Technology Used in Documentary Production
Cameras
There are three basic types of camera:
* Film camera (35mm, 16mm, 8mm);
* Analogue video camera (Betacam Sp, U-Matic) - these became widely
available in the 1970s;
* Digital video camera CDv, Mini Dv, Digi-Beta)- these became widely
available in 1995 and are now nearly all broadcast quality.
The advantages of the video camera:
Cost:
* The film camera retails from approximately £10,000; the analogue
video camera from £8,000 and broadcast quality digital video
camera from just £1000;
* The average cost of 35mm film stock for a 90-minute documentary
would be around £5,000 while the average cost of digital tape
stock for a 90-minute documentary would be less than £100.
* The film processing and lab fees for a 90-minute documentary would
be around £5,000, while there would be no such fees for digital
tape stock that doesn't need to be processed.
Practicality:
* Film cameras can be heavy and clumsy to use;
* Cheaper film cameras are noisy, causing sound problems; Film stock
needs to be kept at a certain temperature and requires 'warm-up'
time, which is costly when 'time is money' on a production;
* Digital cameras are lightweight and portable.
* 60 minute digital tapes are half the size of a pack of cards;
digital cameras record CD quality sound directly in-synch with the
picture, saving the need for post-synching the sound.
Editing
Non-linear editing has revolutionised the video and filmmaking
industry in general as it gives the programme maker an enormous amount
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... an infinite number of times
before committing the final copy to a tape.
Recent technological developments
Steadicam: developed in the 1970s, this is the trade name for a widely
used device that balances hand-held cameras gyroscopically, allowing
for greater flexibility and fluid movement that is usually used to
provide point-of-view (P.O.V) shots. (The corresponding device made by
Panavision is known as the 'panaglide'.)
Video Assist: this is an adaptor with a video camera inside, which is
fitted onto a film camera. When shooting, the video images are shot
simultaneously with the film images and through the same lens,
allowing the director to review the scenes as soon as they are
completed.
D.A.T. (Digital Audio Tape): this enables crystal clear sound
recording that can be synched to film or video.
Blackfish is a documentary based on the story of Tilikum, a performing killer whale that has taken the lives of several people whilst in captivity. This documentary underscores problems within the multi-billion sea-park industry, describes man's relationship to nature, and how little has been learned about these highly intelligent mammals.
Presentational Devices Used in Films In traditional fairy tales, ogres are man-eating beasts. The Prince usually rescues the Princess; they marry and live happily ever after. How do the makers of Shrek use presentational devices to reverse this tradition, to reveal the ogre as good, and the Prince as evil?
Both types of documentaries use artifacts, such as photographs, that pertain to the subject in their film and are spliced from one frame to another in the editing process, to force the point of view that the director wishes to portray onto the viewer (301 & 306).
Motion Capture cameras are retro-reflective cameras used to help capture body motions in order to study the movements in space, also known as kinematics. Motion capture cameras can capture at 1 million millisecond intervals, making frames as high as 1,000 per second. There are two types of motion capturing cameras, 2-D and 3-D. Two-dimensional motion capture occurs when only using one motion capture camera. 2-D only incorporates the X an Y coordinates. When using more than one camera the Z coordinate is incorporated, making it a three-dimensional motion capture. Motion capture can be fairly cost effective when using only one camera and a computer to digitize the film into sequences of different frames. Then one can compare the videos and frames with other videos to help discover and form ideas to improve and further the knowledge on motion in space.
While the United States and the rest of the world focused on commercially pushing out films for profit, Russia used film to create an art form. Russian filmmakers took risks and created camera effects that had never been seen before. The Soviet Union influenced many films coming out of Russia during the 20’s. For example Dziga Vertov produced Man With A Movie Camera (1929). This film was wildly adventurous; Vertov made no effort to hide the fact that it was a film. He used editing techniques and music to create the scene, there was no plot to the film or characters. The film showed a day in the life of a Russian citizen, Vertov filmed Man With A Movie Camera over a span of four years. In the film the audience is introduced to “The man with
Technology has had a huge impact on the world, especially the film industry. It has had a long past and as the technology advances, it becomes more and more realistic. It all began with the first machine patented in the United States that showed animated pictures or movies. It was called the “wheel of life” or “zoopraxiscope” and was patented in 1867 by William Lincoln. Moving drawings or photographs were watched through a slit in the zoopraxiscope. However, modern motion picture making began with the invention of the motion picture camera. Frenchman Louis Lumiere is usually credited with the creation of the first motion picture camera in 1895, but several others were invented around the same time. What Lumiere invented was a portable motion picture camera, film processing unit and a projector called the Cinematography, all three functions in one invention. This made motion pictures very popular and it is also known as beginning the motion picture era. In 1895, Lumiere and his brother were the first to present projected, moving, photographic pictures to a paying audience of more than one person. However, they were also not the first to project film. In 1891, the Edison Company successfully demonstrated the Kinetoscope which allowed one person at a time to view moving pictures. Also in 1896, he showed the improved Vitascope projector and it was the first commercially successful projector in the United States.
In today's world, technology is constantly changing from a new paperclip to an improvement in hospital machinery. Technology lets people improve the way they live so that they can preserve their own personal energy and focus on the really important factors in life. Some people focus their energy on making new innovations to improve transportation and the health of people that may save lives and some people focus on making new designs of packaging CDS. Technology is significant in everyone's life because it rapidly changes what is in the market. But, some new innovations of technology are ridiculous because they serve no purpose in helping mankind.
So Abrams introduced me to an article about a man who changed the film world forever. This man’s name is Garrett Brown and he invented the Steadicam, the Skycam, Flycam, and the Divecam. Now you maybe wondering what are these things? Well, let me give you a little history lesson. Back then, cameras were attached to a chair and the chair would travel on a rail or the camera would move around on a dollie where it was attached to a platform. However, this would take a very long time to build and of course, cost a lot. At the same time, handheld cameras would be all over the place. Garrett thought there has to be a better way to be able to film and move at the same time, so he invented the Steadicam. The Steadicam allows cameramen to follow
The movie “E.T.” has many elements that contribute to making up the emotion throughout this movie. A few of these elements include music, the plot and the many camera angles. The music accomplished an impression of eeriness, spookiness and mystery. The camera angles also helped demonstrate these emotions as well. The plot of this movie was stimulating, suspenseful and heartwarming. It all adds up to create a great movie.
Technology is a central issue surrounding film making from the times of Charlie Chaplin's silent films to today's modern and computer-animated films such as George Lucas's Star Wars. In addition there have been a system of changes in computer, phone and video enhancement which has propelled vast amounts of information knowledge to the public at a rapid rate.
However, in stark contrast to The General, other films were being made around the world that did not follow a simple Hollywood structure, but rather were more experimental with what a movie could be. Man With a Movie Camera (1929), a very ahead of its time, utilized a completely different style of filmmaking that resonated strongly with the ideals of the Soviet Union. Thus, Man With a Movie Camera sought out to make the everyday people of the Soviet Union the stars of the film. This idea was completely revolutionary as well, and almost by necessity, introduced a new style of editing to fit the story—or rather the documentation—that director Dziga Vertov was trying to tell.
Audio, film, and video editor is my career possibility. In other word it is called a filming editor. Filming editor is a film editing in art and having the skill or the ability to do it. It is not so easy to put the film into place, it needs learning and practice for one to do. According to https://www.wikipedia.org, film editing is an editor that puts together pieces of videos or films to make it have better design.
Computer technology invades the film industry. The existence of computers have aided in the production of genres of film ranging from action movie special effects, to cartoon animation and claymation. Computer Generated Imagery, better known as CGI, assists filmmakers in many ways. An image can be made two-dimensional from a three-dimensional scene, camera angles can be altered to make a character seem larger and thus more important than its surrounding bodies, and colors can be brightened or neutralized, among other things (Parsons, Oja 1). Without the aid of computers, movies would not have the ability to be what they are today.
At this very moment, digital technology is connecting millions of people to the things they love, but what about tomorrow? Although the things that make us human have not changed, the ways that we connect with one another has. With digital technology, we are building a smarter future, where clever innovations will change the way we live, work, and play for the better. Life has and will become even easier and give us more time to focus on the things that are important to us. We will continue to work faster, making smarter decisions that concentrate on the big picture. We are making our cities progressively more intelligent, clean, safe, and more responsive to the here and now. The exponential growth of digital technology will profoundly reshape all of human civilization. Our world is sufficiently more advanced than it was ten years ago, and as computing power doubles every eighteen months, these computers will inevitably become smarter than the human race. Without technology and innovation our society will not survive, however, some worry that the unpredictable nature of this future technology could have adverse affects on the human race. Will they be dangerous and eventually take over our world; or will they be eager to help solve problems that have forever plagued society, such as crime, violence, wars, and health issues.
Offering the unique ability to visually and audibly convey a story, films remain a cornerstone in modern society. Combined with a viewer’s desire to escape the everyday parameters of life, and the excitement of enthralling themselves deep into another world, many people enjoy what films stand to offer. With the rising popularity of films across the world, the amount of film makers increases every day. Many technological innovations mark the advancement of film making, but the essential process remains the same. Pre-production accounts for everything taken place before any shooting occurs, followed by the actual production of the film, post-production will then consist of piecing the film together, and finally the film must reach an audience. Each step of this process contributes to the final product, and does so in a unique right. The process of film making will now start chronologically, stemming from the idea of the story, producing that story into a film, editing that footage together, and finally delivering that story to its viewers.