Month: April 2023

Session Number	5
Week Number	3
Total Estimated Hours Contributed this Week:	6
What was your overall goal for this week?	5



Work Tasks 

Date	Task Description	Time Spent	Was this a Best Practice?
4/24	Today I consulted the industry standard cinematic story elements textbook in order to determine the specific kinds of elements that I want to practice in this production. I decided on three different elements in order to further immerse myself in the role of cinematographer.	50 minutes	I was consulting resources that prepared me for the world of work
4/25	Today I worked on the pre-production section of my blog post in order to test certain shots and lighting configurations	50 minutes	I was communicating my thoughts and intentions
4/26	Today I continued to work on the pre-production section of my blog posts. Due to the upcoming weeks of intensive testing, I will need to take extraneous measures in order to stay on track to complete this film production.	50 minutes	I continued to communicate my thoughts and intentions regarding this film
4/27	Today my editor and I worked on editing our storyboard and adding clear notation so as to be very clear about our intentions from the get-go. We decided to go with a digitally illustrated storyboard for ease of exporting as well as the many tools that are available.	50 minutes	I collaborated with my editor in order to draft the storyboard
4/28	Today I finalized the storyboard and decided on locations with my teammate. In addition, we drew maps showing the various locations we plan to film as well as our



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Summary

The period of Pre-Production is perhaps the most intensive for the role of a cinematographer. While production requires strict adherence to a predetermined shot list, pre-production requires a significant amount of planning and forethought as well as heavy collaboration within the production team. For this production, my pre-production work will be focused on determining how distance can affect the mood and tone of a shot/scene. I also want to practice working with focus and shifting focus within a single shot in order to shift perspective.

Element 74: Push in – Pull out

Element 59: Extreme Close-Up

Film Element 67: Static Shot

Test Shots

Difference in focal length:

Difference in camera placements:

Lighting Tests

I conducted a lighting test in the green room in order to determine how exactly my light source would affect the subject I was filming. I determined that filming in a dark location has the benefit of being able to heavily control the lighting environment. However, given my resources as a student, I think that experimenting with both natural light and controlled light will yield a more diverse lightscape for my current film production.

Equipment Checklist

-Camera 1

-Alternate Camera

-Tripod

-Light Block

-Audio Deck

-XLR Cord

-Boom Mic

-USB transfer cables (camera and audio deck)

Collaboration with Director

NA (2-person film team)

Set-up Sequence Workflow

-Acquire cameras

-Test lens focus and battery levels

-Acquire tripod/stabilizing equipment

-Move to the shooting location

-Set up tripod/s at the predetermined angles and heights

-Affix camera/s to tripods and set brightness levels

-Roll camera

Map of Each Location

Storyboard Notation

What I Learned

I learned from this production that I still have a lot to learn (obviously) about how to properly fulfill the role of a cinematographer, as well as how to properly collaborate with my film team. In previous productions, I was unaware of the heavy amount of work needed during pre-production. This time around, I was able to practice my skills of setting intentions and applying them to my production. As a cinematographer, I developed many of my 21st-century skills, most particularly problem-solving. This is because our film team was limited to two members, so I had to juggle my responsibilities as a cinematographer while also fulfilling the jobs of other roles.

Session Number	5
Week Number	3
Total Estimated Hours Contributed this Week:	6
What was your overall goal for this week?	5



Work Tasks 

Date	Task Description	Time Spent	Was this a Best Practice?
4/17	ABSENT	NA	NA
4/18	Today I worked with my production partner to determine which toles we would be fulfilling as well as what we wanted to accomplish in a broader context	50 minutes	yes
4/19	Today my production partner and I decided concretely on our roles and decided on our specific role-based intentions for this production. I decided to focus on distance as a primary focus for this production.	50 minutes	yes
4/20	Today I experimented with different kinds of practice shots to determine how different distances and levels of focus will affect the tone and mood of the shot.	50 minutes	yes
4/21	ABSENT	NA	NA



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Session Number	5
Week Number	3
Total Estimated Hours Contributed this Week:	6
What was your overall goal for this week?	5



Work Tasks 

Date	Task Description	Time Spent	Was this a Best Practice?
4/10	Today I worked on fixing an error I made in my film reels and editing down my script to account for the 9-page maximum limit. I also made sure to go back and cite my sources and include additional screenshots.	45	yes
4/11	Today I worked on compiling the sources that I used when writing the script for my Comparative Study. This took a significant amount of time as I had to re-cite my sources in MLA format.	50 minutes	NA
4/12	ABSENT	NA	NA
4/13	Today I reformatted my CS, as the file size was almost double the maximum size. This meant that I needed to find a way to compress the file to the desired size, which took a lot of trial and error.	50 minutes	yes
4/14	ABSENT	NA	NA



Personal Comments (Optional) 

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