Personal reflection: technical fundamentals formative assessment AKA: aaaargh, where is the record button?

A few weeks ago, I had my first case of pre-exam freaking out in the academy. When faced with any kind of assessment, my natural reaction is to panic, stress and worry, though the only external sign is usually a twitching eyebrow and a lot of revision; so despite assurances that this assessment was a progress test not a maker-or-breaker I was nervous.

Thankfully, it went pretty well. I remembered how to calibrate my monitor and viewfinder with only a little reference to my notes to make sure I was doing it right and Ray said it was good, with just a bit of tweaking required. I ran into a bit of a snag with a faulty BNC but once I'd run through everything else (am I using the right inputs/outputs? are the batteries charged? have I switched them on?) I tried out a different cable and it was all fine. Setting the timecode was a doddle, but then in a bathetic twist I floundered trying to find the record button. Really, how silly is that? Once I'd combed the entire camera, I found a likely-looking button, hit it and success! I'd found the elusive thing, just in time to dismantle the kit.

Overall, I'm pleased with how I did but it's abundantly clear I need more practice - eventually I'd like this to be second nature so that I can get on with recording things rather than just looking for buttons. I'd also like to think that I could stop worrying unnecessarily but I have a greater chance of becoming a mathematical prodigy; worrying is what I do.