ARTICLE

cINE65 Field Trip to Shooting Gallery

By InCinemas / 03 Aug 2011 (Wednesday)

[Watch 'Water Balloon Bursting at 1000fps' below]

Hello everybody, look over here please! 3, 2, 1, Smiles!

Okay let's take a closer look at the picture. Hmm.. It's a little blur in some parts because of the movements. Could we have more lighting at the back area? Some glowing lights at the top would be great to cast a little glow on the hairs to better outline the figures.

My point being that there is a lot of knowledge behind photography and videography and thanks to cINE65, we had an insightful tour to the shooting gallery last Saturday 30 July. About 40 people (maximum for the tour), ranging from students to aspiring film-makers, registered themselves for the Field Trip to Shooting Gallery & Artison Asia at a bargain of $10 each (usual price: $98). We believe everyone gain something from this field trip, not just only the goodie bags but also better understanding of the trade.

Due to the size of the class, we were divided into two groups to tour around the studios and Art department.

At level 4 of the building, we were shown to many of the props and art pieces that may be used for filming purposes. They include basketballs, old television sets, shoes of different sizes, light blubs, clocks, furniture and many more!

The panel of speakers started off with a very good introduction and showed us a series of commericials that they've done for their clients which also include big companies like Hewlett Packard (HP). One of the more prominent ones could probably be this M1 Indian restaurant TVC.

It's certainly inspiring to find out that some of the great commercials that had left an impression in us were actually done by our fellow Singaporeans. After the tour at level 4, we were brought back down to the studios to continue with our sight-seeing. One of the memorable experience during the trip would be watching the balloon filled with water bursting at 1000 frames per second (fps).

The picture above shows the set-up for the balloon to be dropped onto a thumbtack below. The camera used isn't any ordinary videoing device, but a Phantom Gold HD, which is capable of shooting up to 1000 fps in HD. To capture the procedure properly, a huge amount of light is required so that every motion is lighted up and will not appear too dark or blur. The two lighting equipment used are also extremely powerful. Each of the light stand produces approximately 5000 Watts of light. Mind you, our light bulbs we use range from 10-40W so you can imagine how bright/hot it is!

And we're glad to find the entire process up on youtube. Watch the clip below!

[Water Balloon Bursting at 1000fps]

Interesting isn't it? The special camera used for filming 1000 fps is worth about $300,000! So this clip is worth a lot as well right? It can be really fun to watch but do also spare some time on the behind the scenes. We were also told to appreciate the efforts of the crew who had taken time to do the entire set-up. The whole procedure was done professionally and even the cutting of balloon was using the heat from the iron to melt the fishing line and not simply dropping it.

There is also photography introduction where we were shown to how the Art director works with the crew in a photo shoot to produce the best picture possible. The director also showed us examples when certain lights or flash are switched off.

This coming Saturday, there is also another workshop by cINE65 for aspiring film makers! Tickets are still availabe for sale and you can visit cINE65.sg or click to view the lessons.

[Additional Note]
ciNE65 is a short film competition for the Singapore community to express what they love about Singapore. All Singaporeans here and abroad, as well as foreigners living in Singapore, are welcome to take part in the competition. You can start submitting your films online from August 2011 to 30 Sep 2011. Attractive prizes to be won!

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cINE65 Field Trip to Shooting Gallery