Katie McDowell (McTAP) was a camper for three years and has been a counselor and the Filmmaking TA for the past three years. She is in her third year as an RTF major at the University of Texas in Austin.
Over the last few weeks I have been working on two films. One is a senior Film major’s thesis film, Merchant Prince. The other is my final RTF 366K (Film Production 1) project, Mayfly. On the film Merchant Prince I am acting as Production Designer – this film is my final project for my other production course, RTF344M. The director, director of photography and I have been working together to help form the visual aesthetic of the film. We will be shooting the film on the RED camera, which will be a great experience. I’ve never worked with the RED, so it will be a great experience to watch the director of photography work. I am also in charge of props for this film. One of the most important props that we need is a knife with a dull enough edge to be safe to hold up to skin. I ended up buying a knife and then going outside and cutting into the curb like it was a loaf of bread. I probably looked ridiculous but it worked to dull down the blade, and now we have a safe way to achieve the shot desired. I am excited about this project! In fact, I may also be composing some music for the final film! Not only am I production designing this thesis film, I am also working with a partner to create a final 6-minute short film project for another class. I will be completely in charge of the visuals — Director of Photography (and Production Designer). I am excited to attempt new lighting techniques and learn how to work with the Canon 7D. We actually had nearly 100 responses to our auditions call, so we are very excited for everything to come together. Even though we’re both juniors, we’ve worked really hard on this project, comparable to a senior’s thesis film. Pre-production has included hours of auditioning, storyboarding, shot listing, location scouting, choosing lenses, experimenting with lighting, etc. It’s been exhausting (on top of all this, I am also working on a final editing project – a short documentary about voting), but it’s just what I want to do! I’ve been learning so much by working with so many other people in the RTF department at UT, and I can’t wait for the shoot(s) this weekend! (and TAP camp, 2011, June 12-July 3!)
