Do you ever have that frame of mind where you want to achieve something without any help? Well, this frame of mind was what unfortunately got me into the situation of panicking about a work placement I had yet to nail down as my own pride believed I could email a few production companies and get a position easily. However, this wasn’t the case. Less than two weeks before the deadline to secure a placement I was at a loss, having emailed every company you can name in Belfast and only getting rejections back. Realising I had to accept that I had failed at securing a place, I looked to the Sonic Arts Research Centre’s video team (SVT) for help. In which Aisling McGeown, coordinator of the team, gladly took me on board. What ensued after this was the fresh introduction to creating livestreaming content of concerts that are performed in Queen’s University Belfast. Having no previous technical knowledge of creating livestreams, I knew this placement would be no walk in the park. I will be using Gibbs’ Reflective Cycle (1988) to review my experience of beginning my work placement, analysing my actions and what I could have done differently. Reflecting on my experience of starting my placement, this model will help me to give a full depth explanation as Gibbs’ (1988, cited in McMillan, 2013, p. 33) states that evaluating the various methods of reflecting is ‘…part of a cyclical pattern of behaviour’.

Description

Beginning my work placement at SVT, I was unaware of the different roles that would be conducted during the livestreaming of concerts, as well as the amount of teamwork that is involved in the set up. The roles in SVT range from camera work, directing and vision mixing. Until working in SVT, I had never heard about vision mixing, so it was daunting to try this new role out. Vision mixing involves using a stream deck, which allows you to change the cameras that are broadcasted on the stream from the studio. However, having had previous experience in camera work through my Film Studies and Production course, I tended to linger towards the camera during livestreaming. 

The set up for a live stream is pretty simple, having two sony cameras on each side of the room that are controlled by SVT members, and a “BirdDog” camera at the back of the room to get a wide shot of the concert. The BirdDog camera does not need a person to control it from in the room, as it is controlled remotely from inside the studio. The sony cameras are small camcorders that we usually set up on tripods, to allow for static shots of band members. One of the concerts we were filming had one guest who was wanting more movement within the livestream, as he wasn’t necessarily happy with static shots due to the rambunctiousness of the band and his performance. Due to the limitations of shooting hand-held, we had to find a way to fulfil the guest’s wishes while also trying not to jeopardise the quality of the stream. 

Feelings 

When asked to do some hand-held footage during the stream, I knew immediately that it could not be done, as it would involve blocking the view of the audience in the room. However, the guest insisted that we try and get some movement into the stream. This moment had thrown me off quite a bit, as up until this event I tended to have full control over what I could do with the camera (with the exception of what I was being directed to do during the stream). I was feeling irritated at the fact that the guest did not comprehend the technical issues that were involved in setting up a stream, and how going hand-held wouldn’t work given our lack of time to prepare. This was the first moment in my placement that I truly felt frustrated, as it was uncommon until this point for a guest to be directing exactly what they want. Experiencing this what quite anxiety inducing, as I was only just starting to become comfortable with this specific method of filming. Throwing a challenging method of filming into the mix was an extra issue to worry about, alongside all the other tasks we still had to complete before the stream began. 

Evaluation

Though the situation itself was frustrating to begin with, I felt that I learned a lot from the experience. Rather than simply agreeing and doing exactly what the guest wanted for the stream, we found a way to compromise by completing some hand-held shots before the stream to use as add-ins. This allowed for the guest to get what they were looking for, without jeopardising the stream. During the band’s rehearsals, another SVT member and I used the sony camcorders to get some close-up shots of them playing. Since this was during rehearsals, we were able to go up on stage and record them without blocking the view of the audience. Despite the initial fear of using the cameras in a way that I had not done before, doing some footage for add-ins actually became an enjoyable experience. The freedom of walking around the stage to do a job I wasn’t used to was in a strange way exhilarating. It also allowed me to communicate with the band members, asking what shots they would prefer of themselves and if there were any parts of their songs that they would really love to be captured. This is a rare instance in my placement as the bands don’t tend to have a preference in what we do, so once I was happy enough to do what they wanted, it actually became an enjoyable experience for myself. The only difficulty I ran into while doing this was getting the timings right for when the band was playing a song, as they stopped and started constantly to make notes about how they were playing. This led to me only getting some quality shots, as the other shots were unusable due to being short in length. 

Analysis

Analysing and finally making sense of this situation has led me to believe that any difficulty we had in SVT that day was due to a breakdown of communication. If we had begun that day with actively engaging with the band, asking them what they wanted instead of assuming that our usual set up would be enough, this difficult situation could have been avoided. I do feel that the band also should have communicated prior to the day we were streaming, as I felt that asking a team of placement students to change their set up only a few hours before the concert was a big ask. Looking back on how I dealt with this situation, I have realised that being put on the spot was what angered me most, not having to conduct a new method of filming. Boud et al (1985, 8) explains with his own method of reflection that ‘We know intuitively that we need to do these things in order to learn from our experiences and to deal with our expectations’. With this in mind, I am now aware that this difficult situation had to happen in order for me to truly learn.

Conclusion

If I were to continue this type of work in the future, I would need to learn to deal better with problems arising. Unfortunately, the technicality of livestreaming means that problems can come at any time for any reason. Whether those problems are caused by guests or the equipment. Experiencing challenges like this is actually a positive thing, even if it is disguised as a disturbance. Having the opportunity to step out of the box and do something new in my placement was a refreshing experience, as it is the same routine every week. It also became imperative that catering to guests is important, that pushing aside any doubts I had and helping the team come up with a solution was more essential in the operation of SVT that day.

Action Plan

Referring back to the beginning of this blog post, in this situation my pride once again had led me to believe that my own opinion on wanting to stick to the same method of livestreaming was more important than that of the guests. After evaluating and analysing the situation and my own actions, I now know that I cannot let my own feelings get in the way of a production. In the future, I want to be more willing at taking on new jobs, using it as a challenge to push my skills on further. This has also taught me that I need to branch out with roles in SVT, rather than sticking to doing camera every week as that is what I know the most. Avoiding vision mixing and the software’s we use for live streaming means that I’m not benefitting from my work placement as a whole. For the rest of my placement, I’m going to change my role more often, as well as trying to develop new ways that we can shoot livestreams.

Bibliography

Boud, D, Keogh, R and Walker D. (1985) Reflection: Turning Experience into learning. Tyalor and Francis Group. P. 8. 

Gibbs, Graham, McMillan, K and Weyers, J. (2013) How to improve your critical thinking & reflective skills. Harlow: Pearson. P. 33.