BFI Week 1

Wednesday 6th November, Saturday 9th November

1.1       Describe areas for development in your current knowledge, understanding and skills 

What is your current knowledge and understanding of film?  (For example: watching film, reviewing, photography, making your own films, Youtube channel, film or media course, work experience)

I am very interested in acting in film, but also directing in film. I’ve had some experience in film making; in 2017 I helped film a political art video on behalf of the artist Joanna Rajkowska, which was shown in her London exhibition. I’ve acted in my friends short film; ‘Halloween Dropout’ by Ada Urbaniak which was part of an international Young People’s film competition, screened in London at a film festival.

I would see myself taking the roles of an actor in my Academy film. Potentially a director too, so I could experience control of numerous important film making areas e.g. filming to blocking scenes.

I hope to gain confidence in myself and my abilities, understanding of the film making process, access to the film making industry and to broaden my horizons of potential future careers/ areas I could pursue; whether that be within the acting industry or a producer.

I would like to understand the process of making a film better, because I used to make films in my spare time but never took them seriously. But once I know the true professional technique, I could develop my own projects and make them a significantly better standard; allowing me to publish them and possibly progress in a more serious film career. Secondly, improving my acting in film skills will benefit my acting skills all together; as I would then have theatrical drama skills as well as on-film skills, helping me pursue a possibly career in acting.

I plan to experience acting in film further, hence my participation in the BFI Film Academy, which will also hopefully help me decide of I wish to study other aspects of film further.

1.2       Take a role in the production of a short film

My chosen production role is the Director and Actor

To plan for my role/s I think I will practice my acting on screen, by getting involved in more acting opportunities e.g. NSPCC commercial which I play an abused 16 year old, which I managed to get involved in after I chose the role. Also, I will research the roles and responsibilities a Director has, in order to act appropriately in my group.

In pre-production I will help decide on how the story should be conveyed technically, emotionally via the acting, costumes, locations and organisation of my peers whilst working as a group; advising them on how they should be doing certain things e.g. the camera person; I will advise them on the best type of shots for when we are filming, and I shall run rehearsals for the actors, etc. In production I will have a major role in telling the rest of the crew the most effective ways to do their jobs; especially the actors and any extras, I will run through the scenes, multiple times if necessary, in order to make sure they look as good as they can and the actors have met their potential. Post-production my role will be less significant and prominent, but I will still advise crew members; I will help guide the editors choices, in terms of sound and scene length and organise credits.

In order to fulfil my role successfully as a director I need to have good communication, team work, leadership and management/organisational skills as well as creativity, education and understanding of my role. I also think I will need patience and determination during the production process; often creative directorial choices clash with the ideas of other crew members; causing conflict. Therefore, in moments like that, I would need creative flexibility, patience and open-mindedness to get past the disagreement and come up with a satisfactory solution. As well as making hard decisions at times.

As an actor, I will need numerous important skills and features; confidence, creativity, perseverance, thoughtfulness and communication skills. In order to cooperate with others I would need to be patient and determined, especially if there are any scenes that need several retakes. Communication skills are massively important in regards to the latter, as I need to be able to understand I’ve been expected to do, in what way, and to be able to tell others if a certain performance demand wasn’t working for me. Creativity is significant in film making as an actor, because it means I could offer interesting interpretations to lines and to a character, consequently making the film more intriguing and skilful in its visual presentation.

As a director I don’t think I will need any major equipment other than organisational equipment like a notebook, pen, checklist; I would use the notebook to keep a list of things to do, check, advise throughout each stage of the production and a checklist for each crew member to make sure they’re on track and performing to their best ability.

The resources I will need in my film production will be a camera to film with, locations, extras, costumes, possibly extra lights, maybe microphones, computer for editing with an editing software and importantly the help of others; the producer!

2.2       Describe a range of key job roles and responsibilities in the film industry

— The Producer; in control of everything from the idea generation, to the screening of the produced film.

— The Director; in control of the creative, visual side of the film; guides the technical crew, influences casting choices, design, visualises the script and directs the dramatic side to the play. Overall responsible of the successful development of a film.

— The Costume Designer; in control of all the costumes used in a film; designs, creates the costumes suitably for the actor and the film’s artistic vision.

— The Casting Director; responsibility for the full cast of a film; organises auditions, decides on which actors to employ and which particular roles, sorts out the actors’ contracts and fees. Acts as a ‘liaison’ between the director, actors and their agents.

— The Distributor; Responsible for the marketing of a film; important role for financing a film, ‘sustaining a global product’.

All roles work together in the film-making process because production is a communal process. The producer is constantly involved and acts as the ‘boss’; employs the director, who oversees the costume designer, casting director and distributor and possibly even advising them on their roles and helping their decisions. All of the later are employed by the producer, but the producer relies on all the different jobs to make the film e.g. the distributor allows the producer’s film to be supported in the market and therefore shown and published in numerous places, possibly leading to huge popularity and success.

5.1       Review and critique at least one short film production

Nursery Rhymes, Tom Noakes, Australia, 2019

Storyline summary; A group of ‘metal-heads’ (young musical individuals, all united with the love for heavy metal music and a certain dress sense to do with that scene) had been involved in a critical car crash with another car, resulting in several casualties. One of the main metal-heads sings Old MacDonald throughout the short film, who we find out is to comfort a baby who is distressed. The baby has clearly has lost their parent, during the horrific scene, and the ‘nursery rhyme’ clearly serves as a distraction from the chaotic atmosphere and death.

The theme somewhat chilling, to do with reckless driving. Possibly the reality of reckless drivers and death. Also an underlying theme about the true kindness of metal head people, as they are stereotypically seen as scary looking individuals and because of the extreme style music they listen to, they are generalised to be angry, dangerous people. The short film very much shows them as any other human, potentially nicer than most strangers because they willingly help a parentless baby in such a distressing situation.

The film is a Drama

Sound was used in a minimalistic way. There was a gradual increase in sound, caused by a layering affect of different voices, naturalistic background sounds (e.g. cars driving by, talking) whilst the sinister sounding song continued more or less throughout.

The camera techniques used were also very subtle, simple and effective. The film was a ‘one-shot’ piece, creating a sense of realism as everything occurred in one shot just like situations in real life. The camera slowly turned round the setting, until it was right in front of a crying woman’s face, where it zoomed in and focused on the baby she was holding. This was a 360 degree camera shot.

Consequently, obvious editing was sparse if any major editing was used. At one point there was an industrial, ambient, drone sound which was used very subtly to sound like a busy road was nearby. So I would say the editing style was simplistic creating a very raw feel to the short film (which seemed appropriate considering the bleak situation of a deathly car crash). This is one of the main reasons I enjoyed the film so much, because it wasn’t over done or therefore melodramatic in it’s presentation in anyway, so immediately it came across as realistic and compelling; like I was witnessing a real situation in front of my eyes as the film unraveled.

Setting; rural roadside next to a farm. For most of the film the setting was a farm, seen behind the singing metal head man. The setting then progressed to a roadside, with rural surroundings.

I think the film could have been aimed at reckless drivers, local farmers (as some of the farmers came to help with the casualties) but potentially anyone. This is because car crashes occur on major roads in industrial areas like our own cities/neighbourhoods, to rural areas so the audience is technically world wide as anyone, anywhere can relate and be caught in the same situation.

Th film was very effective in my opinion as it shocked me, due to the unexpected development of the storyline; it took a dark turn which affected me emotionally because it was realistic and unfiltered. In this way, the film was very powerful, also in the sense that it destroyed stereotypes.

Overall, I would recommend the film because it is moving, gripping, chilling and relatable.

BFI Week 2

Saturday 16th November

4.2     Explain why copyright is important in the film industry

Copyright = important rights you, as a film maker (or a general author), have; allowing you to make a copy of your film, allow it to be published; screened publicly, shown on TV, etc; others would need your permission to do this.

The law of copyright exists in order to protect your work from others and allows you to get money from your work (if others wanted to use it). Also, because Film-makers have the moral right to be acknowledged within the production.

‘Intellectual property law’ is covered by copyright, meaning artistic works; musical, literary works e.g. film, computer software, poetry, novels and so on.

If I used copyrighted work in my film; I would need to find the owner of the work, e.g. a song, ask for permission and negotiate payment if necessary in order to have an agreement that I could use their piece of work. If I didn’t do this and I’m found guilty of ‘copyright infringement’ I could be fined varying amounts depending on how used the work is.

I think the copyright law could affect my film production in terms of music. Personally I envision music with scenes, but most of the miscue I know will be heavily copyrighted, if it’s widely used enough for me to know it well. Therefore, finding music to use for my film will be tricky because I don’t want to use copyrighted music and potentially be fined for my damage.

BFI Week 3

Saturday 23rd November

4.2 – Demonstrate Good Health and Safety practice when working on film productions (Part 1)

Considering health and safety during a film production is important because it can help repent accidents from happening on set, during filming, etc. which could affect the whole film e.g. if an actor tripped on a wire and injured his/hers face, they would be unable to act for a significant amount of time depending on how visible and painful the injury was. Due to the many factors involved in a film production, like lighting, camera, sound, set, there would be many potential risks to consider.

The key safety issues relating to a film production include; Weather; if it’s raining surfaces could become slippery and dangerous, actors and crew members need to be dressed sensibly to avoid becoming too cold and vice versa (sun stroke, dehydration, etc.) tripping hazards; cables from microphones, cameras, lighting, lifting hazards; especially with large, expensive equipment or if the film has a built set, it could fall apart or heavy objects could be dropped, broken/ injure someone, and many more.

A risk assessment is vital when producing a film, because it shows you have considered all the possible dangerous situations with a sensible response; preventing any accidents from happening on the day. This improved awareness of all ways things could go wrong, will help keep everyone safe. Even minor elements like pressure to finish filming, leading to rushing, not looking after equipment properly can decrease people’s safety massively.

Risk Assessment

(To be continued further before the shoot)

Hazard: Camera/microphone/lighting wires

Risk: Tripping and getting injured, breaking equipment

Response: Tape all lose wires down to the floor, or keep them out of actors/ cameramen’s routes or wrap around equipment e.g. boom mic; wrap wore around the pole.

Hazard: Smashing guitar

Risk: injury by impalement of the broken bits of guitar, they could be sharp and fly out of control

Response: Have the camera far away from the action and zoom in, keep other crew members away/ wearing protective clothing if close, possibly have a practice guitar to destroy before shooting the scene.

Hazard: Weather

Risk: It could be rainy and cold, causing slippery surfaces for filming and acting and illness if crew members are too cold throughout shooting in the open

Response: Check the weather forecast 48 hours, 24 hours and 6 hours before the shoot to have time to prepare clothes, extra heating, umbrellas, possibly alternative locations, etc.