this past sunday, a group of meerkats and meerkat friends got together to participate in meerkat media’s first ever freeschool workshop. our goal was to share knowledge, encourage open learning and share skills across our community. this workshop dealt with shooting video and the operation of the DVX100 camera.

everyone broke off into three teams, each team had an identical list of 20 different things related to the operation of the dvx100 that needed to be captured on video. teams were able to use any locations they wanted – but had to work in the given time restrictions of 5 hours.

the catch was that beyond just compiling the shots : each team had to film the list in order and simultaneously use in-camera editing to create a cohesive video that we screened that night! (click on the thumbnails below to watch!)

we would love for others to participate in our workshop : if you are interested in making a video, our lists of tasks and guidelines are posted below the videos. the following is what we came up with!

let’s learn the dvx and other fun shooting things

(and make 3 awesome movies)

***quick rules:

1) everything must be shot in order with no random filler shots between tasks

2) shooting must take place between 1-6pm (or anyy 5 hour period) 3) have fun, learn lots!

1. shoot an establishing shot/long shot, followed by a medium shot and a close up

2. white balance the camera during a shot – we should see a change.

3. shoot a shot-reverse-shot scene with 2 people – and break the 180 degree rule

4. go from out of focus to in focus

5. use the technique of “panning”

6. shoot the same location twice – once with low gain, once with high gain (interior/low light location recommended )

7. use the technique of “tilting”

8. shoot movement – the camera must follow the action

9. use light to create dark/light contrast to emphasize something important

10. shoot an extreme close-up

11. do a push or a pull

12. find some bare feet. film those feet!

13. shoot the same location/people once with 24P and once without (doesn’t have to be the same “scene” just the same visuals)

14. tracking shot (handheld) .. i.e. sideways lateral movement. can combine with pan / tilt / etc if wanted

15. shoot something that is moving. change the shutter speed from 1/48. do one at 1/24, and do one at 1/1000

16. do a zoom, manual and automatic. there must be 3 different speeds recognizable.

17. in an outdoor scene – change your ND filter throughout the shot (each setting once)

18. rack focus!

19. – create a shot using narrow depth of field. take a similar shot with wide depth of field.

20. go from indoors to outdoors – adjust your iris accordingly

This entry was posted on Wednesday, June 13th, 2007 at 1:29 pm and is filed under Vlog. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.