Equipment #1

Equipment

Tri-pod
We have decided to use a tri pod to help us make our film seem professional, as we discovered that when trying to do hand held camera work, none of our hands were steady enough which produced a very unrealistic and amateur looking product. Luckily, we were able to find a tri-pod that extended to 1.5m high which is beneficial as it is at a height which allows us to use a variety of shots, ranging from high angles to close ups to long shots without too much alteration. The camera is held in place on the top, but is able to swivel and tilt meaning we are able to easily maneuver the camera into many positions. A difficulty we have come across is that the lever in which moves the camera up and down and side to side can sometimes become quite stiff, meaning that in shots such as tracking shots the outcome can seem quite jerky which takes away from the realisms and continuity. This has limited us slightly to the variety of shots we can use, however we decided that using tracking shots in this way did not produce shots of a quality we were happy with, so we need to find an alternative method anyway. It has also meant that filming has sometimes taken longer than planned or expected as shots have had to be re-filmed or re-evaluated as we were unhappy with them. Despite the minor downfalls, we are pleased with what the tri-pod has enabled us to produce so far, and believe that using it produces films of a higher quality and standard than without.