Things are starting to "Bloom"

Image by James BonTempo

This week I am nearing the end of filming, which has been a wonderful experience. I used examples from Bloom's Taxonomy to assist me in setting up for the best shot for what I had to work with. I first had to acquire the knowledge of how to film in order to make the camera work for what I wanted to shoot. I watched documentaries and observed how the filmmakers would set up a shot when interviewing. Also, in Kevin's class, TV News, he lectures about 3 point lighting, blocking, audio, and how to adjust the camera's settings to get the best color quality out of the attempted shot.


I obtained as much knowledge as I possibly could within the time frame I had to work with, so I then needed to understand what all of it meant. I grabbed a camera and began to tinker with it using notes from Kevin's classes. In doing this I got the feel of the camera when doing the white balance, and positioning the camera to get the shot I desired. While this was a tedious process in setting up lights, checking sound, and camera settings, it helped me understand what I've been learning. I then quickly discovered that the more prepared you are prior to shooting the better the flow of the filming in its entirety will be. This helped me breakdown setting up for a shot into sections of importance. For example, the lights must be set up before any adjustments can be made with the camera, like white balance. I finally had to evaluate myself to distinguish whether of not I was ready to begin filming my final work for my college career. My decision, to lightly put it, I'm an amateur. I went to seek advice from a fellow classmate, and he gave me some helpful suggestions to ready me for my project.

In applying Bloom's Taxonomy to educating myself with the art of filmmaking I learned that it's better to take the time to learn step-by-step verses jumping into an unfamiliar topic blindly. I can say that I'm glad that I put forth the effort to continue this project and not give up and try something different. The interesting thing is I really enjoy using a camera, writing scripts, and storyboarding. In addition to that, thus far in my project I have shot almost the entire thing, with the exception of some outdoor shots. This experience of teaching myself, seeking assistance, and applying this knowledge to my project has been wonderful and demanding at the same time. I'm excited to begin editing next week so I can spend as much time as possible finalizing before handing over the final material.