UNIT 2-Part E

During the course from being a producer, my confidence has grown so much with communicating with the group and the actors that was in our film. It has developed my communication skills and also organisations skills with planning for a short film with actors, it has shown me that it comes with great responsibility being the producer. The project plan worked surprisingly well with how quick we came up with the idea and how everyone really liked it as it was an idea that was from the opening night, with the group of me, Melissa and Lizzie. I stuck to what I wanted to do throughout this course and the main one was helping my confidence which it definitely did. The challenges of the project was what a producer does on set, which I got told on the day that the producer is not normally on the set which it was quite difficult to contribute because I didn't know how much I should get involved as I thought I'd be over riding the job of the director, AD and Cinematographer. I have learnt that if you have a point and suggestions, that you should always say no matter what because it may get used and that's what happened with some of my suggestions that I told the director. In the future, I would have planned the shoot day out more of what I was going to do, made it more clear what my role was and what I was in charge of and also spoke to the actors more than I should so they didn't feel awkward or uncomfortable at the beginning of shooting.

UNIT 2-Part D

This is showing me helping my group on our Facebook group chat by helping them with their blog, by sending them all my pictures I got from the shoot day.

This is me helping my group find some music for the background of the film by searching on different websites to find the correct one. This was a problem as we couldn't find any that would fit and that was free but finally Jamaal found the perfect one that we all agreed to.

This was me reminding the group about all the things they need to remember for the shoot day which was the following day.

Feedback on my leadership skills

This is some feedback off the scriptwriter in our group. 

UNIT 1-Part D

Throughout the course I met many different people in the filming industry, that shared us their story on how they got to where they are and what they do in their job. I met Debbie Howard who was the Directing Mentor and she shared with us how to direct and the responsibilities that it came with while on set and sorting out a film. This made me realise how difficult being a director is and the responsibilities it comes with. I met Becky Mark-Lawson who was the Scrip Mentor, she told us about her past job which was a producer and what you had to do in production, she then shared with us how to write scripts and how they work on set. I met Daren Eagles who was the Cinematography mentor, who told us about cameras and had a workshop for us to go play around on the cameras and checking out all the different types and how you would use them. This interested me the most as it was fun using different cameras and seeing the really professional ones up close. We then did workshop in the Hallam University with Vanessa Wells who was our edit mentor who showed us how to do simple editing on Adobe Premiere and short cuts for when our editors come to edit the film. This help me with adobe premiere as I already use it for my media course for editing vlogs, some of the tips that I learnt off Vanessa have been really beneficial for my editing for my vlogs in college. Andy Beecroft came in to talk to us about DocFest which was really interesting as I didn't know anything about Docfest and this is something that I will consider going to in the future.

Here, I have been researching what courses that Hallam offer, if I choose to go into Filming after college. However I am still considering between filming and photography but they will be a camera involved!

This part of the course made me have a wider picture of what I could do after college and made me realise that there is more opportunities out there then I thought. Going to events such as DocFest is something interesting that would be great to go too. Meeting all these people that are doing what they enjoy and work hard at it, shows you can do anything if you put your heart into it.

Further research


Before coming to the BFI, I've always been interested in photography, so this would be a path that I also want to consider or maybe do both at University. By doing BFI, this has gave me more of a inside to the filming industry and what it has to offer. I like working with cameras and wanting the perfect shot.

I searched media universities and this league table appeared of the best Universities in the UK, as I want to go one of the best universities, to get the best grades.

I then went into further research of the University of Warick and went on there website. I then found out that they don't do photography also.

I then went into further research to find Universities that do Photography. I came across University of Roehampton which I then went onto searching the website..

I went onto the website, that I then found out that the University does film as well as photography which would be ideal for me to make my career choice.

 I then clicked on both of the courses to see what they had to offer and found out that there courses seem ideal to me. This is a place that I will consider when choosing my University, next year.

UNIT 2-Part B/C

On the shoot day, everything went to plan on the location, actors turned up on time, the equipment and props. We changed a few things round, which was the location of the table and where it would look better. As a producer I made sure the actors were happy, I spoke to them so they didn't feel uncomfortable and got them glasses of water. Throughout the shoot day I watched mostly on the cinematographer, AD and director work closely with the camera, Lizzie was working with the sound and Rohan was helping with the light. What I would have done in the future, would be to get around the camera and make sure we was capturing as much shots as possible, however at the time, I wasn't sure how much I should of been round the camera as I felt this was the directors job to instruct them. I will also have more confidence in voicing my opinion of things that would work well and things that could be changed.

These are images from notes in my booklet about production, notes from meetups and plans for our film There is also images from the shoot day.

UNIT 1-Part C

The Theory of everything review
At the Showroom on Friday 9th January 2015, me and my boyfriend went to see 'Theory of Everything' which is a film about Stephen Hawking's life. My rating of the film I will give the film is a 4/5, as the film was amazing and really touching. The plot of the film was showing Stephen Hawking growing up and living with 'Motor Neuron disease' which effects the muscles in the body which was really heartbreaking to watch. There was also another touching story within the film with him and the relationship between his wife Jane, who later do not stay together as she couldn't cope with the problems regarding his illness. I haven't given it a 5 out of 5 because some parts of the film for me were difficult to understand and it isn't my usual genre of film that I regularly watch and enjoy. However, this surprisingly turned out to be amazing and touching film.

The film was basically aiming at Stephen Hawking's life and how he grew up living with Motor neuron disease with him being such a intelligent man, going to a high class boarding school when he was younger and becoming such a outstanding theorist. The director I believe was trying to raise awareness also on the disease and making people realise the troubles people have to go through. The central goal for the film is to raise awareness of the disease and to educate viewers on the life of Stephen Hawking.

The motifs that were in the film were the relationship that Stephen was in from when he was at University, who he met at a small party. She called Jane. After Stephen found out that he only had 2 years to live, Stephen and Jane made the most out of it as they got married and gave birth to their child. However, as time passes and Stephen's muscles get weak, he relies on Jane to do everything for him, we see Jane slowly get more and more stressed out at the fact of caring for him as she wasn't strong enough. Later in the film Jane gets close with a man that works at the local church who is a choir director he then becomes apart of the family as he is helping out with Jane and Stephen and wants the best for the family. However, Jane and the man who is called Jonathan Hellyer Jones start to share feelings between one another, however Jane doesn't accept her love for Jonathan as she believes she cannot leave Stephen. A new character who becomes Stephen's helper, Elaine, starts to show much more attention to Stephen than Jane was and they fall for each other. Jane finally gets to share her life with Jonathan and Stephen shares his with Elaine.

Stephen was the main character of the film as the film was based around him and his life, he was a good caring character and showed a funny sense of humor which made me laugh a couple of times. He was always smiling and being positive despite the illness. He was highly interested in science and was a incredible theorist as he created a theory on the black hole and the universe. Jane in the film who was Stephens wife at the beginning, who he fell in love with, we see her as being a intelligent young women with a passion for art. However throughout the film we see her character get slightly weaker with her coping with Stephen's illness and trying to care for everyone and clean the house also. Elaine was a character that came into the film near the end as she was Stephen's carer but later fell in love with him, we see her give a lot of attention to Stephen and love relationship them was touching. Stephen had a good relationship with his friend who he shared his dorm with. Throughout the illness he helps him around the University and still treats him like he's normal, fit and healthy, an example of this was shown when they all go out and get drunk and having a laugh with each other.

The genre of the film is a romantic biographical drama which is a combination of highly popular dramas that would be suitable for a large audience. The cinematography of the film I believe wasn't strong enough as it was mainly based on his life, however the shots that were shown I will give 4 as they was taken beautifully and made you feel like you was back in that time era. I think the film had a good use of set as it was very believable with the set of the University/school as it looked inspirational and very realistic of the time era, this was also shown by the costumes that were worn as they were long robes for the high academic uniform and nothing spectacular. Throughout the film though, you do see the costumes changing as time changes, which helps with the story of him growing up and time changing around him also which people don't really notice.


Tate Liverpool
On Tuesday 3rd February, I went on a photography trip to Liverpool to the Tate Liverpool. In Tate Liverpool, we listened to a talk about the artist Andy Warhol and learnt about the background of his life, the style of his art and his life in the spotlight. Andy Warhol was a American Artist who was known for his unique style of art which was visual art movement known as pop art. He used different types of media, including hand drawing, painting, printmaking, photography, silk screening, sculpture, film and music. We discovered the man who transformed the modern art world. Transmitting Andy Warhol bring together more than 100 artworks from one of the most influential, controversial and notorious artists of the twentieth century. The exhibition provides a new insight into the breadth of Warhol's artistic processes, his philosophies, as well as social, political and aesthetic implications of his ground-breaking practice.

After the Andy Warhol talk, we then went to view the exhibition and saw the art up close which was interesting and unique. The style of his art was quite different and nothing that I have seen before, some were quite disturbing to look at as they were quite explicit. Also at Tate Liverpool, there were also exhibitions shown such as Gretchen Bender who was an American multimedia artist. There were DLA Piper series: constellations which is an exhibition of major contemporary works of outstanding quality and significance. I didn't go in all of these exhibitions as they didn't relate to my work in photography but I did go in Gretchen Bender and didn't find her work relatable to my work however it was interesting to explore different styles of art.

By the end of the trip, we walked around the Liverpool centre and got many photos of buildings around Liverpool to work with for my exam work for photography.

Feedback
This is feedback on my reviews of Liverpool and the film The theory of everything. My friend Molly Evans has commented on both reviews and explained what was good about them.

UNIT 2-Part A

My project is to create a short film that is 2:20 minutes long, I will be creating this film with a group of other people on the course and we will be put into roles on what we are in charge of and have to plan for the shoot day. My leadership role is a producer, as a producer the roles I have to do is work closely with the director and other production staff on the shoot. I will have to organise the schedule of what to do throughout the day such as locations; when, where, time, the actors to come into film; when, where time. I will also get permission for locations and find actors suitable for our film. I have responsibility to look after everybody on set, including the actors and the team as I need to make sure they are all comfortable and got refreshments. During this role I hope to develop my communication skills with the rest of the team, build more confident and also develop my leadership skills with giving suggestions to my team.

My role relates to the some of the other roles such as the directing and assistant directors job as both of their jobs involve communication skills, being confident and also organisation of their film and on set as they have a big sense of responsibility to create the film they want. My strengths in being a producer is that I am very organised and will be easy for me to schedule out the day and sort everything out for the day. However, my weakness in this role is that my confidence isn't as good with communicating with the rest of my team and voicing my opinion on things on what we should do.

For our project the audience that would be most suited is both genders as it has both male and female actors however the main scenario is based on romance as he is going to propose, so this could aim at females mainly as females stereotypically enjoy romance films. The age that would be suitable for the project is teens and up as they would be able to understand the scenario of the film and what's going on and the dilemma at the end of the project. The interest that the audience should be interested in is romance, drama genre type films as this suits both of these genres.

To deliver this project each person in the group should follow by their role and understand what type of jobs they have to achieve before the shoot day to make the shoot day successfully. If everyone follows by their role and dedicated to their role, the film will come out successfully. While working in the group the source of communication will be Facebook chat as this will be helpful as all members of the group have social media access and Facebook, this will be a lot easier as some of the team members live outside of Sheffield which makes it difficult to meet up.

The other members in my group are Melissa who is the cinematographer, Lizzie who is the scriptwriter, Rosie who is the director, Jamaal who is the AD and Rohan who is the editor. I will be working closely with Rosie and Jamaal as I will instructing them what to do throughout the day. 
The person who is in charge of finding the actors is the producer which is me and they will be told of the director as it is their film if they aren't working efficiently.

Equipment needed:
Video camera
Tripod
Boom mic

Resources:
Permission for using the Showroom bar

The space we will need would only be a small section of the café near the window as it will be only shooting the table with the actors sat at it from different angles. We will also need only a few shots from outside for the flashback memory.

The support that we will need is the off the executive producer which will be Becky who has had experience in filming before and will direct us throughout the day to make sure we are following everything needed for filming.

If it goes wrong we will resort to only staying in the café for the shooting if the weather isn't too great for filming and not wanting to affect the actors. The back-up plan for shooting in the café if it wasn't given, we would have resorted to somebodies house or in the Workstation itself and created our own set up.

The film will be complete after we have added the music and the editing is complete by Rohan which will be around the 19th December.

UNIT 1-Part B

The Walking Dead

http://www.simplyscripts.com/scripts/TheWalkingDeadHunted.pdf

I have found a script from The Walking Dead, I will be printing this script off and going through 1 page of the script and analysing the sections, by circling things that are vital to use in scripts. This will be a good start to my challenge is, by analysing scripts and learning how to lay them out.

As you can see I have circled and wrote the most important things of this script, with the character names, actions and location being in capitals as this is the most important things the actors should know when reading and acting.

 

Layout of Scripts

To help me with my arts challenge on how to present and write scripts, to help me learn more understanding, I have researched how to layout a script into Google.

http://www.storyinsight.com/profession/business/layout.html 

I went into further research in how to layout a script correctly. I found another website that showed me step by step on how to present the script.

http://www.scriptologist.com/Magazine/Formatting/formatting.html

Here is an example of a script and how to create one using the instructions that were mentioned in the guide.

From this research it has gave me a better understanding on how scripts are presented and will help me when I'm creating my scripts and also when reading scripts.

 

Media script

 

This is a script that me and my group have been working on for our film trailer that we are currently filming for our course. We have all contributed to creating the script and adding our ideas. This has gave me a better idea and helped me with how scripts are laid out and how to present/write them. It was quite difficult at first to figure how to present and to layout the script, I finally got the hang of it and it became quite easy and simple.

 

 

 

Katie walking home from school

I have made another script to practise my presentation skills on creating scripts. I have used this website- http://www.keithloh.com/writing/filmscript/templates.html -for the basic template of the script, for the correct font style, size and colour. I have deleted the template style out and created my own short film of a young girl called Katie walking home from school, the story isn't well developed as I was experimenting with the presentation skills of the script.

 

 

Creative Writing script
This is a script that I have been creating based on my creative writing story that I have created for my coursework at college. I have changed some of the story around to add more dialogue into the script to make it seem more interesting.

 

Creative writing script 2

In my college I am studying AS level Creative writing. In the lesson on Tuesday we have started looking at scripts and how they are presenting to experiment with different types of writing. I think this has helped me with my arts challenge as this has taught me new things on what I didn't know about scripts. I made annotations and notes to what was said and what we learnt.

Here I learnt what size the text has to be when writing a script and the specific font which is courier. We went through the basic parts of a script such as when you are writing a heading and setting a scene.

We went through the stage directions on where it is put in the script which I didn't know about well before.

Here we was given a sheet with different keywords that are important when writing a script and explaining on which each of them mean. This will be helpful when I come to writing more scripts as this could be a checklist for me.

I have transformed some story that I am working on in Creative Writing and changed it into a script which I found was quite interesting however, a lot harder than I thought it would be. 

 

 

Reviewing my Arts Challenge

 

During the course, my arts challenge was to study script writing and get better at it as it was a weak spot, in filming. I wasn't very good at script writing as I found it confusing, wasn't sure how to lay it out and my English skills have never been strong to form good structured stories. From setting myself this challenge, it has been a hard challenge to work at as it's not something I'd choose to do or work on. By reviewing different scripts from my favourite TV series 'The Walking Dead', it isn't as difficult as I thought, it's like writing a story but adding a few stage directions in and less description on what's happening so the actors don't get confused. I have also created small drafts of scripts which have given me more practiced on how to layout scripts and how to write them. I have then developed one of my creative writing stories and changed it into a script which was interesting to develop. This challenge has helped me and gave me a better understanding on script writing on how to write them, what to include, how to present them and the unique layout of them.


Feedback from my Arts Challenge

 

Matthew has gave me feedback on my arts challenge, on what his opinion is on my challenge and how I've completed it. 

My response to the feedback of Matthew.