Time flies and it is the end of this semester. I have not only learnt new knowledge but also gained friendships. My aim for this semester is to improve my technical skill of using the cameras. I learnt things about cameras last semester in another course however I think Real to Reel has a lot of differences. One is the difference between the equipment used in the courses and another is the application of those cameras. The camera we used the most this semester is for video recording. At the beginning of this semester, we studied the works of some famous photographers including Eve Arnold, Eve Arnold, Frederick Wiseman and Molly Dineen. By learning and imitating the styles of these photographers, I have more deeply felt the charm of photography, and gradually have some of my own shooting preferences.

I enjoy the part of producing the observational montage this semester. I have gained a lot from this task. I learned some basic techniques for shooting outside: how to adjust white balance, shutter speed, iso and so on. I think these will be of great help to my future media making. I also have a small opinion on it. I think it would be better if it could be done individually during the shooting process, because the final clip is edited according to personal preference. However, I feel that there is no way I can take a lot of things I want to use in my editing. Some of the ideas I have come up with were denied because everyone in the group wanted to take the camera and that made it difficult to achieve. Of course I understand that the cameras were limited, so I don’t know whether this problem could be solved in another way. Maybe the editing part of the observational montage could be completed by the whole group together. From my opinion, It is difficult to define whether this is a group assignment or an individual one. 

 Then I learned some of the techniques of interviewing people. It’s surprising that a course could make you braver in the class practice. I did not expect that I would have to step out of my comfort zone. I did not know that I had to approach strangers on the street and chat with them. And the thing is, I did and I enjoyed that. Had really great experiences in this class!