Confessions of a Television Student

Finally! My suffering is over!

Well not really, I still have a bunch of paperwork to finish, edit and a couple of tests. However, I have finished filming for my Graded Unit short film.

When I started the course I felt somewhat confident as I had edited before and knew the basics of using cameras. Unfortunately, it turns out the software I was taught to edit on wasn’t the one we use at my college and I only knew the barest of bare bones about filming.

Still, I have worked hard and I have always done my best. I’m just worried that my best is not enough. I have said before that I am at my breaking point, I am drained and mentally exhausted. The main factor is my Graded Unit.

I had the choice to pick to either make a short film, documentary or music video. I ended up making a risky move.

My short film is called I Met Her in the Woods. It’s about a young boy who finds a body and how that impacted his life. It’s a silent film for the most part with narration. While I still like my idea, oh boy has it been a pain to make!

I got very lucky, I managed to get actors rather quickly and the two leads are incredible. Despite Keir being only ten, he is already a talented actor who follows direction really well. He has a bright future ahead of him. Jodie is an incredible actress and went above and beyond for the project.

The problem came on the second shoot.

You see, the two classmates I had filmed with beforehand couldn’t do the second shoot so I had to film it myself with no lighting. Two friends came along to help carry the kit and I am so grateful to them.

Worse still, it rained. Filming in the rain is a pain, let me tell you. I was paranoid I was going to damage the camera. The shots turned out fine, but I did hope to get a few more things filmed but at least I got the most important shots.

At least that part is over and done with.

College overall has been pretty good. Admittedly in the past two months, it’s become exceedingly stressful but before then it was going rather well.

My favourite class we have done was Law as the lessons pretty much became moral and ethical debates between classmates which was interesting.

Without a doubt the class I find the most stressful is editing. Avid is a pain compared to Premiere Pro. With Premiere you can drag and drop footage and audio easily and the user interface makes more sense. I am dreading the day when I start editing.

I do have holidays next week and I intend to catch up on sleep and my reading list over the break. I haven’t really had the chance to just sit down with a good book and a cup of tea in a while so I am looking forward to it.