In the first week of Translating Observation, we first discussed writing down and thinking about observations. At first I found it difficult as I didn’t know what to define as an observation. Could I simply write about how I had driven to the train station that morning? Or should I write about something more thoughtful and inspiring? After Robin discussed his three different “types” of observations, I found it much easier to write about my own observations, and I ended up being able to write about my car trip in a more thoughtful way. Later in the class we went out as a group and operated one of the Sony EX-3s. We interviewed each other, asking their names and what they think of the class so far. Our group worked together well, however we forgot to think about a couple things which ended up harming our footage. We adjusted the exposure to what seemed appropriate, however some areas of the frame were blown out and lost their features (such as my shoes). We also forgot to consider sound. We placed the camera very far away from our subject, which created a great frame, but meant it was almost impossible to hear the person being interviewed.

The second class in the week saw us creating a 40 second shot using the limitations the first film makers had. Our group decided to film from the top of a fire escape, and have the city skyline, an alleyway, and a protest walking in the frame. I think the shot was very well composed and the subject was quite interesting. The only problem is we were late to set up, and as such it meant our subjects weren’t in the frame for very long. Our second shot where we could interfere with the action ended up being worse then our initial shot as we didn’t read the rules properly and used tilting.