PRACTICAL DV FILMMAKING

Practical DV FilmMaking

• Overview
• Inside video
• Films and how they work
• Pre-production
• Production tools
• Production aesthetics
• Post-production tools
• Post-production aesthetics
• Careers and distribution
• Mapping the industry
• Glossary of film and video terms

Any household lamps can be used for this as DV requires far less light to make an effective picture than VHS; 300 W lamps will be sufficient rather than the bigger 800 W common in many VHS low-budget shoots.

When you have the light looking good - creating the atmosphere that is right for your scene - avoid any fluctuation of the aperture during recording. For example, a tracking shot of a figure in movement between a desk with a bright lamp to a darker corner of the room will present problems because of changes in the level of light available. Moving between these two places, the camera is designed to step in and open up the iris as it gets to the darker corner. But that loses the whole effect, as the two places will appear to the viewer to be lit equally, with the uncomfortable moment in between the two places as the iris shudders around to get the aperture right. Again, switching off the auto controls will avoid this problem, but to find the right level of aperture, look through the camera at both the dark and light areas of the scene with auto switched on for a moment. Let the camera settle in one part between the two and find an aperture that is right for both areas.

White balance

White balance is a tool - usually automatic in most cameras - which assesses the temperature of light entering the lens and compensates to alter any inaccuracies in colour, to something approach­ing the mid-range in degrees kelvin. Colours seen in natural daylight are more true than colours seen under artificial light, due to the effect the different colour temperatures have on natural colours.

The automatic white balance feature filters out some of these colours to arrive at a more realistic light and should be used for each new take. As with other functions, you can alter it manually and use it as a creative tool so that, for instance, daylight looks bluer and colder than it should - by setting the white balance for indoor, household light it would assume there is too much orange and remove some from the picture. Get to know how your camera functions when you set the colour balance incor­rectly. Don't forget to avoid altering the white balance setting while you are in the middle of shooting a scene.

Power

Batteries are expensive and don't last long, but cables are a hindrance. Think about how you can spread the use of your batteries, or hitch up to the mains as often as possible