Way of Working Reflection
Throughout the six weeks of learning ‘Deliberate Film’, I can honestly say that I have improved a lot in my work. A significant change that I have noticed is my organisational skills. By creating bins for my footages, sound, music, sequences, I am able to quickly locate and store my work accordingly. Before this, I would constantly misplace my footages when editing, and that slowed my work rate. I also learnt lots of new keyboard shortcuts for Premiere Pro which removes the redundancy of using the trackpad and improves my work efficiency.
With the encouragement of creating many versions of the sequences, I have been more confident in experimenting and trying new approaches. By creating different versions of the scene, I am able to create multiple different takes on it, and have many options to choose from when selecting the right one.
Furthermore, even when watching a movie at home or TV shows, I am constantly deconstructing the scenes. Since starting ‘Deliberate Film’, I can never seem to enjoy watching a movie. By that, I mean I can never enjoy it how I used to; instead, I enjoy inspecting which kind of shots they would adopt in certain scenes to add to the story.
With my newly found knowledge, before filming small Instagram ‘Reels’ for my Instagram page, I would set up the shots and put them into a marked-up script before filming. Looking back, I’ve noticed changes to my work with how well my shots have improved since joining the course. Previously, I would realise that my shots would have too much empty space at the top or if my shot was slightly off-centre.
Another aspect, which I hope that I have improved on within these 6 weeks, is my collaboration. I liked to control everything, and that is not the way in filmmaking. Being in a group with Eliza, Eamon, and Dill has made me enjoy working with partners. While doing the ‘BAD NEWS’ exercise, we traded lots of good ideas and helped each other out when we had questions. If I was less open to outside ideas, I wouldn’t have been able to improve my work and still stay in my bubble, so to speak. Moreover, within these 6 weeks, I hope to think that I’ve developed my proper filmmaking repertoire from a rookie to an amateur.