Workshop Evaluation: 1) What do you think you learnt from Monday's workshop?

The workshop has really taught me to appreciate the team working around you. Without them, there would have been no way we could have achieved the end result. It also taught me the key to a successful shoot was communication; to be able to commment on and criticise the work allowed the team to make critical changes and to improve the shots. For everyone to participate in the shoot, a monitor was set up in the sports hall, where those who were not in shot or helping with the technology were allowed to sit and watch the set through the eyes of the camera, as the monitor was directly linked to it. Not only did it allow us students to offer advice, it also helped the director, Jake to step back and analyse the footage on set from the point of view of the camera.

For the workshop, Ms Blackborow had hired professional equipment for us to use on the day. These included the 'china ball' light, a track and dolly and and crane for the HA shots. The china ball light allowed for more lighting in the shot were normal lights in a room would not be able to achieve the brighter look that the video called for. Though I had not personally handled it myself, I saw that it was easy to use, hanging from a hook which allowed for easy manouverability. Looking on the screen, I also saw the effect the light had on shots; without it lighting up the shot, the characters infront of the HD camera did not look clear enough. The track and dolly allowed for the camera to move smoothly and the crane helped us to achieve the HA shot. However, despite all this technology, much of the time we had to improvise with what we had. For instance, for the shots in the hallway, the camera-man had to be pushed around on a wheelchair whilst he was filming to be able to follow the movement of the characters. Even though professional technology was not used in this instance, it still gave off the desired effect and result that we all wanted.

Additionally, I also learnt that what we might see on camera might not necessarily look the same as it does in person. When setting up the library in the sports hall, I admit I found it hard to visualise the set as being a library. However, actually seeing the library set-up on the camera showed me the transformation of the set looking like there were a bunch of props in the sports hall to an actual library. Therefore, this taught me to see "through the eye of the camera".