More Filming

The more I continue to work with the filming and trying different equipment the more I am realising that what I am capturing really is good enough for me. After going through a load of books on DSLR filming, I must say that it is incredibly complicated everything you have to know, and expensive as well. There are a few tips that I have been able to take from the books like cheat ways of helping with the lighting and ways in which I can make the quality of the sound better. However, the more I read through these the more I think that I should just continue as I am, continue learning from mistakes. I must admit each time I have gone through the footage captured I have been incredibly pleased with how it looks and how it sounds. It’s in no way perfect. I can see the faults in it myself, the noise of the microphone, the footage being overexposed by the bright sunlight filtering in to the studios, these things for me though are not really faults. I think being a fine art student changes how you see things, and I have been surprised about how much this has come up in the interviews I have been doing. As a fine art student, I see those failures and I work with them, I accept them, they are a part of the process and the work itself. The format that I have chosen is essay film, and even then I will be following this very loosely. Essay films often work with found media, using subtitles and narration as well as music. The image quality is often poor because the footage is found, the noise is not great either. The only part that is often quite clear is the narration over the top. I plan on editing together the footage I have gathered, not really worrying about the quality of the sound or the footage, using subtitles and then perhaps narrating over. I am going to play around and work with what I have, instead of worrying about the quality of the footage. Although I know that there are a few simple things that I can do which will dramatically increase the quality. 

This week in the studio I also tried out a few more pieces of equipment with the cameras, taking some recordings and doing some tests. The first was an LED light, I realised very quickly that a lack of light was really not a problem; there was too much light. It would be difficult to block out the light of the studios without compromising the space that I am filming in, this is something that I feel is just going to change on different days. I also tried wiring a mic up to one of the cameras. The sound captured was definitely louder, however the microphone picked up a lot more of the noises about the studio, in a way it doesn’t particularly work out if I use the mic and the sound is sometimes too quite without it. Different situations with determine whether or not I choose to use the mic. 

I also filmed Conni this week. I was pleased that Conni was also excited about the idea of filming when she was drawing or working in the workshop. I think it is good to get more of a variety of filming, and students actually working was something that I was really interested exploring. Conni attached a few large pieces of paper to a wall at the bottom of the stairs, and using charcoal she stood and created what she plans to become a 3D drawing. I focused both of the cameras mainly on the drawing, capturing Conni moving in and out and talking as she was working. Capturing the movement of her hands is something that I wanted to continue to do around the studio, filming the students working in their spaces and with different materials. I was really pleased with the footage captured from Conni’s interview, some of the things she said were great. I find it hard to write completely about the different things that everyone said, however at the end of this I plan to look at all the answers together and write a short piece about my findings of this project, not just for the film but what I have learnt about the other students and how they think. Perhaps I will learn the answers to the questions I am asking through them. I have been starting off with the basic questions I presented to everyone however often I have been asking others throughout the filming that I feel were relevant to what was being said, I did this a few times throughout Conni’s interview. 

My plan of action for the next week is to attempt to have filmed everyone in the group by the end of the week. This is a bit of a mammoth task but I think it will have to be done if I plan to have enough time for editing and also for doing various others parts towards the end. I want to continue on with the reading and researching, trying to refine and contextualise all of the work I have been doing, attempting to fulfil the brief’s requirements. The transcribing does take out quite a large chunk of my time however I realise now how necessary it really is, I think I plan to publish the transcriptions in the collection of essays and writings that I plan on handing in, although I am not sure whether this will be in the final degree show. I think the writings themselves are as much a part of the work as the filming, which I realise now I have always found in my work, I don’t know why I didn’t expect it from the beginning. I don’t want all of the rest of the things that were said and spoke of to be lost after the film is edited, I feel it has been an important process for everybody and I want to show that in the work. There are group crits going on throughout the next two weeks, I hope to film some of these and transcribe some of the meetings, as I feel these will be a perfect add on to the film. I have set myself up with a lot of work to do this week but it will be worth it in the end!