Working with the BBC and Black camel

One of the requirements for this year’s college course is to go out and find our own work experience. I was able to get hold of a family friend who is a producer at black camel productions, they offered me a place as part of the camera team on week 11 of a 12-week production. The shoot was in Glasgow, so I slept on a friend’s sofa for 5 days. Initially my role was just to get coffees and lunches, but I really wanted to be involved and always offered my services. For legal reasons I was not allowed to touch lenses or camera, but I managed the workflow of batteries amongst the cameras and all monitors on set while also helping move equipment back and forth.

This experience was a huge one I learned so much about myself and what my future beholds. I learned a tremendous amount about what it’s like to be on a set, in terms of etiquette and how the day-by-day routine flows and how people behave. Being a part of the camera team, I learned a lot about different pieces of higher-level equipment and the role it plays in making their jobs easier, I also improved socially talking to industry people and observing how different people act on set.

When I have the pleasure of working on professional set again, I would probably try and talk more to the director, the Ad’s and the script supervisors as that’s the area of the machine I want to operate in.