Final Course Reflection

Final Course Reflection

Wow, this course has been by far among my top 3 favorite classes I have ever taken during my time in college. This has been the most eye-opening experience I've had in all of my studies in film, in terms of both the industry and my abilities. Before taking this class, I had a pretty mild interest in cameras -- I owned one myself but didn't do much with it because I didn't know what it was actually capable of. Today, I just wanna go out and video everything. I'm already looking for new lenses and a new camera body to up my game and get into the world of cinematography.

Aperture, ISO, shutter speed, and exposure were all words I had heard before, but now that I know what they mean and how to change them to create exactly what I want they are now powerful words that I will use way more often. With learning these words, I've also learned that adjusting these settings can be quite different from one camera to another and that it's important to exposure yourself to a wide variety of different cameras to get familiar with how to use them. I never thought I would have walked out of this class knowing how to use so many different cameras!

I think by far my favorite part of learning about cinematography was learning about lenses and what each one is capable of producing. It is so very useful to know how a 24mm wide angle lens varies from 85mm telephoto lens. I no longer have to guess what the best lens would be for a project because now I know what each lens produces in terms of image.

Learning as much as I did about lighting was also very useful. There are so many tricks and tactics that we learned to create so many different settings (just by using lights!) that I never would have thought of on my own. However, despite all of the knowledge I have gained about lights, I hope working with them does not become my primary job. Working with them takes a lot of time and patience that I do not have.

This class taught me so many things and actually made me question whether or not I really wanted to wind up in post production (and let's be honest I still don't really know). Working with cameras is so enjoyable and gives you so much freedom to just create things, it's incredible. While most days I still think I belong to editing, I hope that wherever I wind up working I'll be allowed to dabble in cinematography as well.

Thank you Dr. Raimist for a great semester.

Reel // Artist Statement

Reel // Artist Statement

I made a bold decision second semester of my sophomore year to change my major to film, but I can gladly say I know I made the right move. And while I still believe I'm more geared toward the editing side of filmmaking, I learned a lot about cinematography this semester and want to continue enhancing my skills with a camera.

I found over the course of the semester that I really enjoy working on projects that aren't exactly cut and dried. Taking a camera out and just appreciating a place or event has been among my favorite things lately. And as we see in my selection of scene assignment -- a montage with voice over and dramatic music -- I believe I do best with filming pieces that aren't strictly scripted. My style of art has become taking ordinary life events and places and shaping them into art that can be appreciated by everyone else.

Life is measured in moments and thoughts, and filmmaking allows us to capture our own moments and thoughts to share visually with everyone else. We're inspired by places, events, and things around us and it's important to be able to share what we see with everyone else -- that's art. So what if you can't draw or sing; if you know a few basic camera skills you can be filmmaker and thus an artist.

The great thing about filmmaking is no two artists work the same way, which yields infinite unique works of art. It's so inspiring to know there's no right or wrong way to make a film and that people will never tire of watching films because they are always changing and different. However, despite films constantly changing, we can still learn from fellow filmmakers' techniques and abilities and take those on to create our own masterpieces.

As my filmmaking career takes off over this next year, I hope to continue working behind a camera and capturing those moments I think are meaningful and worth sharing with the rest of the world. I hope to inspire someone with what I share and impact their life somehow. While I'm just getting started here in the film world, this is a journey I'd like explore from various angles -- from behind the camera as well as the computer.

Scene Assignment // Gone Girl

Shot List

Shooting Script

Storyboard

Floorplans

Visual References