Shaping my future
Introduction
Doing my placement with Lamb Films has proven challenging in different ways. With Lamb Films I have done multiple different tasks for them. These tasks include working with the costume and production design teams for the feature and short films they are currently working on. This gives me much needed on set experience to learn from. I also was tasked with writing a short three minute film for a film class involving deaf students that they can turn into a short film in the coming year. I also was tasked with editing a couple of short videos that highlighted a festival that Lamb Films helped put on last summer. Before going into the challenges it is worth mentioning that Larry Cowan, the producer who runs Lamb Films has been extremely understanding and reasonable when it comes to not overwhelming me with the different tasks that I am required to do. As well as the challenge of juggling responsibilities I have also faced challenges in the tasks that I have had to take part in. A lot of these tasks I have learnt about in academic settings but there were a few specifically the editing task that I found challenging as I had to learn by basically doing. By using Gibbs Reflective Cycle, I will examine how I can accept and learn from these challenges.
Description
As mentioned earlier one of the biggest challenge has been juggling all the commitments I have alongside my work placement. The feature film that Lamb Films is currently shooting requires a lot of attention and work as it is quite a big project. It has been filmed for over two years due to Covid related delays so the desire to get the film finished is of great importance to everyone involved. To do this, they require many hands on deck to get filming done. I only really have time to work during the weekend and a lot of shooting for this film occurs during the weekends. I want to be reliable and be there for everything I am needed for. I want to show myself in the best light possible and show that I could always be counted on to be available. However, the more important challenges that have come to me have been with content that is involved with the placement itself. Another challenge I have come across has been working with roles and tasks that I am not used to being a part of. For instance, I have been put on costume duties which I have never really been involved with. It has been challenging to learn my way around it by making mistakes and asking questions. With costuming, I am required to keep all costumes organized and make sure each actor has the appropriate costumes required for their scenes. As easy as that may sound, it is hard to organize when there are shoots that you have missed and there has been times I have been lost in what was worn in previous scenes and how that will affect continuity. Editing the videos has also proved complicated as I do not have a lot of experience in editing and I had to learn which the best process to edit content was. To deal with all these difficulties, I found the best way to overcome them was by asking questions whenever needed, doing the best I could do and accepting any advice I could get along the way.
Feelings
It is hard to accept the fact that due to other commitments I cannot physically be a part of everything I am asked to do. I know that I cannot do everything and they know I cannot do everything. However it still makes me feel guilty and that I should be more committed to this placement. I have been told throughout by Larry that me being unavailable at times is understandable and in no way affects how they view my contributions. I fully understand that I am only required to complete 100 hours of placement which I definitely have completed. Lamb Films has never forced me to do any more hours than I am meant to. They only ask if I am available and are completely understanding if I am unable. I personally feel I am setting unreasonable expectations for myself which is something I need to work on in the future. In regards to being a part of different departments of filmmaking such as costuming, it is something I have known would happen before I even started. I have been asked to do other things that I do have an interest in such as screenwriting so I can hardly complain about doing other tasks and getting out of my comfort zone. Being pushed out of my comfort zone does scare me. Failure is one of my biggest fears. I always fear that doing something wrong is a sign of weakness. However, being pushed out of comfort zone is also exciting in a sense as the opportunity to learn new skills is of such a great asset to me and my future skills. I can now use these skills I have gained to my advantage. Especially when it comes to editing videos. With editing videos the editor is tasked with the challenge of showing long stories in a matter of seconds. Joseph P. Magliano and Jeffrey M. Zacks write that ‘it is often the case that filmmakers want to depict a narrative event in a matter of seconds that would otherwise take a much longer period of time to complete in the real word’ (p. 1491). That is the challenge of any editor in any project. Especially for an inexperienced editor like myself. However, with this experience I will eventually be a better editor. Learning from experience is important because ‘more specifically, learning from experiences depends on students consciously and purposefully noticing, observing, and engaging with workplace situations while they are on placement. Only then, do workplace experiences create rich opportunities for meaning-making’ (Flowers, Trede, p. 365).
Evaluation
The best way to evaluate the challenges I have experienced is by reflecting on the experience as a whole. Franziska Trede and Rick Flowers write in Preparing students for workplace learning: Short films, narrative pedagogy, and community arts to teach agency that ‘reflection has been described as the standard approach to foster learning… Reflection in and on action… is typically supported with strategies such as professional portfolios, journaling, and structured reflection models to enhance learning’ (p. 365). I reflect on my experience by focusing more on the positives than the negative feelings I got from the challenges. The negatives were not as strong as the positives thankfully. The negatives came from the fears I had from trying new experiences and worrying about not doing a good job. But the positives came from those negatives as I learned so much from trying these new experiences. For instance, the fact that I learned the basics of editing in this placement can help me with future employment as there are many jobs that require film editing skills. Although I may have to learn how to use other editing software’s that places of employment use, this experience has inspired me to learn on my own time and further improve my skills. I learned so much about the basic elements of editing. Besides editing I learned many different creative ways to dress a set for a film as well as the best organizational skills when it comes to being in possession of multiple props and costumes. Being pushed out of my comfort zone with these tasks have scared me but has mainly excited me as a hopeful artist.
Analysis
Overwhelming myself for the sake of pleasing others can be damaging to my mental state and exhaust me physically and mentally. John Naish writes in his article Forget relaxing. What keeps you healthy is being busy, busy, busy! that ‘stress has been shown to narrow attention, impair memory and interfere with knowledge acquisition,’ she says. The crucial factor in determining whether our busyness is stressful or beneficial is whether we feel that we have control over what we are doing’ (p. 1). It is important for me to understand that being busy can be healthy but also can cause damage to me so it is therefore very important for me to make sure I have time for myself and my own personal needs as well as manage my time to associate with my academic responsibilities. Working in the film industry will always push me out of comfort zone. The many different jobs and tasks that are required on a film set to make a film work as a whole is deeply populated by hard working people. This experience has made me appreciate the hard working people that works on film crews and that comes from me experiencing first hand these challenges. Filmmaking is an intense step by step process that goes a long way from pre-production all the way to post production. Below is a link to an imaged step by step process of how to make a film.
http://khairunysarts.blogspot.com/2015/06/stages-of-film-production.html
Conclusions
Overall, from this situation I learned that it is acceptable to say no when life gets too overwhelming and you cannot fully commit to work. I also learned that in order to develop and handle this situation better I need to improve my skills in regards to time management and organisation. It is important as well to reflect on the different techniques I have learned. From editing to set design I have learned some valuable lessons in independent filmmaking that I can use to help in any project I can work on in the future as well as my own future projects I hope to develop.
Action Plan
If I ever had to do the same thing again which I know for a fact I will probably will have to, I would probably plan out things as best I can. I would be transparent with every party involved and give each responsibility a specific day of the week and stick to that day strictly. It is important to know that I am only human and simply cannot please everyone. So therefore I need to have the confidence and care to do whatever I physically and mentally can in order to best work. In regards to my skills that I have learned, I am now inspired and motivated to expand on those skills. I hope to take editing lessons to learn other editing softwares that are more commonly used in other companies. I also will use the skills and lessons I have learned to further expand my work ethic. I feel strongly that the best education can come from life experience and from the people that have done it for a long time.
Work Cited
“Gibbs’ Reflective Cycle”. The University Of Edinburgh, 2020, https://www.ed.ac.uk/reflection/reflectors-toolkit/reflecting-on-experience/gibbs-reflective-cycle.
Magliano, Joseph P., and Jeffrey M. Zacks. “The Impact Of Continuity Editing In Narrative Film On Event Segmentation”. Cognitive Science, vol 35, no. 8, 2011, pp. 1489-1517. Wiley, https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1551-6709.2011.01202.x.
Masterclass. 2021. How to Edit a Movie: Guide to Film and Video Editing. [online] Available at: <https://www.masterclass.com/articles/guide-to-film-and-video-editing> [Accessed 7 April 2022].
McKenzie, B., 2022. Directing the viewer’s vision in explainer videos – Technology Business Video. [online] Technology Business Video. Available at: <https://www.techbizvideo.com/directing-the-viewers-vision/> [Accessed 7 April 2022].
Naish, John. “‘Forget Relaxing. What Keeps You Healthy Is Being Busy, Busy, Busy!”. 2017. Daily Mail, https://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-4810756/Forget-relaxing-keeps-healthy-busy.html. Accessed 7 Apr 2022.
“Stages Of Film Production”. Khairunysarts.Blogspot.Com, 2022, http://khairunysarts.blogspot.com/2015/06/stages-of-film-production.html.
Trede, Franziska, and Rick Flowers. “Preparing Students For Workplace Learning: Short Films, Narrative Pedagogy, And Community Arts To Teach Agency”. University Of Technology Sydney Australia, vol 21, no. 4, 2020, p. 365., Accessed 7 Apr 2022.
