Getting our Equipment

 Equipment

March 10, 2023

Before we started production, I knew I did not just want to film on my phone. Sometimes the phone can be grainy, and I wanted more of a professional look to my film. 

In our group meetings two weeks ago, I learned about this place called BECON TV, which allows students from the county to borrow film equipment from them. I messaged them on Instagram and was able to book certain dates to use their equipment! I picked out a camera, a microphone and a tripod. I did not take into account lighting until much later.

So last Friday, March 3, I asked my Dad if he could drive me to their location. I could have driven on my own, but I figured the equipment would be too heavy to carry alone. So we headed down to their studio! As we got there, we were greeted and taken back to get the equipment. 

The camera we got was very nice (I was a little scared to use it at first to not break it since it was super expensive). It was an XC-10 Camera by Canon. I was given a lesson on how to use it, as well as how to adjust certain features to get the kind of shot I wanted. While I could have used auto and not cared, it was so interesting to hear how the depth-of-field could be adjusted for the likeness of my film. 

I was given a shotgun microphone as well, since we did not have dialogue in our film. That was a VP83F Shotgun mic. We needed it for the sound elements, such as footsteps and cellphone sounds (ex. getting a text). It plugged right into the camera, so I did borrow a headset. The one I had at home is wireless, so it would not exactly work.

Finally, I was suggested to borrow a bicolor light. It had a brightness setting, as well as how warm or cool the lighting should be. We used the cool lighting in the dorm room, as it is relatively dark compared to the other locations we filmed in. 

This the equipment we received:

While using a phone to film could have been easier and less time consuming, the quality of our footage looks much more high quality and to the standard we want it in! Next week (March 13-16) we start editing! So in the meantime, we'll be reviewing which scenes we want to keep and which ones to use as backup. We have already set up a google drive so we could share it.