My Trip to Paris: 3 Things I Learned About Video Production

By Brittany Garshnick

Paris is as lovely as you would expect it to be! I’ve always wanted to travel abroad and Paris has always been at the top of my bucket list. Thanks to the com media department, not only did I get to be a typical tourist, I got to produce a video from start to finish in a foreign country. I could write all day about the culture and beauty of France but anyone who has been can tell you the same thing. My experience was unique because we were there to capture the experience of students who live and study in Paris. 

I was brought onto the team as a producer and editor for the NC in Paris promotional video. My job was to support the team through organizational support before and during our trip, prepare for interviews, and keep track of everything we did to help streamline the editing process. 

There is so much that I learned, so here are my top three takeaways from the trip. 

Interviewing requires preparation and skills- especially with a language barrier

As a producer, I spent less time working a camera and more time talking to people. Before we even arrived in Paris, I met a student who was in the program from a previous semester. I wanted to be prepared for our interviews in Paris, so I brought her to our team meeting for a pre-interview. This helped us write better questions for our interviews and helped us to have an idea of what to expect from their answers. 

However, no matter how much you prepare for interviews, you’ll never truly know what to expect. We didn’t write any questions for the adults we would be interviewing in Paris, so I learned how to adapt quickly. I took a lot of handwritten notes and tried to listen more than I spoke. The two women that I interviewed spoke English but French was their first language. It was challenging at times to work through the language barrier but I tried to help them by explaining my questions in a simple way, giving them examples of answers, and by affirming that they were doing a great job. At the end of my first interview, the interviewee told me “You did a great job! You make me feel so… what’s the word? Tired.” I laughed and asked, “Do you mean calm?” “Yes, calm!” We laughed. A week later, we shared a glass of rosé from her family winery in the south of France. Only in Paris! 

Your crew has your back, and you should have theirs

The great thing about this trip is the people that I went with. All of them are extremely talented and I learned so much just by observing them and asking a ton of questions. Plus, our crew bonded so much over this trip! It was amazing to be with people who loved video production and who were really good at it.  

Since I wasn’t primarily on camera or audio, it was my job to support them in any way I could. In some cases, this meant that I had to talk to police officers and security guards. We were warned ahead of time that officials wouldn’t like us having big camera equipment in public spaces. We tried our best to be discreet, but more than once we were confronted by police officers and told not to film or to put away our tripods. Keep in mind, these people were French, and we don’t speak French. I took two classes in high school so that helped me just enough to be polite. Sometimes we had a person with us who spoke french and would translate for us. It was definitely intimidating but we got used to it and were able to get the shots we needed. Looking back at some of our shots in editing, they could have looked better if we had been allowed to have gimbals or at least tripods, but I think we did the best with what we had. 

Another way I had my crew’s back was by helping them get a variety of shots. As a videographer, it’s easy to get overwhelmed when so much is happening. I followed the videographers and helped them come up with cool shot compositions. At the end of the day, I depended on them to get amazing footage. I knew they would, and they did! I loved looking through all the footage they got on the trip. I get to relive it every time I watch our video. 

Expect the unexpected

I think it’s important to mention that our trip to Paris was not completely perfect. If you have any experience in video production, you know that things can and will go wrong. We ran into pretty much every problem you can think of: low batteries, forgot a mic, harsh lighting, dropped a lens cap, background noise. These are just technicalities - all of which we were able to solve through critical thinking. We either solved it in the moment or we had to find ways to fix a shot in post-production. 

In addition to production challenges, traveling abroad comes with its own set of trials. One member of our crew had their phone stolen by a pickpocket. Thankfully the police recovered it the next day and we went to pick it up at the police station. 

Another student became severely dehydrated and I ended up taking an Uber with them and Dr. Bolduc to the hospital at 1 o’clock in the morning. Learning how to navigate an emergency situation in a foreign country was definitely not something I expected but I am glad I was there to help.

If I’m being honest, this entire trip was truly unexpected. I never thought that I would find such a perfect opportunity to study abroad at UNCW where I could put my major into practice. I am so grateful to have experienced the city of light with amazing people from UNCW and from the NC in Paris program. It was an adventure that I will never forget.