For my Take a Teen to Work Day experience over spring break, I was able to shadow Bartram Nason, a professional Atlanta videographer. During the day, I was able to learn from Bart and his charismatic crew about some of the most professional techniques in the filmmaking industry. This included ways to set up shots, stage environments, light subjects, and much more as we went throughout the Georgia State University campus and got interviews from different professors and graduates on the school’s different programs. I had a lot of fun during my experience and was able to take a lot away from it.

There were many interesting aspects on filmmaking I was able to learn by being part of this experience. Probably the biggest thing I was able to take away from this was the importance of storytelling no matter how one tells it. This became apparent to me as I witnessed Bart meticulously making sure shots were as perfect as possible, which could include something as big as changing locations to something as minor as moving a stack of magazines in the background by just an inch forward.

To me, this was something completely new, as I’m used to seeing this kind of setting up and direction on more traditional movie narrative storytelling platforms. However, as time went on during the shoot, I was able to see just how even these minor touches could add so much to something so simple. Just to see the wheels turning in Bart’s head as he assessed every second going by during a shot was very engaging and left quite an impression on me.

I was also able to get a taste of just how unstable the pacing of the job could be during a single day of shooting. At some points, we had to move fast to finish up interviews to avoid conflicting with scheduled meetings going on in the room we were occupying and other times, we moved much slower, waiting for interviewees and shooting b-roll on the streets. This sudden change of pace was no big deal for me, but still came as a surprise, and I could see how someone hoping for a more constant flow in their job could be turned away from this kind of career.

Overall, I had a very good time during the shoot and was able to take a lot from my experience. There were some surprises that came along the way, but the surprises made me even more excited for the career. I love the challenges, the sudden changes of pace, the attention to detail because at the end, it all will add up something amazing. And to know that I made it is beyond satisfying.