AFTRS (Excursion) - Australian Film Television and Radio School

Where: Australian Film, Television and Radio School (AFTRS), Moore Park, Fox Studios

When: 18th May 2011

What: Camera Skills Workshop

How: Public Transport (Ferry and Bus)

1.) Describe the excursion:

The excursion our entertainment class underwent on May 18th 2011 was at AFTRS. Our excursion involved participating in a camera skills workshop. Our workshop was lead by Gareth a teacher and film maker at the school. In our workshop we learnt about and covered the following points technical considerations, visual building blocks and from script to screen. We also took part in two practical exercises the first involving different cameras shoots and the second involving interpreting a script and putting it on film. Included in our workshop was a tour of the school which took us to one of the large filming studios, the props warehouse, the set workshop, the pre-production rooms, audio and music studios, the radio studio and viewing theatre. After the tour we received AFTRS bags with heaps of information in it.

2.) Discuss 3-5 new things you learnt, skills, knowledge, problems and solutions. 

- What makes good sound

As part of our discussion about technical considerations we learnt about sound in video, particularly signal to noise ratio. When filming it is important to make sure the audio you want has been recorded so that the dialogue or sound you want is not outweighed by other noise. 

- Aiming or Framing

We learnt the difference between the two terms. Aiming is when the camera films a certain object or person intentionally usually the middle of the screen. Framing refers to putting a subject inside a frame using the rule of thirds which when the frame is divided into nine parts. 

- Visual Grammer

A large part of our workshop was devoted to camera or shoot types, what they are used for, why they are used and how to shoot them. These shoots include:

Wide/ Establishing Shoot - Scenary Shoot

Long Shoot - Full Body

Mid Shoot - Torso 

Medium Close Up Shoot - Armpits

Close Up - Neck and Head

Extreme Close Up - Facial feature 

3.) Evaluation Of The Excursion

The excursion wasn't bad yet it wasn't amazing. It didn't really interest me that much as I have no interest in Film, Television or Radio. The workshop started out very slow and I did not get much out of this part of the day. The hands on part of the workshop though was quite enjoyable as I have never used a professional camera before. The school I think has very good resources and equipment but is not very obliging with students who lack experience. I would like to go on another excursion like this but definetly not back to AFTRS.