Recent Jobs - Reflections
Over the last 8 months I have begun to acquire jobs under the name Over the Water Productions Ltd. Through internet promotion and word of mouth I have been approached with multiple film, acting and studio opportunities. In this document I am going to discuss the trials and tribulations of independence and how this process affects the functionality of the business. Client interaction, pre & post production processes and the overcoming of adversity are all subjects that will be highlighted throughout the duration of this blog.
In July of 2018 I was approached by a couple who were due to be married in August and needed a photographer/ cinematographer to document their wedding day. The initial interaction discussing the logistics of the work consisted of a conversation between my colleague at the time and the groom. In this conversation payments and dates were discussed and an agreement was made. It is with much regret that I allowed my colleague to discuss the payment as my requirements were unable to be met or re-evaluated due to the deal already being confirmed. The agreement was that a payment of £250 will be made upon completion of the day of filming. Due to this being out of my hands I was naturally forced to accept the terms of the job without the opportunity of any amendment being made or merely considered. This taught me a lesson on client interaction and all future endeavours were handled with direct and assertive discussions with clients.
The process of pre-production was a sought-out challenge due to my lack of knowledge on wedding/ event Photography. As a result of this I began to research the work of other filmmakers working with this field. During my research I discovered that the equipment I was currently using would not be completely compatible with the style and practicality of this type of work. In terms of equipment several items were purchased to get full optimisation out of the experience. A Canon 70-200mm Lens was purchased for the candid and long-distance shots, this lens was perfect for the reception and ceremony as I was able to get the shots, I wanted without interfering with the party. For the portraits and general shots, I purchased a Canon 50mm Prime lens, this was perfect for the individual and family pictures, a substantial amount of the day was shot with this lens. Batteries, flash guns and camera grips were also purchased for myself and my mother, who was my second shooter on the day.
The day of the shoot was planned by me and the family of the groom, I visited their home to discuss times, locations and transportation. I then visited the locations with the camera to assess the lighting situation of the buildings. Subsequent to the meeting and location viewings a plan was drawn out and the necessary equipment was acquired. On the day of the wedding we began by documenting both the bridesmaids and groomsmen getting ready for the day. To achieve this, me and my second shooter split up and went to each of the bride and grooms’ houses. This part of the shoot consisted of many close ups, portraits and candid shots, shot using a 50mm lens. Once the clients had finished getting ready a family group shot in front of the wedding car was taken from a far distance with the 70-200 lens as the 50mm struggled to fit all of the subjects in frame successfully, this realisation was the blueprint to how I framed the rest of the photographs and videos for the rest of the day.
Upon completion of the first section of the day I proceeded to the bride's house were my second shooter was situated ready to transport myself, my colleague who was co-coordinating the entertainment and the camera equipment. Once I had arrived to meet my second shooter, we had a time limit to travel to the town hall and set up before the party arrive to the ceremony. To film the ceremony a Panasonic GH4 was placed by the altar on a tripod with a directional microphone, facing the bride and grooms’ position. This process was challenging as there were obstructions in the places where I originally planned to film from, this caused me to compromise and find the closest position possible without interfering with the furniture and walkways. Once set up we waited in front of the town hall to document the bride’s arrival.
The next part of the shoot consisted of the bride’s arrival, the ceremony and the group shots outside the town hall before moving on to the reception. Whilst waiting for the bride I was presented with the perfect opportunity to take candid shots of the family and guests entering the building. Upon the bride’s arrival numerous photos were taken of the car and entrance. Before the ceremony I started to record the video so the entrance of the guest would be documented. Recording early helped to prevent interference whilst the ceremony was underway. Flash guns were used to a minimal as the flashing appeared to be noticeable to the guests, which we had to avoid as our main aim was to get all necessary footage whilst still going unnoticed by the guests and family.
The final part of the day was the least challenging and most enjoyable. All the crucial parts of the footage had been filmed leaving the rest of the day to be more light-hearted and fun, joining in with the festivities with the guests. This was only my approach at the end because the clients insisted, we relax and enjoy the refreshments, in future my way of maintaining professionalism would involve me respectfully declining the clients offer to join in with food and drinks to focus on the task at hand
One of the first jobs I completed under the company name was a corporate film for WKGS. The initial client interaction for this job was between my mother (who is employed at this establishment) and the head of the school. The first step of the process was the mandatory DBS check to ensure I was eligible to work in an environment with minors, upon this confirmation I was ready to start my plan which was based from a client lead brief. The preface for the idea consisted of a mock news report acted out by the year sevens, under the name of their self-made “news network” WKGS News. The brief also stated that the footage from the production would be featured on the homepage of the schools website and would be presented to the new year 7s upon their arrival in September.
No payment was directly discussed but the school vaguely stated that this would be a paid job, no cash payment was made off the back of this job but I was gifted amazon vouchers 2-3 weeks subsequent to the completion of the filming and post production. As this was a favour for my mother and her colleagues, I was less proactive in negotiating payments and more focused on creating something entertaining which slightly changed my point of view during creativity.
The filming for this production was spread over a 3-day period, each day starting at 8.30am and ending at 3.30pm. This window of time enabled me to review footage in between shoots and emend any mistakes made that may have needed tweaking in post or re filming completely. The first day of filming started with an introduction and tour of the school were I collated ideas for shoot locations, once shown round the building I was introduced to the students were we became acquainted through my explanation of how we were going to approach the film, once clarity was given to the students a teacher allocated roles to each student in which my assistant made notes of for future reference to ensure names are correctly labelled on screen in post-production.
Over the course of each day the groups of students were taken out of their classes separately to film their part of the news report. A few examples of the segments included a tour of the canteen in which I filmed a student acting as a news reporter explaining how to top up dinner cards and purchase food and a walkthrough of activities played in P.E, another example of a segment was a tour of departments such as art and the library were students were filmed participating in activities such as reading and general socialising. The purpose of these segments was to deliver an informative and entertaining instructional video, simple enough for a young person to engage with and digest successfully. The equipment used during this process are as follows; A Panasonic Gh4 as the main and only body used to film, an Olympus lens which were both used in conjunction with each other depending on the situation but mostly only one lens was used at a time. For audio a Rode directional mic was used. All static shots were filmed on a tripod and all off the tracking shots were done using a gimbal, barely any shots were done handheld. A green screen and led lighting were used for the newsroom section.
The news reported segments were completed over the course of the first 2 days leaving the final task of filming the 2 “presenters” in the newsroom, were they would introduce each segment as if they were communicating with the reporters around the school. In order to organise and coordinate this section, notes of each student and their role were kept and given to the “presenters” with a loosely written script leaving space for natural quirks and improvisation. This was my first time using a green screen for a video so my confidence was none existent leaving me with the ordeal of being blind to what the outcome will be, this uncertainty has transpired into my other productions as I now always ensure a necessary amount of research and practise is done prior to accepting challenges that force me into the unknown creative territory.
Working with younger people was surprisingly easy to navigate as the specific children I worked with were very respectful and motivated. There were no moments of exaggerated immaturity which ultimately made the filming process an enjoyable feat. Although not my proudest piece of work I can say that I have learned from the experience and the newfound knowledge has been applied to all I have done subsequent to this placement.
Upon completion of filming, the post production process included an excessive amount of reorganisation as the vast array of footage collated was overwhelmingly intimidating and taught me the lesson to organise footage with equal precision to the coordination of the filming days. As a result of this the work was avoided for a substantial chunk of the time allocated for editing. A plug in had to be purchased to make the effect for the news channel intro and the backdrop for the presenters. A few issues with sound were unavoidable and had to be used regardless of their quality. Using the green screen footage taught me that I needed to research how to correctly light a green screen situation as there were imperfections once changing the backdrop on final cut pro. Overall I enjoyed the most part of this job and what it entailed but in comparison to my other work I would say that this is would of my less proud moments of being a filmmaker. In future I would go into more depth before and after filming as these are equally as crucial as the moment when you press record on the camera.
Short Film Supporting Role -
In February of 2019 I was asked to participate in a short film acting in a supporting role. For this production I was on the other side of the camera, but I feel it is necessary to explain the creative process and the nature of being on a professional film set with a budget higher than my usual work. I am unable to disclose the specifics of the plot as I am contracted to keep this information confidential until the release. To build on my current knowledge I observed the behaviour from the members of the staff on the day. When we arrived on set a runner approached us and escorted us to a van were, we would be waiting for the director to give us our first instruction. Whilst waiting we were provided breakfast and given free trainers to wear for the film courtesy of Nike who were sponsoring this production, this was a first in my experience of film making. For the first part of filming myself and 2 other actors were asked to improvise a simple conversation about random subjects. We were placed in a bus stop which had been rented out by the crew.
I noticed that the cameraman was shooting the video horizontally as the film was for the platform Instagram TV to be watched on smart phones. The camera used was a RED cinema camera rigged up to a steady cam. Though were given lapel mics to put underneath our clothing the sound technician still recorded another track of audio using a microphone attached to a boom. We were provided drinks and hand warmers throughout this section of filming as there were many retakes, this process to about an hour and a half to complete. Throughout the course of the day we shot several scenes which were quite similar in nature. The director of the production had an approachable attitude which enabled the rest of the crew to work in a relaxed environment and prevented any intensity even though pressure was evident.
At the end of the day we were given contracts which basically stated that we keep all information on the plot confidential, terms and conditions about our faces being used publicly was also stated in the release form. Upon completion we were paid a sum of £50 in cash for our participation on the day. Being a part of this production taught me that each person's contribution is equally vital when working under pressure, from the runner to the director each role is a cog in the machine that will makes ideas become a reality.
I filmed a documentary for the last project of my second year of university. I decided to make a short documentary about the gas explosion that happened in 2017 in New Ferry. My reasoning for this film was that I felt as though the people of New Ferry had been misrepresented by the media, leaving me in a position that made me feel as though I should take responsibility to fix the injustice and provide clarity to the people of the area, regardless of the stature of my platform in comparison to the corporate news organisations. In preparation for this production a larger number of client interaction was required than my usual productions, I had to assess my ethical standpoint due to the severity of the subject being focused on in this documentary.
My first point of call was to contact the local businesses that had been affected as a direct result of the explosion. To achieve this, I visited each shop and asked them if they would like to participate in the documentary by doing a short interview on camera. Once I had collated the participants, I took note of their names and contact details then tailored my questions and the release forms to suit each person and their background. Due to the limited time given to make this film interviews were planned over a week ahead and regular contact was kept with the clients.
Whilst visiting new ferry I took a camera out to film cutaways and Vox pops to fill in the transitions of the film. I used a DSLR and a directional microphone without any stabilisation tools as I wanted to achieve a handheld look synonymous with the tension of the subject matter. I brought consent forms for the people I interviewed in the pub and in the street. This part of the documentary was the least challenging but had its limits due to the section were the explosion happened being cordoned off.
Two more interviews were planned which I would deem to be the more important segments of the documentary. The reason why I felt these interviews were most crucial to narrative of the story is because of the impact of the participants roles within the community of New Ferry, this brought great anticipation and contentment knowing that they were happy to support the cause.
