Collaboration with my fellow course mates was one of the most enjoyable aspects of this course. There are areas in filmmaking that make me more nervous than others, and therefore it was incredibly helpful to share my weaknessness with other peoples strengths and vice versa.
With Suzie, we both assisted on each other's shoots. I went with her to La Placita to shoot her contributors there. It was sometimes nerve-wracking for Suzie to go into the space on her own and approach people, and therefore my presence I think helped her feel more confident to capture certain moments. She did the same for me on my interview with Fred Mgruer. Because i was going to a stranger's house to film, I felt more comfortable with another person there. As I mentioned, handling camera equipment can sometimes distract me from a conversation and interview, and I prefer to be very much focussed on the person I am speaking to. Having Suzie there helped illiminate that stress so I could focus soley on my questions for Fred.
I collaborated with Pete on a side project in November. He had discovered a center that offered 'Chess Boxing', a hybrid sport class on saturday mornings. He led the production and direction of this shoot, and I shot the footage. I was very happy with my camerawork, and I learnt that I am a much better cinamatographer when I do not need to worry about enageing with the subjects. some shots from the film can be seen below.
Another shoot that me and Pete worked on together was a short excersise for Alev's class. We shot my friend fabio in the kitchen as we experimented with recording sound in different ways. For this shoot, I was the director and Pete monitored the camera and radio mics.
Early on in the year, Be agreed to collaborate with me for our excersise into observational documentary. For this I was both director, producer and camera woman. However, because of the observationl style of filming, I did not need to interfer much with the subject. Be led the way in terms of direction and I recorded a conversation with our other coursemate Natalia, as she asked Be questions about her drag make-up process. The full collaborative video can be found here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AVH58NT0dwg&t=10s
