Translating Observation started 12 weeks ago, and now it has come to a close. I remember when I entered the classroom, with new people sitting in the chairs, a new teacher, unsure of what the semester held for me thinking “we’ll see how we go”.
The first few weeks of anything that is new, new friendships, new classes, new regime is always odd, because your brain is adjusting to something that is different, something that you don’t know. But even after just the first week of Translating Observation, I was enjoying it immensely. I loved how when I walked into class on Wednesday, Robin had these intricate pieces of film for us to watch, which were mainly just observations of life. My personal favourites were the ‘Life of Jason’ (I hope my memory serves me correct on that title), and interviews that were shot in Cuba (again, hope that is the right country). Every Wednesday we’d amble into class and Robin would have the intimidating SONY EX3 waiting for us, stacked high on top of one another. I remember getting into class and thinking, “I will never understand this camera”. I have a tendency, to put myself down if I believe I am incapable of doing something, being embarrassed by failure, so I would repeat this little belief to Robin as a joke, and he would turn to me point blank and say “But why – its just a thing. You cant let a thing intimidate you. Be in control of it” and then he’d be right back at the camera, taking control of it. I remember the simplicity of how he said that, how he was so sure even I could do it, which made me determined not to be intimidated by it. So week by week, piece by piece I started to understand the EX3 a little better. We learnt about the small details, such as how to set it up with the batteries, having the correct fixtures on the screen, setting up the tripod, setting up the memory cards, making sure everything was ready before even shooting. Robin would repeat “I know its boring but its necessary” and at the time I remember thinking “yes it is” and Robin I’m deeply sorry for doubting you because it definitely did come in handy by the end of the semester – but ill get to that later.
The first five weeks of the semester were filled with little exercises to familiarise ourselves with the camera. We’d break off into little groups and re-shoot movie scenes, or conduct an interview where one person was in front of the camera, another behind, another directing, another on boom, all of us doing something to really understand the entire process that goes into making a piece of film. I understand why Robin got us to do these introductory exercises in hindsight because now I feel as if I know all the ins and outs of a Sony EX3, the camera that it is, what is it to be used for. Not only did we get to know the EX3, we learnt about how to be successful in the production of a film, which is equally as important as getting the details on the camera correct. Small things such as where and how to hold a boom, who can converse with the actors, who yells action, why the first AD does what they do, it is all in order to create a creative flow. This creative flow, if all team members on a set are on the same page, will create a better flowing and better produced film, as everyone knows their place, knows what they must do. I learnt that these two components are what is important in making a good film, the production and the camera, if these two do not align well or one is unsatisfactory it could detract from the message you are trying to send in the film – which is the most crucial part of making any film. That was something Robin really drilled into me from the first moment, get the technicalities correct because if not the audience will see them and will focus on them rather than the message you are trying to send.
After we’d learnt all the essentials about making a film, we pitched our ideas for films, broke off into groups and started working on our last and major assessment item of the semester. I teamed up with Lydia and Tim, in fact I remember the Monday morning when we teamed up, we got along like a house on fire and so did our agreement on the idea of the film. It was Tim’s idea, and Lydia and I really liked the sound of it. Tim had met someone on a night out, who just rambled and rambled to him about the weirdest of things, but Tim noticed that he thought that man was truly living in the moment and that intrigued him. Tim wanted to shoot a film entirely focused on living in the moment, which has always interested me. The idea started off as this: the film is one coherent moving thought physicalizing living in the moment. We’d start with a guy who was playing guitar, really in the moment as the camera slowly moved to the right and he was no longer in the frame. Then it would fade to black and keep moving onto the next scene which was a young boy playing with his toys, wearing the exact same thing as the guy in the last shot. This child would be undoubtedly living in the moment, playing with their toys, happy and content (we wanted to get across that these two shots being of the same people but at different times). We came up with all of this, the moment we started discussing the film. Everyone else around us was discussing what they thought the film could be, and if they wanted to be a part of it, yet we had jumped ahead three weeks, thinking of all of these ideas and how we’d play them out. I think we thought we were pretty slick at this point, very sure of ourselves and what we wanted to create.
That Wednesday Robin told us to start the pre-production, setting up schedules, roles of the crew, catering, costumes. I had fallen behind the last couple weeks so I was determined to pick up the slack and really throw myself into this project. I set up a word document which detailed everything we needed and gave things dates for when it needed to be completed, just like you would on any drama film. Tim and I sat down and expanded on our idea even more, feeling super proud of ourselves. Then Robin came around and asked us what the film was about, and for some reason our idea which sounded perfectly clear to us, came out as incoherent mush when we tried to explain it to Robin. He seemed confused and contemplative as he listened to us, and he finally just said “This isn’t how you shoot this type of film” he told us you cant plan this type of film because what you saw in your head may not become what you shoot and if you only shoot that you’ll be unpleased with the results. I remember sitting there thinking “Well this is a kick in the guts”, slightly confused at Robins truthfulness. Then Tim and I chatted about what Robin said and it was like a light bulb going off in our heads, we realised that he was right and that with a film like ours, which isn’t a drama like everyone else’s, cant be planned or shot like theirs. Robins main point of contention was “Just shoot.” which turned out to be exactly what we did.
Over those five weeks we evolved our idea, really harnessed what we wanted it to be and went out and shot a bunch of different ‘living in the moment’ moments. Slowly what we had planned at the beginning of the assessment was morphing into something new, we didn’t know what just yet, but it was morphing into something. Week by week we’d have new footage to piece together, whether it was Tims friend playing bass, Lydia’s dad on the bike or my grandmother cooking. We had sound bites of interview with family and friends about what it means to live in the moment, we had conversations between ourselves really delving into our idea to comprehend it even better than we did before. I only used the EX3 when I was shooting my subjects. Remember how I said I thought I’d never be comfortable with the EX3, well on the day when I shot my grandmother, it was extremely spontaneous and I had about 20 minutes to get what I needed. I ran to my room, set up the tripod in minutes, locked in the camera, set it up for how I needed all within the span of 5 minutes. For someone who took 15 minutes to set up the EX3 at the beginning of the semester, feeling perplexed and overwhelmed by the sheer size of the camera, I became someone who made the camera my own, which I found pretty exciting at the time.
By the last week we had everything we needed and more, we had overcompensated for the material we needed and ended up with extra footage, which is always better than having too little. We sat in those editing suites for a two weeks, fiddling around with the film. In the process of editing we had some worries that it wasn’t going to turn out how we wanted it, but I had the belief that our film was the type of film where judgement could only be places once all the pieces were put together. Without some voice overs or backing track the film just seemed empty, but I had faith. The last thing we did in the film, was put Tims guitar backtrack over the top of it and with that one last piece being fitted in I knew we had something special. Watching the film as a coherent whole for the first time was exciting and scary at the same time, I was worried it wouldn’t become what I envisioned it to become but by the end of the first viewing, I knew we had it. It wasn’t what we had planned at the beginning, it wasn’t what we had planned in the middle, but through the weeks it became what it was. I realised with our type of film, you cannot plan how you want it to be from the beginning. All you can so is be content with the message you want to send, and then go out and capture it in every creative way you can in order to piece the parts together to send that message.
I know I’ve said it before but I’ll say it again, working with Tim and Lydia was so utterly fantastic. They’re funny and intelligent people that are now among some of my great friends, which I have this studio to thank for.
Robin as a teacher was individual and interesting, he was different to any teacher I’ve had before. I’ve never seen a man so interested in observing the world around him and capturing it. That excitement that he placed in the classes was infectious and I felt like I couldn’t help but be intrigued when he was too (even if he doesn’t believe me).
This studio was one I was unsure about when I chose it, I was unsure about how I would understand it, unsure about the content I’d create and if I’d enjoy it. I can safely say that I did, that I learnt new things that I will carry with me happily throughout my degree and I will look back on the semester with fondness.
