For my research project that I have been working on since week 8, I have had a clear idea of what I wanted to do, so I did not collaborate with others on the conception of my film or any of the ideas behind it. What I did learn about most through film 3 is how to lead a team, before and during production, to be able to realise my own vision.
First of all, this semester I gained the courage to approach actors to be in project. I often feel stressed or worried when approaching people to help me with a project, but I realised that others being involved helps them too (e.g. gaining more experience, more footage for their showreel). The actresses that I worked with were so fantastic and open to direction. They asked me lots of questions about their characters and their actions, which forced me to think about motivations and acting more than I ever had before. This definitely helped to create more rounded and whole characters than I had imagined.
I also got to work with animals, which was amazing! At first, trying to find dogs was the hardest bit about my production, because the day of my shoot was so hot and it dogs can’t just come on public transport. I posted a call out on a Dog Lover’s Facebook page a couple of days before the shoot and got lots of dogs and owners that were willing to travel to be in my project! It was very flattering and also awesome that all these lovely dog owners wanted to show off their beautiful pooches. The dogs and dog owners that I ended up picking were so fabulous, and the dogs were amazingly trained, and exactly how I envisioned them to be, and I couldn’t be happier with them!
Finally, my crew was super awesome and I am glad that I got the experience to direct a small crew of students. I had Kiralee on camera, Jessica on sound and lighting, and Sam as the 1st AD. Everyone was really patient with me as I tried to figure out frames that I wanted, and listened to my direction, which I greatly appreciated, especially when I got frazzled. Sam was great as he made sure I shot everything I needed to shoot, and I now begin to understand the importance of having an AD, or just someone in charge of all the papers and shot lists while the director is directing actors.
In terms of my collaboration with others for their assignments, I agreed to be a subject for Kiralee’s first shoot. We spent a couple of hours at RMIT shooting for her project, and I had a lot of fun as a subject. I brought some clothes that I thought were kind of 80’s inspired, and she shot me talking about my clothes. When I watched the video back, I didn’t say much about what the clothes meant to me, or what I thought they said about me, which I think would have been more interesting. We also shot a sequence that Kiralee edited fabulously. It consisted of me walking to a beat, so that she could edit the sequence to the music, and she shot it from HEAPS of different angles. I’m really happy with the way it came out, I think she did a fabulous job and I am happy that I agreed to help her.
Overall, although I only got to collaborate with others on two production days, I found these shoots to be really fun and easy and enjoyable, and I think that my communication skills have improved, as I don’t feel self-conscious about asking people to help me with projects, or doing call outs for crew or cast on facebook (which I have been doing since then for my personal projects). Yay, collaboration!
