Cinema Production was the first class at Elon University that taught me things I did not already know how to do with a camera. Coming into Elon, I have had four years of practice with a film camera, and hated having to sit through classes teaching me what the shutter speed, and aperture do. Finally I learned something new. But more importantly I learned what I came to Elon to learn: I learned how to use a myriad of different camera accessories, such as the pocket jib, and I learned when the appropriate time to use them would be. I learned how to be a cinematographer, and for the first time in my college career I feel like I am one step closer to my goal, and dream job.
Cinema Production also taught me how to be more organized. As someone who has ADHD, procrastination, and disorganization are huge issues that I always seem to cause myself. Because the textbook Professor Triche has her class study has so many different ways to organize in both pre, and post production, I had no excuse. I had options. And you can clearly see how much the instructions, and tips in the textbook have helped me improve my work.
Finally, I still have not mastered working on set, and in the editing suites, with people who either I do not click with, or who seemingly simply do not like me. This year, one group member in particular was constantly degrading and disrespectful to my work, and because I have not learned how to be confrontational in a professional way, I let them get away with it. Which is arguably worse than not saying anything. Nevertheless, I largely blame this inability to communicate on all of the problems I have with the final cut of Loser!. For example, the color correction in one of the newer shots is way off, one half of the room is extremely blue, while the other is extremely yellow. And while I understand that this scene was difficult to color correct, because there are two separate rooms with two separate lighting situations, the way my partner handled me telling them that the original version looked better was incredibly rude, and unprofessional. This trend continued with every suggestion I made regarding our final, which is also why there are not a lot of scenes where Peter is talking about his D&D characters. Nevertheless, I accept full responsibility for these shortcomings because in the end it is my fault for not being assertive enough with my group member, and for being too timid to confront them when it mattered most.
That all being said, I still have not mastered the art of leaving enough wiggle room in the shooting schedule for when things inevitably go wrong. During the reshoot phase of Loser! , Peter’s roommate, Chris, cancelled on me literally two hours before our scheduled shooting time. This day was Sunday, two days before the final project was due, and I had no backup plan. So unfortunately, I was not able to capture any of the moments the class said they wanted to see of Chris and Peter interacting. But instead I captured more than enough footage of what the class said they wanted to see of Peter alone.
All in all, I am very grateful to Triche for teaching this class, and very grateful to Elon for offering it.