1.1 Setting up a camera

Before we started filming we had to set up the tripod for the camera. We pulled out the legs making sure that the tripod was level, we used the bubble level to make sure that the tripod was level.

We needed an SD card for the camera and it had to be a class 10 SD card because a class 10 SD card has a write speed of 10MB/s whereas a class 4 SD card only has a write speed of 4MB/s which is not fast enough for recording HD video. The 10 on the front of the card shows you what class it is.

Once we had set the tripod up and had the correct SD card we had to set the camera up.   First we attached the shoe on the bottom of the camera to the tripod making sure that it was on properly so the camera wouldn’t fall. This image shows where the camera shoe would connect to the tripod.

Then we put the SD card in the camera and turned the camera on. Once the camera was on I switched it to video mode and checked that it the autofocus had worked so that the video was in focus. We also  had to check that the auto exposure was right. After doing all of this we started to record.

A dolly is a moving platform that a camera can sit on top of, this platform has wheels and is usually on a track to help it move more smoothly. The dolly is usually used for shots where the camera needs to move closer to or away from a subject. The camera operator will usually ride on the dolly and the dolly is moved by a technician called the dolly grip who is specially trained to operate the dolly by manually pushing it backwards and forwards. This is an easy way to keep the camera steady while moving which would make the editing easier for a moving shot but we did a still shot instead