Monday night - post class departure

It's Monday night and my new class has started, but I miss you all terribly. It was such a fantastic week and I was so very glad that we had the opportunity to work, play and learn together. For me the experience is as much one of disseminating knowledge and experience as well as learning new aspects of camera technology, group dynamics and how to be a better communicator. The class was simply phenomenal and I do hope to see you all here again at some point or out in the world, working, playing and making fantastic images.

And speaking of images, if you have any, please share them on the Flickr site when you have a moment.

Danny and Julie are in the Location Lighting class this week and it's such a joy to see them both again - they are a joy to be around and work with. I wish you could have all stayed.

Avalon has sent along a camera work text that she's been reading and I've posted it to this site for your enjoyment. It's full of fantastic information and I think you'll all find it helpful and useful as a resource. If any of you come across documents or websites or tidbits of knowledge you think the group may benefit from, please feel free to let us know about it. The learning process doesn't end when you leave Maine, but continues ad infinitum and we can all benefit from your discoveries, failures, successes and insights.

Keep shooting.

Monday has come and gone...

But it was a most eventful day. We spent the majority of our rainy Monday exploring the many varied facets of the digital video realm. We discussed the lens and all its glorious bits, including focal length, aperture and f/stop and depth of field. We also delved into the intricacies of shutter speed, neutral density filters and the creative aspects of white balance and color temperature.

Later in the day, after a most delightful Workshops lunch we dug out a pile of cameras and began delving into the similarities and differences of all the various camera systems, from the Canon XL-2 to Panasonic's SDX-900. It was a phenomenal afternoon.

After dinner we explored the basics and beauty of the light meter as it relates to digital cinematography and wound up the night with a quick diversion into the zone system and how it applies to video.

All in all, a fantastic day and night and much more to come. Tomorrow we begin our shooting exercises and see how all this seemingly very technical information can be applied to various types of scenes and camera setups.

And now for a modicum of sleep.

Sunday is nearly past...

but not without the start of a most fantastic new adventure and the meeting of a class full of astounding and creative people. It is a magnificent moment to experience the sudden realization that you are surrounded by a truly stunning group of people. And it is perhaps more magnificent still to watch as they realize the exact same thing.

The Sunday night introduction to the June Basic Video Camera and Technology Class (and we must come up with a better name for ourselves) was fun, informative and fulfilling. The class is blessed with a wide array of interests and backgrounds but a singularity of purpose that is unique in this type of class, and for that I am most grateful as it will make our time together that much more productive and enjoyable.

I have just finished rereading the majority of the course materials and considering how best to structure our day tomorrow so that we all get the most from our first twelve hours together. I am excited to delve into the qualities and characteristics of the camera in general as I believe it will quickly dispel thoughts that the profusion of different technologies (DV, HDV, HD, XDCAM, etc) in the field today make for an overly confusing morass of technocratic (and insomnia producing) nonsense. I am also looking forward to our first camera tests as they always serve to make concrete the more theoretical aspects of the morning's discussion.

And, I am most excited to meet with the group again and spend the beginning of a gratifying and invigorating week with them.

Will made a fantastic comment tonight - he came here to be re-energized by the filmmaking process. No truer words have been spoken.

Links to guide you.

Here are a number of links, much of the content of which is included in your course binder. These are good starting resources for better understanding the practical, and sometimes bizarrely technical aspects of video codecs, video production and NLE editing of digital video content.

How to calibrate a video monitor [PDF]

The basic low-down on Digital Video (DV) [wikipedia]

Adobe's Guide to Digital Video (DV) [PDF]

An introduction to HDV [wikipedia]

What is Chroma Subsampling? [wikipedia]

Welcome

Welcome to Maine Media Workshops' Basic Video Camera and Technology Blog.

Here you will find nearly all the information presented in the course in a relatively concise, web-oriented fashion. Feel free to comment when and where you find yourself compelled to do so - this is your forum for exploration and discovery both during and after your Workshops experience.