After inspecting the footage from my first shoot last weekend, I was slightly disappointed. This was as my small shot list (see below) had pretty much gone out the window due to an unexpected time constraint and other conditions out of my control. This however, is the life of a film maker (aspiring or professional). I had originally planned to put together a simple sequence of a subject getting a board off a car, putting the leg rope on and heading out to surf. But as my second day of shooting was cut short I was unable to accomplish this. Although this did make me realise that I should try to get the majority of my footage on the first day and reserve the second day for reshoots and extra shots etc. The sequence above is a very rough cut of some of the more successful shots. The opening shots are taken with the MC 50 and are just some nature and establishing shots. I did enjoy shooting with this camera as it was relatively easy as I didn’t have top make many adjustments to the settings. However, the sound in the above video is an issue as the wind is incredibly loud. Due to this, I’m considering recording some background noise from elsewhere.

The less vivid footage was taken with a Go Pro. This was a bit of a challenge because I hadn’t used one before and failed to realise they didn’t have a view finder. Therefore I had little idea of what my shots looked like and how wide the lens was- this occasionally resulted in my leg or shadow creeping into the frame. Additionally, when I thought I was getting a close up, I was actually getting a wide shot. Water droplets were also an issue that I hadn’t considered and consequently, I had several shots ruined by a persistent water droplet in the middle of the screen. One thing that did go well with the Go Pro was the audio from under water. It captured the noise of the bubbles and swirling water very well. So whilst there are some shots that aren’t great visually, the sound from the Go Pro is quite effective.

Whilst I was initially disappointed with how the shoot went, I can salvage a good amount of sound and audio and learnt some very important lessons about getting the shot as soon as possible in order to account for unexpected delays. I’m looking forward to my next shoot as I have some fresh ideas and slightly more of an idea of what I’m doing with the Go Pro.

Shot List
Shot list