Last semester I decided to voyage solo for my final project. It was both out of necessity and preference; I was shooting on my phone and it was about my subjective response to stimuli. I am hesitant to work with other people (something I need to overcome), and was originally reluctant to work in a group this semester. However, I can say it was the right decision, and on reflection, has resulted in a work that I consider my best so far.

Each member of my group (Kerry & Kate) probably had little differences on our overall approach, but the crux of it was the same. It was to meet at a location, shoot something based on improvisation, edit it, reflect upon it, go back to the location, etc, and keep refining until you have what you want. I found this to be an incredibly rewarding way to work (if you have the patience) as your final work is something that is truly personal. Don’t think about the final product; it’s about the process and making gradual improvements.

For me, the magic really happened while editing. After my second shoot (of about 4) I edited the footage together, and made my own narrative of it based on my response. From thereon I had a clear idea of what I wanted to achieve, and it was about using my original moments of improvisation as a foundation to refine them into more technical and polished results.

While Kate and Kerry didn’t create a work ‘together’ – I feel as though each of our works was only possible through the way we explored our processes and interacted with one another. Working in small, intimate groups and having a shared approach is something that I highly recommend and will be the process in which I adopt for a new short film I am hoping to create.

I prefer shooting on tape. I would absolutely prefer to shoot on film but that’s unrealistic. I find digital to be aesthetically repulsive; the current shows on Netflix etc are gross to look at, everything about them tells me that they are so concerned with perfecting every aspect, and it makes the work feel disingenuous.

On a pure aesthetic level, I love grain that tape produces. It’s closer to film than what a new digital camera creates, though tape in itself is its own thing. When editing the contrasts are shaper and thus more interesting, and the lo-fi aspect makes the work feel more personal.

I like working with tape in that I have to get it right. There’s only so much tape, it’s not like digital where I can delete and start over; it gives me more incentive to get things right which subsequently makes me more alert and careful.

Though with saying this, I am looking to transition into digital. I feel I’ve done what I can with tape (of course I can do more) but maybe it’s time to see if I can find my own aesthetic on some fancy digital camera. Progress!