Friday’s class instruction was to go out and shoot something that related to our project – maybe a shot we wanted to try, or an idea we wanted to play with. So, essentially, “go out and be artsy film students”. And that’s exactly what we did.
I teamed up with Sarah, Angus, James, and Jess. Sarah and Angus had specific things that they wanted to try. Sarah wanted to try a particular shot that she had planned for her major project. Angus wanted to experiment with a concept. So we kind of divided ourselves within the group to being more involved with either Sarah or Angus’s projects. James and Jess worked with Sarah to plan out her shot and what would be needed for it, and I worked with Angus to figure out his concept and what we’d need for his shots. Then we got moving!
Sarah’s shot involved a worm’s eye view of tree branches that rotated (panned) 360 degrees (or as far as the tripod we were using allowed). She also wanted leaves to fall during. It was a tricky shot to set up and then to coordinate – regarding both the panning and trying to shake the tree and/or throw leaves in a way that appeared a least semi-natural. It was also a challenge in terms of exposure – I think we had to use the smallest aperture possible along with an ND filter (I can’t quite remember though).
I camera operated for Angus’s experimental shots. His aim was to capture everyday things in an unusual and unexpected way – “seeing the everyday in a strange way”.
One of the shots was an upside down frame of legs walking toward the camera along Bowen St. It was kind of whacky to see the soles of people’s shoes flying up and off the earth and then reattaching themselves again. I’m absolutely positive that there would have been a much smarter and more efficient way to shoot this, but what I ended up having to do was lie on my back on Bowen St and hold the camera above me (with the help of Jess trying to take the weight of it off me) to shoot the subjects (Angus, James, Sarah). This was extremely difficult. The camera got very heavy very quickly (I kept taking more of its weight in order to try to reframe), reframing was counter-intuitive because I was upside down, adjusting for exposure was difficult, finding/maintaining a good frame was difficult, moving (I think I tilted down (/up?) with the shoes as they neared the camera) was extremely difficult, focus pulling / finding a good focus area was extraordinarily difficult. I think the shot looked better when we did it as a Dutch tilt as opposed to the (attempted) horizontal angle. I think the shot would have also been better if the camera was resting on the ground rather than elevated by me on the ground – it would get more of the whacky shoe soles.
The next shot we did involved super overexposure (as instructed by Angus), actors addressing the camera, and a wheely-chair used as a dolly. True experimental guerrilla filmmaking. We all felt like Jean-Luc Godard. The camera was placed on the wheely-chair, which dollied forward for 20-30 metres. Again, I was on camera, and Jess acted as grip with the chair-dolly. Angus, James, and Sarah acted. But they acted as directors. The shot starts by dollying forward with a backwards-walking Angus – ‘the director’ in the shot (as well as the actual director) who is addressing the camera and motioning for it to come forward, yelling instructions, and theatrically communicating with the camera (/ camera operator) as would an actual director. Then he is joined by James who faces the camera and walks backwards with him, similarly ‘directing’ – motioning things to the camera and giving instructions. Then both Angus and James are joined by Sarah, who directs the camera alongside them. When they reach a point, they all theatrically motion for the camera to stop, and the camera reacts by coming to a halt. Then the three ‘directors’ relax, having done their job. It was a really creative idea to shoot.
I don’t think that I achieved great shots, but it was a great (and quite challenging) exercise for me in terms of camera operating. It would have been nice to have produced some really cool shots for Angus’s vision, but I got plenty out of the attempt process anyway. And it was a hell of a lot of fun. We all probably looked like crazy, artsy kids to the passers-by. True film students.