Last semester I strayed away from a studio I believed would be heavily theoretical which turned out to be very practical. I am somewhat frustrated at my myself for that decision.  Instead I spent my studio exploring narrative, transmedia and creation of story through other platforms. I really enjoyed the studio and relished the freedom it provided in exploring the conceptual groundings of story. At this point in my degree I feel that I have a fairly grounded understanding of the principles of production, and I feel that I have a firm grasp on the theoretical aspects  associated with shooting and constructing a product in editing.

This semester I’m intent upon improving my technical capabilities and production skills. Sometimes I still feel relatively lost when standing behind the camera and I want to find the confidence to call myself skilled (to an extent). I’m eager to get a solid grounding in crewing for video production, so that I can then explore other avenues to expand my abilities. Not only am I excited to explore the intricacies of camera but also to explore audio recording and to learn more about sound in the context of film. I also hope that this studio will provide me with skills I can then translate to either interning or crewing on other people’s productions.

I found a great passion for documentary last semester and I’m incredibly eager to create my own documentary content and to further expand my knowledge of the genre. Alongside my existing love for drama I found the opportunity of this studio particularly fascinating. The documentaries that I enjoy most typically blur the line of non-fiction and fiction and to explore these boundaries through production is an exciting prospect. I think it will be beneficial to explore the production methods of both forms and then to explore how these methodologies can be mixed or translated to the other form.

In terms of the Studio Brief I think that by exploring the rationale behind protocols will provide a beneficial balance of theory and practise. We are no longer looking at theory and practice as separate identities, instead exploring how one is indicative of the other.

Allowing the content to determine our course without necessarily making a commitment to one form or the other. This is a concept I find really intriguing and the slightest bit confusing. I’m quite eager to explore this and to develop an understanding how this form blending (or maybe free)  production can be achieved in particular through creating our own content.