Week 5’s Wednesday class was devoted to shooting the scene we had planned in the previous class. We were all appointed roles and encouraged to dedicate all of our energy to our specific job. Knowing that I needed lots of practise with the camera, I was not entirely reluctant when it was offered to me. Whilst I did have to have a good amount of help from my class mates in setting up the white balance etc, I felt reasonably comfortable when operating the camera. However I’m not yet confident with setting up the white balance and exposure on my own. I could certainly do with some more practice with these technical aspects and Robin’s help in learning these.

Our shoot was reasonably successful, however time management was once again an issue an we finished up without getting all our desired shots. Having a plan and shot list didn’t seem to impact how efficiently we worked. The cause of this were the usual suspects. Unwanted opinions were offered, takes were disrupted by people walking past and the shot list seemed to work as a loose guide as opposed to a solid plan. In the last five minutes of shooting I suggested that I get a quick hand-held track of our protagonist’s feet coming down the stairs. I hoped that this would make our edit slightly more interesting as the rest of our shots were pretty standard. I figured doing it handheld would off set the rest of the stable shots and save time as we didn’t have to move the bulky tripod. I’m not entirely sure this was successful but it will at least provide us with options in the edit suits.

Overall, I’m actually quite fond of operating the camera despite my struggles with it. It gives me a certain amount of control over a shot that allows me to create something that aligns with both mine and the director’s aesthetics. I’m eager to continue to use and experiment with the camera throughout the semester. In particular I’m looking forward to filming my own exercises that I’ll have complete creative control over.