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A Lovely Filmmaking Experience

I directed a 5 minute film for DADAA on Tuesday. We are documenting the lives of mentally challenged and disabled people living in WA for the Lost Generation Project. I must say, it was a very lovely, humbling experience and the finished film should be amazing to watch.

I originally wrote a narrative screenplay - but actually sticking to it for the doco format - was tricky. We really had to go with other things that happened on the day (as one might expect). We managed to capture the essence of the screenplay, however, and some of the scenes are very moving and emotional.

Technical

I shot 1.5 hours of HD with a Sony HDV camera throughout one day. What a lovely, easy-to-use camera. We literally switched it on and started shooting. I had to ride the exposure and focus a little, but the automatic functions allowed me to, literally, interrupt what the camera was doing by touching a dial and going manual - something like cruise control on a car. I was worried about sound (we used a simple RODE directional mic. and camera sound) but it came out nicely and the images are lovely.

I am very humbled to think that the films we make for DADAA are copyright "the subject" (ie. the person we are filming) and I can't wait to see what the various editors and musicians do with the finished film.

All in all - it made me realise that I really do love filmmaking. Sometimes you lose track of why you are doing such a difficult thing. And then it hits you. Like it did for me on Tuesday.
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Anonymous said…
I totally agree with you that filmmaking is a brilliant experience and keeps many memmories. At the age of 10 without even doing it, i was passionate about filmmaking. Aged 12 I started experementing and believed you dont have to be an adult to be a filmmaker. I already got certificates from high filmmaking college before the age of 15. Filmmaking isn't hollywood it is the creativity released from team memmbers (not always directors). The expeience is interpeting a piece of digitail media. You will always have those dreams.
6:15 am
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