Reflective Post: Being a Director

Reflective Post: Being a Director 

So filming my music video was, I must admit, a big challenge. I had to step up to the job as I couldn't find anyone who had the time to be the main character. So I'm playing the main character. But by being the main character means that who's going to film it? Lucky I had help from Ryan and Neil, who are staff members at my college in Frome. When filming came I had to direct them on how to film the shots and what I wanted.  So what I did was, I put them behind the camera in the shot I wanted, and pretended it was me, got the lighting, focus and framing correct. Took a picture and showed it to Ryan/Neil. They would try and replicate it, lucky they know basic film language. So I would say "I want a mid-shot of me walking towards the camera, you would have to track me in front, try and keep it at a very steady pace". 

The tracking shots were very hard as we didn't have a steady cam or anything. It was literally held by the tripod, which was easier than holding the camera hand held. By using the tripod you had a better grip of the camera and was easier to movie without as much shakes. Most of the shots Ryan/Neil took were on autofocus so it was easier for them to film, but the problem with autofocus sometimes it would focus to the background every so often which was really annoying. That's when manual focus would be easier. But they managed it really well! There were days I needed to film but Ryan and Neil were not around, so I had to use other staff members. Unfortunately, they were really bad at filming so that didn't go well. The lighting was horrible and the shots were unprofessional looking. So I had to wait for Ryan or Neil to film. There were a few shots where I filmed by myself, I just had to flip the screen so I could see my face in the screen and press record. This was on a tripod and on autofocus. So when Ryan and Neil were filming me, I was basically the director as well as the actor. It’s not the first time I've done this. Last year I did a video as part of my brief.  'Pearlman and Carter'. That was me telling staff members what to film and how to do it. 

But overall I found it tricky to say what I wanted to people who don't fully understand shot types and how to use a camera in a professional way . But I thought Ryan and Neil did an amazing job! I'm very grateful for them having to film me mostly every day. But apart from that I rather enjoyed it, I like acting when I get into the mood. And apparently I look very good on camera. It was a serious video to film, I had to constantly look sad all the way through. I found it really easy! Although, apart from the laughing beforehand and keeping a straight face. But as soon I had that out of my system, and a few takes later I was all ready to go.  

There were moments were the battery was running low. Which meant the pressure was on! Red bars were flashing and one time me and Ryan had to finish of the tracking shots. Luckily we filmed it in time. That would've been really annoying if it ran out of battery. Luckily I booked out a charger as I would be able to stick it on charge as soon as I got back home. When I booked out the equipment there was only one battery I could take because they were running really low, as everyone was out filming there FMP's. Last year when I did my 'Beauty of Nature' video, I had two batteries. Thinking back I'm so glad I had two, as I was outside filming on location all the time as filming nature and wildlife you have to be patient.  I just wished I had two this time, as It would've been a lot easier. The really annoying bit about the camera is that it only lasts about 1 hour filming time. So I had to constantly keep turning it off when not filming. Due to this were couldn't t film for a massive amount of time. So we had to split the filming into different days. There were some days we went back to the same location the next day. Like Heaven’s Gate, which is about 20 minutes in the car from home. We were luckily enough to get dropped off each time!