Silver Arts Award: Unit 2 Part E

Review on Film

Alongside my group we successfully planned our film. Each person had their individual role and tasks that they were given, which made us work productively and get everything done in time. All though we each had our individual role we always discussed all plans with the group therefore we worked as a team so that no one felt left out and everyone contributed. We planned each day of filming, listing out the shots and scenes we would do with times that we hope to do them, as well as lists of what we’d need for each scene. The script and all the scenes were also run through with the actors so that they were aware of what we envisioned. On set there were some adjustments made to the production schedule as we were running out of time and had to cut a few shots or form it into one particular take, other than that the storyboard were followed accurately. All though we had our risk assessments, when it came to filming there were a few things that we could’ve added on to the risk assessment. An example would be when the camera and tripod were attached to the top of the lair in order to get the shot that was planned. This was not on our risk assessment and had many risks as the tripod and camera could’ve easily fallen, damaging both the equipment and the actress. Apart fromt his our planning was successful and everything worked according to plan.

Leadership developed

Being clapper loader on set I had to be assertive and aware of what we were doing next. This improved my communication. For I had to make sure I knew which shot we were doing next and so had to frequently ask the 1^st AD so that I knew exactly what we were doing.

I also improved my organistation skills as I ticked and marked off the shots we had done and any respective changes on the production schedule. This helped with my edit. I also had to label all the files so that I had a productive edit.

Once the filming was done I had the role of editor, with this I improved my confidence. For I had to make some decisions that weren’t in the original vision for the film. I always discussed this with the director so that he was aware of the changes made in the edit.

Working as a team has made me be more accepting and understanding as everyone is different. For as personally I don’t get stressed easily, I had to be understanding of others that did as well as motivate them so that we all worked together and effectively.

Being a part of the BFI Film Academy has helped me develop my leadership skills and showed me what it’s like to work in a group. For all though I’ve worked in a group before, it was never as serious as this. For usually it involved my classmates, however this group had people I’d never met before. Also have become aware of punctuality and deadlines, as falling behind on one of these not only impacted me but the rest of my group.

What would I have done differently

If I was to do the BFI Film Academy again there wouldn’t be much I would do differently for I do believe I did the best of my abilities and it has helped me be more confident as well as a better team member. However there were a few moments where we didn’t manage our time as well as we could have and so I would’ve tried to do a better job of this. As I was the editor I ddin’t feel like I could really be much of a leader during the shoot, therefore all though I contributed to ideas I never took charge.

Review on screening

As I was editor I was possibly the only one in my group who had seen the film from the actual footage to the final film. For although drafts were shared with the director and sound person I did the editing, therefore saw the film actually turn into a film as I edited. Due to feedback from my mentor and reviewing certain clips there were some changes that had to be made to how the film was envisioned. Therefore I was quite nervous about the others in my groups reactions.

The overall feedback from my group was that they were all happy with how it turned out and thought it looked really good. All though some people were originally quite surprised for they expected to see certain bits which weren’t in the final edit overall they thought it worked really well.

My mum and uncle attended the screening and were both eager to see the film. The feedback I received from them was that they were overall really impressed, they thought the shots and lighting was superb except for a few shots where the light changes in the forest. They also understood what was happening which I wasn’t sure if they would.

Overall I was really happy with how the film turned out. However if I was to do it again I would have tried to shoot the forager scenes away from the road, as when editing it was quite difficult to get rid of the occasional cars that you could see slightly and hear. I would also have had or made myself be in charge of continuity, for when it came to editing there were a few continuity errors which lead to me not being able to sue certain shots. Other than these I think overall we worked well as a team and produced a really good film in such a short time. I felt proud to have been a part of this.