Hey Everyone! Happy Holidays! Yep, that is correct! This will be the final blog of 2015! It's amazing how quick this year went by. Anyways, for this week's reflective response, I will be talking about the Blackmagic Pocket Cinema Camera! Our class recently bought two of these BMPCC's, along with two different lenses. A few classes ago, Kaycee and I and a few other classmates downloaded the manual for the BMPCC, and started to read and test the camera. The BMPCC is really small and portable, being a 'pocket' camera and all. However, the lens Mr. M put on it was pretty large compared to the body. In fact, it was more expensive than the body itself! One of the lens can zoom, but the other can not, it's fixed. Kaycee and I got to try out the fixed lens on the body, and it's really neat. It can focus on one thing, keeping it really sharp, while compressing the background. Also, on the camera body itself is a button called 'FOCUS'. When you click on the button, it auto-focuses the shot. Another feature is called 'Focus-Peaking' and is activated through settings and when you double click the focus button. It makes it so whatever is in focus is highlighted in green, and it makes the sharp quality stay in focus. Of course, the green only appears on the LCD screen, and doesn't actually affect your shot. By using the focus-peaking option, you can make sure that what you want to be focused, is focused. Next to the focus button is a button called 'IRIS'. When you click the iris button once, the camera will automatically set your exposure, based on the highlights and shadows of your shot. Of course, you can always set your aperture manually, using the up and down arrows. Speaking of adjusting your settings manually, the BMPCC doesn't have any automatic settings. Therefore, everything has to be set manually: ISO, White Balance, Shutter Angle, and other things like that. Your ISO should be greater when there isn't much available light, vice versa. (However, do note that a high ISO comes with noise like grain.) So, your ISO should be low when there is a lot of available light. For the white balance, the BMPCC offers 6 presets, 3200K, 4500K, 5000k, 5600k, 6500k, and 7500k. 3200k is good when shooting under tungsten lights, 4500k for florescent lights, and 5000k, 5600k, 6500k, and 7500k for other daylights or time of day. Mr. M even said that it could shoot really well under low light! To actually record, on the top of the body is a big red button. To the left of the record button are playback buttons, to play or skip clips. Also, the body of the BMPCC has an audio input and a headphone jack! So you can actually hook up a mic and monitor it, without a Tascam or a Dxa-Slr mini! When we were testing it out, we noticed that there wasn't anyplace to screw on a mic though, so maybe our class should get a shoe mount put onto it or something. Also, the battery doesn't last very long. I remember Mr. M saying that the length shooting time the battery could take was around 40 minutes, but by the end of that class, the battery that was once full was almost drained. To sum everything up, I am really excited to learn more about the Blackmagic Pocket Cinema Camera, and hopefully get to use it! Adjusting the settings seems tedious, and will also require me to do some studying on manual settings. To read the manual, you can click here. To go to the actual site, you can click here. Below is a video I found that shot RAW footage from the Blackmagic Pocket Cinema Camera. I enjoyed the sharp images. Hope you will too. Well, that is it for this week's reflective response! Thanks for reading! Bye!
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Hey Everyone! Since I joined the media productions class at Chiefess, we've always been required to do two weekly blogs, like an online journal. One is a constructed response, 5 paragraphs revolving around a topic Mr. M has posted up. The other blog is a reflective response, one paragraph with an attachment like a video, link or photo, based on something related to media. The other day in class, Mr. M proposed a new idea, to get rid of the blogs, and instead, do a video blog. I'm pretty familiar with video blogging, as done by a lot of YouTubers, including one of my favorite filmmakers, Casey Neistat. It's a really interesting way of retelling your day or talking about something that's happened. Video blogging, commonly referred to as vlogging, are really quick videos, in which jump cuts are seemingly popular. Mr. M's idea was to replace blogs with vlogs, and just do once a week. He feels that it would be a good idea since it would force you to edit and shoot every week. For this week's constructed response, I will be sharing with you my perspective on the idea, and the pro's and con's that come along with it.
Replacing blogs with vlogs could be beneficial and good. Let's start off with the pros. As Mr. M stated, vlogging would be a great opportunity to get better at creating videos. It would force you to shoot and edit every week. This would be really good in learning how to edit better and faster, especially for the newer students. It would also help in shooting in a more efficient way. It would help me get better at shooting, too. In my opinion, Vlogging is pretty different from the news stories we did in the first semester. If you watch Casey Neistat, and are familiar with his work, he vlogs every single day. You'll notice that his vlogs consists of time lapses, jump cuts, and usually perspective types of shots, like a selfie kind of mode. Most of his vlogs consist of him talking while walking, which of course will have some shake. So, another pro of vlogging would be forcing you to be more creative. It will make you think how could you go about in creating this vlog about this certain topic. On the other hand, however, replacing blogs with vlogs might not be a good idea. It is true that you'd only be doing one vlog instead of writing two blogs, but when you actually think about it, vlogging does seem harder. You'd actually have to find things to shoot, and you'd be putting yourself out on the internet for all to see. I am not really sure that I am comfortable with that, putting your face out there, with potential for internet trolls. However, it would help me get better at speaking at a camera. Also, I have found that writing the two blogs a week have helped me in getting better at writing. It's especially helped me in writing essays in my other classes, because they follow the same format as the constructed responses we do each week. Now that you have heard my perspective on both the pro's and con's of vlogging, what is my actual opinion on it? I think that I'd be willing to try vlogging out and see how it goes. Even if that means putting in more effort, and having more equipment being checked out, I think it would be worth a shot trying it out. I enjoy Casey Neistat's vlogs, and I think it'd be a unique experience to try and create a vlog. If the class tries vlogging and it turns out it wouldn't work for whatever reason, we could always go back. Or we could alternate blog then vlog, every other week. That way we can still write, and also shoot. In conclusion, I think our class should give vlogging a chance, and if it doesn't work out then we can continue to do blogs. Another idea is to alternate vlog then blog weekly. Vlogging is a really interesting way of retelling a story. What are your thoughts about vlogs? Well, that is it for this week's constructed response! Thanks for reading! Bye!
Hey Everyone! I'm sure you have all heard of the camera brand, GoPro. For this week's reflective response, I will be talking about the GoPro Hero 4 and one of the promo videos they made. The GoPro Hero 4 is a new camera GoPro recently released. It's a small little camera that is very good for shooting in unique conditions and is portable because of it's small, lightweight size. It is waterproof, so it would be good for shooting underwater shots. In the promo video, there are multiple shots of an orca underwater, swimming. The Hero 4 shoots in 4k, which is an extremely sharp resolution. If you watch the video below, you can see the remarkable stunning shots it can take. It has mounts and accessories you attach to it to make it easier to hold. For example, there is a head strap where you can attach the GoPro there. Therefore, it would create a unique perspective, from the eyes of what you're seeing. Look at 0:57, you can really see in the eyes of that person, and what they're doing. It would be really useful if you wanted to shoot you riding your bike, or for example, climbing up an ice glacier, as seen in the video below. There are even mounts that can go onto helmets. Another mount they used in the video was one to put onto the side of your car. I've even seen some movies do this, in their behind the scenes footage. With that mount, you can get some really unique shots when you're driving. Another mount they have is kind of like a selfie-stick, which would be good in getting of yourself, or if you're vlogging, an example of that is at 0:24. GoPro also built in a time-lapse feature! Instead of having to manually edit a whole long lengthy video, in the camera itself there is an automatic time lapse feature! How cool is that! I really love the time lapses in this video, especially the one around 1 minute. It's really neat to see all these different angles, because of how versatile the GoPro can be. My absolute favorite shot from this video is at 1:13, where the GoPro follows through the whole crowd. Overall, I think this was a great promo video for the GoPro Hero 4, especially with the lively music synced to the shots. It really got me interested and excited, and is a great model for a commercial. The GoPro Hero 4 is a good camera I think made for sporting activities, underwater shots, or anything that really needs your own perspective, or again, like a vlog. I don't think I would use it just to get static shots, however, since I think it's best for shooting activities with a lot of movement. What are your thoughts on the Hero 4? Well, that is it for this week's reflective response! Thanks for reading! Bye!
GoPro HERO4: The Adventure of Life from GoPro on Vimeo. Hey Everyone! Hope all is well. With second quarter about to wrap up, third quarter is just around the corner! However, instead of doing a news/feature story, we are required to create a PSA, or a public service announcement. A PSA either encourages a good habit, like eating healthy or stops and prevents a bad one, like smoking. PSA's are 30 seconds long, and almost always has a message at the end. It's a great way to try to change a mindset of someone for the better, but a challenge in just 30 seconds. For this week's constructed response, I will be writing about some PSA topics I have in mind, and possible ideas for them.
One topic I was thinking of was how bullying and teasing can really affect a person in a bad way. I thought this would be a good topic to touch up on since bullying and teasing is actually a common thing these days which is honestly, really sad. I don’t think people actually realize that some of the things they say can hurt others, and so they really need to think about what they say, before they say it. A possible idea I had for this was actually a board game. You probably know about the game, Jenga, where you have to stack up a pile of blocks and carefully pull them out and then re-stack it. The whole point of the game is to get your tower as high as you can until it falls apart. The idea I thought of was that the Jenga tower, fully stacked, represented yourself as a person. Each insult or hurtful thing said would take away a block, making the tower weaker and more vulnerable each time. The whole concept I was trying to get across was using the game Jenga as a metaphor, showing how teasing can hurt a person until the point where they cannot take it anymore, making the tower collapse. I’m not sure if I would add something in about standing up for themselves, building them back up because I think that may contradict my topic, or at least lose focus on the aftermath of teasing. My message would be something like, “Teasing: It’s not all fun and games.” or something around there. It’s just a quick idea I thought of, but definitely have to think of some more. This would fit into the ‘Creating Peace’ category for Olelo. Another idea I was thinking of revolved around another board game, incidentally, Scrabble. In Scrabble, you are given a certain amount of letters, and you have to build upon other words using the letters you have. I was thinking, what if we use the game of Scrabble kind of like a metaphor? It would be a chain reaction, how one thing leads to another, how one word can lead to another word. It could be on not doing meth, because of course, meth is a chain reaction. By doing meth even just once, you can form an addiction, and can lead to negative effects. In the idea I was thinking of, it would start with the word ‘Meth’, and can lead onto ‘Poor Hygiene’, since an effect of doing meth is the rotting of teeth and gums from the drug. Other words it can lead into are Illness, Hair loss, Paranoia, Weight loss, Hallucinations, Addiction, etc. Those are all the aftermath of doing meth, all a chain reaction. Of course, not in that specific order. The hard part would be doing the words in a way to fit them all, or it might be a bit confusing. If I were to do this idea, I’d have voice overs over it, explaining the reaction. The ending shot and message would be, “Meth. Not Even Once.” with the Scrabble letters spelling it out. A third topic I thought of was smoking. I know a lot of research about the topic, since I did my past PSA's all revolving about smoking. Smoking can be really harmful to your health, and so it is important that a bad habit does not form. I still have to think more about an idea for this one, but I was thinking what if it was a conversation between two friends on the phone. One friend is debating whether or not to smoke, and the other friend is trying to convince them not to. The audience doesn't know that they're talking about a cigarette just yet, and they are thinking that they are talking about a crush or a guy. The cigarette is referred to as 'he'. Friend #1 is trying to talk her out of it by saying things like "He's not worth it" or something like that. The other friend counters it with "But he's smoking hot", which is technically true. Friend #1 tries again to stop her, and Friend #2 says things like "He takes my breath away." Friend #1 tells her about how 'he' can hurt you, and some of the bad things about 'him'. Friend #2 contemplates, and finally listens, and that is when the shot reveals her on the phone, staring at the pack of cigarettes and then tossing it into the trash can. The message I thought of was "Don't waste your breath on cigarettes. Don't Smoke." or something along the lines of that. I still have to think more about that idea because I'm not really sure it'll work out. To conclude, three topics I have been thinking about for my third quarter PSA are anti-bullying, anti-meth and anti-smoking. Although PSA's are just 30 seconds, the hard part is finding a good idea for it. Right now I am still in the process of brainstorming up ideas, but here are three that I've thought of so far. Well, that is it for this week's constructive response! Thanks for reading! Bye!
Hey Everyone! Our class recently bought the DJI Osmo, and at this past STN Practice, I got the opportunity to use it, so I thought I'd do this week's reflective response on it! The DJI Osmo is a small handheld 3 axis gimbal stabilizer with a little 4k camera. From my experience in using it at the practice, I absolutely love it! It's very easy to use, and portable! It'll come in handy at STN, too. It's kind of like a small version of the DJI Ronin. Kaycee and I used it at the practice to try it out and get some unique shots. I really like the Osmo because you could move it anywhere and it still gets really nice tracking shots! If you saw our Convention Recap video, the opening shot was of Brent walking into the library. Kaycee used the Osmo and shot it from a low angle, and it was very stable! The Osmo is really simple to use. You need the DJI Osmo app on your phone, and in the app you can control all of the camera settings like ISO, and even control the direction of the camera. You connect to the app through WIFI, and so your phone is like the 'viewfinder' of the Osmo. After you record a shot, you can even playback the footage through the app. There is an attachment part of the Osmo where you can put your phone. On the gimbal itself, there are certain buttons. One button is on the back, and is the 'trigger'. If you press it twice, it adjusts the camera forward. If you press it three times, the camera adjusts 180 degrees, kind of like a selfie mode. Another button is of course the record button. When you press record, there will be a blinking red light on the stick so you know that it is recording. Also on the stick is the joystick part. By moving the joystick, you can actually control which direction the camera is recording in. If you're going to use the Osmo, before even turning it on, you need to make sure you unlock the axis' or else it will break the motors. There are 3 things you have to unlock, and on the Osmo there are little pictures that will tell you which direction to move it in. Overall, working with the Osmo was a great experience, except that we found out that the battery doesn't last long. I recommend you try out the Osmo! It's a really unique way of getting creative shots, moving shots, or anything you want with a new perspective. I'll embed a video below where you can learn more about the Osmo! You can also click here to learn more about it on DJI's website. Well, that is it for this week's reflective response! Thanks for reading! Bye!
Hey Everyone! Hope all is well. It is now December, and we have our second STN practice tomorrow. Last practice was our first try at doing the Recap, and instead of doing it on the practice itself, we did it on the convention. For this week's constructed response, we are instructed to write about three specific goals we have for the second STN practice, but also say how we plan to achieve it. For tomorrow's STN Practice, three goals I have are to check and playback our shots, test out different styles, and focus on the practice, not the convention.
One goal I have for the second STN practice is to check and playback our shots. At the first practice, we didn't really check our equipment thoroughly, which resulted in our microphones not working, and us not knowing. We shot a whole bunch of footage, but when it was time to edit, we didn't have any audio with it. This was a problem because it really limited what we could do with the footage, leading to compromises. Not only should we be playing back our footage to check the audio, but we should also check that each shot is focused, on the correct white balance, and stable. One goal I have for the STN practice is to make sure we take good shots. Another goal I have for the second STN practice is to test out different styles. In talking to Mr. M today with Kaycee, he made us realize that up at STN we shouldn't be shooting the whole thing. Instead, tell the story with the important moments of STN. There are many ways you can go about in telling this story. Last practice, since we did not have audio, we were confined to a certain style. However this practice, maybe we could try something different. Maybe use interviews? There are so many creative ways we could create this recap, and I think it'll be really fun in exploring each way and finding out which one works best for us. The second goal I have for the second STN practice is to test out different styles. The third goal I have for the second STN practice is to focus on the practice, not the convention. Last practice, we made the recap as if we were at the convention, instead of the practice. However, we should be treating the practice as a practice. So during the practice tomorrow, we should be reminding ourselves and thinking of how we could go about doing this. We should think of ways to show the teams progress and how we could document that and put it in our recap video. It'll be interesting how we will do this, but I think it's great to have a challenge. My third goal I have for the second STN practice is to focus on the practice, not the convention. With STN coming around the corner, practicing for it is very important. It is the only way we can improve and get better. For tomorrow's second STN practice, three goals I have set are to check and playback the footage, try out different styles, and focus the video about the practice, not the convention. Well, that is it for this week's constructed response! Thanks for reading! Bye! |
AuthorHi! I'm Alaysia Navor, a third year student in the CKTV Media Productions class. I'll be publishing 2 blogs each week, posted to the left. You can also check out the tabs, "Inside Scoop" and "Projects" for some of my other work. "A smooth sea never made a skilled sailor" Categories
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