#tv603

Exit Black - BBC Introducing & My 21st Birthday!

This was our last ever shoot as L6A class of 2015. I think it was a pretty good shoot with a few exceptions, some of which being role changes (when team members are in roles they aren’t normally in, it brings about some teething pains as the rest of the crew aren’t used to their work methods)

I was on camera again which I was fine with, as I enjoy being a camera op plus I think I got some pretty decent shots.

The band were great fun and I think our final edits turned out okay - not our best - but they seemed to enjoy them so that’s all that matters.

Lighting was pretty fun on this shoot too; Chris mixed it up a bit which resulted in a look we hadn’t tried before but I still think it looked really neat.

Fraser’s jib shots always looks so nice

Things got a bit emosh towards the end but I think the stuff we’ve produced over the year certainly shows improvement.

As a group, we found our symbiosis which meant we could work efficiently and by the end, produce work of a pretty high standard.

These shoots have been great fun and gave me the opportunity to work with some amazing people as well as resulting in some really good footage for my showreel.

To The Waters BBC Introducing

This shoot was really interesting because we tried something different with set design. Chris and Dan designed a type of rig which consisted of multiple light bulbs hanging from their wires which could be hung on the stage lighting in the studio.

It looked fantastic after a good few hours of them setting it up, until MR came in and said the whole thing would have to be taken down. This was frustrating because it looked amazing but they were coming up with pretty silly health and safety reasons for why it should be taken down.

In the end, we were allowed to keep it up but they weren’t happy about it. I think the result looked fantastic and the mild arguments definitely paid off.

To The Waters were like Natasha North in that they were quite relaxing and pretty easy to come up with stylistic choices. I think the end result looked really good again, although problems with jolty tracking did lower the standard a little bit. I also think one of my shots didn’t look particularly good in the framing, but Chris wanted one of the light bulbs to be in shot, so like a good camera op I listened to the director.

At the prelight, hanging the rig

The view from my camera

Fraser definitely has the nack for jib shots. Both on Natasha North and this shoot the shots flowed nicely and added a really pleasant touch to the pieces.

“Natasha North on the 4th!” - Gary Emmins, 2015

BBC Introducing

This was a really great shoot. I was on camera again, but handheld this time! Man, pins and needles galore. 

Natasha and her band were incredibly nice and pretty chilled out. Her music was quite acoustic-y and was actually pretty easy to style around - the lighting, VM style and camera angles were simple to agree on, tbh.

My first attempt on handheld wasn’t that great and I definitely learnt from mistakes. Quite a lot of the time I wasn’t in critical focus which slightly ruined my shot, although I wasn’t told to sharpen up from the truck during takes so I don’t think it’s that noticeable in the final edits. I absolutely adore the way these turned out because I think it looks incredibly professional, it also doesn’t hurt that Natasha’s music is really soothing and easy to listen to and watch.

Pics, as per:

Me and Fraser setting up the cables

Lead guitarist and Fraser working the jib

We moved the set around for her final song which made a nice change, I think. We also tried a set arrangement we hadn’t attempted before: an inwards-facing triangle!!! *shock horror*

I think it actually ended up working pretty well and definitely mixed things up a bit. I think Natasha really enjoyed the shoot and final edits too, and this shoot is definitely one of my favourite pieces of work. It was really good fun an experience working with a company who’s name is great to drop into conversation!

Wednesday 15th October, 2014

Pretty cool name, right?

This shoot went a little t*ts up, admittedly.

My role was floor manager. And an awful one at that.

I've never been floor manager before and so was really nervous for this role, especially since we were shooting a four-piece band too.

We don't have comms between truck and floor manager, so all communication relies on cameras.

It was frustrating because I didn't feel like I was a. prepared enough, b. had enough of an understanding of the role and c. we had a patient crew to work with. At each live shoot, we get a different selection of audio students to work with and I don't feel like the few we worked with on Release The Bats were especially polite or patient. This made it worse for myself to complete my role because I wasn't being treated with as much respect as I would've liked. It also felt like there was a serious lack of communication between myself and cameras/truck which meant consequently the band weren't well informed either. It was frustrating because I could see they were getting pretty ticked off and generally restless.

If I had a different role, I would have thoroughly enjoyed the shoot. Their music was interesting and something I would have loved to be more involved in, rather than sitting on the sidelines and getting stressed out.

The actual roles I had to complete in the end were;

communication between truck and band

keeping the band in the loop

making sure everything on the floor runs smoothly

clapperboard intros

making sure all 4 crews were happy with each take

It was a lesson learnt, and I'm glad to say I've ticked it off. A couple of days after the shoot, I emailed Stephen and requested for him to remove Floor Manager off of my preferred roles. Floor manager just isn't my deal, and I'd be delighted if I didn't have to do it again!

Saturday 11th October, 2014 - Open Day

Having gone out on the piss the night before (probably not my brightest idea) I was somewhat nervous when I woke up in the morning still feeling drunk.

Looking back now; several weeks into my third year, I'm glad I made the decision to change modules over the summer. Sports and Live Events is so incredibly hands-on and I've learnt more in a few weeks than I feel I learnt the entire of Art Film and Music Video last year.

The time leading up to the shoot I was worried about getting thrown into the deep end. Whilst being thrown into the deep end, it was stressful. I felt like myself, Mischa and Charlotte weren't doing anything productive or were just getting in the way. It was tough being surrounded by people who all knew what they were doing and had a synergy as a group already.

But the first shoot went amazing.

I was on Camera 5 I believe. Setting up didn't go so bad, since I already had some familiarity with the cameras and equipment from the taster at the end of last year. I was tentative on camera since it was a big deal, however a couple of takes in I started to get more confident and began to experiment with shots.

Cauldronated (Eva Menon and Dave Barbarossa) played quite simple yet interesting music which made for a great first shoot. There was room to experiment, and although I haven't seen the final edits, I think that the end result probably looks great.