Final Reflection

TCF 312 has taught me so many valuable lessons. I learned things from terminology that I will definitely need to know if I want to work on a professional set to new ways of lighting a scene. I knew a lot of the things we learned, or reviewed, before entering the class, but I have absolutely improved many of those previously learned skills.

When it comes to technical skills such as lighting, I already knew the 3-point setup, but I did not really know the ways to improve that setup for a particular scene that might not exactly need all three lights. I think the one technical aspect of the class that I learned the most about were the cameras. Even though I pretty much already knew basic camera functions, I did not really know the differences between DSLR’s and camcorders. I fell in love with DSLR’s. They are definitely harder to work with, especially when talking about focus, but as long as there is a monitor on set, the image turns out beautifully. My favorite part of learning about the cameras were the lenses. I have decided that I love prime lenses. Yes, zoom lenses are surely better in some cases, but if I have a choice between the two I will always pick prime lenses. The way the crush the depth of field makes the image perfect.

I am, without a doubt, still learning visual storytelling skills, especially my style of storytelling. Everyone eventually develops their own way of telling their story through visuals and through my experiences both directing and being director of photography, I have captured some sort of grasp at what my style of storytelling is. I absolutely think I take pieces of other people’s styles and mash them up to create my own style, but there is definitely more time for me to find that style.

         One of my other favorite parts about this class was being required to do all the pre-production work of making a shot list, shooting script, and floor plans. I used to hate doing pre-production, mostly because I never really saw a good example of what those things should look like. But coming into this class after so many other classes previously doing the same assignments, it was a lot of help when starting pre-production. As I was learning how to organize myself I realized that I really enjoyed making everything so neat and tidy. It absolutely 100 percent made the actual production so much easier and faster than any other shoot I had ever directed beforehand. 

Lastly, the best part of this whole class was getting to work with the people that I had on set. We had such a blast and as a director, I want my sets to be fun, still efficient and getting things done, but I want all of my crew to have a good time and laugh. Laughing is my favorite activity and when I get to do it on set with a bunch of crazy, fun people, doing the thing I love the most, I can’t ask for anything better than that.