My Filmmaking Experience

The process of shooting my video was rather complicated, considering the simplicity of my video. First I realized that shooting from the steps of the Dav would be difficult considering how often people walk in and out of there. Instead, we shot the steps at the back of Batelle which were much less traveled.

Another problem we encountered was that as I was moving the tripod to get the second shot of the video, someone came up and locked their bike to the handrail on the steps, taking center stage in my shot. Luckily, the narrative indicated a passing of time between the two shots, so the slight change of set didn't change the story.

Something that I noticed that reminded me of Blow Up was that I verbally explained what I wanted to see to my teammates, but they then did something different than what I envisioned. I thought I had done a pretty good job explaining, but turns out, just like the characters realized, we all see things differently, especially in our minds, so verbally explaining something visual isn't always the best route. Of course this project also revealed diverse execution styles among our group. I was slow and deliberate while others encouraged improvisation. I think both types will present interesting films.

I am excited to see my film; watching it back on the camera's tiny screen was pretty anticlimactic. I am not sure if I will like the somewhat slanted angle that I used in my second shot, and I'm not sure if I will be pleased with my framing. I definitely think that what I envisioned and what the camera saw will be two distinct things, there might be some surprises when I watch the footage.

If this were a film class, I think it would be fun to explore the same short narrative storyline in a variety of locations, with a different cast, and other variations. This would be a good way to explore all of the challenges faced when filmmaking, even when the story (what many would view as the most important element,) stays the same.