Welcome to the Trick Room!

As the second-year summer semester came to an end, I decided to get ahead of the game and begin my search for my work placement. As I skimmed through the excel sheet of companies, nervously editing my cover letter specifically for each company, it wasn’t long after being ignored multiple times that one company responded to my emails- Lamb Films.  I applied not giving much detail into what I was hoping for as I had no real idea myself of what exactly it is I inspire to do. However, once I met with my work placement coordinator and was told I would be working on a real film set, unlike my literal zero budget second year films, I was excited to experience my first day on a real production.

 I will use the Gibb’s Reflective cycle to effectively reflect on my multiple days working on set of two films, this model of reflection will be useful to my onset experience as Gibb’s states “it is not sufficient simply to have an experience in order to learn. Without reflecting upon this experience, it may quickly be forgotten… It is from the feeling and thoughts emerging from this reflection that generalisations and concepts can be created.” (Gibbs, 1988)  

As I drove to my first day on set on a Sunday morning at 9.30 am I had no idea what I was to experience that day. I had received my first ever call sheet in my email and was excited but slightly nervous to arrive on set as ‘costume assistant’. In my head I worried frantically about being intimidated by the scale of the set and the seriousness of the production, who do I go to when I don’t know what to do? What if I give out the wrong costume? Will I be the last person to arrive? These self-doubting questions raced through my head as I drove down country roads to our destination. As I arrived, I realised I was the first car in the car park. It was 10 minutes to 10 am which meant I was ten minutes early for call time for the entire cast and crew, I started to question if I arrived in the wrong place, my heart racing due to my confusion. However as everyone gradually arrived an hour and a half late, I came to the awareness that maybe a film set wasn’t so intimidating and strict after all. 

As the crew had finally assembled, I was told that I would start helping in the costume department in the morning and then I would be an extra in the afternoon. My heart began to race as I am not an actor. I hated drama in school as I prefer to be behind the camera not in front! I began to cringe at the thought of myself having one line to say. As I began organising the costume sizes and placing each costume into their size categories and taking continuity pictures of the cast in their costume, I was feeling comfortable and confident. This was an easy task; the costume assistants were friendly and young students like myself, which made me feel more relaxed. In the afternoon I was told to sit on the grass as spectating extra my mind was eased as I thought it would be more a more pressurising experience. However, as many hours passed and my body began to get cold, I was wondering if we were going to be given any other production role rather than sitting on the grass watching. 

The positives from my first day on set that the cast and crew made me feel very welcome and I was busy with the costume department in the morning. The drawbacks however from my first experience was the lack of a precise role on the set as for long periods of the day I was just watching, although this was practical experience as I was able to understand each role and the direction of the set, I wanted to be more involved. 

My next day on set I was eager to have more of a role and a purpose on set, this day we were filming in Belfast and as I was one of the crew with a car. I offered to drive to our two locations as this gave me a more defined purpose on set and I felt more involved. The opportunity to drive to crew and cast members gave me the confidence to ask questions about the production and build a rapport with them as sometimes I can be quiet in large groups. Taking these two days into account, what I experienced from my first day of having no precise role, I was able to effectively take action on my next day on set and give myself a role by offering myself as one of the driver, which made my day more fulfilled and I proved to myself that I can take intuitive and grow when it comes to working in a fresh and unknown environment as by the end of the second day I had become more confident and comfortable on set. 

This experience has taught me what to expect when working on a production outside of student films, I gained knowledge of each department on set and how many people and effort it takes for one film to be made. In the future when working on another filming day I will know to put myself forward and offer to do tasks as this is the most effective way to gain new skills and knowledge. 

Bibliography

Gibbs, G., 1988. Learning by doing. Oxford: Oxford Centre for Staff and Learning Development, Oxford Brookes University.