MY METHODS OF WORKING pt 9

I shot this production exercise with the intention to improve the shooting conditions, which I set for my initial nighttime car scene. However in this exercise, I specifically shifted my focus to determine the ergonomics of filming wide shots in a moving car within the certain restrictions I’ve identified, such as the limited space I had for camera movement and my camera’s crop factor which ultimately affects the framing as the image always looks more zoomed in than a full frame camera, due to my camera’s smaller sensor size (which I believe is somewhere between super 35- 16mm).
Utilizing all the lenses I had available to me, I was able to determine which lens would be suitable for the specific shots I had prepared according to my shortlist. I believe my cannon 18-55mm F 3.5-5.5 zoom lens, was the best at capturing the widest shot of the entire front dashboard area of the car. However I’ve realized that I really shouldn’t use this particular lenses for the close ups, due to the fact that upon zooming in from 18mm, the aperture decreases to as low as 5.5 which isn’t ideal for my shooting environment due to the lack of light.

 

 

The cannon 24-70mm F4 lens was decent in capturing the behind medium shots of the driver, however I wasn’t particularly happy with the brightness of the shots due to the lens’ F4 aperture. Fortunately, I will have an updated version of the same lens available to me on the day of production, which has the ability to go as high as a F2.8 aperture, which will enable me to obtain a brighter shot with an increased cinematic appearance through more depth of field.

I’ve also realized through this shoot that the use of a cannon 50mm prime lens would be pointless due to my camera’s crop factor, which forces a zoomed up looking image. Although I was able to obtain a nice crisp looking shot while using the 50mm, It would be much more efficient to use the zoom function on either the 18-55mm or 24-70mm for close ups, as this would save me the time for lens changes (which can be quite difficult in a moving car).

Additionally I was able to improve the stability of my shots. Upon reviewing my last nighttime car exercise I wasn’t happy with the amount of shakiness the handheld footage produced. Due to the fact that I was unable to fit a tripod in the car, I was able to improve the stability of my cinematography by placing my camera on top of a small stool (which I sit on when playing the drums). This provided more fluid camera work yet still maintaining small amounts of jerkiness, which is an aesthetic I like and consider appropriate for the film, in small amounts.

VIDEO LINK:
https://drive.google.com/a/rmit.edu.au/file/d/0B_EHaIpWZ2UNcDktRmZQekRNa2s/view?usp=sharing