Equipment Update 2

On Monday, Meg and I had the opportunity to spend some time filming some test shots and testing with the lighting in preparation for Tuesday 8th October, where filming will be held at our location, for a draft of our music video.
The tripod we are currently using proved to be very temperamental and not sturdy enough for the camera, as it was very stiff and wasn't smooth whilst panning up and down. It was very creaky and didn't seem safe to keep the camera on the tripod. After doing some other research I have managed to get hold of a bigger tripod which is more durable and is specifically for the Sony HDV HDR-FX1E. This tripod will allow us to achieve better quality panning shots, preventing shakiness and any harsh movement, it will look very smooth. Meg had a go at holding the camera and tested the smooth, sweeping shots that we will use in the hallway of out location. However this proved to be extremely shaky and Meg said she felt like she had less control. By having a smaller camera it would allow us to have more control over the cameras shakiness. Ideally we didn't want to use two cameras, as we felt that the video may show the different qualities in the camera. As a group we have brainstormed ideas that could help improve the quality of filming. We thought a 'Glidecam' would be a good solution, as the camera attaches to a long pole which wither has a handle or a body strap according to the size of the camera. This would have been perfect as we could have done the panning, the smooth sweeping shots as well as the basic filming without a tripod. We looked at prices and they were out of our price range.

As I have said in previous posts the camera only holds tape, we had one spare tape and attempted to record the footage but it failed to play back. This is an extremely serious situation as we need to able to watch back footage when we are filming for next week. In order to solve this problem we are going to buy some new tapes, and have a few more sessions where Meg can practise with the camera, and get used to the basics and even some specialised techniques. After the tape situation is corrected we can then upload the footage by using the FireWire cable, allowing us to play back the data and ready for editing.