In my first year of university I’ve noticed that the semester seem to go so quickly. In the first week we’re told everything we’re expected to learn, and twelve weeks go by and suddenly we’ve learned everything and I almost can’t remember what it was like to not know what I learned.

The experience of my first studio of the course has been a positive one. I’ve enjoyed the freedom to focus on my own passions and interests and the ability to decide for myself where to build my strengths. I’m happy with my choice of studio, Translating Observation has provided me with the technical knowledge I’ve always strived for while allowing me to put it in to practise in a way that allows me to explore and strengthen my creative abilities.

The semester was filled with a variety of exciting, new things. One of the most significant things that I learned was how to use equipment, especially the Sony EX3s. At first I was a little intimidated by the sight of them. They were huge, complicated looking pieces of technology, and I admit I was a little frightened of using them. As I spent more time on assignments and class exercise I felt myself growing more confident with the cameras. Of course there are still a few things I forgot, but I found that forcing myself to take my time and work through the process allowed me to get through the difficulties and become more confident with the equipment and the overall process.

My experience with the audio mixers was perhaps not so positive. I didn’t really get the experience during class activities and assignments to work with them. Perhaps I should have taken more time by myself to get to know the in and outs of the equipment to get a better understanding of how to work with them. I feel as though my lack of confidence when it comes to anything audio related may have hindered my motivation to learn how to use the mixers.

I feel like that is something I definitely need to work on. My lack of confidence in my abilities kept me in my comfort zone. I found it difficult to convince myself to volunteer and do new things. Instead of taking up the opportunity to undertake a new role, I either went with what I was already confident with or something that was left over. If I had persuaded myself a little more to step a little out of this comfort zone I may have been able to learn and do so much more over the last twelve weeks. Getting out of my comfort zone, and trying something new is something I’ll definitely be working on in the future.

In my first reflection on the final project I remember writing that I wasn’t too sure exactly what strengths I could bring to a group. As I look back I feel as though the figurative murky water is beginning to clear, and I’m getting a fairer idea of where exactly my strengths lie. That realisation stems from the observations I’ve done in the course. I realise that I like writing about the things I see, looking for something interesting on a train or even making something completely mundane into an engaging piece of material through words. My love for writing was re-realised through this course and it is something I’m grateful for, and definitely something that I feel I have a strength in.

This was an exciting an fun filled semester. I learned so many beneficial things and really feel like my confidence with technology has strengthened. Although I understand that I still need to work on forcing myself out of my comfort zone,  when I do that I know I will be able to reach my full potential within the course. I feel as though this studio was the perfect choice for me, it allowed me creative freedom and gave me the opportunity to focus and build on my strengths and weaknesses. It also gave me the chance to learn something new. The things I learned throughout the semester weren’t just beneficial towards my future with in the media industry, but also allowed me to strengthen my abilities with in my hobbies. I know that my experiences over the past twelve weeks will provide me with the knowledge that will be beneficial in helping me to do my best work in the future.

One thing that became clear over the last twelve weeks was just how important and beneficial working as a team can be. All our assessments advised us to enlist the help of our classmates, and although I’m naturally shy, I took this to heart and I’m glad I did. The benefits of working with other people announced themselves more than ever this semester, and the benefits included more than just having somebody else to assist you in carrying the equipment. As I reflect on all the practical activities that were completed over the semester, I realise that to me personally it would be next to impossible to efficiently complete even the smallest of tasks to the best of my ability. It goes without saying that the vast majority of my experience working within a group over the past twelve weeks have been positive. I’ve found that this is due to two main aspects when working within a team.

The first aspect that I’ve found is beneficial is the level of communication that is maintain within a group. I felt I was of more use when we would share each of our ideas and have the opportunity to provide feedback and expand on them. Also, when our roles were divided, keeping in constant contact with members of the group allowed everybody to stay on task and up to date with a project.

Beyond this, is also helped when every member of the group was on the same level. By this I mean everybody is striving for the same outcome and possess the same amount of enthusiasm and passion for the project. When everybody was learning something new together, I felt as though I was more engaged with the task and confident in my abilities. It also proved useful, as enlisting the help of others while learning how to use a piece of equipment of setting up a shot seemed to pique our enthusiasm and motivate everybody to stay on task.

The benefits of working in a team are numerous, and until this semester I’ve never truly recognised the rewards of collaboration. Although there are some difficulties in working with a team, when each member is as enthusiastic as each other about a project and are able to maintain good communication the advantages are endless. The things I’ve learned this semester, and overall the entire year will allow me to focus on myself and what I can do to help my work mates.

Today we spent more time in the editing suites. The film was coming together quite well, with only a few things missing from the rough draft. So we spent some of the time collecting material, some of it we found on archive.org and others I was able to find exactly what we needed on my phone. After showing the new cut to Robin he pointed out that something was missing and suggested that we include another sequence between the last two moments. After some discussion about possible ideas, we concluded that it was best not to. We didn’t want anything too obvious linking the scenes together, so that the audience would be struck by the spontaneity of the contrasting frames and their difference of style.

Robin also gave us a short lesson on colour grading using the material that had been gathered in class on Monday. The lesson brought to perspective what Robin had been warning us about over exposing, how it was visibly impossible to bring back lost detail even after editing. During the lesson I found myself comparing the process to what I do while editing photographs at home. I’d never really had a lesson on it, but by experimenting in photoshop I had a basic idea of what sliders did what. Robin’s lesson provided me with more in-depth information about the process. I found it very beneficial, as now I can not only apply what I’d learned into film editing, but also the photographs I edit in my free time.

Today we went over the editing process for the footage we had collected for the shoot so far. Being more of a poetic adaptation of Alaine’s observation it seemed to be a little difficult to completely understand what exactly it was that she wanted from the final project. After seeing what had been edited so far, I was able to solidify my grasp on what she was looking for as the director and creator of the film. This information will come in handy later, and help me be more confident with in my roles for the assignment. We thought all was going well until we showed Robin the (very) rough cut. He pointed out that somebody with absolutely no familiarity with the concept may not understand what we are trying to communicate. He suggested that we find something to link all the moments in the film together to perhaps guide the audience along, and tell them upfront what is happening. There was some discussion within the group afterwards about whether or not we want the audience to know what’s happening, or if the whole point of the film is to make them think for themselves about what is being conveyed.

It’s amazing how much activity a single day can hold. It was one of the busiest days I’ve experienced in the year and involved me crossing from one side of the city to the other by train. Working on a tight schedule, there wasn’t enough room for things to go wrong. Although Murphy’s Law states that anything that can go wrong, will go wrong. This proved to be somewhat true. Although I’d arrived early, I was pushed off the train as I was boarding by an eager mother with her child strapped into a stroller. As I attempted to board once more the doors began closing, making it impossible for me to board and forcing me to wait another hour. Thankfully I’m somebody who likes to be ahead of time, and was still able to make it to the shoot before it was scheduled to start. The shoot took two and a half hours overall, before a two hour transit back home, before spending three hours gathering and organising items needed for my mother’s dinner party which I had taken upon myself to organise, racing to the stores before they closed. Despite having to leave the restaurant to go home and change, I was still able to make it to the dinner on time and keep things running smoothly between the guests and the staff.

The day held a huge balance of organisation and responsibility on my part, although it was stressful I enjoyed the productiveness of the day. It brought to my attention how much one can fit into the few short hours of a day. I also discovered a love of organising and planning events.

Film:

The film would show a day in the lives of three individuals, from morning to night. Each individual would have varying levels of productivity in their day. The first will be a ‘lazy’ day. She gets out of bed later than the others and takes her time through the morning routine. She sits on the couch reading a book for a bit before walking her dog. She sits on the couch some more, then prepares her dinner before relaxing on the couch again and falling asleep there.

The second will be a working father who wakes up early to get himself a coffee and prepare his child’s lunch for school before waking his child up. He helps her get ready for school and serves her breakfast. They get into the car, he drops her off at school before going to work. He checks into the office, goes about his routine before realising his daughter forgot her lunch. He drives back to her school and heads to back to the office. After his day he picks his daughter up from school, makes her a snack and finishes some work in him home office while she plays. Afterwards he makes them dinner and goes through the night routine before going to bed.

The third individual will be even busier, or at least more visually stressed. Perhaps a student studying last minute before an exam, completing said exam before needing to go to their part time job then making it home in time to cook dinner for their family.

All scenes will be linked chronologically through fast match cuts. The audience should feel exhausted from the visuals alone while feeling a sense of empathy for each individual.

Nobody had answered the crew call for our second shoot. With only 3 out of 4 of our members, it meant we all had a lot of work to do and a lot of roles to cover. Compared to last weeks shoot however, I felt much more comfortable with the equipment and the process. I took on the role of 1st AD. I had a small grasp on the concept of the responsibilities that came with the role, though I’m not sure I carried them out as well as I could have. To undertake the role a little better perhaps it might have been best for me to discuss with Alaine how long each shot should take and use that as a guideline to keep the group on something close to a schedule. The interruptions by passers by and our lack of knowledge of the new equipment did influence the difficulty of keeping time a little, as we had to allow some time to familiarise ourselves with equipment as well as organise the props we needed. Despite the interruptions we were able to get through the shoot on time, recording audio after filming to compensate for the time that would have otherwise been lost because of the interruptions. The second part of the film went by much faster. Overall I believe it was a successful shoot. We were able to get every shot we needed for the scenes.

Today we held our first shoot, and probably the hardest. With a group member unable to attend, I took on the role of sound. This proved to be a little difficult in the beginning as I was unsure of how to apply my knowledge to a piece of equipment I’d never used before. However, after being shown the basics and playing around with a few buttons I soon became accustomed to it, my main problem then became the long cords that always seemed to get in the way. It also became apparent how difficult it could be to work with animals. Although I’m sure we got off easy today, Holly didn’t seem to be in the mood to be followed by strangers with camera and cords pointed at her. Thankfully the scene is fairly short and we were able to get all the shots we needed for the film. For future reference I think it would be best to keep scenes with animals to a minimum, as we did with this film. All went well however, I believe the shoot was successful and we were even finished an hour earlier than the scheduled time.

It became apparent that one of the difficult aspects of this project would be scheduling. With the end of the semester drawing near it seems that most members of the group wouldn’t be available for all shoots. To combat this problem we worked out a shooting schedule, and allocated ourselves key roles for the filming process. I took on the role of 1st AD and Art Director. Although I’m not entirely sure what exactly these roles would require from me, I’ve decided that experimenting with different roles might allow me to discover what I can bring to the table in regards to filming. I’m interested to see how I go undertaking these roles, and hoping that I’m able to fulfil the expectations that come with it.