Already behind...

(picture note: keep reading for an explanation)

No dear reader (all 1 of you), do not be worried. I am not falling behind in school, just this blog. I had intentions of posting every other day, if not daily after class.... bbbbuuuuutttt school has gotten busy. My new goal is now weekly which puts me behind still. By a couple of weeks. (I'll just back date this post and no one will know any different) Enough BS, on with the show :

The first Thursday of class was a lecture of "Shot Terminology." This covered both still and moving shots. Your perspectives, close-ups, zooms, pans, tilts, dolly, punch, OTS, POV, ROTS, Two-Shot, Three-Shot, 4-Shot, establishing shot, close-up, wide shot, roll focus, choker, dutch angle, etc. Ya' know... the normal stuff. I really liked the way this lecture was set up, because the instructor, Stephen, would teach us about the shot and then show us an example from a movie. Very effective way to learn.

Much to our surprise, when we hit the 90 minute mark from the end of class, Stephen stopped class. Told us to set up the camera, and editing in camera, to make a short film using as many shots as we could. This lil' film would be written, directed, acted, and shot as a group. First week of class and we are already filming. Granted, the finished product was the equivalent of a fresh steaming pile of dog poo, it was still very cool. Great little exercise. Our film was about how each of us arrive to class, very edgy Oscar worthy stuff. Once finished we were to hold on to the film until Saturday when Stephen would play it back for us and critique it....

...fast forward to Saturday. Stephen ripped it apart.

Post critique. we had a picture composition lecture. This was fantastic and it really helped me frame my shots. How we tackled this assignment was that we were given digital cameras, ran around for an hour taking pics, brought our best three and they were critiqued. Post critique, we jumped right into the lecture (Rule of Thirds rocks, straight-up yo) and then we were sent back into the field to find another three shots. Everyone drastically improved with their newly acquired knowledge. Unfortunately, my first three pics are lost in the ether or matrix or space. But I do have my final three. Enjoy your first glimpse at genius (please note the sarcasm).

Speaking of genius, I have no idea how to move the pics below the post, so they are at the top. Genius indeed.