film-student-blog - Tumblr blog

film-student-blog · 5 years

Text

Always check the location properly... ALWAYS

Today we were filming our own version of an old casualty episode in my uni’s nursing simulation centre. We’d planned everything - shot list, schedule, actors sorted, EVERYTHING.

I had the roles of Producer and 1st AD (and to be honest, most of the producing was done already as Met organised most of the shoot).

We got to the room that the kit was held in and started sorting out our kit whilst our director went to the filming location to see what we had to work with. She checked with me what room number we were in and I double checked before telling her to make sure I had it right. She went upstairs and reappeared shortly afterwards and said “Katie; 909 is the ward, not the office”

I had royally screwed up

No one panicked (except for me) when I told them my mistake. My team were amazing at not making me feel bad about it and were fully supportive (which i must admit, really really helped!). The Director went to speak to the actors about the situation and we moved the kit upstairs.

I have to admit, whilst the team were setting up I really really missed being hands on with the kit and helping properly - but the team had everything sorted!

Considering most of the day was improvised, it went pretty smoothly from there. It just shows that a good, nay, a great team makes the process so much easier than a team that clashes and argues.

The actors were fantastic and the team got some stunning shots. Really looking forward to filming the next scenes next week!

I’ve learnt my lesson to ALWAYS check everything before planning stuff properly, and then check again just to make sure!

#film student #blog #university #uni #uni of west london #film school #university of west london #student life #film blog #student blog #film student blog

0 notes

film-student-blog · 5 years

Text

BFI London Film Festival 2019

Film 1 - Joy to the World (short films) - Laugh - “Joyful films! Triumphant films! Funny films!”

This collection of films were brilliant examples of the quality of short films being made today. I was seriously impressed with the production value of all of the films. The films that really stood out for me were “Love the Sinner”, “Passive Aggressive Dads”, “A Family Affair” and “Tic”. All of them tackled the films differently and all of them had different types of funny moments.

“Love the Sinner” was a very moving story that started off with a funny beginning and middle section but it ended in a touching way. The shear cheekiness of the teenage character using Princess Diana’s death to get out of going to Sunday school then moving to understand her mother’s grief surrounding Diana’s death showed so much development of the character.

“Passive Aggressive Dads” really cracked me up. The whole short was just so well thought out. Nothing was left to be questioned and the humorous way that the dad’s tackled the speeding of the teenagers provoked laughter in the whole cinema.

“A Family Affair” brought on many many questions throughout after the protagonist had a drunken night out. We learnt more and more about the protagonist as the short went on - and in turn, we also more and more about her night out itself. You could almost see what the protagonist was thinking as she herself pieced together the previous night.

“Tic” was possibly the most memorable of the whole collection. Tackling a topic not typically seen in film and putting a comedic twist on it was really effective. The acting in the short (Mackey and Merrick) was phenomenal. The pairing really worked well together and seemed to bounce off of eachother well. Merrick has to have his own mention too - the way he portrayed someone with tourettes (and a murderous hand) with class and he really should be applauded for his work!

Film 2 - The Friend - Love -"Jason Segel, Dakota Johnson and Casey Affleck star in this intensely moving and beautifully mounted drama detailing how a friend saved a family after a young mother's diagnosis with terminal cancer.”

This film was honestly so moving and so emotionally open that I hardly know what to say. I went into the film without really knowing what to expect - I had seen the cast list and read the synopsis (above) and figured I would give it a shot anyways.

The cinematography was stunning in some of the shots in this film - and the opening sequence was just visually amazing! The timeline and narrative of the film was also engaging itself due to jumping backwards and forwards in the time surrounding diagnosis; showing how the relationship between Dane (Segel) and Matt (Affleck) developed deeper during the film and showing the process of dying through Johnson’s performance of Nicole.

After the screening was over there was a Q+A session with the Director (Gabriela Cowperthwaite) and one of the Producers showed that a few people in the audience had experienced losing someone close to them in a similar way. It became clear that the film really showed the process of dying and different stages of grief properly - and in a non-romanticised way that films typically do.

Overall, I would definitely recommend to any one of my friends to go and see this film once it’s been released as it really was a fantastic piece of cinema.

Film 3 - Official Secrets - Debate - “Gavin Hood follows up Eye in the Sky with a sharp political thriller about a key moment in the history of the Iraq conflict.”

Well, what can I say? I thought this film was actually fantastic. I didn’t know the story before seeing it; which I actually think helped me enjoy the film more as I had no clue what was going to happen. Some parts were incredibly emotional and other parts I felt pure anger in empathy for the protagonists. The top billed cast (in my opinion) really made the film what it is. Knightley’s performance was outstanding and Smith, Goode and Fiennes also performed amazingly!

The cinematography was absolutely stunning - it truly amazed me how such a simple shot (a shot we’ve been learning about ourselves) is so effective in showing emotion and creating different moods in the film. It was nice (but also a little strange) how much I was picking up in the film that we had been taught over the last year and a bit. I’m really starting feel like I might know what I’m doing with this film making malarkey.

Back to the film, it really made me think about the wrongs and rights of the government (and the world) and how justice is handled. Also, personally knowing someone that works at GCHQ, and the nature of the story line itself, I really thought about how there is so much stuff going on that the general public doesn’t know about - and probably never will know about.

The film definitely fits into the category of “Debate” as I imagine that there would have been many opinions about what Gun did when the event actually occurred and I could also see the film bringing up more discussions about the subject in the current day. I know that personally, I’m going to do some research into reports from the time the trial was going on because it has interested me so much.

I would seriously suggest to anyone to see this film - especially people around my age that weren’t aware of what was going on at the time (mainly for being so young) it has seriously opened my eyes to the world more than they already were. This film deserves the applause it got at the end of the screening.

Film 4 - A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood - BFI Patrons’ Gala - “Director Marielle Heller and star Tom Hanks offer the perfect antidote for uneasy times, in a film destined to capture even the most world-weary heart.”

This film was a beautiful way of showing the story of personal development. We watch as Lloyd Vogel becomes friends with children’s TV star Fred Rogers when he is assigned to do a write up about him for a hero’s segment in Esquire magazine.

The development of Vogel was an astonishing one at that. We didn’t see what he was like pre-Rogers aside from the wedding scenes and we had only heard about his writing from his boss and wife in conversation. However, by the end of the film it appeared that his writing had changed dramatically along with his view on life after meeting and spending time with Mister Rogers. There was a part of the film where Vogel said to Mister Rogers that ‘he must like fixing broken people’. Rogers doesn’t reply to that statement, instead he asks Vogel to do an exercise with him where he thinks about those he loves and love him for a minute in silence. This exercise alone seemed to make something click in Vogel which started the true process of changing once he returned home to his wife and child.

The film is presented as if it were an episode of “Neighborhood”. Hanks addresses the audience directly when on set for the show. Which created an instant connection with the character and makes the audience feel secure in his presence. The film and story itself was very moving and I left feeling both insecure in myself and more secure than before. There was something about watching someone be so genuinely nice and honest and loved the world and people so much that really brought home how some people can be truly shit.

Multiple scenes had me welling up (and I’m sure if it was just me I’d have been balling) just from the pure kindness that Mister Rogers shows to other people. This started incredibly early on - when Vogel first meets Rogers and he’s talking to a Make a Wish child. He’s wasn’t going to leave until the child had interacted with him despite the director and producer on his back about being behind schedule. I don’t know much about the real Mister Rogers, I think I may either be a bit young or not in the right country to have experienced his shows, but I’m more than sure that he would be incredibly proud of how the story has been presented in film about how he changed a mans life for the better.

1 note · View note