4. The darkness or lightness of a shot is
called its ‘exposure’
If the shot is too dark we call it
‘under-exposed’
5. The darkness or lightness of a shot is
called its ‘exposure’
If the shot is too light we call it
‘over-exposed’
6. We can control a shots exposure using our
cameras Aperture (also called its Iris)
The iris is the hole at the end of your camera
lens which lets light in. Its made up of little
blades that open, or close.
7. We can control a shots exposure using our
cameras Aperture (also called its Iris)
The larger the hole is, the more light it can let
through. What effect do you think this has on
your shot?
The larger the hole is the brighter your shot is.
8. The Aperture is displayed on your cameras
viewfinder as a number called an F-stop.
9. The lower the F-stop, the brighter your
shot will be.
11. Controlling the aperture on your
camera.
You can control the aperture using the lens ring
closest to your camera body (there are 3 lens
rings on a normal zoom lens).
12. What is focus?
“…the state of an optical image when it is
distinct and clearly defined…”
Key terms:
Blurry, sharp, out
of focus, in focus,
depth of field.
13. We control the focus of our shot, choosing
what is blurry and what is sharp.
14. By choosing what is in focus we
choose what our viewer looks at.
16. Controlling the focus on your camera.
You can control the aperture using the lens ring
furthest away from your camera body.
17. Focus
A good rule for focusing:
1. zoom in all the way
2. focus on the person / subject you want to
focus on
3. zoom back out to the shot you want.
19. What will you need?
• A microphone
• An XLR cable
• Your camera
20. 1. Plug the XLR cable into the bottom
of your microphone
+
21. 2. Connect XLR to camera
Plug the other end of the XLR cable into either
of the mic inputs on your camera
22. 3. Set mic to phantom power
Make sure the Input is set to +48V. This is called
phantom power (the microphone will be
powered by the camera).
23. 4. Plug in headphones to camera
You should be able to hear your audio.
24. 5. Check your levels
Audio levels are shown on your viewfinder as 2
white bars which go up or down depending on
the noise being picked up by microphone.
If the bars are filling up
or going red the
recording volume
needs to be turned
down.
25. 5. Check your levels
If the bars are filling up or going red the
recording volume needs to be turned down
using the volume wheels.
29. The perfect amount of head room
(a little between the top of the head and the top
of frame)
30. Master shot
Is when you film the whole scene from start to
end from a wide angle. You then re-film the
scene from all your other angles. Having a
master shot gives you more options in editing.
34. Filming at night is difficult
• What your eye see’s and the camera see’s are
two different things.
What you see at night What the camera see’s
35. Filming at night is difficult
• You need to make sure your actors
and location are well lit.
• You might use PAG lights, LED lights.
• You should film near existing light
sources (street lamps, headlights,
etc…).
• LED light packs are cheap, powerful
and readily available (well worth
investing in)
36. If you don’t have lighting think about
day for night.
This is where you film in the day and colour
correct it in post to make it look like night-time.
37. Filming in the dark.
The cameras GAIN is a way
to make the picture
brighter when filming at
night, but it also makes
the picture more grainy.
Before filming always
check to see if your gain is
on.
If you don’t want grain,
you don’t want gain.
38. Don’t film into the sun, always film
with it at your back (if possible)
39. BASIC FILMING TECHNIQUES
1. Don’t film into the sun
2. Don’t film in the dark (without extra lighting)
3. Always film a master shot for each scene 1st
4. Always make sure to film each scene from more
than one angle
5. Give yourself 5 seconds after hitting record
before you start the action
6. Check your aperture, focus, audio levels and the
gain before filming each shot (do it every time)
