Week 4 Reflection: Interviewing

Ok, this is probably my favorite part of general journalism: INTERVIEWING! In class, we talked about how to set up the camera and lighting again for the interview. Jay picked me as one of the demo people, I guess, to show how it's done. "What's my favorite song?" "Who would I compare my singing ability to? Mercedes (Amber Riley) from Glee with a bit of Jennifer Hudson, except I can't hit those notes like them LOL.

But basically with interviewing, as I've learned over the past couple of years, you want to ask people open-ended questions. Questions that you can't really answer with just a yes or a no. You may ask someone, "Are you a singer?" More than likely they will give you a yes or a no. You want to delve a little deeper with your interviewees, get to know more about why they like to do what they do, past projects they've been involved in, etc. Whatever open-ended questions go along with the situation.

I'm excited for this project. Lana, Meghan, and I are working together again. Why split up a good team LOL Should be a cool way to show off our skills, because you know we're pros now! LOL just kidding. Still on this amateur level, but I'm looking forward to learning more and more about video!

PEACE.

Week 3 Reflection: 3 Point Lighting

Today was an interesting class. We discussed three point lighting, and how lighting has an effect on the scene being filmed. The three main lights are the KEY LIGHT, the FILL LIGHT, and the BACK LIGHT.

The key light is the main light normally set to the 5:00 or 7:00 position with the camera in the middle in the 6:00 position, and the person or people being filmed at the 12:00 position. When it's placed at one side, the other side normally has a shadow. The next light takes care of that shadow.






The fill light is placed on the opposite side of the key light. It will probably be less bright than the key.






The back light is, like the name says, placed at the back. It gives a little  more definition to the scene.



Jay took us to the studio to show us how to set up the lighting and how where you place the lights and the height you set them, has an effect on how the person in the scene appears on screen. That was great for me, because I'm a very visual person, so I like to see exactly how you would set things up. I love that we get to go to the studio and really see how everything needs to happen. Jay left us in the studio for a minute and asked us to work together to help set up three point lighting. One of my classmates physically moved everything, and we shouted out suggestions about where different lights should go, and it came out ok for the first time doing that. Lighting takes a lot of good judgment. You have to make sure that the people in the scene are comfortable with how the lights are set up, that it's not blasting in their faces. You have to determine if there are shadows that have to be diminished, have a balance of light on the face, etc etc. It's not overly complicated but you definitely have to pay attention to detail.

PEACE.

My Shots (Wide, Medium and Close Up)

Ok, so the assignment this week was to take three different shots of three locations (a wide shot, a medium shot, and a close up shot). I hope I did ok. I tried to pick places/people that had meaning.

This first shot is a wide shot of my side of my bedroom, complete with posters! I took this shot because this is the place where I lay my head, study, chill with friends, and everything. The posters themselves reflect my love of entertainment. The show Gossip Girl, and singers Beyoncé, Chris Brown, and Michael Jackson, among others are represented.

This shot is a medium shot. This is one of my closest friends on campus, Bethel, at the Activities Fair on the Quad last Tuesday, talking about her new club, the International Student Association. I chose this shot because I thought her placement above her sign for ISA was perfect. It doesn't show her full body, but you see more detail than you would if it was a wider shot. It also shows a bit of the Quad behind her, and tables from far away.

This is an close up shot (probably extreme) of a magnet on my refrigerator from the FAC (Fitness and Aquatic Center) at Loyola. This was a random choice, but I picked it because I like the design of the magnet itself. There are pictures inside the letters, reflecting the different services the FAC offers like swimming, dancing, and rock climbing. I go to the FAC a lot, trying to get in better shape. So as corny as it sounds, the place is becoming a big part of my life.




PEACE.

Week 2 Reflection: Shots

So we are getting really deep into video now. We reviewed a video on aspect ratio, which discussed the difference between the old standard 4:3 aspect ratio and 16:9 aspect ratio, which is more directed at HD tvs. The video discussed taking the 16:9 video shown in movies and making it adaptable to the 4:3 televisions that different people have. The narrator discussed different methods to fit scenes to that aspect ratio, cropping, letterboxing, and pan and scan. Personally I like pan and scan better because cropping takes away from the shot, and I was never a fan of the wide screen format of videos. Pan and scan shows the part of the scene, the actor or object that is most crucial to the scene. That works better to me.

After discussing the video, we got check out the GreyComm Studios, and Jay showed us first hand how to capture different kind of shots (wide, medium, close up, extreme close up, etc). It was really a lot to take in for one class for me. However, thinking about the different shots in a way made appreciate the work of a cameraman a little bit more. It's more than just pointing the camera at someone and filming. You have to have different shots for video and have to consider when you should move in, or when you should back up and get a full view of a scene. It's a lot more that goes into video than people might think. Definitely going to be a learning experience getting into all of this...

PEACE.

Long Take Assignment

Ok, so the long take assignment didn't go exactly as planned. Our original plan was to follow Nicholas (Loyola's mascot) around. "The Life of a Greyhound" or something like that. But we decided to do something different.

We met at Starbucks and brainstormed quick ideas. Then one of my group members suggested that we do a long take of a trip to the bookstore. And I volunteered myself to be in it, the amazing actress that I am haha. Just kidding :)

So we took to the bookstore. The plan was to film me entering the elevator, getting off the elevator, and browse through the bookstore until I found what I needed. The elevator part worked out perfect. I held the elevator for a few seconds while my partners went upstairs to film me getting out. By the time I reached the second floor of the Student Center, they were there, ready to continue the take. I spent some time looking through a magazine, and then looking through the aisles until I found what I wanted (my notecards). The only awkward part was my looking up afterwards and smiling at the camera. I kind of wish we would have cut it, but it was funny to watch and laugh at during class.

All in all, even though there were a few bumps in it I think it was a good long take. I'm surprised at how fast we got it done. It was definitely amateur, but for our first time doing something like this, I think our group did a good job.

PEACE.

Video I: First Impression

Hello hello all. For those who might see this blog, this is a blog for my Video I class at Loyola University Maryland with Professor Jay Dunmore. My name is Brittany Lee, known on my other blog as Brittany Shawnté. So I'm basically going to be blogging about my reflections of the class. Hopefully spice this blog up a little when I have time too, because I like glam haha I like everything I touch to look unique!

Ok, so today was the first day of classes and I had this class. To be honest, I was kind of nervous about the class being three hours long, but we didn't even stay the entire time and it went by so fast! Jay started the class letting us know a little bit about what we were going to be doing this semester. Then he set up his camera and did mini interviews with the class. Basic information, like where we were from, why did we take this class, things like that. We also got to ask him some questions about himself, which was cool. We learned more about each other, and about Jay. It was nice.

We also discussed the in-house intern work we will have to complete at GreyComm Studios which is 10% of our grade, I think. I'm excited for that because it's more hands-on experience in the studio, and we get to be paired up with a mentor that has worked in different fields (graphics, news, public relations, film/writing, and production). So it should be nice to do.