Reflection #2 Brydan Meredith

The main thing that drew me towards selecting Film 3 was the line ‘develop a competency in filmmaking skills’, the reason I chose to study media over other fields was because I have always been attracted to film, and the process of making film as a storytelling and educational medium. My school unfortunately didn’t offer ‘Media’ as a class so I haven’t (aside from Media 1) developed much film making experience.

In the first film 3 class I was glad yet apprehensive when the cameras were brought out-because technology has always confused me. I think a big learning curve for me was when I did the task of filming my own 50 second shot-the whole process from getting and returning the camera probably took me roughly an hour, but in the end I got a somewhat decent shot, and the next Thursday where we explored the cameras again, I set one up in about 10 minutes. This won’t come as a surprise, but I feel as though the more I’m with the equipment the more fluent I become in operating it (even if it is only to a basic level). And the more I get used to the basics, the more I can work towards and explore subversive filmmaking.

I have also been particularly interested in how the presence of a film crew (more specifically their practices in making the film) effects how the subjects/actors go about portraying themselves and others. Would an actor portray a character differently on a big set rather than a small set? Would they stylistically change their acting, if I was to record the audio later? Even in the first 2 weeks of this course I have picked up on the different ways people interact with cameras and I believe with further experience these actions can be manipulated or controlled to create something quite interesting.

What I want to gain from the course?

• I want to be able to have some control over filming and editing-to be able to produce a series of well manipulated, cohesive shots that are united by lighting (and how the camera responds to that), colour, brightness………
• I would like to be able to look at specific ways certain filmmakers go about making films. We have already started this by looking at Meilies over the top work and the Lumiere Brothers naturalistic films (Even though they may not be as naturalistic as they seem)
• To be able to edit on better programs (I did Media 1 on Windows Movie Maker).