocue. My presentation was on the cameraman. http://www.divshare.com/download/6276932-aef

Eric the Cameraman

Eric Hoyton is a cameraman who has done work on programmes including Dr Who Confidential, Eating with the enemy and various adverisments. When Eric came in to talk to us he tried to hammer home the point that being a cameraman requires you to be very imaginitive and be able to improvise on the spot. Eric told us that the working day of a cameraman can frequently be as long as 12 hours or maybe longer on some occasions. As a freelance cameraman, nearly all the jobs are at the last minute and you will never know till then what or where the job is. This was of partitular interest to me because this is what I would love to be once I have finished my degree. He demonstrated that the cameraman has to be able to learn quickly when he was presented with the Sony HDV Z1 which was brought up for him to use. He admitted he had never worked with that camera model before. This act allowed him to demostrate the basic skills needed for when he works with a camera he has never used before.

Visit of Paul Applebee

Paul Applebee has been a producer for the BBC for the last 25 years, working on many projects such as the Saving Planet Earth series and was the first employer of Susan. When Paul came to speak to us it was mostly about Interactive Broadcasting, as he seem to be driven a lot by the experince of the audience and is interested in how the interactive mediums of broadcasting are involving the public more in making choices in programming.

When Paul was asked about the transformation of broadcasting, he replied with how he saw the changes as evolutionary. The format is used until it becomes the standard, then over time it is adapted as the situation changes and then the newer format is used more and more often till it is the standard. After more changes the program is adapted in another way and so the process is constently in motion, much like evolution, but it always keeps it roots in one way or another. This fact is used as an arguement against the opinion by some that television is going to disappear.