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Masterclass diarY
Week 1
The course started off with producing, the very cornerstone to a film being made.
To start the day of Paul Fraser came in to have a discussion with us and get us doing some writing exercises, allowing us to be as creative as possible. We passed our paragraphs to people across our table, as each person extended the others story. These all ended up being criticised by us at the end and we all came together to evaluate them.
Afterwards, Caroline Cooper Charles came in to present to us the stages in how a fame is made and where the producer lies in all three stages, pre-production, production and post-production.
Week 2
This week I undertook a cinematography masterclass, learning the basics of different angles of shots such as extreme long shots and close ups. Afterwards my team was assigned roles such as director and sound designer to create a very short experiment using our collective information of what we have learned over the course and get acquainted with the camera. I took on the role of assistant camera man for the first part of the film and I directed some of the shots nearer the end of it, and later on became the main camera man for the second part of filming our short. In terms of the finished product I realise that I will need to become more adjusted in using hand held camera as well as sitting it upon a tripod to get a diverse range of stylised shots. Familiarising with the types of shots will make us become more decisive and insightful when going through the shot-list later on as a team.
Week 3
We viewed a screening of ‘The Runaways’ directed by Richard Heap, who came in afterwards to have a discussion and to answer any questions we had.
He gave us a deep insight into how a film is made, showing us photos and presenting his work from ‘The Runaways’ and the struggles he encountered and that we may encounter in the future, and gave advice as to how we can get our own films and ideas financed and funded from institutions such as The BFI.
Week 4
This week I took part in an editing masterclass, learning how to clip video shots and arrange certain sequences in Adobe Premiere. My team practiced our new skills on a previous short film test as well as learning from the field how to alter and assemble the sound for the finished product. For future reference we will need to continue to develop these skills to be able to utilise the, for our 3-4 minute film.
BFI Film Academy NCFE 
Hi Constance, thanks for this. It’s great to hear that you have aspirations to work on your own television show and that you’ve got a wide range of interests in terms of roles within the film industry. Could you perhaps include a scan or photograph of one of your storyboards as an example? How do you think your skills might develop over the duration of the Film Academy, and what in particular will help you to advance your understanding on the filmmaking process?
On 1.2 you discuss acquiring props as a facet of your role as Producer. How will you decide what props you need, and where to source them? What other documents do you think you may use in the pre-production stages of making your film? What equipment?
Your discussion of roles within the film industry (2.2) is well researched. Could you try to thread these ideas together by discussing how the roles overlap and collaborate? How do the cinematographer and editor work together? What about the writer and the director? Where and when is the producer involved with these other roles?
Your film review is top notch, well done. You’ve discussed in detail the way sound and visual effect have contribute to the emotional impact of a scene.
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