Rules for Equipment - Camera

Having researched more about the genre thriller and looked into examples of thriller movies we were ready to get up and running with some experimental filming. During a Wednesday’s lesson with Bernard, we had the media technician to come into out class to teach us the basic rules of handling the media equipment. The JVC GY-HM100 is the smallest professional format video camera available to our department, we had the privilege to use such equipment to create our thrillers (well, thank YOU mediaaaaaa.) Having a slick and compact gadget like the JVC GY-HM100 made it idealistic to use, where as bigger sized camera would be impractical especially for tight spaced environments where its operation could be an unsafe situation.

The media technician started off with a few jokes to wake the class up before he mentioned a list of rules that must be obeyed when having access to the cameras, doing this made filming safer and practical (oh and also ‘fun’ – says the technician)

1.     Be sure that the camera is always in a safe place, this could either be in it’s bag or in your hand.

1.     it must never be left on the floor unattended or on a surface that could damage the camera. You must treat it with full care and respect.

2.     The SD card must be slotted into the camera the right way.

2.     If it won’t go in then take the hint that you could be inserting it the wrong way, DO NOT force! This will result to damaging both the camera and sd card.

3.      The viewfinder and lens must always be cleaned with a soft piece of material (cleaning cloth)

3.     You must avoid touching them anyway to prevent fingerprints being left on.

4.     Return ALL equipment back to the media technician room when you have finished using them, or if your time slot ended.

-       Do not rely on someone who is not in your group to bring it back.

5.     Make sure you turn off the camera whenever you are not using it.

- Do not leave it on for a long amount of time if you are not using it. Preserve the battery (you may find it a lot easier to not have to keep charging the camera if you follow that rule)