1. What did you do?

Today was the first session back since Christmas so as a treat we all got to watch JoJo Rabbit for free! I really enjoyed this as firstly, I was very excited to go see this film and was planning on doing it later that day, so I was very happy to watch it. Also, I thought it was a great film that managed to mix comedy and drama really effectively, which must have been a very hard task due to the subject matter.

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After the screening Amy O’Hara who is the Talent Executive from Film Hub North gave us a talk on financing short-films. Throughout this talk we were shown a range of short-films that have previously been financed by the BFI. My personal favourite was a black and white film, which involved a teenage boy who had been caught up in doing tasks for a gang to provide money for his family. I thought this film was powerful as it effectively showcased the affects of austerity within the UK.

2. What have you learnt?

One thing I have learnt this week is why short-films are made. This is because when we were asking questions to Amy O’Hara I asked why the BFI decides to fund short-films and if they get anything out of it? I asked this because I really had no idea why someone would choose to spend money on a short-film. I learnt that organizations like the BFI choose to fund short-films because it helps filmmaking talent get a start in the industry, and while there is no real monetary gain from it, if the filmmakers which BFI fund go on to make a feature film, they are likely to get back to work with the BFI, which benefits them both.

3. How have you worked with others?

While today didn’t involve a lot of group work due to a film screening happening for half of the day, there was an activity straight after the screening which involved us watching a short-film which was in early development and had been filmed in Sheffield. After the film as groups we talked about what we liked and didn’t like. I think we worked well as a team as we gave constructive feedback, such as, a few of the sections of the film looked quite nice and there was a very good looking match cut towards the end, however, we did feel that the sound was a bit off in the film, and the story was a little hard to follow.

4. What do you need to develop?

One thing I need to develop is that I must make sure that when editing the short-film I work closely with the director. This is because towards the end of the session today the director of my group’s short film was asked questions that are important to the edit such as, what tone should the film be, how should it be paced or what colours should it present. Therefore next week when I am editing the film I must make sure to correctly meet the directors vision for the film.