Project II: Group Awesome

36 thoughts on “Project II: Group Awesome

  1. Ryoya Terao Post author

    Quiz 3:
    The take home quiz is available at BB. You need to submit it via e-mail before the next session.

    Project II:

    You will start filming Project II in the next session, May 11th, and will continue filming it in the following session after the final.

    Once you read the requirements of Project II (see below), you need to start communicating with each other here. As you know, your participation in the online discussion will be a part of your grade. These are the threads:

    Project II Requirements:

    It will be good to think of creating some short scenes/situations to adopt these required techniques.

    CRITERIA

    HPX 170 on Steadicam

    These are the required techniques, which were also included in the instructional Steadicam DVD. We screened them in class.

    – Film as you switch from Missionary (operator facing the subject & walking backwards) to Don Juan

    – Wait for an actor to walk by. Instead of tilting up, do booming up and down, and keep filming the actor walking away

    – Panoramic shot (in the instructional DVD, the operator went around flowers. It is one way to do a “panoramic shot” for this project).

    – Going around the corner (You must have a corner of a building. This is one of the stylistic techniques)

    – Stairs (do missionary, going forward)

    – Walk along your actor, and film trees, posts, and column or even people between the camera and the actor.

    HPX-170 on Tripod

    – Shutter speeds (on this camera, you can set it as slow as 1/15 of a second, and as fast as 1/2000 of a second. You must compensate the exposure accordingly. If the shutter speed is slow, you may need to close down the F-stop, and if the shutter speed is high, you may need to open up the F-stop).

    – If your storylines require any dialogue, we should bring a boom and a shotgun. Please inform me if that is the case.

    DSLRs (most likely 7Ds)

    – Effective use of polarizer (e.g. reduce reflections on a window etc.)

    – Effective use of ND (Make the sky darker blue, for example. ND is usually used for exterior settings)

    – When you use most filters, you need to open up the F-stop a little.

    – In terms of content, think about a scene. Don’t just film anything with the filters. They are used to tell stories. It could be a scene that is as simple as someone is waiting for someone else.

    Pull focus

    – CU or MS of Actor 1 facing the camera (this person is in focus), in the background Actor 2 enters the frame, Actor 1 turns around, and Actor 2 is in focus. Actor 1 turns back to the camera, and the focus is on actor 1 again. These are some examples from this past session:

    Hui & Andrew:
    http://youtu.be/mSyyNYUW0DU

    Gary & Chris B.:
    http://youtu.be/T7JuZfdwZxY

    Still Photography

    – With the DSLRs, take photos at various low shutter speeds. Think of a good story in still images.

    All the best,

    Ryoya

    Reply
  2. Andrew Di Lapi

    we should also figure out who wants to work the steady cam since we can have two ppl using it at different times. I have a great idea, does anyone have a skateboard we could use? Could we possibly film someone riding the skateboard while someone films it via the steady cam and try to follow them?

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  3. Hui

    We can do a scene of two “enemies” walking towards each other and meet. Then they’ll have a moment of staring at each other and finally about to pull their guns out. (Cut right there). *something like the three-way stand off scene in The Good,the Bad, and the Ugly. – https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=5PgAKzmWmuk

    ENEMIES WALKING TOWARD EACH OTHER
    •steadycam
    •Switch from missionary to Don Juan
    •stairs
    •actor walk by

    GLARING AT EACH OTHER
    • slow shutter for motion blur of random ppl passing by them
    • panoramic shot of the two enemies
    • pull focus

    Reply
    1. Ryoya Terao Post author

      I see. Well, when I formed the groups, I made sure that each group has tow Steadicam operators. There were four people who raised their hands to be the Steadicam operators during the last session. If Hui wishes to operate it as well, I will leave it to the group. I know she has operated it once or twice.

      It is good that you have two filming days, and so if some things don’t go well on day one, you can redo or adjust on the second day.

      Reply
  4. McGinnis

    I want to do the Steadicam as well because I don’t feel comfortable using the DSLR cameras. I have a skate board but I am not volunteering in being the subject, I will bring my skateboard if you want. I like Hui’s idea and I think we should look for a location to execute that scene, lets keep indoors for that scene. For the use of polarizers and ND filters we should definitely go outdoors to shoot those scenes, but close-by I suggest the school’s courtyard. Any ideas on what scenes we should shoot with the DSLR?

    Reply
    1. Ryoya Terao Post author

      Leo was one of the four people who raised their hands to operate the Steadicam. And, I think he did well two sessions ago.

      As long as the weather permits, plan of filming outdoor. There is no way to accommodate two group to have a long filming day. Erica and I will have to supervise ideally together. Therefore, the two groups must filming at two spots, which are close to each other.

      Reply
    2. Ryoya Terao Post author

      Skatebording is a fine idea for DSLR still images. For Steadicam, it is too fast to follow. You can’t keep up with skateboaders even without Steadicam, right? I guess this is a comment to Andrew.

      Reply
  5. Mister 1-2-3-4

    There is a WW2 memorial a bit further north of Borough Park that is pretty impressive – a stark white block with giant, somber figures on the left and right sides. It might be a good place to shoot. I had an idea of a police procedural kind of set-up: we follow a detective with the steadicam as he walks through the park and over to a coroner standing beside a body lying on the grass in front of the monument. I put together a quick 3d movie to demonstrate the shot:
    http://www.mr1234.com/tmp/Movie1.mov
    The next shot could be a very low-angle shot next to the head of the corpse and looking up at the investigators with the monument behind them, like in this picture:
    http://www.mr1234.com/tmp/capture00.jpeg
    This shot could make use of the ND filter to keep the sky from being washed out.
    Maybe there could also be a steadicam shot rotating around the body and the investigators.
    Just some ideas, Hui’s idea is pretty cool too!

    Reply
    1. Ryoya Terao Post author

      Bravo! It is a great movie and image along with the shot ideas. I like the characters, too.

      The other members don’t need to create anything fancy visually like Tim did, but you all can exchange you brilliant ideas in writing.

      Reply
  6. Andrew Di Lapi

    The memorial site is a great place to shoot, i think we could combined hub’s and misters ideas. We have the steady cam follow the deceptive to the park to a body lying beside the grass in front of the monument, after a few minutes of searching the deceptive fins the murderer and they have a face-off and both pull there weapons out for a shootout. We can use the steady cam in this instance to switch from don juan to missionary.

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  7. Gary Jean-Juste

    Was just thinking for our still photography shot because Shane is playing a cop why don’t we have him do a kind of Horatio Caine one liner shoot. “Walking away from the body as he puts on some sunglasses”

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  8. Neil Rutty

    It was a good shoot last monday. I agree with Drew, we can bring a sheet. Does the color of the sheet matter for the crime scene? I can bring a bring light blue sheet for the scene. I also can bring my camera to take pictures of the investigation.

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  9. Neil Rutty

    To make the story more interesting, we could make a chase scene of the killer and the investigator after they are finishing investigating the crime scene. During the chase scene, the actors could jog slowly for the steady camera operator to catch up with them. In a crime show, the investigators usually have a small notebook to write about the crime scene and also white gloves during the investigating. Do you guys agree to have a small notebook and plastic white gloves for the crime scene? If yes, do you guys have a small notebook or the glove?

    Reply
    1. McGinnis

      this looks doable, I don’t have white gloves but I do have black nylon-polyester ones and purple leather gloves, but that’s if you want me to bring those. Let me know!

      Reply
  10. McGinnis

    Should I bring my skateboard still or should i just drop that idea, and I can be the dead body again but would love to do some camera work this time since I was dead last week already. I highly doubt continuity matters here, its more about techniques. So who will be our dead body this last session?

    Reply
  11. Ryoya Terao Post author

    Continuity is not so important in the project. I would rather see different people operating the camera. In addition, today’s weather is tricky. We may need to film indoor. Some floors inside the Atrium are quite photogenic. Think of some good spots. In film/video production, you will constantly deal with weather related issues. You need to learn to be flexible and creative facing Mother Nature.

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