Pitch

Such an important event in our production – the very birth of the film, the first time it comes out into the public, letting the world know it is coming and who it wants to be.

It is the first impression, first appearance, and it defines the perspective of the film for the small audience, which is our year group, or future crew and cast. Which will later, in effect, define the making and the film itself.

Every producer and director had 5 to 8 minutes to present their film and get first reviews. As requisted, I’ve done my film on my blog. Here is the category for the pitch and the 5 “slides” of it.

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After pitch:

to be continued….

2015 Graduate Films and Q&A

We’ve watched three films of recent graduate films with an questionaire and answeraire of the directors after the screening about their films and the last, 3rd year of BA Film.

Few points I mark down during the talk:

Producer and Director has to show trust and faith in each other.

As long as it works, take and use free stuff.

Mis-en-scene will require the most amount of money from the budget.

Keep the crew happy.

Catering is extremely important.

Stick to shot lists! A needed help.

Ask yourself: how do I make a film work for me?

All and every stage of film production is important!

Keep sound logs. The more professional everyone plays their parts, the easier it will be in post.

Blog is a massive help!

Don’t waste your BA – when you finish, continue writing.

Start working and searching for a job NOW.

Develop a CV (applying uni experience) and go to job fairs, production base, graduate jobs.

Learn Avid – it is an industry standard.

The three advises given by the three directors:

• Clear idea and be prepared.
• Do what you really care about.
• Just chill out.

Ideas Generation

In the session we covered:

• Thinking about how you work
• Generating ideas
• Developing early ideas
• Developing language for your ideas

How do you work?

Firstly we filled in a questionnaire about how you work – your productive times, other demands on your time, time and team management etc.

Team Roles

Dr. Meredith Belbin’s team roles (1981) are used in business all the time and look at the way people prefer to behave, their preferred ways of working. We compared those roles to film crews and why it’s important to know how you work.

Idea generation Techniques

We talked through a range of ideas generation techniques that might apply to film/writing practice:

• Passive Research
  • Reflection on previous work
• Early Stage Research
  • Active Research
  • Brainstorming
  • Encompassing
  • Critique
• When you’ve committed to an idea
  • Triple R: Research – Represent – Refine
  • Ask an Expert
  • SCAMPER:
    • Substitute
    • Combine
    • Adapt
    • Modify
    • Put to other use
    • Eliminate
    • Rearrange
  • Prototyping/testing
  • Storyboards
  • Documenting
  • Audience Trials
• Giving the project time
  • Get a visual sense of your owrk
• Articulating project
  • Form:
  • Subject:
  • In a sentence:
  • Key words:
• Examples of Reels
• Producers Focus

Eddie producers workshop

Tutor, specializing in producing, asked directors to join producers on the first lesson, as it will provide a brief understanding of what the producers will need to go through this year (and every other producer in the industry through his/her career).

Later I’ll be writing about it, the points he made.

Induction

Let’s start a new year, last year.

After a summer break, we’re back to work. For our first lesson we had a debrief of our last year and what we learned from it. Everybody shared their last year experiences and gave advice.

What I have noticed from the talk and have written that my fellow co-students shared:

• When casting, try improv, see how far they would go. It sounds as a very interesting practice! That would show actors understanding of the character. Truly, an actor will only be at his/her best if she really knows whos shoes she is filling.
• Keep the crew all together as a family. It was spotted out with a little bit of humour, that the best way of keeping everyone happy and close is just free tea, yet well experienced tutor Eddie McCaffrey stated it is quite true. Little things matter, especially tea.
• Sometimes things are at their most perfect. Sometimes there is no need to stress, run around the set and feel like something is not done. If you done a good job, relax.

Some notes from the class for the upcoming year:

• Basically attent everything. Everything will help, even if you’re a director, producing workshops can give you an understanding of the things producers have to go through and help you build a relationship with your producer.
• Choose:
  • Producing (produce two films)
  • Directing (direct a film and work on two other projects on various roles (not directing or producing) on our course)
  • Technical role (work on three projects from the course and dissertation is a showreel of your work)
  • Screenwriting (35 page script)
  • Critical writing
• Find out about other people projects and their timetables, as collaborations will be very important.
• Get ready for a pitch which is 5 to 8 minutes.
• Crew is allowed to be from outside of university, but need to be well considered, because it usually comes with a price. And not something one can pay.
• Do crowdfunding. As for students, it really is important.
• Our dissertations are considered for the Middlesex TV & Film show, which includes only around 6 best and various projects from each course. If one wants to be considered, first of all, a film has to be under 12 minutes. History talks – long films do extend the event.
• Graduation 15th July!

Some points we have to look at for our following year.

Let’s get started!