Production Skills Development

How did your production skills develop throughout this project?

I've answered this question in the form of a podcast segment, a monologue about my work thus far. Below the recording is a transcribed manuscript of what was spoken. Plus, I've linked the video mentioned in the recording.

"Before I’d started studying Media, I hadn’t had much hands-on experience in terms of production in film, editing, the likes of this. I consider myself to be someone who enjoys this type of work, though, so even if in the past I hadn’t touched the areas I have now, I’ve definitely spent time researching and taking inspiration from all sorts of media. I’ve got this playlist on YouTube of video essays I’ve personally really found intriguing - some of which I’ve watched more than once. For example, a recent one I’ve seen: an essay by this channel “Every Frame a Painting” about Edgar Wright’s way of visual comedy contrasted in comparison to most blockbuster, American comedy films. In this video, Tony, the narrator, he explains that there’s more to comedy than just dialogue based punchlines - film is a tool that should be used to its fullest extent, instead of relying on the actors in a still shot/reverse shot, witty dialogue or just plain quick gags, the director should take advantage of the tool that have at hand. This was a very interesting comment, and really stuck with me and furthered my general interest into what could possibly be made from a production.

My personal hobby, something I’ve been practicing over the years, is drawing; art, but this consists of still images, made by having spent time just looking at a singular work, whereas in comparison to film - which is certainly still a laborious task, film allows for much more freedom of production. The fact that I’ve had practice up until now with drawing and singular works, though, I feel it’s definitely helped me to comprise a general understanding, at least, of like, general composition rules in a framed subject.

So, over the course of this coursework, this film opening, Relocation, I’ve had the opportunity to further my skills in a much more physical sense, demanding a lot more combined elements than just in simple artworks. I hadn’t used Premiere Pro, After Effects, anything like that until this last year, it didn’t comprehend to me that I could possibly actually make visual, moving works. I had to teach myself, practically, to use these programs, by watching tons of YouTube tutorials, experimenting with the programs themselves. My colleague, Nicol and I, we had quite a few moments in editing where we just did not know how to do a certain thing - and just, immediately abandoned work and started googling how to do said thing - honestly, very chaotic, but an overall learning experience, I think. Even now, I’d say I’m still at a beginner’s level with this, I have a lot, lot more I can learn and incorporate into further works, but the experience I’ve gotten thus far throughout both personal works and this have been incredibly useful.

Along with editing, I learned how to handle a camera, at a general, minimal level of understanding, I’d say, still, and with my small camera, as brilliant as it is, there are some limitations. But, all the same, another experience gained and something I am very eager to continue to learn in the future. Over this coming summer, I am very motivated to attempt new styles of filming and editing - I want to make more personal things, perhaps not as fast paced as Relocation, something more mundane and easier to work with - so that, in the future, I’ll have at the very least, experience in a wider range of works.

Overall, I’m very appreciative for this overall experience, for both the things I’ve learned and an insight into how future projects of similar caliber might play out - along with the experience of working in a team; constrasing ideas, coming to conclusions, reaching some obstacles to overcome, everything. I’ve greatly enjoyed working on Relocation, even if the end product was not entirely what we had in mind, we did the very best we could at this moment in time."

"Edgar Wright - How to Do Visual Comedy"