Setting up the camera for filming

When filming our preliminary and full thriller sequence we used the digital camera 'Canon XL1s.'
Once unpacking the camera we inserted the battery into the back of the camera. We then inserted a new tape into the cassete player. We had to be careful to wait for the outer case to open (this happens after pressing the eject button) and then the inner case in which the tape is slotted into. It is also vital to close the inner case before the outer as there is a risk of damaging the inner case if this is not done.

The first thing we did when preparing to film was to White balance the camera. There were two options for doing this. The first being the auto-saved method - this is when you press the white balance selector knob until it pops out. The user can now chose between the three different white balances already saved to the camera. The second option is to create the white balance manually, this is the option that my group took. To set it manually you press the white balance button and select the number (you wish to save your white balance too)by turning the knob to the right. The second stage is to point the camera at a white object, preferably a piece of paper and adjust the lens until it fills the entire camera screen. Once this is done the user needs to press down on the WHITE BALANCE SET button. When this is done turn the white balance knob back to the auto setting and push it back in once finished. The white balance has been set. There are many advantages in setting the white balance manually instead of choosing one of the already set options, for example the rapid changing lighting conditions mean that very few locations will have the exact same lighting and will make the completed sequence look strange due to the fact that the different scenes will have lighting not suited to their location.