On the fourth episode of the Reeder Reel, Sarah and Drea talk to Rose Caisley '26 about her role as a director of photography on a short film and the importance of extracurricular creative projects.
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- Episode Transcript
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Sarah Thompson
Welcome to the Reeder Reel. I'm Sarah Thompson and I’m the Content & Social Media Coordinator at William & Mary Libraries.
Drea George
And I'm Drea George. I am a media specialist and student supervisor at Reeder Media Center.
Sarah Thompson
So Drea and I are going to be talking to a few people from the William & Mary community who have been supported by the Reeder Media Center's equipment and expertise on their journey of lifelong learning. And we are talking to Rose Caisley, who is a senior. She's graduating in 2026.
Rose Caisley
Scary.
Sarah Thompson
I know last fall semester! And she actually works in the library. She is the social media assistant in external relations. So we work a lot together. So we are very excited to talk to her today.
Drea George
Tell us, Rose, what you are working on right now that you are excited about?
Rose Caisley
Absolutely, so I just wrapped up being director of photography for a short film here on campus, which was really fun. That was kind of like the most recent thing I've done. It was a super fun time. A good friend of mine had written, and wanted to direct this short film, based around, kind of maybe some real life experience of sending a text to someone who might have a crush on and waiting for what their response would be. And yeah, and I was in charge of reserving all of the camera equipment, serving as the DP. And yeah, just in general, making sure that we had everything we needed for filming.
Sarah Thompson
So can you talk a little bit about what a director of photography does on a film set.
Rose Caisley
Absolutely. So, for this film set, as director of photography, I basically was in charge of anything that had to do with camera and lighting, so getting the camera and the lights. We used a Canon EOS Mark VI from the media center, as well as several of our lighting kits. And yeah, basically, I'm in charge of setting up the shot, shooting the shot, making sure that everything is filed correctly, making sure all the lighting looks good and just kind of in general, putting the director's vision, you know, making it happen.
Drea George
Did you have, like, different locations that you had to set up at, like did that create some challenges with lighting, stuff like that?
Rose Caisley
It did. We had a lovely, it was a very cute scene, but it was an outdoor scene which is like the bane of I think every DP's existence is trying to get natural lighting, thankfully, it is pretty cloudy on the day and we were able to achieve a pretty good, even lighting, but yeah, so we shot outside a lot. We shot in, a couple different apartments, and a couple different campus locations, and a couple different houses.
Drea George
Nice.
Sarah Thompson
And have you been a DP before? Was this your first experience?
Rose Caisley
This was yeah, this is my first experience being DP, which was very terrifying. But thankfully, I think I came in like two weeks before we were set to shoot. And asked all the lovely, lovely people at the Reeder Media Center desk. I'm like, okay, I need to. This is the kind of shots I need, you know, what kind of lenses do I need? And I asked them just, boatload of questions. And they were very helpful and got me everything I needed, so that helped a lot.
Sarah Thompson
And did you ask anyone specifically, like who who did you got to that were really helpful?
Rose Caisley
I think for this specific project, I was just talking to the students at the desk. However, Drea basically taught me like it taught me Adobe Premiere Pro. I would not know it if it was not, for her, but I've also in the past talked to, Steve a lot in terms of, just like what cameras to use, because I am, a probably a little bit more on the unexperienced side of, you know, using cameras, particularly for filming. So everyone was incredibly helpful.
Sarah Thompson
And how would you say you've, like, trained your eye to be like a director of photography? Because I feel like you have the brain of the director, and then the eyes of the director of photography to, like, be able to make this vision come to life. Like how were you kind of thinking about how you would make that possible?
Rose Caisley
Yeah, I feel like the biggest thing is because, you know, it's it's always I feel like an interesting relationship between a director and a DP because it's so important that you're bringing their vision to life. But then also it's important that you bring kind of your own spin to it. So, the director and I, we had a shot list and we pulled a lot from preexisting, like, movies and TV shows that we love when we're like, okay, this is the kind of vibe and the kind of shot we want to go for this scene. And then in terms of like on the day, it's just like making sure you get creative with it. Like sometimes you've got to, like, crawl into a weird, like, tight space to get the shot you need. And you just need to be willing to, like, think outside the box and be like, yeah, maybe I need to shoot this, like, from the floor. Or maybe I need to stand on a chair. I've stood in or I've climbed a tree to get a shot once on another project. So it's like, you know, you just got to be able to think outside the box and really, just, like, improvise on the day.
Sarah Thompson
Anything for the good shot.
Rose Caisley
Literally anything.
Drea George
Do you have any, like, responsibilities in post? Like, are you color correcting and does your, you know, the like visual stuff translate after you're done filming?
Rose Caisley
Not on this project, but I have on others. Once again, that lovely, lovely Premiere Pro workshop that I attended at the Reeder Media Center. Yeah, no, so I've, I've definitely done a lot of color correcting and editing on other projects, but not on this one.
Drea George
Okay. Yeah. Yeah. Cool.
Sarah Thompson
And what would you say was like the most challenging thing about this project?
Rose Caisley
I mean, other than getting like seven college students to be in the same place at the same time. Other than that, that was a very big challenge. But, in terms of shooting, I definitely would say probably, that outdoor scene, once again, getting that lighting to be even and not, you know, like blow out the video. And then also just in general shooting outdoors, it was, you know, early November. It was quite cold and it wasn't taking place in the winter. So they were just wearing, like, normal clothes. No jackets or anything like that. As well as, because it was an uneven surface. There's a lot of handheld shooting that we did, which is just very hard to get, like a nice even and not make it too shaky.
Drea George
Totally. Is the film going to be available somewhere for us to watch?
Rose Caisley
Once, our lovely editor, is done editing with it, it will be available on YouTube.
Drea George
Cool.
Sarah Thompson
Very cool. And this is a outside of class project, right?
Rose Caisley
Absolutely. Yeah. It's, it was just kind of a collection of students from all over. Some of us were film and media students. Some of us were just like friends that, you know, people we pulled in to be PAs or to help, you know, run, sound and all of that. But yeah, this was completely student run, completely outside of, like, any class or any club.
Sarah Thompson
And why do you think it's important to participate in those kinds of projects outside of the classroom?
Rose Caisley
I feel like, you know, there's only so much time we can spend in school, you know what I mean? It's learning in the class is very fun. But when you have the pressure of, you know, you have an assignment or you're getting a grade, there's a due date. Yeah. Sometimes, you know, it's like, okay, just. I just got to get this done for the due date. And if it's not the best, that's okay. Whereas when you do something independently like this, it really is just a passion project with absolutely everyone working on it. Like, we were all there because we wanted to have fun and we love making short films. And so everyone was very invested. And because we didn't have that, you know, looming idea of like, oh, it needs to, you know, be done before this due date or it needs to fit this certain rubric criteria. We were really able just to have fun and get creative with it.
Sarah Thompson
Yeah, you get to like, experiment without the high stakes of a deadline.
Rose Caisley
That's not like, oh my gosh, my professor's going to see this. I hope they like it. It's like, no, we're doing this just because we like it.
Sarah Thompson
And can you talk a little bit more about the media center and the resources that you used for this project? And like, how familiar were you with the media center before you did this project?
Rose Caisley
I would say I was definitely very familiar with the Reeder Media Center. I spend a lot of time in here sometimes, just studying down here, but, yeah, I would say I was pretty well aware of the cameras. I had used a bunch of them for photography before. So while it was kind of new to, like, venture into video, it was, I definitely have, like, become familiar with that. And then I'm also pretty familiar with the lighting kits. I've worked on a couple other short films where I've been in charge of lighting. And so I felt pretty comfortable using those. And then, yeah, all of the lovely, lovely Adobe products. I basically learned how to do all of them in the Reeder Media Center.
Sarah Thompson
And you are a film major, correct? Yep. So, what do you see yourself doing after graduation, which is looming? I know that's like the worst question to ask a graduating senior, but have to.
Rose Caisley
Oh, gosh. I really love and have fallen in love with, both sports entertainment and live TV. So the goal would be to do something in that realm, whether it's working for broadcast news and working on you know, you know, live sports or whether it's kind of more on like the representation side of different athletes and different, kind of personalities within like, sports entertainment.
Sarah Thompson
Okay, cool.
Drea George
So what you're saying is we're going to see you on ESPN?
Rose Caisley
Basically. Yeah.
Sarah Thompson
Dodging footballs on the sideline.
Rose Caisley
Rose Caisley, coming soon as your new sideline reporter.
Sarah Thompson
Very cool can't wait. It seems like you, like to, like, do a lot of different things where a lot of different hats, like what excites you creatively to be a part of a project?
Rose Caisley
I think, I think what, excites me most is to be a part of a project. It's just I can tell that, like, everyone else is really excited. I don't, I'm always down to do short films, I love, photography, I love, I've worked with some people on, like, podcasting stuff. And I think as long as everyone's, like, very excited to be there, I'm down to help in whatever capacity I can. But, yeah, I also would say getting to work with my friends is a really big plus. Obviously, since I'm in college and, you know, carving out some free time for us to do something just fun together and hang out and but also have something that like we can show for, you know, hanging out.
Sarah Thompson
Yeah. Capture those memories.
Rose Caisley
Exactly. Yeah. But yeah, I also love, as you could tell, probably by the or, excuse me, I should say the logline of, the short film, the text. It's kind of a little bit of a romance comedy. Really cute. So I also love just kind of fun genre stuff like that.
Sarah Thompson
I wonder, like, what has the Reeder Media Center like meant to you? Like having it as a source available and accessible, how has that affected your college experience here?
Rose Caisley
Absolutely.
Sarah Thompson
Deep question.
Rose Caisley
Yeah I know. I want to give a good answer because it has meant a lot. I just think in general, I think a common frustration with college can often be that we're learning a lot of theoretical things. And we are not really learning anything practical. And so I think the biggest thing that the Reeder Media Center has allowed me to do is just to get hands on, on amazing equipment that has allowed me to take things I'm learning in the classroom and really put them into practice. Because without that I would, you know, have a, you know, wonderful degree, but I'd get out of here in four years and it's like, okay, what do I do now? Like, I don't I don't know how to use any of this equipment. I don't know how any of this stuff works. And so Reeder has given me so many practical skills that I can now take into my very fast approaching career. And, that has allowed me to have, like, a bigger breadth of experience and a bigger breadth of skills.
Also, I loved hanging out when, all the 24 Speed. That was such a fun night. I got to see, like, all of the different teams, many of whom are friends of mine, just because of film, major and then film clubs. And so getting to, like, see their excitement when they got a specific genre or specific prompt, was actually so fun. So that is a very specific niche memory that the Reeder could, excuse me, a specific niche memory that the Reeder Media Center is given me, but I do treasure it.
Sarah Thompson
Thank you for chatting with us, Rose. This was really fun.
Rose Caisley
Thank you for having me on the pod.
Sarah
Of course
Laughing
Sarah Thompson
Thanks for listening to another episode of the Reeder Reel.
Drea George
You can find the Reeder Media Center on the ground floor of Swem Library,
Sarah Thompson
and be sure to follow us on the Media Center's Instagram @reedermediacenter.
Drea George
So we're going to do a fresh new segment called Reeder's Digest. Where we talk about things that we are learning, Sarah and I on our lifelong learning journeys. So Sarah tell me what you have been digesting this week?
Sarah Thompson
So my Reeder's Digest actually has to do with digesting. I really like to cook. It's a fun way for me to experiment and let off steam after work. And I unintentionally bought only vegetarian meals this week. And I kind of learned ways that I can make sure that I'm full without eating meat, which was kind of exciting. I don't have any plans to be vegetarian, but it was fun to experiment and try new meals. I’m definitely a comfort meal person. So yeah, I ate lots of chickpeas, hard boiled eggs, sweet potatoes, kale. I'm not really a kale person, but actually kind of enjoyed it. So yeah, that was mine. What were you digesting Drea?
Drea George
This week I learned about a basic feature in TikTok that I learned from my students. So every time I have tried to post a story to TikTok, it will automatically put music on there or sounds on there. And I often don't want them. I just want them to be like whatever the photo or video is. So I learned that in order to take off the music, all you have to do is de-select it. Who knew there are no buttons or anything else that you have to do? I just had a boomer moment and my student saved me. So that's what I learned this week.
Sarah Thompson
Thank you. Gen Z.