Today I had a very exciting experience; I took part in my first RMITV shoot. RMITV (as the name might suggest) is RMIT’s student television department. As a paid member (for the grand sum of $10 a year), I receive regular emails advising me of student projects that require cast and crew. A few weeks ago, I got a crew call for The Assenders, a sitcom about – well, I’m not too sure quite what it’s about yet, but it’s a locally-grown student sitcom so I’m sure it’ll be worthwhile. Considering Sundays are a good day for me, I emailed back, admitting that while I had next to no experience I was keen and eager to please.
Luckily, I heard back quickly that there was a place for me as a production assistant. Sure, in the film industry this is a fancy word for ‘go-fer’, but it still meant I would be on a real live set. And I wasn’t disappointed. To a professional, I’m sure our fifteen-strong crew of teens and young adults must have seemed almost laughable, but to me, to hear words like “rolling . . . mark . . . action!” was a very exciting experience.
I spent most of the day on the boom microphone, making sure that all the actors could be heard without maxing out the boom levels on the camera. It’s not a particularly glamorous job (especially when I fell off my stepladder into several shelves of painting supplies), but it was a job nonetheless and one I was proud to do.
It was great to be able to watch the key creative team (writers, producers and directors) go about their work. From what I could tell, they all had quite a bit of experience with RMITV and media in general; they’d worked on live shows such as Live on Bowen and other narrative shows such as Fergus in Hell:
It was great to see them at work, taking the jokes in their heads and turning them into a fully fledged TV show. Filming at Grimes and Sons paint shop in Eltham, we focussed on one scene in episode one, in which Mike (played by Mike Gorrie), a failed auteur, decides to take part in a decidedly dodgy local stand-up gig, ‘laughapalooza’. I can’t reveal too much else, because I don’t want to do a disservice to the creators and everyone else on set (including me), so all I’ll say is watch out for The Assenders!
Oh, and make sure you check out the RMITV website to have a look at some of the other awesome, student-made content that’s there to be watched. Please remember that loads of media professionals get their start with student TV, and without it many others would never get the chance to pursue their passions and have their fantastic ideas made into real content. So please support us, just by having a watch!