Reflection 3 – Ready Camera One

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I am actually not sure what my expectations were going into the first assignment. I guess I didn’t feel ready for some of the roles, but other ones I perhaps did. I did the host role (which I wasn’t expecting to do initially), as everyone else had a strong preference and I wanted to save being director for a different assignment. I suppose I definitely did consider it an exciting challenge for a couple of reasons, primarily that I enjoy being in front of the camera to a similar level I enjoy being behind it, and in the long-term, being able to do both in a manner in which I have a decent amount of creative control would probably be ideal, so I found this as a good starting point to dip my toe into that aspect of things.

We tried to achieve something similar to Last Week Tonight with John Oliver (2014-), and me being host probably helped with that. We wanted to create a satire piece which is obviously comedic but genuinely focuses on a topic and highlighting an issue. In that respect, I think we achieved what we tried to do quite well. Our primary challenges were getting the issue across in a short-form segment, as opposed to having a long time to focus on it like they do in that show. Technically, we actually didn’t face many. Watching it back, Darcy did a remarkable job as vision switcher and Coco did also as director. It definitely felt more polished than I was expecting.

Speaking of our group, we had a great bond and I think we did really well in collaboration. We created a document (see a screenshot from it below) that ran through the idea, the type of questions we wanted to cover, and a rough draft. We all were good at building off each other’s ideas and honestly, it was one of the few group assignments I haven’t hated.



References:
(2014) Last Week Tonight with John Oliver. New York, New York: HBO.

Reflection 2 – Ready Camera One

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I really enjoyed our class discussion on roles within a studio environment. I think previously I had probably hadn’t considered why there were so many roles in a large-scale production, and particularly studio environments. For example, previously, roles such as floor manager I definitely did not have an appreciation for what their role actually entailed, and how it connected the set to the control room.

In doing some of the tasks ourselves, I realised where some of these knowledge gaps lay, and performing those roles gave me a larger insight to the communication required. When we spoke about these roles in class, such as in the video we were shown of the half-time show at the Super Bowl, seeing the assistant director giving constant direction with clear communication, followed by our exercises of it on the Friday, I definitely began to consider the roles that needed consistent communication, and the roles that work closely in tandem. 

I think the obvious way to apply this to my own media making is to gain more experience in these roles. I’ve definitely tried to get as much variety in roles as possible to gain an appreciation for as many of the roles as I can. I am particularly looking forward to directing in this environment properly, as even though I have done that before, it will be a new experience for me to be able to do it in an environment where you may not be able to control every waking movement, but you can make your content more compelling by some of the choices you make, and how you break the formula of what has been done before you. With that being said, it’s important I learn the ins and outs of the roles and their rules, so I can be considered and deliberate in my choices for when I choose to deviate and break them.

Reflection 1 – Ready Camera One

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The main reason that I joined this studio was to focus on a shortcoming of mine within the media sphere: how to operate in a multi-cam, studio environment. Previously all my work had been single camera shoots and I wanted a better understanding of traditional (and particularly broadcast) media functions. On top of that, I wanted to get a better understanding of some roles I had less experience in, and definitely in more of a fashion that revolved around fast turnarounds.

 

Immediately I began to realise while I was probably in the right ballpark in terms of expectations, the scale of some of these operations I started to achieve a greater appreciation for. We were shown a video of the Super Bowl half-time show from the perspective of the control room which I found quite mesmerising. I don’t think I had previously considered just how many moving parts were required to make a coherent and engaging visual sequence previously, and I found myself in my regular life afterwards having a totally new appreciation for broadcast television and tried to recognise how they were achieving it.

 

As for the studio, I enjoyed the round robin exercises that allowed us to get a feel for the roles in a unique environment. It definitely allowed me time to explore and experiment with what I was doing and I felt comfortable doing so, particularly in roles I had less experience in such as graphics. As a bit of an aside, I enjoyed being in front of the camera again also, as it had been a while since I got to be and performing is a big part of my artistic background, and even though I most definitely do not want to do it all the time (I enjoy the creative process behind the camera equally so), I definitely enjoy doing it where the opportunity arises.

Assignment 4, Translating Observation Studio: Reflections

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Reflection on Stadium Video Piece:

 I was actually very happy with how this piece turned out. At the beginning of this semester, I stated the reason that this studio was the one I gravitated towards was because I had always struggled getting my ideas out into tangible, existing films and stories. This video piece I feel is a good encapsulation of my development. I still believe there is more to learn and expand upon, no doubt. However, I am very happy a task that at the beginning I probably would have stated had glaring flaws or problems, now is a lot more well-rounded piece that I believe genuinely articulates the idea that I had originally at first conceptualisation. This is massive for me individually, as this was undoubtably my main goal of improvement going into this class, was addressing literally that. Translating observation had been a weakness; I could establish an aesthetic, a feeling, or an idea, but often left out what made those moments a bit more relatable: letting the ordinary moments have room to breathe and exist on their own. In terms of development in this semester, and my goal from Day 1 being to get my ideas onto the screen how I intended, I consider this video piece to be a quite successful culmination of the things I’ve learnt, particularly in a very personally-impacted semester.

 

That isn’t to say this piece is flawless or anything. I definitely would love, if I was able to develop this piece further, to expand upon the scope of the place and accentuate the feelings the piece gives. But in comparison to previous projects of mine, which focused more on the human experience and a commentary on it, both these video pieces were very strong diversions from it in their more objective, observational nature. It was a strong challenge for me but I believe it has made me a more well-rounded practitioner, and I am actively excited to push myself in new directions due to the type of experimental tasks undertaken in this class, where previously I would have probably stuck to a more safe exploration of ideas I was already familiar with.

Video piece URL:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1B0dzokAjhQUPz8v7QFrETizMw8T5-jSi/view?usp=sharing

 



Reflection on Food Hall Video Piece:

 I originally did this piece as a condensed form of Assignment 2. I am a lot happier with this piece than the original, but I believe it more so came from my lessons learnt doing my other video piece that this film benefitted.

 

As explained during my week 10 presentation, I was trying to demonstrate this small restaurant being a tucked away hidey-hole that people seem to walk past every single day and don’t take much attention to, that fit perfectly snug inside a larger world around it.

 

In the original version, it’s questionable as to whether I presented that idea in a coherent manner (or at least, the manner in which I intended). The narration in it may have helped, but it didn’t really have that much substance.

 

This one I believe to be much more atmospheric. I removed the narration, and tried to focus on shots of people or things passing the restaurant, and use movement that demonstrated it was often not stopped and observed on. So when the piece ends and someone actually walks in, it’s highlighted more. I actually believe the atmos plays a massive part in this piece, which I only really considered the importance of after finishing the other piece. Hearing the small goings-on of the train and street nearby, but making it quiet and a bit neglected I felt did a really strong job of demonstrating the feeling I was trying to convey, as well as the cinematography that aided it.

 

My main gripe with the piece is the lack of variety of shots (it was a little difficult to get varied shots without blocking off streets). I also somewhat subverted a suggestion that was given to me about giving the piece a small story. Instead I chose to make it about when a story might occur, and everyone missing it, being the story itself. I will be interested to hear the final feedback for this piece, because I think I did quite well in establishing a sense of place and was quite happy with how the piece looked visually, but I could probably have improved my piece in the aspect of developing a more coherent thing to follow for viewers.

 

Video piece URL:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1xMDgMiCCf6Fb45bRxfL_2VNJYUx521dK/view?usp=sharing

 

Reflection on collaboration:

 

I really enjoyed collaborating with people this semester. Prior to this unit, I had never worked behind the camera in a unit of more than five or so. During the exercise this semester where the entire class went and filmed as one, large cohort of about fifteen or so, I began to appreciate filmmaking in a larger production a lot more. It was very fascinating seeing everyone have the ability to just focus on their roles and not have to split their time or compromise across several tasks. It inspired me to continue working in some respects, as it reminded me that it won’t always be me and me alone doing every project, but I will hopefully have a team of people to help. Particularly as director, where you have a vision of doing something in a certain way and and don’t need to focus on the logistics like the assistant director does, allowing you to take your time to shoot what you want in the way you would like it. In some ways it was our most busy individual exercise as there was a lot going on at once, in others it was the most relaxing due to everyone only having to perform a singular role.

 

 

 

Reflection on presentations:

 

I actually really thoroughly enjoyed Liam’s presentation, because it came from a unique perspective: he was unhappy with it and hadn’t achieved the desired results, how could he manipulate it to do so? Many of the other presentations demonstrated an idea and asked for extrapolation of what they were already doing to achieve an effect. Liam actively said he was displeased with his original execution of his idea and wished to deviate from it to achieve a feeling or effect. I think this lead to a more interesting discussion in terms of several people workshopping an idea. It gave me a bit more motivation on how to approach my second video piece as I had a vision and some footage, but wasn’t totally sure what it required to make it the product I wanted it to be. As a result, I came in and presented the footage and elaborated on the idea, and got some great feedback; particularly the need to focus on it being atmospheric and how I should use me packing up more as a vessel to demonstrate the stadium being empty than me being the focus within it.

 

The feedback was invaluable and made me see my piece in a different light, and I believe I ended up with a much stronger piece than if I hadn’t shown my work; and I definitely wouldn’t have achieved the atmosphere as well as I think I did. I also enjoyed the discussion on a few other presentations, such as Charlie’s, as the people I felt who made themselves open and were open-minded in approach while maintaining a vision were usually the people who had the best results, or at least the results closest to their original vision. The feedback and open forum was invaluable and definitely something I will endeavour to use more wherever I have the opportunity.

 

And as for Liam, it seems as though he also got greater clarity about what parts of his piece worked and what was “missing”, much like I did when demonstrating my second idea in week 11.