Professional Experience Blog (Day 15): CULC Filming

After much work with Coventry University Marketing team I was accepted as a student ambassador for the department. I was at first very shocked to hear that they wanted me for the role and even more shocked that they were to pay me for doing the work!

One of the projects they sent me in was to film some of the events that was taking part in Coventry University London Campus which would involve an all day shoot and an expenses paid trip to London. Personal excitement aside, having done some projects for various people I felt confident in myself that it would be a good, successful trip.

After a train and tube trip I arrived at the CULC for the shoot (with much help from my iPhone). The brief was to film some of the would-be students that were thinking of applying into the university. It was the 2nd day of the 2-day event and unfortunately the turn out was not a big as they thought and left with me with fewer options to film with without re using a lot of material. None the less I made confident that I was able to do it to the best of my abilities.

I managed to film everything I could from general shots, the exterior and interviews to their specification and I think I came out of it knowing that I did a good job on the day.

I enjoyed this shoot more than most of the others that I have been involved with simply because it felt like a job, a career, something that I had made of myself rather than being a student project of sorts. It was as mentioned paid work which again, made it feel like genuine work. I manged to talk to one of the head lecturers there and she didn’t even know I was a student as she felt that because of my overall presentation, I was more than a student.

I think this presentation will always be part of my work ethic because as I have mentioned in previous posts, every person who see’s you with a camera is a potential employer. Every person you talk to will normally have an interest in what you are doing and you have to come across in the right way and say the right things too.

I did the webinar back in October and have now moved up into regular paid work because I made sure that the way I went about interacting with people led me to continue and I hope that this will keep momentum in future work.

 

Professional Experience Blog (Day 12): ‘Gelato’ Short Film

We started the second day quite early and missed breakfast simply because there was too much left to do. We had to head up into the hills to get establishing shots and for me to grab some folly sounds of the town below from afar. The taxi trip was around 70 euros so we now call the opening shot the ’70 euro shot’. I got plenty of different sound during the morning which, again covering all bases, will work well with the film.

The second part of the day was  back in the restaurant and simply making sure that all the shots on the storyboard were covered outside. We had a few problems on the second day as the child actor could only spend so many hours on set and in front of camera, this led the shoot to end up somewhat rushed. It was hard not to feel inclined on a personal level  starting panicking and I ended up trying my best to stay calm.

Because then, of the time running out technically some things started to become slack, for instance there is equipment in some of the shots which we didn’t move, some of the sound caused ruffling on clothing and of course cast and crew became inpatient and restless as we were nearing the end of the day. It’s hard not to feel them emotions on set too but you have to be professional and feel privileged to be there and enjoy the moment.

We finally called it a wrap and I think it had been a whirlwind couple of days, much of it without great sleep but I wouldn’t mind doing a few more international films in they ever came up again!

Overall I enjoy the whole experience but I can’t quite help feel that I didn’t learn as much as I wanted. Not having much creative responsibility or taking some lead on the project, or maybe it wasn’t a big enough project, I don’t know but something left me wanting more. I guess after plenty of projects I have worked on I am at the stage where I want to expand and to witness things out of my comfort zone.

At this stage in the professional experience module I need to take an observant look at where I am, what I can do and what I am lacking as a growing professional. I can’t quite help feel that I now need placements and experience from older professionals to help support myself as backup my CV and skills. I have to admit that a lot of these projects have been easily within grasp and for me to further my career I need to start getting names, places and people on my CV.