Practicing Camera Angles (Blog #29) PLANNING

 

After setting up my room as the set for my film opening, I finally started practicing different camera angles. I focused mainly on close-up shots such as writing, highlighting and other small details that were important for showing the character’s perfectionist mindset. I had spent so much time planning and visualizing these shots, so I was excited to finally bring them to life. 

(All the practice clips)

Unfortunately, things didn’t go as smoothly as I had hoped. The camera’s focus became my biggest challenge, it just wouldn’t cooperate no matter what I tried. The entire hour I dedicated to practicing quickly turned into an overwhelming and frustrating experience. After all the research, planning, and preparation I had done, seeing footage that didn’t meet my expectations was incredibly discouraging. I found myself overthinking everything, my choices, my skills and even whether I could pull this whole project off. At one point, I got so frustrated that I nearly cried. It was a mix of stress, disappointment, and the pressure I had put on myself to make this project look as best as possible. 

(Shot on the Sony camera)

To determine whether the problem was the camera itself or something else, like lighting or the type of shot, I switched to my iPhone 12 Pro. The footage improved slightly regarding the focus, but it still took a lot of extra time and effort to properly focus. It was a reminder that technical challenges are just part of filmmaking, and sometimes the best approach is to adapt rather than get stuck. 

(Shot on iPhone)

After a lot of trial and error and a few tears, I realized that the best solution was to split the work between the two cameras. The Sony camera, while high-quality, wasn’t suitable for every shot as I had originally expected. For the scenes it struggled with, I decided to simply use my phone instead. This approach will hopefully allow me to keep moving forward without letting the camera be my technical difficulty that derails my project. Although it was a frustrating experience, it taught me a valuable lesson about patience, problem-solving, and the importance of flexibility in filmmaking which I know are all important skills to have for this project. I’m thankful I decided to practice using the camera and the camera angles before the actual shooting of the opening so I wouldn’t have to deal with this issue when filming. 

To do list update