It seems crazy to me that it’s already been a year since escaping the hell that was high-school and VCE. This time last year I was frantically getting myself ready to sit 6 VCE exams, unsure of whether I’d do well enough to get my 1st preference… and now here I am, a student at RMIT, writing a blog post.
2014 certainly went quickly, but for me 2015 has gone by ridiculously fast. Shit, did I really I just finish 1/3 of the Media course? I’m not gonna lie, Semester 1 wasn’t that hot and it had me worried. Sure I didn’t have to do maths anymore but it wasn’t exactly what I had been expecting. Semester 2 on the other hand was far more enjoyable – I settled into the idea of being a student again and found Film3 to be a really interesting studio. I think the exercises we completed this semester really helped develop some creative thinking skills that’ll undoubtedly come in handy in the future.
and so, here’s a final reflection on the things I made for Film3 – Project Brief 4:
When I first started out Project B4, I was unsure of exactly what my end-goal would be. I don’t think I’d quite grasped the idea of the studio yet – once I began shooting however, this all changed. Once I had decided to focus on night-time shooting I began to figure everything out and the pieces began to fall in place.
My first test shoot was super rough; my tripod had broken and I wasn’t exactly sure how well my camera would capture the dark environments of the night. I think that despite the shaky and poorly exposed footage, this shoot was crucial to the development of my explorations into the night. I discovered some interesting techniques and methods which allowed me to utilise as much available light as possible and I also started thinking of ways to improve upon the footage I had shot. My following few shoots were highly enhanced by the things I learned from my initial tests – and this has made me realise the benefits that conducting unscripted test shoots can have.
Here’s an example which I think demonstrates how test shoots can benefit a project:
Car-Mounting a Camera: TEST v 1st SHOOT
Through adopting the Film3 ‘approach’ to creating, I’ve been able to develop many new ideas that I feel are far more interesting and creatively fresh than any other ideas I’ve had in the past. By continuously shooting, editing and reflecting, I’ve begun to think in more unique ways, and have written down plenty of new concepts for future exploration and development. I think it’s important to always have a few project ideas floating around, and this semester has certainly helped in igniting a lot of new ones.
From a technical perspective, I’ve become far more capable in terms of camera operation and audio recording. Shooting so much night-time footage has really taught me how to make the most of available light. Spending time exploring the potentials of bokeh has also taught me a few simple ways to create unique and intriguing compositions.
I think that the footage I’ve collected is quite flexible; here’s some of the things I made with it so far:
‘Shooting the Night’
‘Audio Test’
‘Exploration of Bokeh’
Not only will this collection of night-time footage inform future creative experiments and projects, but it’ll be a useful resource that I can take from whenever I’m in need of certain shots – for instance I’ve built up quite a decent collection of night-time establishing shots and cutaways.
Anyways, this brings my final reflections to a close. Film3 has been a great experience and the lessons I’ve learned through completing this personal research of the night-time will certainly have influences on my future work and workflow.
Aidan out.