Work Experience – Personal Reflective Diary

My work experience took place with Francesca Hill Photography, Francesca Hill is an international documentary wedding photographer.

Constructed Image Reflective Report

In this report I will be reflecting and reviewing my efforts throughout my constructed image assignment.  I will explore what went well and what did not as well as making suggestions for improvement if I were to undertake this project again. I will discover how successful I was in terms of editing and construction, and how well the theme was executed.

The subject I chose for my Constructed Image assignment was a psychedelic/drunk theme using portraiture and digital artistry. The aim of this was to create images that show the affects of alcohol but in a light-hearted, pop art style.

Documentary Reflective Report

In this report I will be reflecting and reviewing my production and efforts throughout my documentary project.  I will explore what went well and what did not as well as making suggestions for improvement if I were to undertake this project again. I will look at the processes that I went through to create the final images, seeing how well I executed the idea and how successful the outcome was.

Documentary Research Journal

I didn’t have a lot of ideas for the documentary photography assignment at first, nothing really gauged my interest and whenever anything was suggested to me I just couldn’t envision it. Although I often enjoy the documentary side of photography its often difficult to find a good topic to focus on.

My idea is to take photos in one location at various times of day to document the movement and change of a place at certain times and how quiet and busy it can get. I have chosen to photograph Piccadilly Circus in London, this area is always busy and thriving so will make an interesting scene.

Constructed Image Research Journal

It took a lot of experimenting and playing around in Photoshop to figure out what my theme was going to be. After toying with a few images I finally found something that worked and I was interested in.

The idea for my constructed image assignment is to combine portraiture and digital art with a psychedelic/club/drunk theme. I will be using images that I have taken during my time in uni, rather than taking new images, and using bright colours and dramatic effects to create the feeling of intoxication within the images.

Wedding Photography – Entry 1

Assisting a photographer

My first taste of wedding photography came a few weeks ago when a friend asked if I was available to assist at a wedding the following weekend. I was free, so I of course obliged and made the necessary arrangements.

Moving Image – Critical Evaluation

The moving image piece I filmed was rather enjoyable to create and edit, it took only a few days work in total and I would gladly film again sometimes.

I chose to create a video to accompany a soundtrack, a montage of video and stills to an ambient track. My story was about the journey of a group of people who took the challenge of hiking up Pen Y Fan in the Brecon Beacons. Taking inspiration from TV documentaries, I aimed to compile a short video of visually interesting and beautiful clips, not unlike those that can be found in BBC documentaries.

The video was shot solely on Pen Y Fan, this meant that it was subject to weather conditions on the day. I also only had one day to film, meaning if I didn’t have enough footage then I would have to find a way to go back or try to stretch what I had. If it rained then it would have been difficult to get good footage without risking the camera. As the sun was so bright it was hard to tell whether the footage was over exposed or not as the screen was hard to see. Luckily the footage came out okay.

Unfortunately I forgot to take my camera script, even though I knew roughly in my head the different shots I wanted I missed out a few and had to substitute for other footage I filmed on the day. This wasn’t a problem in the end as it still worked in the film and flowed well with the music.

Another issue I faced was the ability to steady the camera, as I was up a mountain and walking on a trail there was little to no places to use to steady the camera meaning that a lot of the clips were quite jumpy and unsteady, which can be seen in the final edit. This could be resolved with a monopod or tripod, I will know to go more equipped in the future.

Editing was basic as I had only edited one professional video before. Considering I only knew simple editing techniques in Adobe Premiere, I have quite an ear for music and know when to change a clip to fit with the beat and flow well. I have been able to learn a lot of new skills on this project, especially in regards to editing, I prefer to edit than film as you are able to have more creative input.
Overall I feel it could have been filmed better but it is still a good film considering I have never shot and edited a film before. I feel I have learnt a lot from this project, I know more about framing in regards to film and also the different types of shots. This information will be useful for future projects, it is good to have different skills that can be applied to a multitude of situations.

 

Moving Image – Filming and Editing

The day of filming arrived and I had my shots in mind, driving up to Pen Y Fan I had my camera with me and was ready to start filming. I knew how to film as I had previously done some filming work before so I was prepared thus far.

Stepping out of the car I completely dismissed my idea of filming everyone getting out of the car to show the start of the journey. Heading to the trail I filmed a few panning shots of the road and static shots of trees etc. Starting the hike I would stop to film occasionally to grab a few seconds of footage here and there. I managed to get a range of different shots and tick off a lot of the shots on my list.

Street Portraits – Entry 5

I took another trip to London, this time it was raining and so the sun was hidden by the clouds. Still needing a few more portraits I decided to get my camera out and take a few more pictures. It was a clear, bright day so the lighting was perfect.

Moving Image – Camera Script

I have conducted in detail a camera script for the shoot, there is a first draft and a completed second draft. This will let me know what shots to get for the film so that I can tick them off as I go along so that I don’t miss anything.

These documents can be downloaded by clicking the links below:

Version 1 camera script:

4a- Camera script

Version 2 camera script:

4a- Camera script 2