My current knowledge and understanding of film is quite good. This is for a few reasons, firstly, I try to keep up to date with news within the film industry and do this by either reading articles online, scrolling on Twitter or reading my monthly film magazine ‘Total Film’. This helps me as not only does it give me an insight into the films which are being released, and therefore allows me to go and watch them, but also it can help me gain an understanding of the current trends and discussions within film, such as Martin Scorsese comments on Marvel films not being ‘cinema’. 

Secondly, I believe my knowledge of the more practical side of filmmaking is also quite good, despite me never really making any films. This is because I try and watch video essays on YouTube which describe aspects of making a film such as ‘Opening Shots Tell Us Everything’ (Now You See It), ‘Greenscreen vs. Bluescreen | When and why?’ (Andrey Lebrov) or ‘Color Theory in Film — Color Psychology for Directors: Ep5’ (StudioBinder). I also aim to try and watch documentaries on filmmakers such as, a great BBC documentary on Ingmar Bergman titled ‘Bergman: A Year in the Life’. I think these are great as not only does it allow you to discover films which you might have not seen before, but also give the viewer an insight into techniques successful filmmakers used to create great films.

However, I do think my current knowledge is quite limited on knowing how to use technical equipment. This is because, while I do know how to edit, and do basic operations with a DSLR camera, that’s really where my understanding of using technical equipment ends, as I don’t really know how to properly use a camera to film something like a short-film, how to correctly light a scene, or even just to record actors dialogue. And this is why I’m very happy to be taking part in the film academy, as it gives me direct experience and knowledge in areas such as, recording dialogue or using high quality cameras to film with, which therefore should hopefully improve my skills with technical equipment.

Currently I have two specific interests within filmmaking, and these are cinematography and editing. Firstly, cinematography is something I’ve always been interested in as film is a visual audio medium and therefore the way a film looks is very important. Decisions that the cinematographer takes on how to film or light a certain scene, or what camera to use, can affect aspects such as the tone of the film, or how characters emotions are portrayed. While, as previously mentioned, I have never actually filmed something cinematic like a short-film in the past, I have made video reviews, which have taught me aspects such as how to set up a camera and correctly block a scene. Also, while not a moving image, I am also interested in photography, especially street photography as I believe capturing people going about their daily lives can convey powerful themes or emotions, despite just being a still image.

Similarly to cinematography editing is very important to the end result of a film as decisions such as which scenes to include, or what to cut can really make or break a film. Editing is something I have learned to do because after filming video reviews I will have to edit them, and I do this through using a software called Adobe Premiere Pro. Through watching YouTube reviews, I have learned skills such as learning to cut footage, use transitions, add music or use effects such as blurring.