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First Wedding Videography Experience

At the start of 2022 I was asked by a friend to be the videographer at his wedding at Silverstream retreat. This is my first piece of paid work doing what I love, creating and filming. It was my first experience in a professional work mindset as I was getting paid. Although they were family friends I didn’t want to feel too relaxed as I still wanted to be able to do the best job I could do. In saying this the added pressure of a first job with strangers wasn’t there which is something I am grateful for and helped me to stay composed and ready when filming that day. 

For preparation I scouted out the wedding venue and we ran through a rehearsal of what was going to happen on the day so I could get my head around the progression of the day and where and what I would need to be filming. This was very useful as it relieved pressure on the actual day, as well as helped me to prepare some shots that would look pretty and give some justice to how beautiful the day was. The photographer was also there for the rehearsal and I got to learn a few things from him as he had worked in the venue before. The photographer was very kind with it being my first time filming a wedding and was quite encouraging, telling me to believe in myself as I had the skills I just needed to put them to practice. That’s all it was as well, even though I felt nervous, I knew I had the skills I just had to implement them.

There were 3 main sections of the wedding that I needed to capture. The morning preparations of the bride and groom, the ceremony, the evening dinner and dancing. I set out at 8:30 to film the ladies getting ready, capturing footage of the bridesmaids as well as the bride. I then went to the venue to film the groomsmen and the groom in their preparations. This was good as it wasn’t a formal space and I had a lot of fun with them just hanging out while getting some candid footage. When filming for the ceremony the main thing on my mind was to not get in the way of anyone or disrupt anyone in any way, I tried my best to not make too much noise and move around the venue in the least distracting way possible. I had planned my movements previously so this wasn’t too hard. For the evening filming the dinner and dance I hadn’t quite realized how low my battery was so the battery died near the end of the speeches. I tried to get the other battery but it was on charge and hadn’t charged up much. This was a good lesson for me to always be mindful of the batteries I have on hand. Luckily it only missed two speeches at the end and got a majority of what was said. The dancing footage I got was quite grainy so I didn’t quite get the quality I wanted, but this is also a good lesson to make sure that I check my camera settings and make sure the lighting is okay to film in. The editing process for this wedding video is something that I also had to go about differently than I usually would, as I was making it for someone else. I had to take into account what these people wanted and not just go with what I think would be best, but what would be best for them and what they would appreciate the most. I think that this skill is extremely important and I am glad and humbled that I got the opportunity to experience it, and grow my knowledge.

To date, this event was the most nervous I have been filming as there was a lot on the line and I wanted to do the best job I could possible do, this led me to stay focused and driven on the work that I was doing. Creating for others is a very different process and there are different things that need to be thought about and prioritized. Seeing as this was my first piece of paid experience and work, I believe that I did the best that I could have done and learnt a lot through the process. Not only the technical skills required in the filming and editing, but through the social and professional communication skills that I enhanced on the job.

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The Batman Film Review

I have always loved the character of Batman, for me he is the greatest superhero across both DC and Marvel. My brother and I used to play with a toy Batmobile when we were kids. We loved everything about Batman, especially the aesthetic of the streets of Gotham. Playing The Lego Batman game on the PS2 was very special for my brother and I, we cherish those times a lot. It was particularly important that ‘The Batman’ was good, although I think I would have enjoyed it either way, as it is Batman. Going into the film I had just as much hype as I did going into see ‘Spiderman: No Way Home’, so there was a lot on the line. ‘The Batman’ certainly delivered on all fronts for me. My first cinema experience of The Batman was so good that I had to go and watch it again. I didn’t want to miss a second chance at experiencing the film on the big screen one more time. I went to the film with a few of my friends about a week after it premiered in cinemas. Admittedly I was probably the most excited out of all of us as they all preferred Marvel over DC, which I agree with in terms of the filmography of each franchise, however I much prefer the themes and characters that DC has to offer. We sat in optimal seats right in the middle of the theater to get the best experience possible. 

Right from the get go the film throws you into the perspective of the Riddler, giving a sense of terror, mystery and atmosphere of the world of Gotham. I love this as it perfectly sets the tone and journey that the film takes you through for the remaining three hours, knowing just enough to comprehend, but not enough to understand. A stand out scene for me was the chase scene with the Penguin. I found myself on the edge of my seat the whole time and was not expecting it to be as grand and elaborate as it was which was an awesome surprise. I also found myself wondering how much was practical and how much was CG, as all of it looked practical. Paul Dano’s Riddler is very different compared to his Jim Carrey, this is a very good thing. Batman Forever was a very goofy and fun movie that didn’t take itself too seriously, The Riddler reflected this. In The Batman however The Riddlers character perfectly reflects the dark and moody tone set out in this version of Gotham. In classic Riddler fashion he was full of surprises and the third act came as quite a surprise to me because of this. I was not expecting this film to have as big of a third act as it did as I thought it would stick to the mystery, detective vibe that Batman and Gordon had established. This was quite honestly my favorite aspect of the film, the fact that it could switch from a relatively low stakes detective plot, and flipping it for a dramatic and spectacular finale to a deep and personal story. 

The visuals and cinematography of the film was particularly inspiring. For example the scene where Batman and Catwoman converse overlooking Gotham City’s beautiful sunset is one of my favorite shots in a comic book movie. Robert Pattinson portrayed Bruce Wayne as Batman in a unique and very authentic way that I felt a great deal of emotion for. The three hour run time was perfect in immersing me into the world of Gotham and completely engaging me with the film, which is something that once I feel with a film, I get wholly attached to. ‘The Batman’ has become my new comfort movie, it makes me feel a sense of catharsis in my own life, while simultaneously inspiring me to create. My rating for this film is a 9/10, personally I think that this film provides a compelling and realistic Batman story that is unmatched in its aesthetic and portrayal of Gotham city. 

It makes me think about my own work and the ways in which I can start to ideate around a dark and moody aesthetic to create a compelling and visually pleasing piece of visual media. In my own practice I would love to write a script centered around the Christian faith, yet in a gritty and realistic way. For two reasons, first being that the aesthetic is something that I really enjoy and resonate with, second being that a lot of the Christian visual media hasn’t explored this in a compelling way. This is something that I wish to do someday.

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Noscars 2020

In my last year at College, I decided to pursue creating a film by myself for the first time. This included all aspects of production. At my college we held an annual awards ceremony parodying the Oscars, for media students and their short films called the ‘Noscars’. My goal for the year was to make it into these awards, and potentially even be nominated for an award. I hadn’t been selected for the Noscars the previous two years and was determined to make it in on my own accord and through my own talent and skill. I wanted to take this opportunity, whether I made it in or not, to focus on my filmmaking skills and to develop critical thinking skills in this setting.

I started out forming ideas based on the target audience, which was an audience primarily of high school students. This led me down the path that I wanted to make a comedy film, however I wanted to challenge myself and have as little dialogue as I could, and instead convey the story and comedy visually. I took a look at works such as Edgar Wright’s cornetto trilogy, which I absolutely love. Edgar Wright is a master at visual comedy, so I studied his cinematography and the way he sets out a scene. I wanted the comedy in my film to come out through subversive shot types. 

I absolutely loved forming the script as I was able to make it as goofy and as fun as I wanted it to be. I then had to limit the script to what would be realistic for me to film. Filming an entire short film by myself was new to me so I tried to plan every scene out as much as I could to reduce the stress that I would ultimately be under when filming. On reflection of this I think that I should have accounted for more time for my shoots in case things went awry. Luckily I had good actors to work with and managed to get most of my filming done in time. One of the main things I learnt was the importance of planning shots out prior to filming, having a shot list was extremely important in the execution of filming. This was great to learn early on as it has informed my work as I have gone forward, shot lists provide a checklist to make sure everything is accounted for before wrapping filming, so that reshoots aren’t required. My favorite aspect of the creation of my short film was the post production work that went into it. I learnt a lot about how to best organize my raw footage in the most effective and efficient way possible to keep a consistent workflow while editing. Organizing footage according to each shoot day was valuable in making sure I had all my footage and made it easy to find clips that I needed while editing. In previous projects I had all of my footage in one folder which meant it was very difficult to locate the clips that I needed. I learnt a lot of technical editing skills through the editing of this film, one of these skills being able to mask. 

We were told that the Noscars list was going to be announced at midnight, so I decided to stay up and wait for the list to be released. There ended up being a big delay and I ended up staying up until 3am waiting to see if I would be a part of the Noscars. As soon as I read my name on the list it all became worth it, all the work that I had put in had finally paid off. It was such an amazing feeling and made me realize that maybe I have what it takes, or at least have what it takes to take the first step towards my goals. Seeing my film on the big screen at the Embassy Theater was something surreal, I felt accomplished, hopeful and excited. This is when I realized I wanted to pursue this as a career, so here I am, studying screen arts at Massey University.