Tag Archives: direction

PROJECT BRIEF 2 REFLECTION

Overall I am happy with what I produced for my second project brief. There’s plenty of stuff that could be altered, but I managed to convey what I wanted. There’s no doubt there is too much going on though. I struggled to cut down all the footage I had into the space of 1 minute. I think by the end of filming I had roughly 20 minutes of footage and 100 photographs. Although it was nice to have this amount of material to work with, it just made it harder to select which bits had the most meaning. I need to learn to be more focused with my approach.

Going around the classroom, everyone seemed to do a pretty tidy job. The quality of the footage varied quite a lot, but the basic principles were all in place. Playing mine out loud, I probably needed to adjust the volume levels a bit more before exporting. This was something I experienced a bit of trouble with. Over the next few weeks, once I update my computer, I plan on spending a lot of time filming and editing to boost my skills and get them up to scratch for project brief 3.

– Gabriel

UNSUCCESSFUL PRE-PRODUCTION

“Can I swear?” – Paul Ritchard to a class of first year media students. “Damn” was my initial reaction. I hate it when someone takes the pleasure away from me by asking if it is okay to swear. It seems so sinister and unsuspecting to say ‘fuck’ or ‘shit’ to emphasise a point. It is such an easy way to grab attention. The point that Paul wanted to make certainly got through regardless. Time, more often than not, will slip through the cracks when working on a production. I like the idea of allowing an extra hour of time to set up for a shoot as Daniel Binns suggested. Just to get the head settled before hours of guaranteed roadblocks and, a-hmm, fuckarounds. Most of which are bound to be sorted in an unorthodox and challenging matter.

Film shoots are the reel test of media production. Although I haven’t been a part of many, it’s easy to note the critical thinking directors have to go through to reach a final product they are happy with. I made a short film to test my knowledge and skills of my camera, and encountered plenty of problems along the way. The biggest of this was being able to direct everyone while appearing in the film itself. For some reason I just thought it wouldn’t be too hard. I was wrong. Even with a cast of friends who I could speak to freely and effectively, time slipped away as the deadline approached. And there was lots of swearing, mainly because I was stressing, thankfully no verbal abuse was hurled. It was a bit of fun, but definitely not as good as I would have liked. Bit loopy that it’s called “Unsuccessful” really. Have a geeze below.

It has since become obvious that I need to invest more time in pre-production, and probably more in post-production too. Paul’s reiteration of this will resonate with me. Sometimes I operate on the fly without considering everything, and end up with an egg on my face. Too much egg, not enough fucking Caesar salad.

Source

– Gabriel