When asked what my favorite pieces of art are, people are often surprised to know that included in my list among paintings and sculptures are also films. In college, I took a History of Film class where I gained a deep appreciation of movies and learned how if done with a high level of concept and craft, they can be fine art; but it wasn’t until interning at Galileo Media Arts that I got a behind the scenes glimpse into just how much thought and effort goes into creating the craft behind these masterpieces.
It never ceased to amaze me the amount of attention and effort that went into planning and producing each video. When I saw my first preproduction book, I was in awe of the detail as I flipped through pages and pages of finely illustrated storyboards, complete with copious notes, for what I had thought was going to be a simple shoot.
When it came to executing the thorough plans, GMA was just as meticulous, sometimes spending a whole day beforehand setting up all of the lighting and test shooting to make sure that the day of a shoot would go perfectly. I remember being so amazed when our team had gone through so much effort in securing a piece of plexiglass, making sure it didn’t get scratched, staging and lighting the glass for multiple hours, only to use it for a seven second shot.
And when it came to working in postproduction, everything was considered down to the single frame. I had worked with a client for an animation and we would constantly tweak the movement of certain images down to a frame. At first I questioned whether or not altering such minute details would make any difference, but when I stepped back and saw the end result, I saw that these smalls details were what made all the difference in the animation we were producing.
Whether it was adjusting a key frame in an animation or making sure the lighting on a subject’s hair was just right, all of these small details that the crew at Galileo Media Arts paid attention to were what elevated the pieces to the high level of art that I have grown to love. I am thankful for my internship at Galileo, as it has helped me to learn and appreciate the attention to detail and the amount of effort it takes to plan, produce and execute great videos.
