Two days into the program and I haven't been kicked out yet!
The first night of class involved the always pleasant round-robin meet and greet. This and the class following was led by Stephen Kopels who is the co-founder of the school. He got his start behind the camera as a war photographer in Vietnam. From there he went to work on a ton of different projects in many fields ranging anywhere from PBS to Sanford & Son to Boxing on HBO. There are five students in the evening program, which is evidently a small class. From what we were told this small size was due in part to the current financial crisis in America, particularly the problems in dealing with getting a loan.
After spending a little while talking about ourselves we were given an overview of the program and then took a brief look at the syllabus. It looks and feels as if we are starting off slow but will be building up to a full blown fever pitch right quick.
Our first official lesson started the first night in class and dealt with HDV Camera Basics 1. We built upon what we learned during our second night with a lecture called... can you guess it?? That's right, HDV Camera Basics 2. First we started off with the basics related to any and all cameras: focus, aperture, camera stands, etc. Then we moved into more film based cameras specifically digital cameras. Our first three projects will be filmed on the Sony HVR-Z1U. At the end of each lecture we had plenty of hands-on time where we had to set up the camera, stands, monitor, and then connect all three. After which we broke everything back down. The first night I felt just like baby Huey pushing buttons... and I pretty much felt that way the second night as well. Last night we did have some objectives that we were to complete on our own with the camera: setting the time code to a specific hour and correcting the white balance. Both of which were incredibly easy. Thankfully.
Some random things I learned:
-A clapper at the beginning of a shot is used to sync sound.
-Never say you will fix it in post. Fix it while filming.
-Always film 30 seconds of color bars at the beginning of every tape.
4 comments:
hi bucky,
i stumbled upon your blog online while searching for reviews on this school.
i see that you just started? how is it so far? is it everything you imained it to be? and is it reALLY WORTH $30,000?
I;m eager to know as I myself am quite interested in attending. do let me know
Hey ims!! To be honest, I am only 4 days into the program so I really can't give you a solid answer as to the value of the school. Obviously, I think it is worth it as I did enroll there. Having looked at the syllabus and after being there for a week it is shaping up to be an invaluable experience... hopefully!
i knew that about the clapper.
i'm only one-upping you because in reality i'm jealous and want to be you. except i don't want to have your comic book collection.
You are totally jealous of my vanglorious comic collection. That's right, I used a made-up word! You are SO jealous that pre-existing words don't describe how van-glorious it is!!
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