Introducing Cinematography to Mainly Broadcasting Program

[Nicholas Adamson]

Thank you for the breakdown. The SF Academy of Art is actually the school I hope to go to! And yes, the most important thing to us as well, is the story telling aspect of film.

[Nicholas Adamson]

Derek, would you say that the camera can be operated by a single person when necessary? If I just wanted to go downtown and get some eye candy shots? Or is it simply too large for that?

[Derek Boettcher]

Well, from reading further down, I think your money would be better spent on what Richard Herd was suggesting. I was under the impression of higher course level than high school. I wouldn’t trust the kids around that camera! But to better answer your question, it can be used by a single person, but an AC is always helpful. Just get it on a rail system and a follow focus and you’re golden. The only thing to watch out for is recording 4k eats space on your recording medium, so shooting 4k for any length of time can quickly fill your cards and drives.

Best,
Derek Boettcher
Creative Management
BTH Media Group
https://bthmedia.com

[Todd Terry]

I’ll just make one observation about all this…

You seem really keen on getting a camera that has all the bells and whistles… the highest quality available… all the features anyone would ever want… with your discussion of color space, 4K, RAW recording, high frame rates, and a myriad of other things… and you’ve discussed some very high-end cameras, features/ability-wise (although not really price-wise).

And there’s nothing wrong with that.

But on the flip side, you say this will be used to teach 16yo+ high school students, who are apparently starting from zero (“I’ll have to teach everyone else about aperture, iso, shutter, zebras, focus peaking, ND, basically everything…”).

There’s also nothing wrong with starting from scratch, either… we’ve all been there.

I’m not sure those two things are the best marriage, though. You don’t teach someone to drive in a Formula 1 car.

For someone fresh just learning, the ability to shoot RAW, or 4K, or worrying about 4.0.0 vs 4.2.2 vs 4.4.4 are, at least to me, wildly inconsequential. Oh they are important things in the long haul, but they don’t even crack the top 100 of things I think a newbie needs to start learning right off the bat, or even be concerned with for quite a long while.

For a ground-up teaching environment, to me a better choice might be to consider cameras that are as easy and user-friendly as possible… something to teach the basics on. I couldn’t make any recommendations, as I haven’t worked with that level of gear in a long time, but I know there are scads of cameras that would fit the bill and would be a lot easier from a technical standpoint to learn on than the complex ones. To me, I wouldn’t want teaching the aesthetics of cinematography to be hampered by a beginning student’s frustration over the technical side.

Just my two cents.

T2

__________________________________
Todd Terry
Creative Director
Fantastic Plastic Entertainment, Inc.
fantasticplastic.com

[Rick Wise]

I so agree with Todd. Starting out a student has so many basic issues to learn. A camera such as the Sony Nx30 (https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/853433-REG/Sony_HXR_NX30_HD_Compact_Camcorder.html) with it’s excellent “auto” functions and amazing stabilizing system might be a good bet. $1,790, and on sale for $200 off up to the end of the month.

Rick Wise
Cinematographer
MFA/BFA Lighting and Camera Instructor Academy of Art University
San Francisco Bay Area
https://www.RickWiseDP.com

[Richard Herd]

You nailed it!

They first need to learn film language … and have fun doing it, with results they can show people.

They need to see lots of examples.

One assignment I used (and would use again) is called “Pass the Salt.” It’s 10 lines of dialogue that make no sense whatsoever, so they learn subtext in acting–bringing meaning to the words with the tone of their voice, and then they have to film classmates reciting it in standard coverage (WS, MS, CU, OTS), and then edit it together. Really, the DV1 class I mentioned was a writing class, because it’s pretty hard to film a movie without a script.

My curriculum is available if anyone wants it, stored on google docs.