The role I undertook for my group’s short film was the editor. This therefore, involved me doing a lot of work on the edit day, including choosing how scenes should play out, what clips to include, overlaying voice-overs, adding background music and correcting lighting. While I thought this role was pretty hard, as it is up to you if your group has a film that makes sense or not, I thought it was really rewarding and enjoyable to create a story from a jumble of clips.

Another role I pursued in the film production was sound. The reason for this is that on the day, because two people in our group were acting, we were short for people behind the camera, and therefore I had to record sound. I surprisingly enjoyed doing this as I always thought sound was a really easy job as all you had to do was point a microphone, but upon taking up the role I learned that it involves doing quite a lot, such as making sure the boom is close enough to the actors to record good sound but also not too close that it’s within the frame. And also, through doing this it meant I was more involved in the production on the day, which I enjoyed.

When looking at the feedback I received from the producer in my group on how I performed in my role, I agree with most of it. One thing she said is that I should be more affirmative in the way I convey my ideas, as I am good at producing them but I could be more outspoken to others. Therefore next them I give a suggestion I should make sure people know I believe in it.

I think I managed to carry out my roles in production quite well, to say it was my first time doing them. This was mainly because we got quite a lot of explanations and useful talks on how to correctly undertake our roles.

When editing, something I was glad I did was making sure I frequently asked my group (especially the director) what they thought of recent changes I had made. This is because I had to make sure what I was trying to do with the story and clips we gathered fitted with the directors vision, and also it was useful getting feedback from other people in my group, especially when I was stuck on something, because two brains are more powerful than 1. I also think I did a good job at just finishing the film, as before we started I was worried that I wouldn’t have enough time to do everything but luckily we had a finished film at the end of the day, and this was due to me making sure I wasn’t wasting time on little details such as an odd sound, and also my group helping with tasks such as sourcing music or creating the credits.

I also thought the sound area of my role went pretty well, as many people say the most important thing for a film is good sound, as bad sound can completely ruin something, even if it’s 2001: A Space Odyssey. Therefore, I was happy that when I came to edit the sound was at a decent quality. However, one thing I would change is that next time, when recording sound on production, making sure we get a take when no-one is talking over it. This is because frequently we would have people giving directions to actors within the scene, and while this may help on the day, it can be really hard to edit around.

One strength I had was previous experience. This is because in the past I have edited videos on topics to do with film which has involved me using software like Adobe Premier Pro and therefore, this prior knowledge sped things up for me and made doing tasks easier, as while the BFI Film Academy does teach you how to use the software, I think that having past experience reduced the amount of beginner mistakes I could have made. However, one of my challenges went hand in hand with this, as because since my prior experience with editing consisted of editing videos on the subject of film, I had never edited anything cinematic and therefore instead of thinking about editing something in a sequence, I would need to think instead of how to edit a story to allow it to be visually interesting and not just bore the viewer.

One small challenge that I had when recording sound was that sometimes the headphones I was wearing to hear what I was recording stopped working. This therefore made it hard to know what sound I was picking up, and if it sounded good. However, by checking the sound levels on the camera to make sure sound was being recorded and at a suitable level, no big problem was created.

As just mentioned I had never edited something cinematic before and therefore it was a great experience to edit a short-film. The sessions where we were taught about the different types of cut (such as a match-cut) and the practical experience, really taught me how to edit a story to try and make it interesting for the audience.

Another way my technical filmmaking skills have developed is knowing more about how to work a boom microphone. This is because over the production I learnt the correct way to handle the equipment, such as, how far to extent it, in what direction to point the microphone, and how close it should be. It was also very useful to know how to be safer when using equipment. For example, the boom comes with a lot of wires therefore wrapping the wires around the pole can reduce the chance of someone tripping up.

Also, apart from editing and sound I learnt lots of other technical skills such as the correct format for a script or how to record with a camera and set up it’s equipment.

My knowledge of film production has come a long way since undertaking the Film Academy. This is because I have never had prior experience of being on set and therefore this practical experience has been very valuable to me.

An example of this would just be learning about all the roles in the film production and how collaborative they are. For example, firstly, I never really knew how important a film producer was in the making of the film, as they are essentially the reason it has been made and are involved in every stage of the production so collaborate with lots of different roles and sectors. Secondly I learnt that despite there being separate roles within a production, a lot of people work together. An example of this could be in the editing, as I always though editing a film involved one person sat at a computer in a dark room by themselves for hours on end, however through the Film Academy I’ve learnt it’s much more collaborative than this. For example, I was constantly working with the director or other people within my group to give feedback, or help complete side tasks.

Another small thing I learnt, but one which is pretty important is learning how people give commands on set. For example, when the director says ‘Camera Ready’ the cinematographer should respond saying speed, which means they are recording.