A Week's Worth of Reflection

25th & 26th Jan

The beginning of this week started slow as we had two days off from the Academy. Monday morning's class with Kim Millar had been cancelled (disappointingly I must say as I was really looking forward to continuing where we had left it the week before). I believe Gav and Ray had an industry event to attend so Tuesday's technical classes were also cancelled.

27th Jan

However there we all arrived, bright eyed and bushy tailed on Wednesday afternoon for Andy's class on television. Again we were in the boardroom (another exciting feature of Wednesday's classes), to watch and discuss the television broadcast that has recieved the most viewers ever for one single programme - the Morcambe and Wise Christmas Special 1970-something. Having never seen any Morcambe and Wise shows before, I found this very interesting, firstly to see what the hype around them was about and to see exactly why it recieved the most views of all time! I thought it was a nice mix of witty humour and good music (Elton John's star appearance).

28th Jan

Thursday marked a milestone in DFTV 1's filmography - our first shoot. This was a collaboration with the Technical & Production Arts course to execute a 3 camera shoot of a live gig. Our call time was originally 9 o'clock but was changed until 12. However , I came in at nine anyway to use the edit suites for a music promo I have been editing - I am finding the suites excellent to use - it's very nice to work in a professional environment with a pro set-up - I'm finding it helpful to have as much time as I need to get used to the set-up so that when we work on projects in the future I will be better prepared. I was given the role as camera assist on our shoot - this involved the set-up of one of the cameras - setting the viewfinder, monitor, back-focus, white balance, exposure etc. I believe this was beneficial as it allowed us to practically apply the skills we have learnt in class in a realistic situation.

29th Jan

On Friday morning - we had our usual screening - another silent film named Sunrise, I found myself totally emersed in the story, both the performances and the visuals were also stunning. Andy had told us about this near the beginning of the year and had told us how good it was so I was very pleased we were finally getting a chance to see it. The cinematography and use of moody lighting gave the film a strangely mysterious feel although the interaction between the two leads was both tense and touching in equal measure. It was essentially a very sweet film and, unlike in some of the other films of the silent era that we have seen, I was not aware of the absense of dialogue - the film was carried with effective subtle gestures and glances.


Anyway, that's all for that week - to be continued...