Am I Camera Shy? is a ten-minute documentary idea, exploring the fears of being in front of the camera.
While trying to come up with an idea for my documentary assignment, I came across many suitable 'day in the life' ideas and equally as many 'what would happen if I did this...' kind of ideas, but as each of these arose, one thing stopped me making it – my camera shyness.
This led me to think that if I couldn't go on camera, I could never be documented. And neither could the countless other people with the same fears.
That means that there are thousands, if not millions of important people in the modern world that practically no one knows exists, because the media is often very focused on physical images of the people it wants to represent.
It may be a choice for some, but for others it is almost a disability, in the way that it stops them from being able to put themselves in the spotlight, stops them being creative with things like YouTube and limits communication, i.e. no Skype, no photographs to share etc.
So, for my short film, I have decided to document the hazards that camera-shy people, like me, come across in everyday life, while trying to coax myself into appearing on camera.
In this day and age, where the visual medium is paramount and prominant, little is known about the camera-shy individuals hiding in the blurred corners and shadowed recesses of this video world.
These undocumented, secretive souls must be given a face...
So let's see what we can do!
