#professionalpracticeandpdpy2

FILM203 - Online Sketchbook

For RAD004 my role was sound deisgn, which ascertained the production of many sound elements, ranging from foley, soundtracks to sound effects. This turned out to be much more challenging and inspiring than I had previously thought and by the end of the project I found myself quite enveloped in the world of film sound.

Meanwhile, on the side of this project, I chose to take role of cinematography for the NAHEMI Kodak Competition project, as this was my future role aim for myself. Through this, there were many struggles relating to the usage of film stock and an extremely heavy ARRI SR2 camera. But after both projects coming to completion I've found myself wondering about my practice and how I develop my skills and professional understanding within film for a future career.

With this, I believe that the struggles I had in both projects we mostly related to how I managed my own planning and micromanaging my time effectively. A lot of the time, issues were caused by poor communication on behalf of some members of the team, therefore leaving me with a harder job and then the editor and director with even more work when it came to editing. Therefore I feel it would be necessary to take it up on myself to become a more approachable member of the team in the event that something like this should happen again.

My three goals for professional practice development:

1. Become more approachable, gives the ability for other members of a crew to feel they can be assisted with tasks that I'm able to help with.

2. Study more theory within film and the technical theory of film in order to have a better idea of what an audience may interpret from my projects.

3. Find time to make more short films so that I can teach myself more practical aspects of filmmaking that are usually understood through the actual development and process of film.

FILM203 - Suite of professional & promotional materials

In the creative industries, jobs are just as difficult to come by as in the more academic industries and such. Therefore it’s just as important to keep a certain professionalism in your work and to have a good hold on the way you present yourself. Websites are just one way of providing information on yourself and your past work, they are easy to reach and with the proper tools, you can make it look professional and clean. Social medias are a little more informal but employers are likely to search through any that correlate to your name so that they have a better understanding of you as a person and how that may affect your work as an employee. Therefore social medias should always (even without the effect of an employer) be clean, free from undesirable content and should still show a passion for your work. It’s a tough hope, but the better you seem outwardly to an employer also comes across to the people around you, co-operative partners will likely take time to find out who you are and what you’ve previously done so that there’s an even ground when it comes to the job. So for that you need to make sure you are actually reachable through your social media so that people who wish to talk to you about a project are able to.

Business cards are yet another way to gather new contacts, however it’s difficult to create a business card that people will actually keep or think of first when the time comes. Specialist graphic designers can create cards for you at a price, which will likely provide a good outcome as your image is held intact in a professionally made card that suits you and your work. However if it is applicable, making your own card can be suitable especially if you have a certain personal brand about yourself and there is a theme with your linked pages that you’d like to keep going through to your business cards. I personally am familiar with graphic design and so I felt comfortable creating my own card that I felt was indicative of past work as a cinematographer.

Here is my professional film and photography card (email censored):

FILM203 - Professional Practice and PDP - Documentation and Reflection on Professional Practice

This year has proven to offer many new challenges to cinema as a whole, from production to spectatorship. The COVID-19 disease outbreak has led to new ways of thinking about how to create, manage and exhibit films in the midst of a time where social distancing is of the utmost importance. Many people have ceased to work during the time, considering it can be close to impossible to complete some forms of work at home. Filmmaking comes pretty close to being impossible due to the need for multiple people to work side-by-side and recognise the differences in each role. However, some filmmakers have took a stand to creating pieces of film by themselves or in skeleton crews. For one example, Laika, the stop-motion film specialists have been sharing videos on the social media app ‘TikTok’ showing the processes behind stop-motion animations that singular people have been creating at home. Showing their creative prowess as individuals and in the meantime being able to produce shorter, more experimental films. LAIKA Studios Twitter Post

The economical climate has led to issues with funding considering that productions have had to halt for the time being, meaning that  production companies are trying their best to inspire a new form of filmmaking that still utilizes social distancing. A lot of people have taken an interest to the way that games are made, considering they are usually built in a computer-generated space and are able to be collaborated on over the web. Although this means that there is more uncertainty for those who are not familiar with such game creation programs, it does give a new light to creative practices within a world in which filmmakers cannot work in a same physical space. One of the larger markets that have been grossly affected by the pandemic is Cinema screens, for obvious reasons, they are to be shut for the time being and film viewing is to be through online alternatives. Netflix has taken full advantage of this time and it’s been shown that they’ve gained over 16 million accounts during this period of time.  Netflix gets 16 million new sign-ups thanks to lockdown

Netflix have also taken steps to ensure that people are more educated on what COVID-19 actually is in their ‘Explained’ series, specifically ‘Coronavirus, Explained’. It’s also interesting to note how COVID-19 is expected to impact the aesthetics and stories of films after the pandemic ceases to be as much a problem as it is now. There have already been films made and trailers made for films that discuss COVID-19 and the differences to worldwide society that surrounds the subject, one such being ‘Corona’ that touches on Xenophobia and the hate that it advances. Corona Movie Trailer

Also to note the effect the pandemic has had on freelance filmmakers, it’s an extremely difficult society for any film-based freelance work to even be considered let alone completed. I for one have had an actual example of this being the case as I worked doing videography and photography for the DevCon comic con, which took place on March 7th 2020. I had conversations with the organizer for this event and she was extremely cautious about COVID-19, once I arrived at DevCon, the team were asked to take regular hand-washing breaks and to keep distance from people as much as possible through the duration of the event. Although I still went ahead with the job, it was tough knowing that such a high-volume event was going to be holding so many people in such a relatively small building. Afterwards, I took all of the media home to edit and cherry-pick images, once I’d done so, I continued emailing the organizer, who at this point had stopped replying, I can only imagine that she’s very busy sorting out post-event details. In hindsight, it probably wasn’t a brilliant idea on anyone’s part to let the event continue, still, the lockdown had not occurred till the 23rd of March so we hadn’t a clue about how bad the pandemic actually was. Comparing this experience to the current situation, about two months into the lockdown, is very strange, I’ve not been able to do any freelance work and film in general. Therefore during this time I’ve taken to digital art and drawing again, at first, I created social media accounts under a new alias for my work, to separate my art from my filmmaking, because of the newfound social attention, I’ve been able to expose some of my work to a wider audience. Which is one positive outcome of the extended time at home. My RedBubble account has also proved to be a good passive source of income, (albeit quite small). That and I’ve been able to really get into the theory aspects of film, which I find more enjoyable and straightforward than production. 

FILM203 - Suite of professional & promotional materials

After much deliberation over the style, format and information presented on my CV, it was made known to me that I should perhaps create a second, more creative CV that would outline my arts and projects that I’ve taken part in. That and it would likely have to look more like it came from a student who is interested in my prospective areas of graphic design and photography. This is the second CV.

FILM203 -  Presentation of Professional Practice

This Super 16mm project has proved quite difficult in the grand scheme of things, there were things that happened along the way that no one could really expect alongside the difficulty of handling a large Arri SR camera. We found that film, although different, requires so much more handling and care than digital film. Seeing also that we could not see the finished product of what we had filmed, so we were at a loss most of the time knowing if the lighting or colours would come through as we planned. My job as a cinematographer was especially hard in this regard, up until this point I had only ever used digital mediums and I had little to no experience in handling an actual film camera. This and it was my first time using a light meter in the circumstances of moving image rather than still image. 

The process of production proved quite stressful too, the timings of our days were pretty raggedy and we had no actual actors or actresses that were able to join us. Therefore some of us had to take acting roles whilst also completing other roles on the sidelines. For one, the lighting was improvised. We planned at first to have two opposing colours on either side of the actors / actresses faces and to have a strong focus on the person’s eyes. However once we tried to ask for gels we were told we couldn’t have them and so we improvised with coloured tissue paper, which did work but most likely affected the lighting situation poorly. 

On speaking with the group and letting them know of what I thought would be some good effective shot types, they let me know that they thought quite the same. Although I had things planned and story boarded as seen below. The production had other things in store for us.

This initial storyboard had a plan that we’d be going to a dog and cat rescue home for a shot of the actor being bombarded with dogs as a sentiment to being happy and feeling loved. We also had a plan to use the local entertainment based aquarium as they had a wonderful jellyfish tank with bright purple lights. Also a gym, however we came to notice that mindshine do not typically want their app mistaken for an exercise app, more so a mental exercise. We found out later on that our desired locations had not answered any of our emails and we had to find alternatives. We decided on a local aquarium and reptile shop to take place of the other aquarium as we knew of a smaller tank of goldfish and koi. We never got a reply from the cat and dog farm and so we had to scrap the idea completely. I made a new storyboard to continue a certain aestheticism and to plan what we’d do next.

In order to build oneselfs portfolio of work, it is necessary to understand what makes yourself and your work your own.

In modern society, the idea of virality and spread of viewing is important to brands as that is the general form of consumption, advertising is built to be quick, bold, fast, keen and attention-grabbing.

However, some companies still show that they are creating new and intuitive advertising. Such as Wendy's, who have created a 'D&D-esque' tabletop game based around 'The Fight Against Frozen Beef' which is all subliminally designed to give a viewer the notion and 'feel' of Wendy's.

KFC have doubled down with this kind of viral marketing by creating a dating simulator game with Colonel Sanders as its main protagonist. The goal being to establish a relationship Colonel Sanders. Throughout the entire game, there is again notions of the KFC chicken variety and cooking.

As a filmmaker, and a general creative, it is important to make yourself present at film shoots, as this makes you more likely to land you in the industry, if you show you are aware, punctual and able to multi-task you are showing how you can be a valuable asset.