Commissions Unit - Critical Reflections

Working with Lex has been great. We have great communication skills and complement each other really well. The key to a successful team is to have faith in each other’s opinions. For example, if I didn’t like how a shot looked, even though I am not the camera op for this project, I can openly say that I don’t like something and know that I mean it in beneficiary to the project, not berating the person. I feel we really brought the best out of each other. 

The equipment we used benefitted our shoot with Lex’s knowledge of cameras being more prominent now more than ever. Sam Creamer kindly lending us his tripod slider gave our shoot something that others may not have. We were smarter on this shoot being very lightweight and mobile as some of the construction shots were actuality based.

Our clients were very good in terms of communication. Any information that I needed in regards to the company and sites that we were researching for the video they were more than happy for us to do. Due to time constraints and the office never being in a recordable state because the office isn’t exactly pretty, we couldn’t get the office shots according to the plan. However, we took a different angle on the film and used some small stock footage to make up the difference.

In terms of producing and organisation, I feel competent in talking to people that I don’t necessarily know. I always had bad self-confidence but this project brought me out of my shell and enhanced my producing ability as I have to call and talk to people I don’t already know. My organisational skills have increased a great amount, too.

Overall I am happy with the outcome of the film and comparing it to my first works on the course it really shows the capability even on a zero budget. Hopefully I venture into commissioned works for a production company as I did find working in a small team on a project I procured a nice feeling.

Transitioning my work to the third year, I am ready for it more than ever, I can't wait to round off the course with some beautiful work I have done myself, ready to be shown at a screening.