For this project, Hanna in the year above had asked if anyone wanted to help with filming her concept piece for her final film. Before even asking what the film was about I had already said I would help out. Looking back, I had actually never asked what the film was called or what it was about so when I showed up to film I was putting it all together in my head.
I had got the details of how the day was going to plan out from Hannah. As the location was far away the meeting point was the bus stop. To be safe, I had arrived fifteen minutes before the arranged time so I knew for a fact I wasn't going to be late. It turns out that I was waiting for some time and started to worry that I was at the wrong bus stop, which I obviously was as this was the only stop that went to the location that we were filming at. Eventually everyone arrived.
The whole filming experience was really nice as both Hannah and Ed (who was originally on sound but moved to camera during the day as the zoom he was using was not working) were really nice to work with. Hannah had chosen a really nice location for the scene and this just added more to the film.
Every shot you see that has a person in or of the sea was done by me, the close ups of nature were done by Ed. The shots where there is a pull focus was practised before hand by me and Ed together. Ed was pulling of focus while I said where to stop so everything would look just right.
Overall, I was really happy with how it turned out and I'm grateful to be given the opportunity to work on a year 3's film as that doesn't happen to often for me. Furthermore, Ross said that he was surprised at the quality of camerawork that I had done in the project. She went for someone else to be the camera operator for the actual film.
The Meet Cute
Iz had asked me to help her out on this film that was going to be submitted for the 2nd film brief. She wanted to make a film about the start of a relationship. It was a sweet idea and I was always prepared to help people out in our class if they needed it. Iz needed help with the camera and I felt like it was going to be a great opportunity to experience operating a camera.
I was going to meet up with Iz and the talent outside a coffee shop so we could all get the bus together. Unfortunately, the bus times were incorrect so I had the idea that we tell them that we wanted to go over the script in the coffee shop and I would get them both a warm drink. This worked to a great success as both the actor and actress was happy with the idea.
Once we had got there I started to realise an issue. It had started raining ever so slightly and I felt like it was only going to get worse. Because of this I wanted to start filming as soon as possible. As the film was set on the beach there was no cover for both the crew and equipment. This was going to be more of an issue as time went on.
Everyone was really great to work with and was super understanding when I had an idea for a certain shot or when I suggested a certain movement. This made the whole experience much smoother which in the long run, probably saved a lot of time.
About half way through it felt like we were on the receiving end of Moses parting the red sea and it poured it down. As we didn't have a cover for the camera, I used part of my own coat to protect it while also trying to film everything. This was definitely an experience working on this film as it was very much us versus nature which is a battle you are never going to win.
If I were to do the film again, I would get Iz to choose a day in which the rain wasn't trying to relocate from the clouds to my face. Another thing I would do is sit down with Iz beforehand and put together a short shot list or storyboard. This would've meant that once we got there, we all would've had more of an idea how everything was going on the day.
Love Letter
Even though this was one of the 'simpler' projects to be a camera operator. It was the nicest to work on. Liv had the idea of this very personal film to her so it meant even more when she asked me to help out on it.
As it was such a personal film to her and she wanted the audience to focus on her and the audio from the letter. 'Fancy' camera work was inappropriate for the subject matter. A simple close up of her face would work great. This will allow the audience to see every emotion in her face thus displaying how much the person the letter is written for, meant to her. It was done in one take to make it as genuine as possible. This film with many cuts and shots of multiple width would just distract from the purpose of the whole idea. It has to be done this way.
Even though I'll admit that I didn't do much on it, I was just happy to work on this type of film.
A Wedding
I learnt two things while helping Gui with this wedding shoot. The first was how to set up a business in filming/photographing weddings and the second was that I didn't want to work in the wedding industry as my career.
The day started early as weddings have to fit a lot in. The first destination was the church. This was the first time I had been in a church not for a funeral in a long time. As I wasn't to sure of where to go, I mostly followed the instructions given to me by Gui. He had much more of a firmer grasp on how weddings go more than I did. He was also the one that was originally asked and therefore he was going to naturally take the lead with things as the couple (or at least the wife) knew him.
The church part went pretty well. We both had managed to get footage of the special words 'I do'. Which apparently is only special in a church and not in a McDonald's when asked if I want to go large with my meal. Like with most things, the more as the day went on the more comfortable the whole process became. I started working out what was important to film and started becoming more confident in talking to people if I needed them to be in a specific place (this didn't happen much).
We were then transported to where everyone was going to have their meal. There isn't really much to say from this point. People spoke, I filmed, people danced, I filmed. It was pretty smooth sailing all the way to the end. Me and Gui got a bit lost trying to find the bus stop to get home but it was a good experience overall.