#puremourning

So the crit went pretty well for all projects I was involved in. Which is genuinely surprising because I actually hadn't seen 7 minutes in full until the crit. It came out better than I thought. And for that, I am extremely grateful to Coll and Woody. It certainly isn't my favourite but it worked well and the main piece of positive feedback was the script, which I felt very honoured by. This film was really tricky in a lot of ways for me and came at a difficult time in my personal life, so for it to be so well received in that respect was fantastic, and has given me a lot more confidence in my ability.

As for the crit on my other films, they both did very well, and I was told by multiple people that my camera work was good. Yay!

I will definitely build on the criticism I received, I don't think any of it was unnecessary.

I think that pure morning was a success in pretty much every aspect and I'm proud of my camera operating on this phone. We had a couple of hiccups along the way, but everyone work together well and I am happy with it. 

On the first day, which was a very long day, we were filming in a church. There were a few things that I I think definitely could have gone a lot smoother but again this is the case with most shoots. The main issue here was the lunch/dinner break taking a lot longer than I imagined it would. Since it's still early in the year, we lose light so quickly and the church is so big that you just can't control the light in the way that you would hope. I really tried very hard to be on time. After the lunch break, I was there with the camera ready to go to capture the last few bits, but unfortunately I don't think a lot of the rest of the crew realised that this was an issue. Obviously in retrospect I probably could have said something, but at the time all I could think of was getting ready for the next scene. We lost light pretty quickly, and eventually had to deal with the fact that the funeral for the character of James was going to be at night time which I think is a strange choice but unnecessary one. By the end of the first filming day, I was frustrated with the fact that the final scene took as long as it did to shoot, but it ended up being okay. On the positive side I was really happy with my camera movement. There wasn't too much needed for this first, but for the movement that was needed I was really happy with what I did and I think it showed my development as a camera operator. I didn't really need very many retakes for issues on my side. Although I will say that I'm not perfect and I occasionally did need another take. However, this was rare and I managed to maintain quality while also staying on time. I always made sure to get Headroom before a moving take such as a tilt or a pan because I've definitely noticed that that's difficult in the past. Luckily it didn't pose too much of an issue until the very end of the day when it was low light and difficult to see. On the fx6 the focus had to be pulled on the barrel but luckily with Erin there, it made everything so much easier as she was always on the ball and I didn't really have to contend with any camera shake from focus pulling. One issue I did face here was framing up certain shots due to issues with production design. I will expand on this in my essay.

The second day was the day that we had to move locations a lot and it required an early wake up time. It also had the most whip pans and camera movements. This was a big day for me to prepare for and I was nervous but I'm pretty happy with my work. The biggest issue I would say I had was that we couldn't figure out which direction we were whipping in and out of. Luckily we had the time to play it both ways. I also had an issue with the camera ISO when we were filming in the home bar. I'm annoyed that I didn't catch it, but luckily it hasn't proven too much of an issue in the editing process. Besides those issues, I'm really happy with how that day went. I think I was on the ball and I was always ready to go when needed. I think that my whip pans were clean and smooth and I'm really happy with how they've come out. I had a very accommodating crew so if I thought that something was going to pose an issue I was allowed to work through it and I was given the time and listening ears. I did have to have a couple of conversations with our cinematographer about how realistic some of the shots were and about the motivation of some of the handheld shots, which I didn't think made a lot of sense and which she took on board and we removed. This also saved us a lot of time and it meant that the handheld shots that we did keep have a lot more motivation and feel necessary. As I knew this was going to be a difficult day, I tried to keep myself as regulated as possible and tried to keep physically well. I didn't want to end up throwing my back out on something stupid so that I wouldn't be able to operate the camera properly. I was definitely tired at the end of the day, but I was really proud of myself. I think I did a very good job, at least the best I could and I think I can be happy with the end product. 

Day three was much easier even though we did have one location change. There was camera movement required and there was a match cut that was needed which I did find tricky but the crew were patient and we remained on schedule. I didn't let myself get too frustrated. I just kept going even when things got a little bit tricky. I think if I had stopped and gotten upset about it then it would have ground to a halt, which is obviously not helpful for anyone. Again, Erin was very helpful with camera setup. It made my job so much easier and meant I could put more of my focus onto the movement which was at times difficult instead of trying to fit a camera into a small space. I wasn't really happy with the final scene of Sinky and James that we filmed on this day, mercy because I thought the camera was a little bit too static and didn't feel like this big buildup but that wasn't really my job and I did my role as best as I could. 

This was definitely a challenging shoot, especially given the day where we had to move set up so much. But again, I'm proud of myself for how I handled it, especially when there was time crunch. And I think that I really proved to myself that I am good at camera operating. I studied as much as I could and that paid off and I had a dialogue with the crew which also helped so much because I was given the leeway that I needed when I needed it. I was frustrated at the fact that I couldn't do all of the handheld shots myself. I know that in pre-production I was prepared to potentially need someone taller than me, but it was frustrating knowing that I could get a shot better if I had been the one holding the camera. This is not to big myself up too much, it's just because I understood what was needed. I'm glad that I used my voice to say if something maybe wasn't going to work. I think it saved us a lot of time and wasted effort. I'm really glad that everyone seemed to be happy with my work this time because there were moments where I was a little bit worried that I wasn't doing a good job, but it turned out to be unfounded worry. There are definitely things that I would do differently in future, and I think the film probably would look better if we'd had access to the Ursa, but it would also have been much more challenging shoot. Overall, I'm happy with it. I like the film. I enjoyed filming it and I'm proud of my work.

There are some other aspects of production I wasn't especially happy with, which I will go into in more detail in my essay.

Some on set pictures courtesy of myself and Jed Bury. The difference in quality is astounding.

I am excited to camera operate on Pure Mourning. This is a phone that I have known about for a while because I was in the screenwriting class with you in where they came up with this idea. From their brief discussion of the visual style, I knew that it was something I definitely wanted to work on as I thought it would be a good challenge for my camera operating skills as they were following. Edgar Wright's style of filmmaking involving lots of wet pans and crash zooms. I knew this would be a challenge going into it, so I'm almost glad that we are using an fx6 because although I don't like the camera very much, specifically its interface, it is definitely much more manoeuvrable than a black magic. 

We have had lots of meetings and recces which I have been able to come on thanks to Hector, the producer, who recognised my need to be there to discuss filmmability and to be somewhat of a voice of reason. My main area of trepidation going into this is the cinematographer. With all due respect, I worked with her on my own film and did not feel respected nor did I feel like she was well prepared. I know that this is because she was brought in late, but I am not sure that she is 100% prepared for this film. I have had to have a few discussions about the motivation for certain shots. I don't think that there has been a lot of creativity in the short list and I think that a lot of it comes down to just filming what's there on the page instead of trying to play around with it and be creative within reason. I am very much willing to put my differences with their style aside to make this film. This is an absolutely no way a sleight on her character. Rather an observation of something that I am worried is going to cause an issue on set. 

We have done a couple of tests in locations with just our phones to make sure that everything is working well and will be filmable which gives me a lot of confidence. I'm certain I'm going to be able to execute all of the shots. My only issues will come with shots that are handheld that I'm too short for which is an unfortunate reality for me. Perhaps in future I will have to make a rig of some sort so that I can continue to handle the camera on level with the actors. 

We have had a camera test with our two main actors in preparation, specifically for the scenes that involve a lot of movement or specific camera movements that could be tricky. Having done these tests, I feel very well prepared and I'm certain that they can be executed well given the time. I have done a lot of revision on the setup of the Sony fx6 and I have also tried my best to re-familiarize myself with the tripod as this is something that I've had a lot of difficulty with in the past. 

I am both excited and nervous for the whip pans as I know that they can be tricky to pull off well. There is probably an easier way of doing them and this is something I will be researching. Everyone on the crew is confident in my ability to pull the film off, which is a nice feeling, but can also be a little bit frustrating because I sometimes have questions that people haven't thought about or answered because they assume that I'll be able to fix the problem as it arises. This is a nice problem to have but is also difficult because I have to hammer home the point that I'm not an expert and may make mistakes if I'm not given clear instruction from the cinematographer and the director. 

I was really quick to bring in Erin as my first AC when asked by Hector who I would like to work with because having worked with her before, I know that we both work very quickly and very well together and that I can rely on her to be there when I need her to be. It also helps that she's taller so she will be able to help with some of the handheld shots that I might not be able to make. 

Because Hector is our producer, everything seems to be in order for filming. We have one day where we will need to move location quite a few times. I am a little bit worried about this because set up and packing down can take a while and the transport from location to location might prove tricky but we have someone with a car on the crew and I'm confident that I can work to Hector's schedule so that we have the time. As that day is scheduled to be our last day of filming, it will feel like a big achievement if we managed to pull it off properly. 

I'm excited to work on this film and challenge myself as a camera operator. I think I can do a good job and the crew believe in me which is always helpful. I will be doing more revision on camera setup and movement for the Sony fx6 so that I can be as prepared as possible. I'm aware that this will be a tricky shoot as I will be coming off the back of 3 weeks of filming, but I'm confident that I can give myself the time to make sure that things are right and that I'm executing the director's vision as best as I can.