And considering the name of this studio, it has been true.

Translating Observation has really been about translating our observations, transforming the things that we see and feel and experience in real life into short films. This studio was actually my first preference and it was the studio description that really got me interested. I mean, it posed the question, ‘How can personal observation and experience be translated to the screen in ways not strictly reliant on conventional fiction or documentary approaches?’ I’ve always thought myself to be a really observant person and this question piqued my curiosity. Because how can you turn what you see in reality into a film without it being a documentary or just like any other fiction film?

Since the first lesson, we really got straight into it. And by ‘it’, I mean production exercises. From the first day onwards, we did more production exercises to get comfortable with using a professional camera. I’ve never used a camera like a Sony EX3 before or even like the tripod it came with. We also learned how to use a sound mixer, a piece of equipment I have never touched or ever thought about, and also a piece of equipment that is for sound, an element that I am least interested in. In both cases, even with the sound mixer, I found myself really getting into it because I know that this won’t be the first time I’ll be using equipment like these so I may as well learn it. I’m not going to lie, I found it fairly confusing at first because there were so many buttons and so many settings to look at before you start recording. But after some practice and doing some individual exercises, I got the hang of it. Mostly.

Even though they were called individual exercises, they weren’t actually all that individual. We actually did them with other people and we’ve actually worked in groups before we started our major film assignment. Though it can get a little bit tiring coming back and forth at uni, it would definitely have been more tiring doing the work alone. I mean, the equipment itself, especially the tripod on its own, was heavy enough as it is. I definitely had fun working with my groups, particularly my group for the major film assignment. It really helped with our communication skills, and more than that, develop new friendships and new connections.

And because I’m clearly more of a practical learner, the one thing that I did somewhat struggle with was writing reflections. Go figure since I’m writing one right now. From the beginning, I thought that I was doing it a little bit wrong, that I was reflecting but at the same time, not really. After a while, I eventually realised that it’s more than just about listing the things you did. Something else that I struggled with at the beginning was writing the observations. I didn’t really know how to start and when I finally did, I didn’t know how to actually go about writing the rest of it. But again, after a couple of weeks and some constructive feedback, I definitely improved my observational writing and it was definitely better than the first.

There were a lot of things I learned in this studio, and they’re more than just the technical and practical aspects. There were also some things I learned about myself. As the first few weeks of the semester we mainly did production exercises in and out of class, it really reiterated to me how much of a practical learner I am. I wouldn’t have learned how to use the equipment, especially the sound mixer just by reading a manual. I really needed to see how they’re set up and used in action, then have me try it too. I also learned how far I can stretch out my creativity when we started writing film ideas with some of our later observations. With every observation, I found myself coming up with more than one idea for each but obviously only choosing one to post.

Now if there’s one thing I could think of, straight up, right now, about one good thing about this studio, it would be having a teacher like Robin. He gives clear and careful instructions when teaching how to use equipment and makes sure everyone’s on the right page. He also gives some of the best constructive feedback. My reflective and observational writing would not have improved if he hadn’t pointed out the things I was lacking and couldn’t pick out myself. And of course, his guidance in the last few weeks of producing our short films. Had he not been by our side every step of the way and giving us consistent feedback, our short film would not have evolved into what it turned out to be. Massive shout out to you, Robin.

I’m really proud of everything I’ve accomplished this semester. I definitely enjoyed this studio and hopefully my next studio will be just as good.

It was lit.

Peace out.