2.3 – Outline the potential progression routes into the film industry and wider sector

What could be your potential progression route into the film industry?

There are a wide variety of progression routes that could potentially lead you into the film industry:

• BFI Film Academy - This very academy we are partaking in could be a potential route into the film industry as it builds up a group who can contact each other for assistance on their own future projects due to the connections made during the course. Perhaps most significantly, Film Academy goers also have the opportunity to apply for residential courses with the National Film and Television School (NFTS), some specific to one area of filmmaking (e.g. screenwriting) and others including all roles in order to make several short films. These highly prestigious courses are what can help you obtain contacts with people already in the industry and could be the thing that first gets your name out there.
• University - Studying film courses at many of the universities offering courses on the subject can help you gain contacts and experience that can get your foot in the door when looking for work in the industry.
• Work Experience - Gaining work experience on film or television sets or at a production company can be a direct route for you to build up a good reputation in the industry so that you can climb the ladder and get higher within the industry. 
• Self funded films - These are self-made pieces of filmmaking that could be submitted and potentially accepted to festivals where your work is screened to an audience of professionals that could lead to bigger festivals and even film distributors, bringing your film to a larger audience and establishing yourself within the industry.
• Short films - These can follow a similar route to self-funded films, by gaining exposure at festivals and potential interest from producers and other professionals who could help you get further in the industry.
• YouTube channels - By posting your work onto YouTube, it exposes its to a worldwide audience which can lead to work with other filmmakers on the platform and even people higher in the industry if it receives enough exposure.
• People you know - If you are lucky enough, you may know someone working in the industry personally, or even a friend of a friend, who can pull the strings to help get you working in the industry. 

2.4 – Outline the relationship between the film industry and wider creative media sector

How is the film industry influenced by the wider creative media sector?

In recent years, the film industry has grown to become more and more influenced by the wider creative media sector. This is shown in one way by the prominence of film adaptations of books. Many wildly popular book series have inspired filmmakers and given them the vision to adapt the books into films, such as Harry Potter, The Hunger Games and The Lord of the Rings to name a few. This has been a massively lucrative way of generating a hit film or blockbuster franchise, which puts film studios and producers on the lookout constantly for new books that could have the scope to be successful films. The game industry has also been a source from which the film industry has developed many popular film adaptations such as Lara Croft: Tomb Raider. As the industry has become popularised with increasingly narrative-driven video games, there have even more film adaptations of games being put in production, such as Halo and Assassin's Creed.

The rise of the internet has also changed the way the film industry works substantially within the last few decades alone. Cinemas are no longer the only way for films to be distributed and seen by a mass audience which has given a voice to amateur filmmakers whose work can be heard through web based platforms such as YouTube and Vimeo. These platforms have let these amateur filmmakers rise to the forefront of the industry as a result of their popularity and is a trend that seems set to increase. These filmmakers don't even need to have funding from producers or film studios, as additional sources can be found through platforms such as crowd funding on sites like Kickstarter. The popularity of online streaming has also led to further exposure of less well-known filmmakers as people from all over the world can watch their films and help them gain enough popularity to gain more clout in the industry, creating a massive market in online streaming services such as Netflix.

Furthermore, there is also now a clear crossover between the film industry and other parts of the creative media sector, such as game design, fashion design, radio, writing and film itself. To work in all of these sectors a high degree of creativity, drive and determination is very important, as are technical skills. Skills developed in any one of these sectors could be transferable to the film industry as they all expertises that the film industry requires to make films. For example, fashion designers could design costumes for the film or even have a knack for colour that could make them a good cinematographer or editor. Additionally, as software has developed to have multiple uses, it means game design and other digital industries have more crossover with the film industry due to the increasing use of CGI and special effects in films. This kind of skill in creating special effects and manipulating images is a common thread between films and digital professions like game design that means they could be as skilled as people working on CGI in the film industry. 

3.1 – Describe the impact of your own behaviours on others

How do you feel you have worked well with others on the production team?

The behaviour that a person exhibits to others will always have an impact in ways that can be positive and negative, particularly when working in a group towards a tight deadline as we were on the film production. Generally, I feel that I have worked very well with others on the production team over the course and found it very easy to work with everyone else. There was a great positive attitude and motivation amongst most of us that drove us towards working hard to meet the deadlines of each task that we carried out. Personally, I worked most prominently on script-writing, whilst also working on live-action and several animation techniques. Working on the script lent itself to collaborating very well as we spent much of the first session working on it, generating lots of different ideas that meant the story was constantly changing. In this process, it was imperative to keep a positive attitude and to make sure we were joint thinking rather than prioritizing our own thoughts. Once we had the story nailed down, we worked very hard as a team to manage our time effectively and finish the script for the benefits of everyone else working on the film. Communication with the other members of the production team working on other parts of the film was vital towards making sure that our collective vision got across so that people working on animation, production design and props could create what we envisioned in the script. It was wonderful to know that we all mostly knew and had input with what was going on with the progress of the film in every part, so that if any necessary changes were made for example, we would be told - e.g. the adapting of Mad Jack's costume / silhouette.

What was the impact of your behavior on others?

As I stated previously, it is very important to consider the impact that your behaviour could have on others, both in a physical and mental capacity. For example, being consistently negative or uncooperative has a negative impact on everyone you are working with as it can lead to decreased morale and a general animosity that can lead to un-productivity on the film production - something it was important to avoid due to the short amount of time we had. Thankfully, I and everyone I worked with tended to keep positive and it meant that we all happily worked together and productively. If ideas were changed there were occasionally negative reactions, but we worked to move on for the good of the team and the project.

In terms of safety, your behaviour could potentially be fairly dangerous in the production of a film if you do not know what you are doing properly or were acting in a immature manner. For example, if you are unsafely using or moving equipment, you could be endangering yourself and the people working around you. Thankfully, due to safety regulations that were iterated and myself and everyone being careful, I believe I carried out tasks in a way that was safe and did not cause harm to anyone working around me. 

3.2 – Identify the key factors for effective working relationships

What qualities are needed to work well with others?

There are a number of qualities that you must possess in order to work effectively with others, which are very important when working a project like the one we were. One quality is listening skills, which you cannot underestimate the importance of when working in a team. Everyone should feel that they are able to express their opinions and be heard, or people can end up feeling left out and isolated by the group which can lead to a toxic and negative working atmosphere.

From this, you must be able to communicate with others effectively. When working on a collaborative project like this where lots of different people are working on different tasks that link together, it is important that everyone is aware of what they are doing, what they are working towards and when they should have their tasks done by and the most effective way of doing this is by communicating with everyone.

It is also important to be punctual when working with others on a project of this nature where tasks waiting to start are dependent on others being finished. If you are late or waste time on doing your own task, it can mean another person cannot do their task and it can set the project back a few steps for everyone involved. Try to complete your tasks quickly and to the time you agreed to have them finished by and it will make working with others much easier.

Furthermore, it is always important to have a positive attitude in general when approaching tasks. Even when things may be looking difficult when working on a group project, having a positive attitude is the best way to keep morale up as your own optimism will help your peers to be, and generally make you work more productively and happily together towards a goal.

Though it may be difficult at times, you must always try to self analyse your own work for the benefit of everyone working around you. It means that you can improve your own work by acknowledging any flaws that can improved on, thus improving the quality of the film and therefore the satisfaction and work of the whole group.

Finally, critical thinking when working with others is what helps you to look at an issue and evaluate it so that you can form a judgement and move on to the next step from there. This will benefit you and your working relationships in a team greatly as it cuts down on any arguments since decisions are quickly made. 

3.3 – Interact with others to encourage collaborative thinking and teamwork

Give an example of when you worked with others to encourage collaborative thinking and teamwork

When I first starting working on the script with a number of other people, we only had the concept of "Mad Jack adventuring through Mere and Mosses" and it was very necessary that we worked together collaboratively to come up with a story. At first, we all individually researched stories about Mad Jack and his antics and wrote down anything we thought could be an interesting segment of the film onto a mind-map. From here, as a group we discussed where we could go with the ideas we had in order to create a story where Mad Jack would explore several locations. Our ideas evolved greatly over this discussion and while we made sure that everyone's opinions were included and heard, we all also made sure we had agreed on what was the best concept and idea to create the film around while trying not to be biased towards our own ideas. This collaboration meant that we could then plot out the film and write the script all with a good idea of what the story was.

4.1 – 4.2 - Identify the resources needed to meet film production requirements and the technical skills and equipment required for your production role

What resources are needed in film production?

In order to create a film, there are a number of resources that you require or it is not likely to pan out. The most obvious resource is people to be working and creating the film - this includes everyone from directors, writers, animators, actors and designers. It is important to have a large number of people all with different specialties to work on a film production as it means everyone will know how to fulfill their role and work towards making a great end product. This includes a cast of good actors who play and understand their characters well. Without a great team behind it, a film production is likely to sink.

Next, it is important that you have the correct equipment to make the film with and to make it of a high quality. Having good cameras along with lighting and sound equipment for example will make your job on the film a lot easier as it means the process can go much smoother and be more professional if you are not fretting on having bad picture quality, sound or lighting. However, this could be considered useless if you do not have the knowledge of filmmaking to work with the equipment. A good knowledge of the process of making a film will help you go through the stages with better ease.

Furthermore, in order to make sure you have good equipment to use it is important to obtain adequate funding for the film. Film equipment is expensive and cast and crew will want to be paid for their work, so if you don't have funding it will be very difficult to make the film. This funding can be found by pitching to potential investors and producers for your film.

Additionally, finding the right locations and shooting at an appropriate time is also an important resource in filmmaking. This is why in the pre-production stages, you should scout locations so that you can find the most appropriate one for your film and then make sure you have permission to shoot there. You also need to find the correct and appropriate facilities and venue for your film to be edited and scored in, in the post-production stages as it means you can pull together your film properly and professionally. 

What is your production role?

My predominant production role was in script-writing.
I also worked as part of the live-action team and on several animation sequences and sound effects.

What do you have to do to carry out this role?

In script-writing, I was part of the brainstorming and collaborative phase in which we came up with the main story. From here, I worked with others on creating a basic plot outline and then served as the literal writer of the script, pulling the plot into a coherent script and writing - and later expanding and refining - the dialogue.

With the live action team, I filmed on-location at Colemere, operating the camera on establishing shots and slow motion shots such as the burning wooden chapel. I also worked with a team on the pop-up book shots and later on cloud tank shots.

In animation, I worked on some stop-frame animation involving the movement of one of the team members as a 'lake witch', as well as on several light painting shots. 

On sound effects, I assisted the main sound operator with several effects such as a cup smashing, as well as in a group on whispering and cackling sounds.

What skills do you need to carry out your production role?

In my role on the script-writing team, I needed to show creativity and a skill at constructing plot and writing dialogue. This process also involved a lot of collaborative and team-working skills in order to work towards completing the script productively. In the process of writing the script, I required the ability to self-analyse my work in order to improve upon it and make it better, something was difficult but ultimately necessary in order to create the best script possible. I also needed to be organised, punctual and hard-working in order to complete the task on time - the same goes for everything I worked on.

With working on the live action and animations shots, I needed how to use the camera's functions properly to create the slow-motion or the light-painting for example, as this was important in completing my tasks to the best standard possible. I also required creativity in constructing the shots, particularly when working on the stop motion shot of the lake witch and when filming the pop-up book pages. 

What equipment and planning documents do you need to carry out this role?

In the script-writing team, we needed a computer with internet access to research and word processing software to plan with. We also needed it for script-writing software on (Celtx) in order to make the script professional with the correct terminology and layout. On the live action and stop-motion shots we used mostly DSLR cameras with microphones built in, with the exception of  the slow-motion and pop-up book shots, where we used one of the supervisor's considerably higher-quality cameras. We also had separate lighting equipment rigged when filming shots indoors in order to make the quality of the footage better.

In terms of planning documents, we had call sheets and risk assessments so that we had a list of everyone who was present and so we knew how to use the equipment properly to ensure our safety.

4.3 - 4.4 - Review your own technical skills and use of equipment and Identify sources of feedback on your performance

How well do you think you have carried out your role in production?

Generally I think I carried out my roles in production as well as I could - I completed all the tasks I worked on within the time constraints and to a standard I was proud of, particularly in the script. I worked hard and well within a team, always trying to offer input and making sure I was always working on some aspect of the project.

How do you think your technical skills have developed in this role?

I am very happy to say that I believe that my technical skills have improved significantly in my roles in production. From taking on these roles I have gained knowledge on how to operate and use complex camera equipment that I would feel comfortable using again. I believe this has improved my abilities in cinematography and constructing shots, helping my confidence in other fields aside from writing. Leading on from this, I think my script-writing abilities have also improved in my role on that team and I improved in writing dialogue as a result of working in that team. Furthermore, I have learned how to use animation techniques such as stop motion and light painting in creative ways that can really add flair and uniqueness to a film. 

How do you think your knowledge and understanding of equipment and planning documents have developed in this role?

My understanding of the importance of planning documents has developed in my roles on the production greatly, particularly in script-writing, where I learned the importance of managing your time effectively to meet a deadline. The planning of the whole project was also important in showing the significance of everyone needing to know their tasks so that everything could be completed in an organised manner. I have also gained a good grasp of new equipment and technology used in filmmaking that I hadn't experienced before. I learned how to use script writing software I was previously unaware of that I intend on using to write future scripts whilst I have also gained a basic knowledge in using sound equipment to create foley sound effects as well as lighting equipment to enhance a shot, which could be very helpful in my future film-making.

Ask your tutors and peers: How well did I carry out my role in production? How did my technical skills and use of equipment developed in this role? Then answer:

My tutors and peers considered me to be a very polite person to be around who listened well, which was very helpful when working as part of a group and coming up with ideas. Through working on the script, people thought I contributed well to the script as well as giving good feedback to other groups when asked, showing that I carried out my role in production fairly well.

What feedback have you received about your technical skills and use of equipment?

Whilst initially I wasn't too familiar with many of the technical skills and equipment involved with working on different techniques for the film, my peers felt that I learned how to work things fairly quickly after being shown how, though occasionally it required a few tries.