The PD 170 Camera

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POWER SWITCH - under the right thumb when the camera is hand held
The power switch has four positions….

Press in the small green button and then rotate the power switch to VCR. The camera should bleep and the transport controls illuminate - you can use the player/recorder to review your tapes by operating the STOP, REWIND, PLAY, FAST FORWARD and PAUSE buttons.

OFF (CHG) is obviously the power off position and used to save battery. You should also use this position when charging a battery.

Press in the small green button and then rotate the power switch to CAMERA. You should now see a picture.

MEMORY - select when recording information to the memory stick
NB -If you still cannot see a picture in the viewfinder check that you have removed the lens cap and then check that your battery has some charge in it.


INSERTING A TAPE
Press the small blue EJECT button inwards and then slide downwards.
Insert the tap
First close the inner cassette compartment first where it says PUSH
Finally close the outer cassette lid where it says PUSH

START / STOP - under the right thumb when the camera is hand held
This is a red button with the power switch control around it.

TO START RECORDING - Press the red button, the message REC will appear in the viewfinder

TO STOP RECORDING -Press the red button again, the message STBY will appear in the viewfinder.

NB when there is a tape in the camera it will automatically default to save mode after five minutes. You will still see a picture but it will take a few seconds longer to drop into record.

RECORDING STILL IMAGES
You may have to record still images for download onto a web page.

Press the silver PHOTO button (beside the zoom rocker) firmly. The camera will "blink" and record the still for seven seconds. Seven red markers will countdown the recording.
Pictures can also be recorded on a memory stick inserted into the camera.

POWER ZOOM
The 'T' stands for TELEPHOTO and will zoom the lens in.
The 'W' stands for WIDE-ANGLE and will zoom the lens out.
Press the zoom controller gently for a slow zoom speed and press harder for a faster zoom speed.
There is also a manual zoom ring (behind the focus ring) The zoom speed is controlled by the speed at which the ring is turned. Turn clockwise to zoom out and anticlockwise to zoom in.

This is an example of a film i used with lots of match on action

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CLnVyZhmmuo

This is an example of a film i used with lots of match on action

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CLnVyZhmmuo

This is how i learned to use the Sony PD170

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zXfl0JQiLl

Match on action

A match on Action, a technique used in film editing, is a cut that connects two different views of the same action at the same moment in the movement. By carefully matching the movement across the two shots, filmmakers make it seem that the motion continues uninterrupted. For a real match on action, the action should begin in the first shot and end in the second shot.

It's difficult to visualize this without a real film in front of you, but a diagram may still be useful . In the situation illustrated below, a person stands up from a sitting position.

+------------------------------------+ |                                    | |                                    | |       __                           | |      /  \   ^                      | |      |  o   |                      | |      |@  \  |                      | |      \__-   |                      | |      /  \                          | +------------------------------------+ 

Shot 1: In this shot, we see the person beginning to get up from a sitting position . The arrow indicates the person's direction of motion.

+------------------------------------+ |                ___                 | |               /   \                | |               |o o|                | |               | v |   ^            | |               \_-_/   |            | |              /     \  |            | |             /       \ |            | |             |       |              | +------------------------------------+ 

Shot 2: There is a cut to this shot, which shows the person finishing standing up. The main difference from shot 1 to shot 2 is the position of the camera.

        _        / \                      -------|O )-------->[2]------------------        \_/                                      v          [1]   

Overhead: This overhead diagram illustrates the camera positions for the two shots (the cameras are denoted by the bracketed numbers; the person is the lozenge on the left; the dashed line is the axis of action. When the person begins to stand up, we see the action from the vantage point of camera 1. When the person has stood up quite a bit, we see the action from camera 2.

Inspiration

For a bit of inspiration, i looked at the beginning of a few movies with the same genre as ours (Action Thriller). The movies i watched were Saw 4, Taken and The Omen. I watched the first few minutes of the films and i saw similarities like the music used to introduce the movies was classical yet the tone immediately told the viewer what the basis of the movie is about and prepares the audience for what is about to come. 

The Brief

Video

Preliminary exercise: For my Media Studies coursework we have to film and edit a character opening a door, cross a room and sit down in a chair opposite another character whom he/she then exchanges a couple of lines of dialogue. This task should demonstrate match on action, shot/reverse shot and the 180 degree rule.

Main Task: The titles and opening a new fiction film, to last a maximum of 2 minutes