Blog 4: The Writing Center

Over the last two class sessions (Thursday, February 23rd and Tuesday, February 28th) we have successfully filmed an advertisement for the campus' academic support center, where students can get help for classes. Coming into the shoot I was quite nervous as I knew how important this shoot was but my anxiety eased as production went on. The first day I had been debating trying to step up as a director but I still am not confident in my ability to do such in an important circumstance like this. I feel after a few more weeks of practice I'll be ready but on that day I was not. Instead I worked as the tape operator.

The job normally calls for I to capture the footage onto the computer. There was a problem, however where the computer for some reason was not capturing the footage. As a result of this, we instead just used the VCR technology we had to record the tape (by holding record and pressing play) and just capturing the footage later on. Day 2 however I was a bit more active. After sitting out the first two takes, I got up and started working as the Floor manager, making sure everything on stage was just as it should be and getting commands from the director to command everyone on the set.

As the shoot went on I gained more confidence in my ability to work closely to the set and so I switched jobs with a fellow classmate and began working on the main camera. I adjusted each shot as instructed by the director and made sure that the white balance and the lighting looked about correct on terms of how it appeared on the camera. Overall I felt that this shoot was the best thing that could've happened to me on terms of this course. While working as the tape operator I got a good look through the screen on terms of how the lighting should look on camera and while working as Floor Manager and Camera Person I gained a bit of confidence in myself on terms of ability to do these jobs. I feel at the end of this shoot the chemistry between all members of this class is much better and I, myself feel more confident that when we shoot the next major production that I can step up and do "higher end" jobs such as directing, lighting, and audio, with a few more weeks of practice of course.