So, I’m not the smartest bulb in the box, or however the saying goes. But it frustrates me when I feel like I have something to contribute to something simple, like a group exercise, and no one listens.
Today in lighting, for example. I thought we could use the umbrella diffusion as part of the set up because the light kit was short a RIFA. So we had to improvise: use a DP light with a single layer of Q2 diffusion to soften the light. We used that plus a scrim, plus a silk to diffuse and shape the light. I figured we could eliminate the scrim and the diffusion and just use the umbrella, but our professor insisted that it wasn’t needed.
Okay, except we the students are supposed to be doing the set-up. Basically he was like “Okay, so you guys are going to set it up, but if it were me, I’d put X light here and Y light here and use the bounce on Y light by this wall…” etc. Yeah, that’s not letting us do the work. We ended up setting it up exactly how he said.
Some people consider it working smarter, not harder. But I don’t know, I think I learn better by making my own mistake and experimenting using techniques that have been taught to me. I may be overreacting a little here, but it would have taken me five minutes tops to set up the light the way I wanted to see how it would look. But the professor said it was unnecessary, so that was the end of it. Maybe it was. But let me figure that out myself. That’s the point of school.
Plus, we had like ten people setting up a two-light scene. That’s like eight people too many. Many hands make light work, but too many hands means standing around and not learning because the same people take over the assignments and other people then won’t step in because it’s like, “Okay, guess you’re all set…again…knowing what you’re doing…because it’s always the same fucking people doing group assignments in class.”
That’s why even though it’s a large addition to my workload this semester, I’m glad we do assignments out of class. Three or four people in a group working three lights…everybody gets to get their hands dirty. Practice makes perfect, but it looks like any practice is never going to happen in class. Which was probably an unrealistic expectation anyway. Welp.
Amanda Kathryn Storey 