Course Reflection

TCF 312 was a great experience for me and it helped me learn how to work with a director or DP instead of both shooting and directing myself like I do for documentaries. At the beginning of the class I had already worked with a variety of cameras, but it was good to get experience using some different ones that I would not have used otherwise, in particular the Sony EX3 and F3.

I think the class is structured well. Having the documentary storytelling assignment early in the semester helps introduce students to working as a director/DP team and is good preparation for the scene assignment. It also presents its own challenge of only using existing light. The time spent in the studio working with different lighting setups is good experience and serves as practice for the scene assignment.

I mostly work on documentaries so while directing and shooting the documentary storytelling assignments came naturally to me, planning out a whole narrative scene as a director was not something I had really done before this class. I think it was a good experience and helped me learn how to plan better and communicate what I want to a DP. It was a challenge for me to work that way since I am used to shooting everything myself, but Sarah Lane was a great DP and she understood the look I wanted and made it happen. I discovered that while I am capable of directing, I prefer to be a DP for narrative productions.

Working as a DP for the scene assignment was definitely my favorite part of the class. I have been a DP for a few narrative projects before, but never with this much pre-production. It was helpful to meet with the director and plan things out together before getting to the location. The scene I worked on presented a number of unique challenges and solving those problems was a great experience. Shooting a night exterior with a fire as the key light was challenging from both practical and creative standpoints, but it was well worth it and I learned a lot from that shoot.