Crewing for Level 6's

At university we have been asked to crew for level 6's, gaining up to 80 hours of experience over their shoot period. To do this we have to work on their films, whether pre, production or post.

To make our faces known to the year above and inform them on what role we are interested in fulfilling for them, we had a 'speed dating' session. This was set up by the lecturers and we each had 2 minutes, the level 6's to present their ideas and for us to pitch ourselves and what we are good at.

This was a valuable experience, especially for confidence, it enabled the year above to see how far we had progressed in the one year at university. Really getting familiar with our new found job roles, showing them what we are interested in as well as seeing if we can help them on their films.

I pitched myself as a lighting technician or 'Spark'. Although I'm under qualified its something i really wish to pursue when i graduate in 2015. I have looked into this area a lot. Gaining work experience for a lighting company was something i really wanted, something i felt like i needed in order to understand what i will have to do in a professional environment. The university doesn't focus to much on lighting, we had a couple TI's but thats about it. In order to learn more I bought books, researched on it. Wacthed videos and got familiar with the types of equipment i'd be likely to use.

Now all I need is real experience in this area, crewing for level 6 will give me that. Its a lot of pressure as it's their final films so i really want to put my full focus on something I know I can do. I have obtained a lighting technician role on a production, there was possibility for more but I'm glad its now only one as I can put my full focus on it.

To do the best I can for this production I will be researching into lighting for outdoors, using bounce boards and following a character with the light. I feel this will help a lot for the film and I will update soon on my findings, what I think is beneficial and what I learnt.

Adam Thornton

Twitter: @adamm_t

Email: Adammthornton@live.com