mikeyonwordress

The other day when I was organizing my specialist project plans for the weekend with Liam, we were discussing how it might be hard to get a sense of the atmosphere from the sort of standard shots that, more than likely, I would have a lot of. So he pointed me in the direction of Phil Peel, a lecturer present at the time of my unscheduled tutorial.

Phil had some great words of wisdom. We watched some of the examples I had put on my earlier blog entries of some good shots and some bad. He told me to go an storyboard my ideas so that I’m not surprised on the day…
Anyway, we got talking about how I didn’t really know what I was doing with direction in terms of career finding moves and he mentioned that I could get some experience in broadcasting and film if I was interested.

Without really considering how busy I was and what I was getting myself in for, I said yes. Just expecting to be doing a bit of filming for the Salisbury turning the Christmas lights on occasion thing the hold every year in the Market Square, where they have loads of fireworks and artists playing on a stage amongst other acts and entertainment. The whole event is filmed live and displayed on a massive projector that is somehow transported there in a massive truck… still seems a bit Mary Poppins to me but that’s the only way I can describe it.
So I filmed Phil asking the public questions like if they liked the fireworks and the show because the council were thinking of ditching it, and it ended up after editing the footage in the back of his car, looking like some south today insight it was absolutely priceless. Farming folk and old people talking about taxes and community spirit, crease!
Just as Phil was close to chopping the footage, I was hurried in to operating one of the three broadcasting cameras supplying the direct feed to the projector. It was pretty intense and totally not what I was expecting. I didn’t have a clue what I was doing and because it was so hectic and loud, they sort of had to just hope that I could figure out what I was even supposed to be doing. So I quickly realized that my commands were coming through the headphones i was given and from there I had to follow shot instructions for filming the band, choir and local Salisbury heroes on stage. Just looking left of the camera and seeing the shot I was currently in control of was pretty overwhelming and I guess although it was hectic and I made some rookie errors throughout the course of the day, it was all in the name of good experience and at least I know what to expect from that sort of line of work now.

I could imagine that it’s pretty satisfying once you actually know what you’re doing. Even I felt pretty happy that I accomplished what I did, so a worth while experience, even if I was to busy to be lending hands.