To further my knowledge of my role in this unit I wanted to research further into an industry professional to see how they go about their job.I focused on industry professional Gail Jenkinson who is a camera operator and has experience of being a camera operator in many different scenarios. I found it hard to find any relevant information on professionals in a studio environment so decided to go with an experienced professional in Gail Jenkinson.
Gail's experience would be most valuable when shooting the VT cutaway segments for our show as they are more like the factual storytelling she does on her shows.
In her own words here is how she describes herself "Briefly - what is your job and what are your key responsibilities?My job is primarily as a camera operator. This varies between having the sole responsibility for the visuals for a production, or being a 2nd camera operator to an overseeing main camera or DOP (director of photography). I am also often employed to work a crane, jib, timelapse rig or as a team shooting high speed. I work underwater as an operator and assistant or occasionally as safety for an actor/presenter. My role is very varied; I consider myself camera crew and am very much a team player." (BBC Acadamy, 2018)Gail did a fascinating BBC interview where she talks about her career. She recalls the best skill she has learned is knowing what might happen next "Most useful skill you’ve developed?:
To anticipate. Listen, be aware of what is occurring around you and strive to be one step ahead." (BBC Acadamy, 2018). This will relate well for our VT segments as we may be recording something like a photo shoot and in that instance, something that is not planned for could happen and create a great shot.
An example of this could be the model flicking her hair which could work really well as a quick cutaway. I will speak to the directors and producers of the VT's so I can mention this as something to watch out for when filming.
Something mentioned in another piece with Helen was her ability to use her camera expertise alongside her knowledge of cinematography to create mind-blowing shots and sequences "Combining technical expertise with creativity Gail has produced sequences for programming on the BBC, National Geographic, Discovery and Sky." Film Dat 59, 2018
This will be important for the director of the VT's to understand when we are on out VT Shoot days. Even though hopefully they will have created a great shot list and storyboard - As the camera operator I should be given some freedom to create shots that I think would work really well at the same time. Knowing when to listen to the director and then chip in with my own input will be important as we want to make sure we get all of the shots possible from our shoot days.
Gail's wealth of knowledge is also important to understand for our own unit. As we are tackling different types of filming scenarios, it will lead to us stretching ourselves in areas of work we may not feel most comfortable. From Gail's work you can see that she does not shy away from new challenges. "I am very happy to face new challenging roles and believe multi skilled, hands on crew roles suit me well and am very much a team player." (bectu, 2018) Travelling all around the world to capture places only a few people have seen. While our studio unit may not be quite as glamorous as that.... I will take that mentality of pushing myself and my peers to create better content.
Finally, something that Gail has experienced over her vast career is technical difficulties and learning how to overcome them. Once again, I am sure shooting in a river which probably has something dangerous in it is harder than shooting in a studio.... But you never know! In seriousness, seeing how Gail learns from others is very important to understand. "Suck up all the information possible. Listen and learn, learn from the successes and the failures. There is a wealth of learning to be done on set and it’s usually not done by staring at your iPhone." (BBC, 2018) This is really relevant as students because we rely on a lot of our information through online sources, we need to make sure over this unit we build the communication skills to have good peer to peer conversations about technical equipment. I am sure there will be stages when one student knows more than the other and vice versa. Learning off of each other will be important, especially when on the studio floor operating a camera with another person.
To conclude, through looking at Gail's career and understanding how she works, I have gained a better knowledge of the sort of person I will need to be on shoot days. I will have to be quick thinking to get important shots, as well as knowing my camera off by heart to get it set up as quickly as possible. I also need to advance my communication skills to make sure that over the unit I can talk to my peers and teachers to gain as much knowledge as possible. It is now important to work as a team in our VT groups to come up with a plan for our two VT's which will be shot soon. We have a great group we just need to make sure it is all organised properly for the final product to be as good as we know it can be!References:
BBC Academy, 2018
http://www.bbc.co.uk/academy/production/article/art20130909112341103
accessed on 10th February 2018
Film Dat 59, 2018
http://www.filmsat59.com/people/gail-jenkinson/
accessed on 10th February 2018
bectu, 2018
https://www.bectu.org.uk/advice-resources/crewbus/80ab01e67a7fee1ae8a835fa8058a08e
accessed on 10th February 2018
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