Shoot participation; Rolling with the punches:

(Photo Credit: snow0810)

Over the course of our two day commercial shoot for Shepherd's writing center I took on several different jobs. Initially (during day one) I stayed in the booth and observed. I have had trouble wrapping my mind around the audio booth; figuring out what all of the switches on the board do has proven as difficult for me as simplifying my understanding of sound as a concept (which is qualitative) to sound as physical waves. I watched peers direct, technical direct, and operate the sound board. I did a lot of listening the first day, to both our client/director (the writing center) and to students and our instructor. It was interesting to see how ideas for the commercial clashed, how separate concepts became melded together.

I was much more hands on during the second day of shooting. I operated a camera; this mostly consisted of setting up the shot (listening to the director, taking his direction) and then holding the camera in place. I assisted with audio, placing mics on talent, and was floor manager (relayed messages from the booth to the set) for one go-round.

While my second day of shooting was much more active I feel that I was actively learning both days. My second day I expanded my "techie" knowledge. I became more comfortable doning a headset, more willing to raise my own voice and give direction. I started to become comfortable with the camera. I learned that talent do not want you to touch them which makes placing a mic a more complicated task than it seems it would be.  My first day of shooting found me adjusting to the whole process. I have always envisioned filming being more set in stone, harder to change. Nothing, I discovered, is fixed. The entire process is this really cool fluid thing that requires more input than any other creative medium I have encountered. Sitting down to write a short story isn't like this. I found it both jarring and fascinating to be a part of. Additionally the ability to just keep going despite mistake was something I hadn't considered. We were working with non-actors, genuine writing center employees and affiliates, and had the unique challenge of shooting them. We set up a white board with the script written on it, ideally so that they could read a few lines then turn to the camera and recite them. The process was meant to repeat in that fashion, leaving us the room to edit and fit together a commercial that would appear to be rehearsed. Naturally the board became a crutch and we noticed more and more our talent's eyes drifting toward it rendering the footage virtually un-editable. So on the second day of shooting we removed the board entirely. We had someone feed the talent their lines from a position beside the camera. We were put in a positon where we had to problem solve without going out and buying some "magic fix-it"or taking weeks to brainstorm a new strategy.

What I took away from the experience was, above all, the need to be flexible in the study. Studio production puts you in a collaborative environment where you are never (regardless of the job that you hold) totally in control. You have to learn to roll with the punches.