The brief for Experimental Practice required ‘stepping out of ones comfort zone’ and to work ‘collaboratively’ which sounded exciting but also invoked a sense of stubbornness about the way I work. I am a very independent practitioner who is protective of her work. I am loathed to share any success of results in my work with anyone else. And like many artists I am very protective about the outcome of anything that has my name attached to it. I also realised that I was quite narrow in my ambition – I had started an MA to broaden and develop my own practice of photography, not to start all over again with a new medium! When these feeling subsided and I focussed on the task in hand I realised that I need not jump into a medium which was completely unrelated but that perhaps, as suggested, a film would be an excellent transitional piece. But how would I, a very busy Lecturer, be able to achieve this? The very position of being a lecturer in Art & Design was the perfect location to be. Part of my role I the academic team is to promote the course and acquire more students and therefore I came up with the idea of producing a short promotional film for the course.
My proposed project was to work collaboratively with the ED Art & Design Academic team at Plymouth College of Art to produce a promotional film for the course. The plan was for this film to be used on the college web site, for the particular course area, and in other advertising media including a potential presence on a city centre screen.
I began my planning for the production of the film by firstly mapping out the various areas that I would need to plan. These areas included meeting with the Art & Design academic team to discuss their ideas for the project, booking a camera induction, arranging an experimental shoot, booking a software induction for editing, designing a storyboard, liaising with students for filming and booking filming time etc.
My initial steps were to email the team and ask for feedback to my proposed idea and then to ask for a meeting to be held to discuss the criteria and requirements from such a film. During the meeting we discussed the content and style of the promotional film for the course. I proposed a basic storyboard with the team, which they agreed upon but also, added some other ideas as follows:-
The film needs to be shorter than 10 min perhaps just 5 in order have impact and keep the viewer’s attention.
The style of photography used in the film was also discussed and it was agreed that the style should be according to the target audience for the course. Our target audience is predominantly the 16 – 21 year old group as we are competing with secondary schools for student number increase. NG (staff member) recommended a less corporate feel and perhaps the use of hand held camera filming and spontaneous responses from students being filmed.
TV (staff member) also suggested that it would be very useful to include students in part of the film making (camera work, lighting etc) this would ensure that the final film was collaborative and would be an excellent learning experience for those students who have a keen interest in Photography and Digital Media.
It was agreed that I would leave the film camera in the staff office to enable staff and monitored students to film exciting, real and spontaneous occasions occurring in the everyday teaching and learning in the ED Art & Design classroom. I will then combine this footage with the staged interviews and filming of the various subject areas for the course.
It was also agreed that I would organise a group of students from the 1st and 2nd year cohorts to be part of a film crew and organise students to be interviewed.
TV (staff member) also suggested that we use still images from previous classroom activities to support the filmed footage.
I felt that this collaborative discussion was truly beneficial as it brought to my attention areas that I had not considered and alleviated some of the responsibility that I felt about the final outcome.
My next stage in planning was to research other films that have been produced for a similar purpose within an arts context. I therefore looked at a film produced by staff in Plymouth College of Art. This was to promote and provide information about the ERC (Equipment Resource Centre). This video is played on a screen just outside the ERC and on the college portal; it features the staff members in their workplace setting. The staff are explaining what they do within their role and what the ERC provides for students. The film uses a combination of video with recorded voice and text on a black screen to partition sections of the film with information. The film was not made with a tripod but rather uses hand-held camera work. Initially it could be assumed that this is unprofessional and has an amateur feel to it. On the contrary I think that this was a deliberate attempt and provided a non-corporate feel to the film ensuring that the viewer felt relaxed and the lack of formality of the ERC context.
The next step on my journey was ensuring that I had an induction into the Digital Film Camera, which I booked with Simon Jerwood (Film Tech. Demonstrator - PCA). He explained the functions on the Panasonic DV camera, which is quite a basic video camera. His induction was very clear and I felt that, even though I am a Photography Lecturer, he did not assume prior knowledge. I was able to relate my 2D image knowledge to many of the camera functions. Although I definitely stepped out of my comfort zone when it came to planning a film, using story boards and thinking about sound etc I felt somewhat reassured that my technical use of the camera would not be too difficult. I discussed with Simon my need to learn about software for editing my film and he recommended that I conduct an experimental test shoot to familiarise myself with the camera and the techniques. I then book an induction into Adobe Premier for editing.
I therefore carried out a test shoot, which I did by filming the Production at my children’s school. I carried this out by using a tripod and just setting the camera to record the whole production. On reflection this was an experiment which did not test many filming skills such as panning and zooming etc. None the less I was able to use this piece as a test for image and sound quality and also my very first attempt at downloading film to my MAC.
My first attempt at downloading the film was not the easiest thing I have done. Initially I tried to use Adobe Premier but without success as I had not yet been inducted into the software. I then tried using ‘I movie’ which was very straight forward and I successfully transferred my film to my laptop. I realised from this how important my induction into Adobe Premier would be. As a result of this test shoot I decided that I would need to research into the basic skills of filming and the areas of consideration. I read ‘The Shut up and Shoot Guide’ (Artis. 2008) This was a very practical guide on planning for film/documentary making and provided me with hints and tips on planning for; lighting, clothing, location, composition (inc Dutch Angles), focal length for particular shots and editing shots like ‘cutaways’. It also made me aware of a ‘Talent Release Form’, which I will need interviewees to sign for their permission of the interview footage of them to be used in the film.
Before the induction that I had into Adobe Premier software I prepared my self to take in a large amount of technical knowledge that I probably wouldn’t use straight away. I did this by arriving at my induction early, armed with a large notebook and pen and I didn’t book anything in my diary for immediately after allowing plenty of time for me to ask questions at the end. During the induction I made extensive and very detailed notes realising that I would have to refer back to this at a future and probably distant date in order to edit the film independently. Although on reflection this induction was perhaps premature I feel that it was valuable seeing how a film is edited, as the way it is filmed impacts on the process of editing it.
Realising that my film would not be completed for the indented date I decided that I would edit just a small part of it to present to my peer group. This proved to be fraught with challenges and unsuccessful. I will therefore arrange for more technical support in editing. The film is still therefore in production as my role as a Lecturer has demanded a priority on my time and although much of the filming has been carried out during my teaching there are other areas including interviews and artistic introductions that I will still need to conduct. I have realised that producing a very short promotional film can still be very time consuming and include a tremendous amount of planning. I have really enjoyed stepping out of a familiar medium and I feel that being in the shoes of a student again has given me licence to ‘not know’ and the need to ask questions. My role as a lecturer in the arts has required that I am asked and expected to ‘know’ but I now realise that there are times when we all need to step away from what we do know and develop through feeling uncomfortable and taking risks in order to broaden our creative scope.
Bibliography
Shaner, P. and Jones, G.E. Real World Digital Video. California: Peachpit Press, 2004
Artis, A.Q. The Shut up and Shoot Documentary Guide. Oxford: FocalPress, 2008
Watts, H. Instant on Camera The fast Track to Programme Making. London, 2004
Plymouth College of Art, 2011. The Equipment Resource Centre – Meet the ERC Team. [online] Available at http://myportal.plymouth.ac.uk/equipment-resources-center [accessed 9 December 2012]
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