Sunday, October 11, 2015

Action Sequence Video

In class, we were to pick a classmate and shoot them walking from the classroom to outside. The sequence video was to be unedited or slightly edited. The task was to capture them from a sort of far away angle and not to follow them with the camera, but to let them walk out of the shot.

I shot Shay'auna. The scene was the classroom, hallway, and outside on our beautiful campus at SCSU. This video was filmed on Wednesday, October 11, 2015.

Thursday, October 8, 2015

Chapter 4 Discussion Questions 1-6

1. List the advantages and disadvantages of using a tripod when shooting television news.
Tripods are used for tight shots; free of shakiness so it would be useful for the news when they are reporting from the station. It wouldn't be as useful when you would be recording something where you have to move around. You could just hold the camera.

2. What are the most important techniques that can be used to steady the handheld camera?
If outside, find a wall, telephone pole, tree, or whatever is handy and push the camera against this object. Indoors, a straight-backed chair is handy, sit backward on the chair and use the chair back as a camera support. You can kneel for steadier shots by sitting on your heels and resting your elbows on your knees or set it on an equipment case.

3. Explain the primary considerations that govern panning and zooming.
The primary considerations is to consider how smooth your zoom is. You don't want your zoom to be too noticeable, no one should know that you zoomed in. Also make sure you do not have too many zooms or pans.

4. Why is it important to establish interactive communication in the field between the photographer and reporter?
It is important because communication is as vital as the story. You want to make sure that everyone contributions and ideas are heard and you want to know exactly what is going to be done. Communication among the reporting team and the photographer makes a great story.

5. What techniques can be used to avoid the pop cut?
After every shot, move the camera to a new location and angle. Establish an imaginary axis line projecting from the lens through the center of the subject.

6. Define the term editing in the camera, and discuss situations in which the technique can be useful.
Shooting sequences and overlapping action in generally the same order in which they later will be aired. This technique can save time editing if the airtime is close and it can ensure that a story will be edited as the photographer wants it to be aired.

Tuesday, September 29, 2015

Chapter 3 Discussion Questions 1-5

1. Why are the best editing techniques often invisible to home audiences?
The best editing techniques are often invisible because the idea is for it to look natural as if you were viewing your life through your eyes.

2. Describe how editing can be used to help enhance the visual storytelling process.
You get to choose what shots you want to use, how you compose it, and what to edit out. You also get to choose how long it will be and how you will transition through it.

3. Explain why an understanding of picture editing is important to all members of the reporting team.
Various shots can be used to emphasize and reveal action and control pace.

4. Describe the role of the cut in the video editing.
A cut is the transition from one scene to the next.

5. Explain the meaning of the phrase "pace is everything" as it applies to video stories.
Pace is everything means that you basically need to get to the point and make sure that your viewers will remain interested.

Sunday, September 27, 2015

Condensing Videos: Students in their downtime

In class, we are learning how to edit videos that are long and turn them into a shorter version. For my video, I chose to do students in their downtime. We students are constantly in class so we do need a break sometimes. This video is showing what students do when they're not in class.

I shot these videos at the Student Center and in Hugine Suites at South Carolina State University. It was a rather dreary Friday, but these students found a way to have fun. I shot some local students and also some of my friends.


60 second video:
 
 
 
30 second video:
 

 
Being a full time student is no joke. Working and studying everyday can be tiring, so we need to take a break and just, unwind. I hope you enjoyed my video. 

Tuesday, September 15, 2015

Video Sequence Example: Opening a door

We have been learning about sequence shots and how to edit videos in class. So I took the time to record my friend Kayla in her dorm opening her door. This video was shot on the campus of SC State University .
 Here is a demonstration on  How to open a door .
  

Tuesday, September 8, 2015

Chapter 2 Discussion Questions 1-5

1. Explain the meaning of the term visual grammar.
Visual grammar is the reconstruction of events from raw material shot in the field, rather than on the re-creation of events. And in television, just as in theatrical filmmaking, photographic reconstruction works best when it embodies a sense of continuity or consecutiveness to help heighten the viewer's sense of experience.
2. List the three basic shots in motion picture photography and describe their functions.
Long shot, medium shot, and close-up. The long shot provides a full view of the subject. The medium shot brings subject matter closer to the viewer and begins to isolate it from the overall environment. The close-up shot isolates the subject entirely from its surrounding environment.
3. Explain how the three basic v can be joined to achieve a sense of continuity or consecutiveness in a scene.
These basic shot functions together in sequence in a manner roughly equivalent to how the eye works. Whenever we first encounter a situation, we normally make a visual overview to acclimate ourselves to the surroundings. When we first walk into an airport, we see the crowds of passengers and long rows of ticket counters(long shot). Once we have taken in the full view and oriented ourselves, we begin to inspect the environment more closely, through medium and close views, for an overhead TV monitor that displays flight departure information. For detailed visual inspection, we may walk closer to the monitor for very close-up views.
4. What considerations help determine when a shot or the image size of a subject should be changed in a visual story?
One should use camera perspectives to determine how they want the shot or image to be. The zoom shot can be used to focus in on a specific subject and the aerial shot can be a shot from above that is of course, farther away and not as specific.
5. Explain why it is so important in film and television to have action in virtually every scene.
Action flows across the edits from one shot to another to create the illusion that viewers are watching a continuous, uninterrupted action. Sequences help a viewer feel he or she has experienced an event because they represent the activity much as eyewitness observers would experience it.

Wednesday, September 2, 2015

Chapter 1 Discussion Questions 1-5

1. What qualities separate the photographer from the photojournalist?
According to Larry Hattenberg, a KAKE-TV video journalist, anyone with a camera can be a photographer. No one is a photojournalist until they learn how to tell the visual story. Whether you work alone, in a crew, or even with just one other person, Hattenberg's definition of the photojournalist extends to everyone involved.

2. In what sense are the camera and microphone "writing and reporting instruments"?
The camera and microphone are considered "writing and reporting instruments" in the sense that in media that contains moving images and sound, we are always writing with one instrument or another. Camera, microphone, sound, silence, actions, behaviors, video editing, and the spoken word. In the end, all those instruments come down to this: In video media you can only communicate in two ways; one is with images, the other is with sound. So the camera and microphone are instruments because the camera captures the pictures and the microphone captures the sound.

3. Why can the edit console fairly be called a "rewrite" machine?
Editing is the field search for building blocks of visual communication, the equivalent of a mind's eye storyboard that begins to take shape even before you arrive on location. When you edit, you are beginning the deliberate process to your visual and also changing things and making it better.

4. How does the nature of a television news report differ from a newspaper story?
News reports commonly emphasize just the facts. They may show people in interviews, walking here and there, and sometimes doing interesting things. In the end and with exceptions, however, they highlight facts and information more than they use video and field audio to help communicate a sense of experience or to introduce interesting people to viewers. Newspaper stories reveal someone's goals and actions as they unfold sequentially, along a timeline. They use moving images an sound to mimic how viewers experience the world in their personal lives. Images and sounds are different tools than words on paper or even words spoken aloud. Typically, print informs or reports first to the intellect. Visual stories commonly report first to the heart.
5. What is the role of the written word in television news?
The role of written words in television news is to connect the pictures and sounds just in case you are unable to understand. The words are like a guide so you can read along, because when the anchor is reporting the story, they often read faster.