22/09/2019 – Frida Kahlo Shoot
I applied to partake in this work experience because it was
an opportunity to work with a pair of individuals with similar interests to me
and are on a career path that I want to go down. This was my first work
experience opportunity which I feel lucky to have been given, I was asked to
join Trett Films on one of their shoots as a Production Assistant/Runner. I had
the experience to go to RAF West Raynham to one of their large aircraft hangers
to help out production on a corporate video for a up and coming theatre company
called Red Boot Productions, they commissioned Trett Films to produce a video
for there crowdfunding campaign that they are using to set up and build funds
for their untitled ‘Frida Kahlo’ project.
The day was very busy, I started off by offering my help in
the hair and make-up department, it is something I’d never really tried before.
I was asked to assist the Hair and Make-Up Artist who was currently decorating
Rebecca Grant’s hair (Rebecca was the commissioner and also on-screen actor)
and she needed someone to hold the ribbons whilst she grabbed clips and plaited
the hair. This was an interesting experience.
Next, I was asked to take some behind the scenes photos that
Trett Films could use on their social media accounts and also use for
promotion. This was quite tricky at first as I was asked to use a camera that I
didn’t quite know how to use, to no fault of mine it ran out of battery and I
was then asked if I could use my phone which worked out really well and through
that I got some really nice images.
Other than these two main tasks throughout the day I was
also asked to do small jobs around the place, I was asked to help block the
light out of the shot, this included pulling sand bags over cracks of light to
make sure that the images on camera were as dark as possible. I was asked to
grab chairs for the production team as it had been a fairly long day of
standing. Then I was asked to man the large spot light and keep it lit over
Rebecca for one of the shots, this was quite a physically demanding task but
showed me a lot about film production and how physically demanding it could
actually be.
This experience met and exceeded my expectations, I had a
lot of fun and it just showed me that the career path I wanted to pursue was
also one that I had a lot of fun being a part of, it also gave me things that I
can carry on into the future. I first of all learnt that how a small production
is managed and that in certain cases it’s not a continuously a stressful
environment like it’s made out to be. I also learnt that a Runner has a lot of
a role and responsibility, they’re quite important to the whole process and
they make sure that everything flows efficiently as they do all of the small
jobs that would take time away from the production. As well as this I got to
see how each role played its part, the difference in directors and producers and
why they were important in synergising with each other. All of these are skills
I can bring into my own enterprise and are useful on future shoots as I
understand that each role has an important part to play in the engine of the
production.
05/10/2019 – Norfolk County Council Shoot
Due to how I performed in the previous work experience with
Trett Films they asked if I could help out at another shoot with them. I would
be performing the same kind of role, helping them out and also taking some
photos behind the scenes.
This shoot was a little different from the last,
first of all the footage was being televised so there were more rules that the
Trett brothers had to follow. We had a much smaller crew for this shoot which
meant the production was much quicker than previous. I spent a lot of the time
at these shoots trying to get photos of the production process but because I
was using a camera I wasn’t necessarily familiar with a lot of the pictures
were unusable after the shoot. This shoot showed me how the director role
functions properly as I got to see Josh work alongside his cinematographer
Matty and they together worked out what kind of shot worked best for the tone
that they were trying to show. This was a great opportunity to see how even in a
small crew there is still the ability for them to be in distinct roles that
have a large part to play.
The main points I learnt was that when there is synergy in a
group the production process is much faster so that is something I can take on
in future experiences. We worked with young talent on this shoot and it taught
me that the phrase ‘never work with kids or animals’ was actually very accurate
as compared to older talent there’s a lot more direction needed and a lot more
breaks necessary.
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