FILM 250 16mm Film Exercise

The exercise: Each group of students will shoot a day exterior sequence using all 100 ft. of film on a daylight spool (2-1/2 minutes of footage at 24 FPS.)

Refer to the instructions for the camera and light meter. Practice loading with a practice roll, before opening your film and loading it in a dimly lit room. Save the box to put the exposed film back into after shooting.

1. Close the pressure plate tightly against the film after loading.
2. Thread the end of the film into the slot in the centre of the take-up reel.
3. Make sure the variable shutter is open and there is a filter holder in the filter slot.
4. Set the film speed in the ISO window on the light meter. Use the high slide and the orange high arrow outdoors. Read the f-stop opposite 1/80 sec. shutter speed.
5. After each shot: crank the winder, open the aperture, focus the next shot, close the exposure.

Slate the beginning of the roll. You can print the blank Production Slate on the website. The subject or story is up to you. Think about use of continuity, as well as planning frame composition which helps tell the story with the camera. Consider including action, reaction and POV shots. Use mainly short, static shots, from a tripod, and plan any camera movement carefully. There is no sound; keep the action simple enough to understand without dialogue.

If you hear funny noises or suspect something is wrong, you can open the camera indoors to check it, then reshoot the previous shot or two which will have been exposed to the light.

Unload your spool from the bottom of the camera and put it in its box when you are finished. Label the box with your group's names, and return it to the equipment room with the camera.

The exercise is worth 5% and is due on Friday, 3 February.