My Role as the Camera Operator
After analysing past projects I'd worked on, I decided that one of the areas I could improve in is camerawork. I am normally not very comfortable taking on practical roles but we have three whole weeks dedicated to this project and as a group, we decided that was plenty of time to challenge ourselves and try out different roles. It's a perfect opportunity for not just myself, but for all of us to learn and pick up new skills, as well as developing some skills we already have.
So as the group's camera operator, I'm in charge of the camera, of course. I'll work closely with the director to bring their vision to life and tell a story to our audience through images and audio.
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Analysing Poems 1
As the camera operator, I took a slightly different approach to analysing the poems than my fellow group members. I thought about examples of shots we could potentially use, as well as supporting my ideas with a few images. Below is the original analysation of the poem "New York at Night" that I did...
New York at Night (by Amy Lowell)
Verse 1
A near horizon whose sharp jags
Cut brutally into a sky (sunset in an empty, abandoned area e.g. coast)
A near horizon whose sharp jags
Cut brutally into a sky (sunset in an empty, abandoned area e.g. coast)
Of leaden heaviness, and crags
Of houses lift their masonry
Ugly and foul, and chimneys lie (neatly aligned homes viewed from a hill e.g. valleys)
And snort, outlined against the grey
Of lowhung cloud. I hear the sigh (clouds, fog, grey skies)
The goaded city gives, not day
Nor night can ease her heart, her anguished labours stay. (a female silhouette in the sunset)
Ugly and foul, and chimneys lie (neatly aligned homes viewed from a hill e.g. valleys)
And snort, outlined against the grey
Of lowhung cloud. I hear the sigh (clouds, fog, grey skies)
The goaded city gives, not day
Nor night can ease her heart, her anguished labours stay. (a female silhouette in the sunset)
Verse 2
Below, straight streets, monotonous,
From north and south, from east and west, (view of a village by day)
Below, straight streets, monotonous,
From north and south, from east and west, (view of a village by day)
Stretch glittering; and luminous (view of village by night)
Above, one tower tops the rest
And holds aloft man's constant quest: (taller building that stands out e.g. church/cathedral)
And holds aloft man's constant quest: (taller building that stands out e.g. church/cathedral)
Time! Joyless emblem of the greed
Of millions, robber of the best
Which earth can give, the vulgar creed
Has seared upon the night its flaming ruthless screed.
Of millions, robber of the best
Which earth can give, the vulgar creed
Has seared upon the night its flaming ruthless screed.
Verse 3
O Night! Whose soothing presence brings
The quiet shining of the stars. (the night sky)
O Night! Whose cloak of darkness clings
So intimately close that scars
Are hid from our own eyes. Beggars
By day, our wealth is having night (people drinking/celebrating, spending money)
O Night! Whose soothing presence brings
The quiet shining of the stars. (the night sky)
O Night! Whose cloak of darkness clings
So intimately close that scars
Are hid from our own eyes. Beggars
By day, our wealth is having night (people drinking/celebrating, spending money)
To burn our souls before altars
Dim and tree-shadowed, where the light
Is shed from a young moon, mysteriously bright. (more night sky, with focus on the moon)
Dim and tree-shadowed, where the light
Is shed from a young moon, mysteriously bright. (more night sky, with focus on the moon)
Verse 4
Where art thou hiding, where thy peace?
This is the hour, but thou art not.
Will waking tumult never cease?
Hast thou thy votary forgot?
Nature forsakes this man-begot
And festering wilderness, and now
The long still hours are here, no jot
Of dear communing do I know;
Instead the glaring, man-filled city groans below! (bustling city streets, people and cars)
Where art thou hiding, where thy peace?
This is the hour, but thou art not.
Will waking tumult never cease?
Hast thou thy votary forgot?
Nature forsakes this man-begot
And festering wilderness, and now
The long still hours are here, no jot
Of dear communing do I know;
Instead the glaring, man-filled city groans below! (bustling city streets, people and cars)
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Below is the analysation of the poem "Welcome Your Confusion as a Guest", which is the poem the group has chosen to represent in our video.
Welcome Your Confusion as a Guest (by Ellen Reiss)
Walk swiftly in the wet November day, (Pacing quickly down a busy street)On the sidewalk that is pink from the sun, (Sun reflection on pavement)
Somewhere in New York.
Watch puddles tremble in the street
As the cars move over them. (Cars carelessly driving over puddles)
You hold your jacket tight around you, (Zipping up/tugging at jacket)
It is soft and warm against your body
And the wind is cold across your cheeks. (Close-up of face, hair blowing in the wind)
Traffic lights glow green and red, (Cars waiting at traffic lights)
And the street lights are yellow. (Sunlight adorning street?)
And you walk slowly, slowly. (Pace becomes slower)
It has stopped raining and your head is bare. (Person listening to music through headphones, blank expression on face)
Listen to your footsteps on the wet November sidewalk. (Close-up of feet, flash back to dancing)
Watch the lights go on in buildings. (Lights represent the realisation)
You tremble (Newspaper clipping/news report dialogue etc.)
Like puddles on the asphalt street. (Puddles shaking)
You cry (Close-up of tears rolling down face)
Like the noise of traffic
Muted by the rain. (Cut to black, music comes to an abrupt stop)
Somewhere in New York.
Watch puddles tremble in the street
As the cars move over them. (Cars carelessly driving over puddles)
You hold your jacket tight around you, (Zipping up/tugging at jacket)
It is soft and warm against your body
And the wind is cold across your cheeks. (Close-up of face, hair blowing in the wind)
Traffic lights glow green and red, (Cars waiting at traffic lights)
And the street lights are yellow. (Sunlight adorning street?)
And you walk slowly, slowly. (Pace becomes slower)
It has stopped raining and your head is bare. (Person listening to music through headphones, blank expression on face)
Listen to your footsteps on the wet November sidewalk. (Close-up of feet, flash back to dancing)
Watch the lights go on in buildings. (Lights represent the realisation)
You tremble (Newspaper clipping/news report dialogue etc.)
Like puddles on the asphalt street. (Puddles shaking)
You cry (Close-up of tears rolling down face)
Like the noise of traffic
Muted by the rain. (Cut to black, music comes to an abrupt stop)
More ideas
- Colour shots to represent the present
- Black and white shots to represent the past
- Tribute to David Bowie; the beginning of the poem is a celebration of his life and music whereas by the end, the video slows down and his passing is represented through newspaper clippings/reports and the main character's emotions
- Audio: Use of short song clips mixed with street ambience (cars, people, rain, etc.) and also some use of news report dialogue mixed with the poem reading. [Video goes from loud and cheerful to dramatic and quiet.]
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Locations Inspiration
Rainy, gloomy, quiet
Mixture of dark and bright colours
Dusk/early evening, quiet
Busy but quiet at the same time
Cosy, homely, small/cramped
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Shot List
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Filming Analysis
Now that our shooting days are done and dusted, I'm taking some time to reflect on how they went and what I learned and gained from them.
We filmed in two very different locations; one was a home and the other was city streets. Obviously the lighting in these two locations had to be taken into consideration as natural light is easily accessible in the outdoor location whereas indoors we had to be reliant on artificial lighting. This factor did cause a few problems for us initially when we began shooting indoors but as we had access to two slightly different cameras [Canon 600D and 700D] as the camera operator I was able to adjust the settings and exposure to work as well as it possibly could with indoor lighting. I do believe we could have used some artificial lighting from the university's media shop but we do not have much lighting experience and would probably have found it difficult setting everything up.
Although we did some filming in the early evening as it was getting darker, we did not face any issues with lighting. It was actually really effective to achieve the dark appearance we are looking for with a film based on such a gloomy topic.
I would have liked to get some practice with the cameras done ahead of filming but as we were limited with time, this was not possible. I feel as though if I had done some practice beforehand the shooting process itself would have gone much more smoothly and quicker. I will definitely keep this in mind for any future projects with camera work.
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Scarlett's Evaluation
During this project I worked as the Camera Operator. This is a role I would normally shy away from as I lack confidence in my camera skills. But as we decided to challenge ourselves as a group at the beginning of the project, I thought that it may be a good idea to work with the camera a lot more to learn new skills and improve my abilities.
I am fairly happy with how the project ran. I believe we worked well as a team, even though we had a larger team than the other groups taking part in this project. Having more group members definitely worked in our advantage as we were able to give everybody a specific role rather than sharing tasks. For example; we were able to have two editors; one to focus on sound and one to focus on vision which was definitely useful for a film with a soundscape. The vision editor only had to focus on one aspect of the editing rather than juggling vision and sound at the same time.
Looking back at the filming process and the final edit, there are a few things I believe could have gone better. During shooting we had issues with using the television in shot due to lighting. We decided it may be better to try editing the footage we wanted to show on the TV in post-production. This was not as easy as the group originally thought while editing and in the end, it had to be left as it was. Even though the film has a black and white filter, the radiating light from the television is still very noticeable and distracting and that is not what I was aiming for. I do believe that the final edit is easy to follow and tells the story that we wanted to tell from the beginning but it could have done with more outdoor shots. Obviously, timing comes into consideration here and during the post-production process it is not always possible to fit in every shot. Although I think if we were to re-do this project, I would have liked to focus on more outdoor shooting and possibly cut down the length of some of the shots in our edit as they do seem a bit long sometimes which can lose the interest of viewers.
Overall, I am happy to have worked within a different role to my usual and I think I managed to do quite well. I'm not expert and I don't think I ever will feel fully confident behind the camera but I had the chance to work and experiment with two different cameras during this project and I was able to chose the one I worked the best with and spend a bit of time learning about it. I was hoping for a gloomy and dark appearance in this film and I believe that was achieved which is fitting for the atmosphere as the topic of David Bowie's death is, of course, very dark and sad. I think this project has definitely a valuable experience for me.
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