Besides planning a short film in the summer in a college town with few actors around, TCF 201 was a breeze. This class on the other hand went from being pretty chill to crazy intense in a matter of weeks, but it was worth it. I love hands on production classes, the only way that you are able to learn, or get better is by receiving that learning interaction. I was able to learn my strengths, weaknesses, what I need to get better at, and what kind of visual style I have.
I realized that directing is not a strong point of mine, but it is something that I would like to work on to perfect. I found myself planning out everything for my scene assignment, but still having a lot of trouble creating my visual style on screen and little mistakes I made with the framing of my shots. I also figured out that I am more interested in cinematography, and set production. I enjoyed the scene and portraits I DP'd, but it would have been cool to work with other visual styles also.
This class also helped me with my decision for my camera investment. I have been planning for years to give in and finally make my firsts big camera purchase, but I was unsure of what I actually wanted. At the beginning I assumed that I needed to start first with a T2i or T3i, then work my way up to a more advance DSLR like the 5D Mark II/III or 7D, but now that is not the case. Being able to work with the both the 5D and 7D was very helpful, I caught myself knowing more about both of those cameras and being confused with the T2i. My plan is to now buy a camera as my new "school supply" so I can work on projects outside of class.
Another thing I enjoyed was getting to know one another in the class. I had a class in the previous month with, Rey, Alec, Shane, Kamal, met Justin from working with one of the groups in our 201 class, and had met Stephanie the previous year but I felt that I got to know them better while also getting to know the rest of the class more. You learn everyone's styles, their specialties, and work ethic. I would have enjoyed working with other students in the group also to get a grasp of their visual styles and technical knowledge, learn more information from them about what I can work on to become better at film making, but I do know that there are still many in the class that I will make sure to keep in touch with.
Overall I enjoyed this class, I am very glad that I decided to take the class in the summer instead of trying to take it in the Fall/Spring. The workload is so intense that there is no way that I could possibly pay attention to my other classes, because I know that I would give all my attention to this class. I have learned so much more about the technical work of the cameras, lighting, and what I can do to become better. I still believe that I was unable to produce my visual style on camera through my direction skills, but that helps me realize what I need to work on to become better.
