In the future, after I have finished this course, I would like to work in directing. While on this course, I had the opportunity to work as the director on our short film, as has been something I have very much enjoyed and would like to progress in the future.

Once I have finished school, I would like to go to University to study film and media production, at a degree level. Whilst I understand this is not an essential route into the film industry, I would like to study film and and media production as I believe it will give many important skills and experience which will be useful for working in the industry, in the future.

Before this, I will be able to make my own individual content from home, which will show industry experts that I am keen and care about making films. I could also share content that I make from home on social networking sites, such as Youtube and Vimeo, which could potentially get spotted from industry experts, giving myself further opportunities.

I am currently interested in making horror and thriller films, as these are genres I find enjoyable to watch and have a passion towards making.

I am currently part of the South Yorkshire Film Network and the Sheffield Film Group on Facebook. These groups are useful for myself as I am able to find out about new and up am coming opportunities within the film industry, local to myself that I could potentially be a part of.

1.4 Review own technical skills and use of equipment:

While working on this Film BFI course, I took on the role of the screen writer, as well as the director. My responsibilities as the screen writer included creating the plot, characters and dialogue for my groups short film. Throughout the weeks I developed and adapted the script, until we reached a point as a group where we felt happy with it. My responsibilities as the director included leading my film team, while on set, as well as in post production to produce our ideal creative vision for our short film. I also worked very closely with the actors, to help them understand their characters, to further enhance their performance.

The feedback that I received from other members of my group regarding my performance as both a writer and a director was that I led my team effectively, and also was able to listen to my team members creative ideas. I agree and feel positive about this feedback that I received, and makes me feel confident about directing on future film projects outside of this course.

Throughout the duration of this course I have recognised my skills in leadership and working effectively and professionally with a team. Areas that I feel that I still need to develop in the future are my organisational and planning skills, as I understand that these are very important.

While on the course I have had the opportunity to learn how to edit film footage, which is something I had very little knowledge prior to coming on this film course. This is a very important skill which will be very valuable for the future.

As well as learning how to edit, I have also learnt about the different kind of equipment used to enhance the quality of your film. Before this course I had never used sound microphones or lighting, and was able to learn how to use it, which was very useful.

2.1 Explain the work culture of the film industry

The work culture of the film industry usually consists of very long hours, starting from early hours in the morning. Sometimes when working in production, these hours can be quite irregular if certain scenes require specific daylight for a shot. These long hours can be very tiring, which means it is important that workers get plenty of rest, when not at work, to ensure they are still able to carry out their job. Working in the film industry also sometimes requires some workers working on set to sometimes travel quite far for shot locations. Within the film industry there is also a very high pressure to not miss work, due to there often being very tight deadlines for films throughout the film process. If a worker was not to come in, this could potentially effect the film meeting important deadlines, if they are not there to do their job.

To work in the film industry, I believe it is important to have various skills, one of them being perseverance. This is because working in the film industry can often be very tiring, due to the long hours and travelling to various locations. I also believe it is important as it is a popular industry and can often take time to get recognised, and most people spend a lot of time working their way up.

Another important skill that I believe you need to have to be able to work in the film industry, is the ability to work well in a team. This is because the majority of the film industry is a collaborative project, and if you are not able to work well with people, it can affect the success of the film.

I also believe that having good time management is another good skill to have. This is because if you don’t, you are potentially putting everyone else on your team behind on their work, if they have to wait for you and your project is then at risk of not meeting important deadlines.

From working on this course, I have learnt that from the culture of the film industry it is important to be focused on your individual responsibilities, as well as well with others as working on a film is a team effort, and you rely on everyone to produce a good quality film.

2.3 Outline the potential progression routes into the film industry and wider sector

Apprenticeships: Receiving an apprenticeship can be a good way to entering to the film industry as you are able to learn important skills that can be be looked for by future employers. Apprenticeships are also useful at putting these skills into practice and learning more about the day to day work with the film industry. However, apprenticeships can sometimes be quite hard to find for working in film due to the irregular time scales.

Entry- level- jobs: Entry- level- jobs require a lot of resilience as it can often take time for film makers to work their way up and work is normally very tedious and not as exciting as the higher up jobs. Working entry-level jobs require film makers to learn the important skills throughout their work.

Studying at University: Going to university to study film, allows film makers to learn very important skills which will help them in entering the film industry. Studying at university also allows film makers to utilise equipment and practice their skills, before entering the industry. However, university is not always accessible to everyone due to expensive fees, and tough entry requirements.

Online opportunities: Online opportunities, such as social networking and online competitions is a good way for people to enter the film industry as it is accessible for people from all social and economic backgrounds with variation of skills.

Film Festivals: Film festivals are often attended by industry experts who are looking for future talent. Being able to get a film you have worked on is an effective way in entering the film industry as it allows you to showcase your talent to potential employers.

BFI Film Academy progression: Working on film training courses is an effective way in entering the film industry as it is an opportunity to learn very important skills as well as sometimes being able to meet industry experts, who can give you personal skills.

1.3 Gain feedback on how you performed your role

Throughout the course, my fellow BFI team mates, have felt that I have skilfully worked well with others, leading my team as the role of the director and voicing my ideas. My team felt that I was a skilful director who was able to advice my team and work closely with the actors, making them feel comfortable on set. I have also shown skills creatively through cinematography and script writing.

One of the challenges that I faced while on the course was when our script writer changed roles last minute, meaning that I had to take on the role of the writer, as well as already being the director. This was a challenge for myself as it pushed me out of my comfort zone, and forced me to work under pressure. However, I believe that this was a positive, as it allowed me to learn more about script writing as well as challenging myself mentally, with the near deadline approaching.

After hearing feedback from my team, they felt that throughout the course, I worked with them professionally. I lead them as the director, as well as being open to listen to their ideas and taking on their feedback. My team also felt that I was able to include everyone by listening to everyone’s ideas and questions.

To develop my skills further in the future, advice that I received from my team, was to work on my organisational and planning skills, as this was something that slowed myself down. I understand that this is a very crucial skill to have in the film industry and is something that I can easily improve on to help achieve better in the future.

3.1    Explain the importance of teamwork when working on a film production

Jobs roles:

Director: Natasha Fieldsend

The role of the director is to guide the production team towards creating the visual look of the film. They work very closely with the actors, helping to guide their performance on screen, directing them on their tone, pitch, pace, facial expressions, movement and body language. The director also works closely with the cinematographer and camera operators, discussing the lighting, colour, and angles of each shot. As well as this, the director will work with the producer and script writer about the vision and message of the film.

Producer: Zakria MA

The role of the producer is to organise the team and legal matters of the film, to ensure that it is filmed safely and legally. The producer will work with the actors ensuring they are safe to work by filling out risk assessments. They will also work with cinematographers in production, making sure that all planned shots are filmed. In post-production they will also work with the editors, giving their final say on how the film looks.

Script Writer: Natasha Fieldsend

The role of the script writer involves creating the plot of the film and the dialogue between the characters. They will work with the director and producer, sharing their vision and discussing further ideas for production.

Cinematographer: Daniel Kifle

The role of the cinematographer is to plan how each individual shot with each scene looks, considering lighting, colour and camera angles. They will work with the director both finding an ideal vision, and the producer in pre-production, planning ideal locations.

Editor: Eve Hines and Dakota Letch

The role of the editors is to working in post-production putting scenes together, making necessary cuts to scenes, adding in music and effects. They will work closely with the director in creating their ideal visual look and the producer who will give their final say.

3.2 Why is it important that production teams work well together?

It is important for a production team to work well together in order to remain organised and stay on track of achieving all of their deadlines and their finished film. If a production team was not able to work well together it could result in arguments and tasks being delayed. It could also result in their finished film not being a very high standard, due to areas being rushed as people were not working on time, because of distribution.I think that when filming on the shoot day, my team could have worked better at sticking to time, as in the final 30 minutes, we were slightly rushed, due to time being wasted earlier in the day. To have avoided this, I think we should have been organised when we first started filming, and moved on sooner when we started to overrun.

4.1 Why is health and safety important when working on film productions?

Health and safety is important when working on film productions as you need to take note of the possible risks, and work to prevent them to ensure that no-one gets injured. Quite often there are many people working on a film, block buster films in particular, which might mean that there is more of a risk of someone getting hurt due to the mass production scale meaning there is a lot happening at the same time. As a producer it is down to them in ensuring that there cast and crew are safe, by sticking to health and safety guidelines and filling out risk assessments. Health and safety is an important aspect when making a film to consider, because if a member of the cast or crew was to get injured while on set, they could take legal action. Another consequence to a member of the cast and crew becoming injured, is the film falling behind the schedule due to there being missing members that need to be replaced.

4.1 What are some of the key safety issues relating to film production?

There are many safety issues relating to film production, which apply to the cast and the crew. Some issues that would only apply to the actors are stage fighting and stunts which could go wrong if they are not done correctly. The producer should evaluate these two risks and decide whether they think it is safe to go ahead with.

Safety issues that could affect both cast and crew might involve hazards based around the set, such as the set falling over, dangerous props, cast or crew tripping over hazards on set or hanging studio lights falling. Again the producer should evaluate these risks, but the responsibility is also on the set designer, to ensure that their set is safe to use by the cast and crew.

4.2 What is copyright?

Copyright is a temporary legal right given to a creator that allows their work to be protected and prevents it from being stolen by others. This does not protect their idea, it just protects their art from being used by someone else.

4.2 Why does copyright law exist?

Copyright law exists in order to protect creators work. Prior to copyright, anyone could steal someone’s work or design for a product and claim it as their own. This devalues someone work and the creator of the work is not getting the recognition that they deserve.

4.2 What kind of work in covered by copyright?

Copyright is able to protect artistic works such as films, music, plays, novels, poetry, architecture and computer software. Copy right is not able to protect the ideas of these, only the finished work. Names cannot be protected by copyright, it is instead protected by the trademark law.

4.2 What might happen if you were to use copyrighted material in your film?

Once you have copyrighted your material, this means it has been protected and cannot be used by anyone else. This means if someone was to use your material in their film you could take legal action against them and sue them for money.

4.2 How can you make sure not to infringe copyright law in your film?

In order to prevent infringing copyright law in your film, filmmakers should research the material they are using, to see if a copyright law has been used against it. If the filmmakers was to then discover that the material they wanted to use had been copyrighted they could then chose to use different material or they could get in contact with the owner of the material, asking them if they have permission to use it.

4.2 How has copyright law and other IP regulation affected your film production?

Copyright law has affected my film production as it has affected the material I am able to use. If copyright law did not exist it would give you free range to use whatever material you like, with no limits of other creators taking legal action against you.