This week I traveled to Oxford to assist on a shoot for Bounce Video with OxLEP skills as a production runner. I joined Grace, the Creative Director of Bounce Video, and Chris who was the videographer. The aim of the shoot was to demonstrate the different apprenticeships available through OxLEP. We interviewed Katie, who was an apprentice electrician for Oxford University, Leona who was a PR and Communication apprentice for OxLEP itself and Usamah who worked in testing for MINI Plant Oxford. We filmed at three different locations, Oxford University’s School Of Engineering, OxLEP Skills Offices and MINI Plant Oxford. In each location, we filmed an interview with the apprentices, filmed b-roll of them in their work environment and filmed profile shots for titles.
My role mostly consisted of being a spare pair of hands throughout the shoots, helping rig and de-rig the set-ups and taking some behind the scenes stills. I also learned a technique called ‘spotting’ where I held the back of the Videographer and guided him whilst he filmed backwards in order to make sure he didn’t walk into any obstacles. It was also really useful talking to Grace and Chris about camera techniques and what to do and not do when filming. I also enjoyed talking to Chris about the equipment he was using and discussing different cameras.
Overall, I found this experience to be very insightful in what it is like to work in the industry. I was anxious as to how I would find spending a day with people I had not worked around, however, I found it very easy to talk to the crew and I really enjoyed getting to know everyone I met. By doing this I learnt a lot on shoot planning, rigging set-ups and working for clients but I also found that I knew a lot more about cameras and filming shoots than I thought I did which instilled some confidence in my skills.