The camerawork was one very important factor that determined the final outlook of our video. I was in charge of the main shooting and camerawork for this project, except the shots I was physically present in, where either Maroosh or Tashfa took over, (who surprisingly didn't drop my camera) or I set up my camera on my tripod.
When shooting, I had to keep several things in mind that would assist me when I would select the footage and edit:
1, The clarity of shots
It was essential to monitor the clarity of the shots. They had to be in focus and everything I was recording had to fit within the frame. Therefore after taking an important shot, I watched it in fast forward to ensure it isn't blurry or out of frame.
2, The angle
The angle of the shots was very important. A variation of angles was required including mid-shots, closeups, establishing shots, and over the shoulder shots so that the film opening is captivating and can portray the narrative accurately. I took multiple takes of the same shot and kept revising my angles so I have more content to browse through during footage selection.
3, The duration of the shots
The shots had to be long enough for me to edit them and extend them if necessary, but not too long, or it would have been too hard to browse through them. I made sure to always stop recording a shot after I'm done and start recording again if I had to take a new one.
4, The stability of shots
The shots had to be stable and not shaky, because it would have given the film opening a low budget look that I personally did not want. Although my hand is very stable, I used my tripod at times to take some shots.
Apart from the factors listed above, the camera settings themselves were also very important.
Journalist scenes:
The journalist scenes had to have a low exposure because the light from the laptop was making the shot brighter than I wanted it to be, therefore I turned it down by 0.3-0.5. Doing this also gave the shots a rather gloomy effect. These shots also had a lower ISO than the flashback scenes which was around 800-1600.
Flashback scenes:
The flashback scenes had to be brighter than the journalist scenes, therefore, I didn't change the exposure and the ISO was 3200-6400 unless there was very strong lighting which changed it into 800-1600. Having a higher ISO also helped in adding a slight grain texture to the footage, making it look true to its era.
Here is a picture of me checking the lighting my camera was picking up right after we reached Maroosh's house.
Here is a picture of me taking a picture of Maroosh taking a picture of me.
Here is an Esha camera-working:
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