Reading Response: Video Image & Camcorders
Text: The FilmMaker's Handbook: A Comprehensive Guide for the Digital Age by Steven Ascher & Edward Pincus
Q: What IS a video image?
A video image is made up of numerous still shots being captured and recorded by the camcorder at a frame rate of 24 frames per second, that create the illusion of a seamlessly moving visual.
Utilizing a camcorder to get a good quality image that realizes your intended goals requires a number of factors that must be taken into account pre and during production. Artistic and technical principles should be used to control elements such as contrast, lighting and exposure, focus, colour, aspect ratio and timecode.
Q: What can you control manually on (most) video camcorders?
Viewfinder - a viewfinder is a small monitor attached to the video camera that provides the user with a visual display of what is being framed/shot; often camcorders have both an "eye-piece-style viewfinder and fold-out LCD screens" (p.111).
White balance - the control for compensating the colour balance on the camera to make the overall colour of light appear white, to avoid unnatural colour casts of the video image (as every environment has different lighting conditions).
Exposure - the control of how much light comes through the camera lens by either further opening or closing the iris (by hand or with a knob); affects the brightness/darkness of a shot.
Focus - rotating the camera's lens, changing the magnification to make objects in the frame appear more clearly (which can also fade/blur other aspects of the video image).
Q: List 3 things from the readings you did not know, or that were framed differently for you.
1. Setting exposure with the zebra indicator can help protect against overexposure, as the 'zebra stripes' show on the viewfinder to help determine highlights more easily, and by providing a percentage (don't go over 100%).
2. White balance is needed because our eyes automatically adjust so light looks white, however different temperatures of light create different colour casts e.g. when compared to sunlight, tungsten lighting "has a lower color temperature (it is more yellow/red)" (p.114).
3. Professional cameras have black balance, which monitors the black in a shot to ensure it doesn't have a colour cast.