LESSON 3
CAMERA OF THE WEIRD
Remember this lesson like each of the others before it requires you finish the project and produce a completed video. I do not want you to skip a step, lesson, for any reason, because you will fail to learn an important point.
These exercises are each designed to teach your body and then your mind. This is another one but we add the imagination to the mix. Here every shot you shoot will be designed to be strange.
You will shoot from far away - through leaves and trees - the spokes of a bicycle - the slats of the porch rails - and so on.
PROGRAM LENGTH BETWEEN 5 AND 10 MINUTES
THE SINGLE THING YOU WILL HAVE TO PAY ATTENTION TO, IS CAPTURING THE AUDIO FROM THE PERSON YOU ARE SHOOTING. You have read the various pages on audio, and if you have a wireless microphone you are in luck - IF YOU CAN AFFORD A WIRELESS LAVALERE BUY ONE- if not you are going to have to hard wire your camera
Use a lavalere mike - and construct a long cord which will reach from your camera position to the person speaking. this may have to be extremly long.
The length of the cord will have to determine your spacing away from the subject
WWEIRD - NOW ADD TO THE LIMITATIONS - NOTHING LEVEL AND SQUARE - TRY LAYING ON THE GROUND AND SHOOTING UP TO THE PERSON SPEAKING - GET ON A TREE LIMB AND SHOOT DOWN - MAKE FAST PANS TO FIND THE SPEAKER -
Shoot from close up just the eyes - nose - mouth - ears - back of the head - the hands or feet. and so on.
Script - have the person you are shooting memorize a story or a poem - they will have to recite one line = stop = start a new line = you may want the speaker go thru the lines in different locations so you can choose how to edit the various shots you are taking.
the camera is supposed to break every rule you can think of - how different can you make the speakers delivery.
Each of these lessons are designed to make you think in a specific manner. This third lesson - has given you the contrast of
1. A Rigid Formal Style
2. Constant and rythmatic movement
3. No rules but weird
You will have learned various methods of framing the picture and creating different moods.
Each of these three techniques will be a part of your personal demo tape.
FOR THOSE OF YOU WHO ARE PERSONAL STUDENTS AND INTERNS - you will now be going on actual shoots, and video taping in a variety of situations, these shoots are the type that you will encounter as a professional videographer. Each one will require you to be responsible for the details which create bread and butter income for the creative video artist.
There are few projects which are true works of art, the scripts, the ideas, the chance encounters for candid video do not come along often.
