On last Thursday’s class in week 5, we run a simple shooting which everyone took a role and worked collaboratively as a whole group.

I was responsible for adjusting the focus in camera crew to make sure our actress was always in focus. To do that, every pause of our actress had to be clearly labelled, using tapes to create makers on the ground. Then, I adjusted the focus each point and put marks on the camera. During the first rehearsal, I automatically looked at the screen instead of the actress when I was adjusting the focus. It was very hard to see the whole situation and react to suit the movement according to the screen. I could not adjust the focus in time because the camera was zoomed very close to the actress and the actress was moving really fast. Robin told me to try to focus on the actress’s actions rather than the screen. Immediately, I found it became a lot more easier for me to adjust the focus cooperating with the movement of the actress. Later on in the shooting, I discovered that every detail was important in the shooting no matter how small it was. Our actress’s body tend to lean forward when she sat in the chair and started talking. No-one noticed that small detail except Robin and even it was a very tiny thing, it affected the final result of our shooting. 

Time is also a very essential part in the whole shooting process. I noticed that we spent a lot more time than we expected building up the lights and setting up the boards. Some of the class was reflected by the window and we had to build another two black boards to get rid of that. Lots of things were rushed. Although we tried our best to build everything, the space of the classroom was too limited and I feel that the final result was not very satisfying. 

The shooting location, actor/actress, lighting, camera and timing are all the determining elements of the final piece. People have to work coorparatively to get the best results.