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

I am currently trying to watch as many films, new and old, as possible to expand my knowledge and appreciation of cinema. I spend a lot of my free time reading up on and watching video essays on films, whether this is about how a particular film was put together, the messages, themes and interpretations of films, or the real world context and impact of a certain film/ film genre. I also write my own film and TV scripts in my spare time as well as just generating my own original ideas.

Writing and acting are my specific interests in filmmaking as they are the only work in life that I take great enjoyment and satisfaction in. I am always creating stories and characters for my own film and TV ideas, and creating a whole emotional journey for an audience to experience is the most exciting thing for me to be doing.  I can see myself taking on the role of writer or actor at BFI film academy.

By doing the BFI Film Academy I hope to really give myself, at the very least, a basic understanding of other crucial areas in film making such as editing, cinematography and especially directing as I may find a great interest in any of these areas that i then may want to pursue, as well as fact that no matter what area of the film making you are working in, I feel it is extremely important to have an understanding in how and what your collaborators are working on so that the whole process can be made more understandingly and smoothly for everyone else involved.

I would love to be able to elevate my writing at a higher level as this, as well as acting, is my main career path I will follow, as well as creating contacts and learning where and how to create more.

 I am currently studying A Level Film.  I also plan on creating short films in the future, as well as continuing to create more scripts and ideas. As well as this I plan on going to drama school where I will be able to improve and elevate my performance skills greatly, whilst also being a great opportunity for creating more contacts. 

I now plan on going to university to study film instead, partly this is due to BFI in how the course has made me realize that although I still enjoy acting, I much prefer doing work behind the camera such as writing and directing.

1.2       Take a role in the production of a short film

I am the scriptwriter for our team’s project, because I have a vested interest in writing. If we do not manage to source external actors I may also end up acting in our project. We will decide the story together as a team to make sure it will be a story we are all interested in telling and care about. I will then write down the key plot/character points for the story so that I know what I’ll need to work to.

In pre-production I will plan and write, as well as rewriting, drafts of the script. During production I will be around to see how the shoot goes and discuss anything with the director that may want to about the script. The skills I will need are knowing how to format a script, how to structure a story, how to work with a director.

Resources I will use are microsoft Word or possibly final draft. Celtx screenwriting software and external actors

1.3       Gain feedback on how you performed your role

Ask tutors and/or other Academy participants the questions below, you can write your answers, film them or record the audio

What did I do well?

You came up with an imaginative and distinct script. You did a good job of adapting the ideas we talked about as a group into an actual story. On set you were really helpful in discussing the script with everyone and was completely cool with some parts being tweaked and changed a little bit when beneficial.

What were the challenges and how were they dealt with?

The first draft of the script was too weird and abstract, which I think you had also released, and it just made the story too tonally inconstant. Luckily after we told you this, and you listened to our feedback, really changing the not very good parts and made a better scene that fitted in the story much better.

How did I work within my team?

You really made sure that this was a story that we all wanted to tell and so you made the planning and creation of the story really collaborative, allowing lots of input, ideas and feedback.

Do you have any advice or areas for development?

I would say work on making your scripts less weird overall. Also being slightly more organised as there was that day you forgot to bring a copy of your first draft in.

1.4     Review own technical skills and use of equipment

What did you do in your role?

I wrote the script. I also acted in the piece.

Do you agree with the feedback? Give reasons for your answers.

Yes I do, I appreciate them saying what I did well but also completely see and understand the areas for improvement, I have noticed that organisation is definitely not my biggest strength and so because of this and also sixth form I have been working lots on that skill to make sure it does not hold me back in the future.

How well do you think you carried out your role in production?

I think I did what my job well, in that I wrote a script on an idea that we had all collectively decided on, and made necessary changes to the script when I was given feedback from my group.

What were your strengths and what were your challenges?

I think my strength is definitely in generating ideas, almost every week I come up with a new idea that would work for film or television, and so during our brainstorming phase I feel that lack of ideas was never the problem but more honing in on which one would be the best to tell and that the whole group was on board for.

I think my challenges were sometimes organisation as already talked about there was that day were I forgot to bring in the script for everyone. To make sure this won’t happen again, I have started putting reminders on my phone for almost everything, as well as getting all my work, such as for sixth form, and equipment in place ready to go the night before. This has so far been working very well for me and my organisation has made a large improvement as a result.

In what ways did your technical filmmaking skills develop over the course of film production?

Before the course I was not really very skilled or knowledgeable in camera or sound work as well as being pretty rubbish at editing. Over the course I have now become a lot more confident in how to use a professional camera, actually knowing how one works now, as well as now understanding the different sorts of mics that can be used when filming and how to use them. My editing has also vastly improved, thanks to the masterclass and learning along through editing together the credits on the edit day, I now know how to find my away around editing software and have since been editing together my own short films.

How far has your knowledge and understanding of film production developed? (Consider your knowledge of technical equipment, on-set processes, production documents, post-production)

I now understand just how vital and important a producer is in the production of a film and how they really keep everything from falling apart. As well as this my knowledge of technical equipment has vastly improved, as previously spoken about in how my knowledge of film cameras, sound and editing all went from me basically being clueless to now being fairly confident in all of those areas, all thanks to the masterclasses and practical usage of said equipment.

Please find below a link to the script I wrote – The Most Beautiful Thing (in The World)