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My interest for Camera, Light and Sound has blown through the roof ever since I took up the module. Not having the best of knowledges in this particular subject proved bit of a disadvantage for myself, but over the coming months this changed drastically attending lectures day in day out and having that opportunity on learning new things felt amazing. Getting hands on with various professional cameras and being able to gain a deeper insight into the technical side of things allowed me to propel myself as an individual and grow a much bigger passion of this particular subject. I was able to use my skills of being a cameraman and get good shots every time we had a task to do. Having good vision also gave me an advantage as i was able to obtain a wide variety of cinematic/TV like shots with both hand held and stable cameras.

Lighting is another major role in everything we do on set as it can create any atmosphere you would want to create and put you in a certain mood depending on how bright or how dim the lighting can be. My role for this hasn't particularly been the greatest as I still believe I have room for improvement on everything as you can never be too perfect. Not only does it have to be in the studio but lighting can be used outdoors and give the picture/video a more feel and vibe depending on what light is used. Sound for me could say isn't the greatest of them all. Not having choosing a sound role for any of the productions has disadvantaged me in excelling in this particular field as I’ve simply not chosen to pick it which has ultimately come down to it being my weakest out of the three. This has come across as a trial for me as I am yet to gain a deeper understanding and much deeper insight into sound.

Attending lectures continuously and being able to learn something new every day I was able to use the skills and knowledge which I had gathered from the classroom and bring it with me to the studio, and apply it to my role of a camera operator. Being a camera operator from then on I was able to out of confidence film good shots within the studio without the guidance of the director himself. Obviously it won’t be perfect so whenever needed for support I will ask.

As mentioned above lighting links with being a camera operator as you would want to constantly think about it depending on what you are filming. So for instance if we were to be recording a talk show and the host wanted to feel dominant or if we as a crew wanted to make him feel like that we would use a low level lighting to do so. This can also be put into use with a music video for example the lead singer would have the spotlight making her the attracted target for the audience. In terms of background music, different lighting would be used, so if a sad song was playing then a duller and grey like lighting would make the environment a sad one, vice versa with a happy song then bright and colourful lighting would be used to bring the mood up in the room.

Sound, like the other two is another key role in representing your characters for whatever your recording being a talk show, music video, or even a drama we have to make sure sounds clipped on and nothing interrupts the audio were after, this could be unnecessary background noise. Talk shows host will usually have a clip on mic attached to his shirt to gather every possible sound he is giving off mainly his speech. Now if I was to record an interview and the environment was to be noisy than the best option to use here for sound would be the shotgun microphone with a boom attached if needed to capture every sound of the interviewee talking so it cancels out the unnecessary background noise. In this case and my opinion an Omni mic wouldn’t be wise to use on set as it wouldn’t just capture the sound of the interviewee but everything around it making it problematic for the viewers and audience to listen in.

Back to camera again and angles is vital whilst recording the subject as it may take the viewers off track and this may divert attention away from the show we are recording and we wouldn’t want this to happen. Working off site from university and being able to complete our projects, gave me opportunities to build on my experiences with a camera and by doing several I was able to gain as much as practice as possible on my camera movements such as good shots, stability and handheld movement. Being able to capture good footage without a tripod or a jib can prove to be skilful. A challenging example of this was on my chase task where I had to follow the character in motion whilst also running, I tried to get a variety of shots whilst running and being in focus at the same time but succeeded.

Advised by lecturers to attend workshops proved to work out well for me as I was able to adapt myself more and more each day to the studio settings and improve my experiences in camera, light and sound. One of the tasks which were set required some photography. This put us to the test of being able to demonstrate our skills on a camera, and an appropriate understanding of the following:

·       Composition

·       Lens Choices

·       Control of Aperture

·       Control of digital ‘film speed’ or ISO

·       Control of Shutter

·       Use of Focus (& it’s relationship with light)

Each photo had to have a theme behind it, here come the fun part being able to go out and take different variety of photos according to the criteria made me enjoy this task as much as possible. You could choose your theme from the Autumn, the river or even match day as long each theme linked to your subject matter. My theme was based on London itself and the landmarks. A total of twenty photographs had to be taken and each photo had to consist of:

·    VISUAL ORGANISATION

Balance / Imbalance in frame
Clear Directionality in line
Linear Perspective (Converging Diagonal Lines) Open Frame / Closed Frame
Frame within a Frame

·    PROPORTION

The Rule of thirds
The ‘Sinuous S’ Compositional Triangle

·    LENS EFFECTS

Effect of Short Lenses on space Effect of Long Lenses on space Deep Focus
Shallow or Specific Focus

·    APERTURE / SHUTTER

Under Exposure
Correct Exposure
Over Exposure
Blurred movement within a still frame Sharp movement within a still frame Night Scene

Below is an example of one of my photos which I had taken with the settings labelled on the photo. I believe that with the settings used I was able to capture the sharp movement within the still frame with ISO at 400 made me accomplish this.

Another task which I really enjoyed was 'The Chase' exercise where we were required to film and edit a five-minute action film with a long chase sequence occupying the majority of screen time. This was an interesting task as we had to share the camera operator role amongst us. This proved to be quite a challenging one as I was also acting in my film so the rotation was done quite swiftly with no hesitation. In particular attention had to be paid to the following:

·       Camera Settings

·       Camera Positioning (in both planes of action)

·       Camera Movement in relation to the action

·       The Lens Settings when choosing your frames

·       Continuity of Action from shot to shot

·       The 180-degree rule (or The Line)

The films whole perspective behind it all was to follow the pursued. Keeping it simple the story of our character being followed then chased and getting robbed We decided as a group our chase scene will look most effective at night so filming this was difficult due to lighting and had to adapt as quickly as possible. Despite low lighting we were able to get some good shots consisting of close ups, establishing shots, wide shots, etc. Being able to study this module has made me want to go out and learn a bit more about the equipment used around the world and why by industry professionals. I recently attend the BVE exhibition at the Excel London. What is BVE? Well BVE is the UK's largest event for professionals involved in taking content from creation to consumption. The event attracts more than 15,000 visitors from more than 60 countries. Free seminars are held throughout which prove to be useful for those wanting to know more.

Having the opportunity to attend this event and being able to get hands on with the sort of equipment that professionals deal with was extraordinary. This has enabled me attend this events every year and given me the drive to succeed to the best of ability in perfecting my skills behind a camera, lighting and sound. Coming onto the theory side of things for camera, light and sound I have learnt not only so much but new things every day. Putting theory into practice whilst filming every other day has made me gather the experience on location.

Although this module is more on the technical side of things my interest has mainly been towards camera and lighting. As for sound I was determined to overcome this challenge. During the lectures we learnt how audio was recorded onto our cameras. It records two audio tracks via two channels this being Channel one and two, now the controls for this audio gives us a chance to record the levels either automatically or manually. Now as always the most important thing to remember before every recording is to make sure it’s clear to listen and no interruptions.
Sound has several microphones we can work with these being a:

·      Clip Mic

·      Rifle Mic

·      Condenser

·      Dynamic

Microphones are quite intelligent they convert the mechanical into electrical energy this is called transducers. Audio given off from the mic and to the speakers, speakers are similar to microphones in way but in reverse. Pretty cool eh. Dynamic microphones work via electromagnetic induction. Like mentioned a same principal with the loudspeaker only reversed. When sound enters through the windscreen of the microphone the sound wave moves the diaphragm. Onto rifle mics also known as a 'Shotgun Microphone' are the most useful when trying to catch the clear sound. With the rifle mic at low frequencies it has a classic polar response of a hypercardiod but compared to a medium and higher frequency an interference tube gives it an improved bold response.

Lavalier microphone or as everyone else likes to call it 'Clip mic' is a small electret or ribbon diaphragm often used in for television talk shows, theatre performances and even public speaking events which allows for a hands free operation. This is usually provided with a small clip to easily clip onto your collar, tie or other piece of clothing. The cord is easily hidden away from cameras view by their clothing. A transmitter is either kept in the subject’s pocket or clipped onto the belt, if that’s not achievable than sound engineer will have it routed directly to the mixer or a desired recording device.

Now we all make mistakes whilst recording in all areas, common ones for audio can be not getting mic close enough this is the most obvious to detect as it won't be close enough and the audio coming off from the mic will decrease in noise which will obviously indicate that it is too far from the subject. Another common one linked to the mic not being close enough is distracting noise in the background which can easily be resolved. Other common mistakes include:

·      Hiding personal on subject procedures distracting clothing rustle

·      Handling noise caused by changing hand position on boom or mic

·      Room having unnecessary echo

·      Forgetting to record room tone

·      Audio levels become clipped because of sudden loud noise

·      Forgetting to charge/replace the batteries

·      Radio interference from mobile phones

Lighting comes in all different shapes and sizes and these are differed by factors such as:

·      Power (Wattage)

·      Colour Temperature

·      Hard and soft lights

·      Housing (Reflector/lens)

·      Characteristics of light source

What are the pros and cons of using LED lights? Well for one they generate a very low amount of heat which for starters could say it’s safe to touch. They are also very efficient to use as LED's convert 80% of its energy into light as opposed to 20% in a standard tungsten fixture. Gels can be clipped without incinerating or burning our sensitive hands. Low heat means little or no cool down period so we could say its time consuming and were on the go faster. Downside to using LEDs? There expensive to use than more conventional lighting technologies.


Their performance largely depends on the ambient temperature of the operating environment. Driving the LED hard in high ambient temperatures may result in overheating of the LED package, eventually leading to device failure. So we have to be careful in using these. If outdoors I wouldn’t pay as much attention to lighting, then I will with sound due to the fact of the natural lighting that I have and work with and even then a license is required and electricity is needed to power up the equipment which is all time consuming. Overall I wouldn’t say I have reached my full potential in this module so although there is more to come in the third year I hope to achieve all this and be able to perfect myself in the areas of technology and theory behind all the works.