I’ve always been fascinated by moving pictures. When I was five, my parents dragged me from in front of the TV to save my “brain from turning to mush.” Recently, I realized the videos we see on a daily basis, from Facebook-newsfeed clips to movies, are almost more mesmerizing after considering all the work behind-the-scenes. Double R teaches interns how to do anything and everything in a production company, but I am particularly excited to shoot and edit footage.
Our “in-the-camera” shoot gave me my first experience behind the camera this summer. Developing an idea and writing a script in the first week seemed daunting, but we knew our concept by Monday’s shoot. This unique project requires that none of the footage leave the camera for editing (that it stay, surprisingly, “in the camera”). This means we filmed each scene perfectly while also remaining conscious of time and efficiency. Despite the mild nerves that come from starting our first project, I was thrilled to run outside DC shooting footage for the idea we developed.
The two most important lessons I learned that day were (a) filming precisely to a vision can take lots of time, especially if there are multiple points of view interacting on a shoot, and (b) people look at you like you are either crazy or really important when you carry a tripod around Dupont Circle. Perhaps we inspired the crazy looks. After all, our storyline did require us to chase and film a yellow, smiley-faced stress ball around the city.
While I know that this is only the first time that we went on a shoot, I cannot wait to explore more of my home-city through the lens of a Double R production assistant.
