My Favorite Scene Presentation

First Media Camera Lesson

On Thursday 18th September we had our fist camera lesson where we were educated on how to work, set up and handle the camera. The camera that we used was a Sony NX5 that is worth around £2,500, which technically isn't very much for a camera. Adam wasn't present this lesson so we had Matt and Phil give us a crash course lesson in the basic skills of how to work a camera.


We started out by splitting into groups of 5, i was in a group with Ben, Katie, Kingsley and Jackie. Next we looked at all of the equipment shown and took them out of their assigned bags, firstly we started with the tripod and had a look at the movement of the equipment. Then we practiced at having a go of placing the camera onto the tripod and using the "bubble" which we then used to make sure it was leveled out well to prevent from dragging the lens down resulting in it smashing against the front of the tripod.

Next we then learnt about all the different types of buttons and knobs that adorned the camera and became familiar with what each button and knob did such as what to press for focus, brightness, zoom and white balance. For awkwardly angled shots, we then learnt how to tilt up and down with the camera to be able to produce the right angle to create the shot. As a result all these skills which were learnt throughout the course of 60 minutes in the lesson were obtained and gave us all the ability to create a good angled shot, with the right lighting, white balance and focus to be able to film to a good standard. The shot that my group used was one of my friends, Kingsley, standing outside of the double doors in the green room with Ben holding holding a reflector. The positioning of both of them were well executed which meant that for the shot we had perfect balance of natural light to use.

Introduction to shots and camera angles

Pleasentville Trailer:

As a whole class we all studied the opening title sequence to the film "Pleasentville" directed and produced by Gary Ross starring Reece Witherspoon and Toby Maguire. We learnt about how to analyse the mise en scene shot by shot and the positioning of the camera used in the sequences and why they were used. An example of this would be at the beginning of the film the camera starts by zooming outwards and finishes as an establishing shot which we all decided was done to allow the audience to feel accustomed to the time period of that time and the atmosphere of the scene. Overall I really learnt a lot in this lesson and found it all very interesting finding out how each of the different shots were created and why they were purposefully done the way they were as prior to this lesson I had never given much thought to the reasoning's behind the shots or the level of depth going into them before.

Heya, a bit about me

Hello, my name is Lauren Offin and this is my AS level Media Studies blog which will hold and keep track of all my progress and studies over this course.

I have lived in England all my life and have moved schools around 5 times and am currently studying my A-Levels at Hurtwood House. One of my previous media experiences have been when I was involved in a video education program called KWN (Kids Witness News) at my previous school which is supported by Panasonic, which allowed us to make our own video using our own resources and ideas. Our video was mainly looking into the subject of cyber bullying and the influences of the media on teenage kids which ended up winning an award for best picture out of 8 other schools. I learnt how to use different types of cameras and editing techniques, and also how to create a different variety of shots in the film, which was all very interesting and useful to know and learn.

I really like acting and the whole idea of making films and what goes on behind the scenes as well as what happens which was why i felt interested in doing the subject and the entire course. My favorite types of films and TV that I like to watch would be Horrors and Thrillers as you can never get bored while watching them which tends to happen often with me. One of my favorite film directors and producers would have to be James Cameron, as most of my favorite movies were directed from him, such as "Avatar" and the "Titanic".  I think that being able to learn about the different aspects of Media in this course will help me to be able to present a wide variety and skills which will result in a good piece of work.