Shooting a Scene

This is a brief reflection on how my on-set skills have developed since producing Love, Mugs and Stickmen in Term 2 of Year 1. On that production I was First Assistant Director on the set whereas in this single-day shoot I was given the role of Director of Photography. The scene we were shooting was set in a staff room where a woman tells her ex-partner that he has a son. I would say my on-set skills have improved most in three main areas; knowledge, etiquette and familiarity.

Between these shoots has been a full two terms of technical teaching. I have been introduced to new kit (e.g. Ronford-baker tripods, matte box and follow focus) and have developed my knowledge of lighting, lenses, focus, and polarisers and filters. I have also become more aware of the different on-set roles and exactly what is involved in each. Meeting Derrick Ritchie, a Gaffer, and hearing him explain his role and that of a Best Boy, and electrician, etc. was particularly helpful. I have also learned from other classes and personal study more about the art of cinematography and therefore felt my decisions as DoP (e.g. regarding kit, camera set-up, lighting) were definitely more informed than they would have been on Love, Mugs and Stickmen.

In terms of set etiquette I have come a huge distance. Love, Mugs and Stickmen was one of my first on-set experiences and since then we have done ‘Showlight’ with the BBC, made Little Clown and I have worked on a number of extra-curricular projects. This has all helped towards increasing my experience of on-set etiquette and so on these shoots we were able to function much more like a professional crew. The point of the shoots was of course to focus on performance and to get a glimpse of the actors’ process and the fact that I was able to do this, and that the actors said they were comfortable and able to work, suggests that our set etiquette was at a sufficient standard. However, I do feel that while we learn off each other the development of our on-set skills is limited. This is why it was helpful to have Ray and Gavin there to oversee and offer advice but I think I would really benefit from getting onto an actual professional film set perhaps as a runner, or even just an observer.

Familiarity can only come with time and in the period between these shoots I have become a lot more familiar with the kit, my classmates and the way a set works. This all helped to enable us to function as a crew efficiently and effectively and the shoot went very smoothly. Furthermore I was rather pleased with how the frame looked most of the time and therefore this shoot was also helpful in taking another step in technical ability.

Ultimately this was a great opportunity to evaluate how far I have progressed since Term 2 last year, get more on-set experience and also be made aware of what areas I need to improve in. I very much enjoyed this shoot and hope I can get many more opportunities to develop my on-set skills in the future.