(TW: Mentions of gore)

My experience as a freelance Camera Operator on an unfamiliar film set

Last summer, in 2024, I had the privilege of working as a Camera Operator for the Independent film company Starks Films on a feature Horror ‘The Devil’s Punchbowl: Aftermath’ (Starks, 2025), alongside director and producer Adam Starks and a small crew. The work was offered to me over social media, after the Director connected with my friend and I after seeing our Instagram portfolios. This was my first time working on a feature film outside of the simulated environment of student short film sets, so I wasn’t sure what to expect. 

Adapting to a new role

Throughout my years on Film Production, I had trained on cameras but had never taken on this role before. I am an aspiring Director, who wanted to dip my foot in all aspects of filmmaking to understand the process of creation better, so I took the offer. I felt that the set was welcoming from the minute that I entered, and the Director was very trusting of our work, which made me a bit more nervous to deliver -what I thought were- adequate shots for the film. 

Challenges

Like on every film, many challenges can’t possibly be anticipated until you are there on the day. The Director delivered the script beforehand and left us with most of the creative control over the shots. Of course, at some points I was stumped on which shot to move onto next as I was working on the spot with the blocking, the location and the requirements of the scene, having stepped in mid-production. For example, I felt a great amount of pressure when there was only one opportunity to get a shot of a gory throat-cutting scene, due to the actors only having one change of costumes and the fake blood staining them. However, the Director trusted us fully and did not place any blame on myself holding the camera when I was out of focus slightly at times! 

My learnings

The Director’s calm demeanour opened the set and allowed space for a lot more creativity, more so than I would have been able to demonstrate if I was stressing for perfection. Although the set wasn’t a typical feature film environment with hundreds of crew members and structured departments, the film benefitted at times from this laid-back approach and the respect for each other’s ideas and input was unlike I have ever seen behind-the-scenes before.  

Conclusion

By throwing myself into the unknown and being trusted by someone to just create, I learnt so much about myself and my approach to work. I have always understood and appreciated the importance of a director’s vision when creating a film, however I know now that you can create something even more beautiful and unexpected when you let someone else share their perspective. Going forward into Directing any future projects, I would like to test this approach to directing. I understand that in most cases, the lack of preparation for the scene and its shots (which would usually be planned by the Cinematographer or Director) can cause massive delays in scheduling and continuity. This guerilla-style set, however, allowed me to release my worries about perfecting whatever I created and to just make something. I am proud of the results and so grateful for the experience. 

Bibliography

Adam Starks | Director, Writer, Actor. (n.d.). IMDb. Retrieved 5 May 2025, from https://www.imdb.com/name/nm5766193/

Guerrilla filmmaking. (2025). In Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Guerrilla_filmmaking&oldid=1283792798

Starks, A. (Director). (n.d.). Devil’s Punchbowl: Aftermath [Horror]. Starks Films.