SCRUM (Short Documentary) Directed by Isabel Allen – Camera and Boom Operator

I was lucky enough to be offered the opportunity to be a camera operator on a film student’s documentary. It is a reflective and participatory documentary that questions world rugby and their posed rule to ban transgender players from competing at the highest level. I was very excited about the prospect of working on this project because I felt like the documentary could bring attention to important issues regarding gender and sexuality in sport that isn’t often addressed. During the filming process it also became a current debate within the media, as Emily Bridges, a transgender cyclist was surrounded with controversy. She was stripped of her winning title in a female event as she still ‘legally’ classified as a man, and on trans visibility she was also meant to compete in a female competition, and she was told she couldn’t participate. I also wanted to work on this project because I felt that the crew involved would be able to produce a cinematic and emotional piece. The director, Isabel Allen is very passionate about this topic, both as a female rugby player and a member of the LGBTQ+ community, she wanted to draw as much positive attention to the debate regarding transgender sports person as possible. Rugby is a sport that is widely associated with being inclusive and welcoming, despite individual characteristics like body type, gender, and sexuality, so the director questions why the transgender community are not greeted with the same values?

In my role as a camera operator, I was thoroughly briefed by the assistant director as to what shots were required before each shoot. I participated in three separate shoot days, the first was a Brighton University Women’s rugby game playing against UCL. The second was Brighton Panther’s rugby training session, and the third was a training session from Crawley Ladies Rugby Union, where we interviewed Abi Crawley (player) and Dee Croft-Smith (Coach and former Wales International). I was included in a zoom briefing well as in person briefing before each shoot day and was given a very specific shot list by the director of photography. The documentary is structured mainly as interviews with players, coaches, and members of the LGBTQ+ society, alongside footage from rugby training sessions and matches.

During the interviews the director wanted to use several different lenses to offer different perspectives and angles, it also helps to keep audiences engaged with a fast paced edit. I filmed on a Sony A7Sii and used both Samyang and Zeiss lenses, mostly a 35mm still lens as it is used in most standardised interviews , we also set up two more cameras on tripods with 80mm and 125mm lenses, so that we could get Abi, Dee, and Isabel in the same shot together. In contrast, during the rugby games and training sessions, we used adjustable lenses 24-70mm, 50-100mm adjustable lenses. We did this in order to capture wide gameplay shots of players with smaller focal lenses and close ups shots with the larger lenses. During the games it was difficult to use the 24-70mm lens because we had to camera operate from behind the pitch side-lines due to health and safety restrictions, therefore making it more challenged to gain a wider variety of shot types, like close ups and reaction shots. This meant that we did not have as much varied footage as we had hoped, so we had to attend another training session with Brighton Panthers rugby team to get the shots that were missing. The intimacy of the training instead of a game made it more accessible to capture lots of different shot types, movements, and angles, including being up close in a scrum.

The director gave me a very specific shot list before each game, but also gave me the opportunity to be creative and try new things. It was important to show a variety of different tackle shots, from different angles and lenses in order to add pace to the edit, whilst being alongside slower and more emotive shots of the players faces and reactions. Although some of the shots on the list were more difficult to capture, I feel as though I did a good job following direction as well as working with the other crew members. I am especially pleased with the final shot of the documentary, which involved the players walking past the camera laughing together with the sunset in the background. I felt that this shot was a perfect depiction of the tone of the documentary, and how rugby remains an inclusive sport despite a player’s gender. It also demonstrates the overall visual style of the project, and the directors focus on cinematic effect. Although the majority of the shoots went well, I did experience difficulties whilst at the game against UCL, when the DJI Ronin Gimbal could not be set up due to technical issues. We wanted to use the ronin to stabilise the shots whilst filming the games as it didn’t look right keeping the camera static on a tripod, so chose to have movement in the shots. This risk paid off in some shots, with them coming out with a smooth pan, however, in others, it was apparent that the camera was hand-held, and the outcome was very shaky. Despite the editor trying to stabilise them in post-production, some could not be used in the final edit, which was very disappointing.

Another issue that we encountered on Crawley shoot was that we changed to a Sigma lens attached to the A7Sii camera, which ended up creating a black ring around the corners of the image. None of the crew members were able to identify the issue as to why this was happening at the time and due to the sun setting, we didn’t have enough time to do a full exploration. However, after the shoot we realised that there was unknowingly an additional adapter attached to the camera that resulted in the black blurred effect. I was thoroughly frustrated by this as I thought most of the footage would not be useable, luckily this was easily adjusted in post-production, by zooming in and cropping the black edges out of the image, to make it look normal again.

Due to crew illness on the shoot with Crawley Rugby Club I also took on the role of boom operator during the interview, I worked closely with the sound recordist as I have never boom operated before, we recorded using a Sennheiser MKE 600, a shotgun microphone. I was thoroughly briefed by the sound department on how to operate boom pole, I had to hold the boom high in shot because the wide lens camera on the tripod would have got the mic in shot if it was held from a low angle. We used a MixPre-6 MK2 alongside an XLR cable to capture the sound effectively during the interview. I was warned by the sound department the dangers of health and safety, using a three metre cable running along the floor in a small changing room with so many people inside. I found boom operating to be a very challenging role, as I had to hold the pole high above my head for over 20 minutes, whilst making sure the cable was tightly wrapped around the pole otherwise it gains inconsistent sound.

Overall, I felt like this project was a huge success, I think that we were able to create a documentary that raises awareness to important current issues regarding transgender sports persons. I also thoroughly enjoyed taking part in this shoot, as well as the crew being a pleasure to work with, it was also amazing to meet so many new people and be welcomed into the rugby community with open arms. I’m also very proud of how the final edit turned out, I feel like the shots look professional and offer a wide variety of movements and angles.