Peer Review of Arts Challenge-Unit 1

Thank you to Elizabeth (the editor for the short film) for reviewing my arts award.

Peer review of arts challenge: Your ability to keep to your original plan and time manage is astounding. Although your challenge was very researched based and there wasn't too much scope for evidence-taking your blog is really cogent and the efforts you have taken are clear to see, including a bibliography especially. I enjoyed that you focused on particular women producer (who i'd have otherwise never heard of!) and really delved deep into all aspects of the challenge.

Review Project -Unit 2

I am very pleased with the result of the film I made in my group after seeing it filmed. I think that the edit and the music all tied in very well together. The  film ended up being a little shorter than expected by about 20 seconds, but that was not a problem in the slightest. The day I found the most stressful was definitely the editing day, as I found that everybody  had opinions, but what we really needed was one person just to get on with it, otherwise there were too many disagreements, so nothing got done. It was also the day that the time pressure got to us the most, as we were quite well prepared for the filming, but we had made very few plans for the editing, therefor  we were going in only with the script and a vague idea of what we were doing. 

The outcome was however better than anything we expected. This was the general consensus of the group when we reviewed it together on Facebook.

So overall, everyone who posted was happy, focusing on the final outcome over the run up. I have posted asking if there are any comments about specific days, but we will have to wait and see if anyone had anything to day about that, I will update.

When discussing how everyone did in each role, we were all very diplomatic, as well as seemingly less effective at commenting.

Starting with the director:

I would stand by my comment and say you could tell very well that Abdil had done a shot list, even if we did not exactly stick to it, and had everything planned out in his head. On the shoot day he was very efficient, as well as good to listening to other peoples comments. The only criticism would be that we weren't always sure what he was thinking or doing on shoot day when we weren't directly next to him, and it would be good to be kept updated. That is only a small niggle though.

The script writer:

I have to say, he handled our changes of ideas and plot really well, considering we left him with such vague outlines after every meeting. He did pull out aspects of the story and changed our ideas subtly to make the story very much his own. His script was simple and clear, which was what we needed, and well written. Keeping the dialogue minimal was fantastic and made the shoot easier. I did find I needed to massacre his characters frequently though to keep the actor count down.

The cinematographer:

Although very reticent at early stages and didn't really give many initial ideas, his confidence grew in the group until he was quite happy telling us each exactly what he thought. This was very helpful on the shoot day when he gave us many ideas and got really involved. On the editing day he may have tried to get too involved. but backed off by the end to let the editor get on with it. 

The editor:

I concur with the group  and agree that the editor managed to pull together all the shots very well and create a very professional outcome. I was really impressed. In the run up she suggested plenty of ideas and was very good at pulling out things she had seen that we could reference and think about. 

I can honestly say I really enjoyed my experience working with all these people, and would love to work with any of them again if the opportunity arose. 

Finally what they said of me. I will actually start by reviewing my self. I think I was fairly organised, but could have done better at reminding people to do things earlier and keep up to date as to what was going on at every point. I think I allowed myself to get out of the loop occasionally and forget what other people didn't know, causing confusion, for example I showed people the prospective setting a little late so the director had to re-evaluate over night.

I also think I could have done better in making sure the script was sent off to places in time and ready in time. I think I could have worked more closely with the script writer to make sure he was not struggling.

Apart from that I think I did OK. I managed to stop the conversation straying too much and arrange an meeting outside the course to get everything in order before the shoot.

Here is what the others thought of me:

I am glad to see that they were all very kind about me.

I hope this is a sufficient review of the entire project. Thanks for sticking through and reading about it. I have had the best of times.

Research Profile on Future Pathways- Unit 1

This research profile on future pathways may be a bit convoluted as the truth is I am not sure what I want to do. The BFI academy made me decide I would quite like to work in film. It also made me realize that there is a very wide breath of different roles within film making not making my choice any easier.

In the very short term I have applied for the BFI academy craft residential putting producer or production designer as my two choices. Hopefully this will give me more experience so help clarify what I want to be.

Firstly I am going to York University to study History. There is a student TV station there called York TV, which gives you the opportunity to 'get your face on a screen, try out your skills behind a camera, or have a brilliant idea for a show'. The station won the Best Technical Award for a student TV  in 2013, which seems quite good to me, and they say that people of any experience can get involved.
There is also the Asthetica film festival in York, which another University in York is involved in, but I see no reason why I couldn't email to see if there was any opportunity to help out or things like that.
There is also a more minor film making society that aims to produce short films. That would also be something to get involved with. As well as this there is the opportunity to get involved in Drama Societies, backstage hopefully.

After University I will have to focus on what I want to do next, which is scary. As I have taken an Art Foundation, I could potentially get into film through going on to take some sort of art course and specialize in Film making. Most schools of art, such as Glasgow, seem to offer going down the art film root. This is a possibility, but may be too expensive, as it would be nearly completely starting university again.

If I do want to continue with university education, I could apply to the National Film and Theater School to do a diploma or a masters. They often take people who already have some experience, and often who already have a degree, but wish to learn more. I would have to build up more of a portfolio of work while studying history to apply. There I could study anything from Directing animation to Screenwriting, though I may focus more on the producing and production design courses.

I could choose to study further abroad, such as in America, which has may different film courses such as in New York, however this would work out so expensive it is quite an unrealistic expectation.

If I leave university after doing history and decide I want to go straight out there, I can apply too apprenticeships, perhaps at a TV station such as ITV or the BBC. With that though I would have to stay on the ball and keep checking what come up.

Furthermore I could attempt to throw myself straight into a job at somewhere, probably attempting to get a fairly low down job and working my way up. This is how Alison Owen seemed to manage to get into producing. Otherwise I could try and succeed by becoming particularly skilled in one department of film making while at University, then use the many times mentioned 'transferable skills' I should get from studying history to try and get more work in the department I specialize in.

I feel quite unsure about this as I am wary of committing myself and saying that THIS THING is what I want to to. Overall I think in the immediate future I should just try and get involved as much as possible in film making opportunities around me to get a better idea of where I want to go in the future. I can do this by checking the South Yorkshire Filmmakers Network to see if opportunities jump up, and by continuing to explore film making in my own time with friends or animation in a group or on my own.
Bibliography
http://ystv.co.uk/about/
http://nftsfilm-tv.ac.uk/our-courses/masters
http://www.yusu.org/activities/societies/946
http://www.gsa.ac.uk/
http://www.digital-apprentice.co.uk/events/
http://www.itvjobs.com/working-here/apprenticeships/
http://www.bbc.co.uk/careers/trainee-schemes/apprenticeships
http://www.nyfa.edu/g-landing/filmmaking.php?utm_source=Google&utm_medium=cpc&Keyword=film%20school&Ad=25830828844&utm_content=type&Campaign=FilmSchool(USAOnly)New-FilmSchool&gclid=CIyKitb3yLwCFWfLtAodADgA_w
https://www.syfn.org/