Final Film – The Front Lines

After finishing the edit within the three days provided and therefore overall completing my arts challenge, our film premiered in Shoreditch Courthouse hotel to an audience of family/ friends, fellow crew and BFI members. The premiere itself was a surreal experience, both standing in front of an audience explaining the subjects we have worked on for the past few months along with receiving positive feedback and hearing the audience react to the film, e.g laughing during and seeing what we have produced, as a team, on a the big screen.

Link to film –

Audience feedback –

Moving image exhibition review

To explore more art forms and view examples of practises, I have visited a moving image exhibition titled ‘ Strange Days, memories of the future ‘ intertwining various art forms, such as moving image, art itself, graphic design and paintings presented through a walk through exhibition. There were many visuals accompanying the work, such as the various use of neon lights in the staircase and hallways between each screen of work, along with the screens presented in dark rooms and the main source of light being the projector. Some screens also had visual effects, such as one by the an artist with a flashing projector effect repeating every minute creating a overall aesthetic visual.

What I liked most about the exhibition was the visuals, the best in my opinion being a landscape photography based screening, cinematic shots that were moving and overall based around waterfalls, details of rocks, high mountain views etc. I liked it because it intrigues me and links to my common area of interest, along with a projected viewing of visually pleasing patterns projected onto the top of a room at the ceiling, making participants look up and lay down on sofa’s, giving an overall relaxing vibe.

Besides the visuals, some parts I did not like included the actual screenings – one in particular that made the participants wear headphones for a human activity based screening. The screening was a recording of people in a house with bright colours, filmed as though they were intoxicated. Though creative and intriguing, the visual did not match what I typically like.

I went to the exhibition with classmates and the event was based in Holborn, London. I have not attended a moving image exhibition before, this was therefore new to me. The actual art and way in which the whole exhibition was set up was unexpected, the art being different to anything i’ve seen and the walk through aspect being something I have not done before.

I have learnt to be more experimental when working under art forms and be more creative in ways that I might actually present my work, e.g the layout -like the way the exhibition had bright screens and other aesthetic lighting. I have further understood that the presentation has as much impact as the actual work towards an audience.

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Reviewing my final workshop

As part of being a leader, I have completed an insightful workshop to a group of participants informing them about something I feel I am skilled in. This being photography, our workshop included information about how to use the settings on a camera and how they affect the lens, light, etc, along with features such as composition, framing, informing them about common techniques such as the rule of thirds, etc. I have worked in a group of 3 within this workshop, consisting of one person explaining the technical settings of photography – (myself,) the aesthetical looks of taking a photo including lighting and composition (Darcey) and the post production of a photo when editing the photo in softwares such as Adobe Photoshop (Kate.) This therefore meant I was in a group and teamwork presentation, in which we had to work together to project our presentation.

I was working and communicating with them to ensure that we all presented our information in the most successful way with limited issues and the correct amount of information to introduce people to photography. This was important to make sure our leadership skills were practiced and fulfilled, us all taking on a different section of the presentation depending on which part we had more knowledge on.

I wanted to achieve and have the experience of presenting something about photography to a group, to practice with the knowledge I have about the topic along with introduce it to others who may not know anything about it. I had achieved this and got the message across to the group – this was demonstrated when we gave them the activity of taking a collection of 3-5 photographs after the presentation telling a story using any technique they had learnt from the presentation. The results from two groups were –

Group 1 – Took photos from various angles, experimenting with composition and shallow depth of field

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Group 2 – Took photos from the same angle but in black and white, considering the editing aspect that Kate produced.

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Both groups had therefore learnt something from the presentation and were able to demonstrate this, meaning I had achieved what I wanted to. (highlighted)

Fortunately, there were not many issues in the workshop in which we hadn’t previously thought about, though the workshop would have been better if we got to demonstrate with a camera, with the group also having cameras. In the second practice workshop for my section of technically explaining, I had a camera to show where certain functions may be located. Though not major, this was an issue as we could not get a camera for the final thing. To resolve this, we got our participants to use their phones. This did not massively affect the workshop as there were still photos in which we could project and in the end our audience were still able to learn, then demonstrate this learning.

Workshop

As part of experiencing a situation in which I take responsibility as a leader, in my group of 3 I had taken the role of informing others about something in which I am passionate about- photography whilst improving from the previous weeks of trial workshops.

Presentation:

Photography BFI (1)

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Leadership skills I have developed throughout the course of my leadership project include many aspects, from communicating with others better, listening, being organised etc. Skills I had before the project and was able to apply included presentation skills and some teamwork skills when working to make our film. I have learnt that being a good leader means you must be open to listen to other ideas and adapt to situations where issues may rise unexpectedly. Being able to solve these collectively whilst woking towards your main aim is what I feel makes a good and successful leader. My original plan within my leadership role was changed as my group consisted of only two people changing to three. This meant that there were more areas to divide and more concerns as to making sure everyone was involved. My idea about adding a 3 lighting setup video was not able to be done however I had explained what the setup still was, using both the presentation and more of my own knowledge when standing in front of my audience. Other parts such as using a presentation and still explaining the technical and aesthetical sides of photography were still taught and done through.

In the future if I was to do the project again, I would prepare slightly more beforehand in terms of equipment, as it would have been better if everyone in our workshop had a camera to work with. My group could also could of had cameras to demonstrate with and full show sides of photography.

What went well in our final workshop was the division of sections and explanations of our presentation. I had explained the first two slides, with my group member Darcey explaining the next few and the ending lead by Kate. We all spoke on the parts we were most knowledgable on with an activity for our audience to interact with at the end. After the activity we had our audience practice what they had just learnt from our slide by taking photographs. The engagement between us and our participants made our workshop successful. I had also learnt the importance of engaging with your audience as a leader and making sure that you, as the leader have control in the audience situation and are knowledgable as to what you’re talking about and how to physically show this.

Parts that did not go well in our final workshop included not having modern cameras that I and my group use themselves as part of explaining. We could add this and be more organised for future situations.

My favourite part of the leadership workshop was showing the end result of everyones photos. It was interesting to see what they had picked up from listening to our workshop and therefore what they applied when photographing. Both groups were interesting, the first having unique angles based on the technical sides of photography – using mine and Darcey’s explanations and the second experimenting with editing and colour use, using Kate’s part of editing.

The most challenging part of the whole workshop was in planning, when deciding how to involve the audience. As the workshop includes a presentation, we wanted to make sure that our participants got involved in some way at the end and making sure they didn’t get bored, further allowing us to be good leaders and demonstrate interactivity skills.

Working with others presenting to fellow group members was interesting and improved my confidence skills. Working with other people can be challenging due to contrasting ideas however can also be insightful due to the new ideas that can come out of it.

Feedback from our audience –

The feedback given is insightful and tells me what I did well as a leader. The group were engaged as to what we were teaching and were interested when we were showing our own examples of work and next time I will improve on bringing in equipment to demonstrate with along with being able to finalise the whole idea of taking a photograph. The feedback also including aspects such as being passionate, organised, good communication skills make a good leader and overall mean that I have completed my arts leadership challenge by working with others both in smaller groups and within my actual team of 3.

Working effectively with others

Reflection part 1 –

As part of exploring the art form of film, working together in a team is an important aspect and prepares us for future group situations. I have found that there are many situations in which group work is required, for example, group work when we were working in a group of 6 to produce our short film.Working together to intertwine our ideas was important and making sure everyones opinions and ideas were voiced was equally as important, as certain ideas may have made the storyline better, etc. This proved to be challenging in times of working with the director, for example, we found that there would be clashes with the cinematographers visual views and director.

An example as to how I therefore worked with other people during the project was during my editor role of our short film. I had the director with me when editing, along with helping the rest of our group when on set. As my role was in post production, I helped whenever possible. I was working / communicating with my group members to create a successful outcome and to finish our film on time. Help included telling our producer what slate number the film had been on as I was taking notes to help me in the edit, along with carrying equipment, asking the actors if they needed anything etc. The achievement of gathering all footage from the timeframe given of 2 days was achieved. The end product came together due to the fact that we were able to work together when needed and solved any arising issues. Issues included dealing with the time, for example, on the first day of our shoot – we were filming in a public environment therefore we had decided to use the early morning for long shots as there were no people. This took longer than expected making it an issue we did not previously think about, however we had resolved it on the second shoot day with wide and long shots of the virtual reality room. The edit did not require the long VR shots however it is an aspect that is important when filming, learnt from the mentors who gave feedback to other groups – always have extra footage. Other issues we did not expect included continuity of the VR room shots contrasting with the forest shots. This was not considered as much as it could have been during the filming on set, however it was a challenge faced in post production. To resolve the issue during editing, we used visual effects and other footage – the fact that we had spare footage was therefore again useful. Facing this challenge allowed my editing skills to however improve.

Reflection part 2 –

Another example as to how I have worked with others during the project is on an informative photography presentation workshop. I had worked in a group of 3 providing information on photography including the technical sides of photography, the aesthetical sides, editing and how to tell a story with a photo. As part of expressing the idea of leadership, we all divided a section each and made sure each part of the presentation was said equally. Reasoning behind working with them was because we all knew about photography and different sections of it. This meant we each could say something and inform others who may not anything about photography. We communicated together by planning the workshop beforehand with 2 practice trials and editing a presentation together along with planning out the technical risks we may of had to face., e.g when projecting our presentation and work, the hazard of tripping on a projector wire, etc. Reasoning behind the whole workshop was to gain experiences of being a leader and improve traits a leader may have such as organization, passion, assertiveness and the ability to engage with others.

We wanted to have the experience of being in a situation where leadership is required along with informing others about something we are passionate about. As the feedback we received was positive, we had achieved this. An activity we had after showing the presentation included everyone explaining the photos they went out and took, applying the knowledge they had just learnt from the slide. Their detailed explanations of their photos taken is also an example that they had learnt something and been informed about an aspect of photography, further meaning we achieved our aim. (Communicating with my group in a successful manner meant our aim was achieved.)

Issues we faced before in our practice runs included not being able to get the photos projected onto the screen along with un organisation of getting everyone outside to take photographs. That had improved on the final workshop and besides the fact that we did not have a camera to present with compared to one camera before, there were no unexpected issues.

Leading my slide of the presentation using own photography examples

Reviewing practice workshops

Blue – involvement in other workshops Purple – my workshop practice

As part of being a leader and practising the idea of leadership, I had taken part in my group members workshops including activities that got us all involved and included teamwork. The practice workshops I took part in last week, Day 13, including the acting and art workshop had been developed by the leaders, I therefore saw the progress the leaders made, and both had considered their feedback. The individuals of the workshop were more assertive, informative and organized ,meaning they had the correct traits of being good leaders. Being part of the workshops was overall interesting and engaging. . I had a example of how to carry out my workshop.

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I had also listened to a few of my group members and given feedback. This included workshops with music practice, editing softwares, etc. I had taken part in an editing workshop, where we filmed and edited a few videos together in Premiere Pro.

Link to video:

Practising for my workshop included presenting our photography themed presentation to a small group of people with the rest of my group. What went well included the explanation of examples we has given in regards to our personal photography. I had lead the first part of the presentation where the technical sides of photography including the aperture of cameras, ISO and shutter speed was explained along with the environment of photography, this including the 3 point setup and natural light. Personal photography is added here, however I could explain the settings I used when I took the photo. This would add a real example of myself in the moment taking the photo. Darcey, a member of my group, explained her part of the presentation well with her examples of photography and contributed to informing everyone about photography. We also had the opportunity to use a Canon camera allowing us to demonstrate where the settings were typically found. Kate, another member of our group, had a slide to explain stories behind photos, however after finishing the presentation her part had been edited to present more information about how to edit therefore linking to the whole idea of photographs in post production. Examples of her edited work was therefore added to the powerpoint after the presentation. We has given out papers and pens for the storyboards and got everyone to take photos of a story they wanted to tell. We then asked the people to voice what they had done and explain, etc. Personally reflecting back, I feel the end of our presentation when interacting with everyone needs to be more sharp, as a leader, I could ask more questions to our audience as to what they’ve learnt about photography. The feedback we received included finishing off and possibly involving the audience more.

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Planning workshops

Blue – involvement in other workshops Purple – my workshop practice

As part of preparing for our leadership workshops, in our groups we had prepared what we were going to say about our chosen theme and pitched this to a small group of members. We received feedback on this to help for the final presentation of the workshop and overall independently improve on our feedback to develop our end goal of leadership skills. Our workshop plan had slightly changed with a new member of our group, Darcey. The information has therefore been split into three, myself still talking about the 3 lighting setup and technical sides of the cameras, with Darcey helping explain some features of the camera then showing her photography and explaining the aesthetics behind her photos. Kate, the other member of our group, further explaining stories behind photography and possible new ideas of how to edit in photoshop etc. The photographs and possible video of the 3 lighting setup will be presented on a powerpoint with pens and papers for the storyboard, potentially papers with storyboard templates. To improve for next week we should add the presentation and research on our different areas beforehand.

Whilst planning for our workshop, I had taken part in two other workshops with the leaders talking us through. I gained some knowledge and ideas when in these workshops, as they were successfully interactive, including a workshop for acting with an exercise that gets everyone moving and trusting each other, along with a drawing / painting exercise for a workshop following a production designer leader. As these were the first practice runs for both the workshops, extra work and improvement was required, for example, for the acting workshop the instructions as to how everyone should play the game could have been explained in a clearer way. In the art workshop, the leader could have included more reasoning as to why we were drawing a certain thing, or explain a few techniques with surprising facts behind them.

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Art workshop

Achieving my arts leadership role – initial workshop ideas

Risks – As part of completing a workshop with people involved, we must be careful and consider risks and health and safety issues. Risks can involve things such as noise or music, potential hazardous materials, use of electrical equipment, emergency exits and safety of young children or people who may be present or in the area. The risks for our own workshop may include –

-Background noise as a distraction – Camera equipment placement -Projector wires – No liquids such as water nearby

To prevent this from happening, we must be very careful when using the cameras and ensure the group know not to bring water in the same location. The idea of those working around us knowing of the workshop will be important as all actions will therefore be as careful as possible, preventing projector wire / equipment issues, etc.

Project timeline – In order to receive the best possible outcome for the project, the timeline will include things that may need to be completed in the lead up to the workshop, most in which I must take responsibility for. For example, going over the knowledge I already have within camera operation on technical aspects such as how to use a Nikon camera and how to use the backlight, key light and model light. The time in which this will occur is before the project as part of research, the person responsible will be myself. Before the project, I will also need to organise materials – getting a camera I can demonstrate clearly with along with getting feedback from our risk assessment.

Before the project, my partner who I am working with has the responsibility of collecting photos in which she has taken which tell stories as an example to demonstrate. During the project, the responsibility of presenting information will be equal as there are two parts along with responsibilities of taking photos, collecting feedback etc. Feedback within this situation will be important as it is the first leadership project I am taking part in therefore I would like to know what i could improve on for future leadership environments and overall become more independent in these situation. The opportunity to express knowledge on photography will also benefit the understanding I have within my head. After gathering feedback / after the project, our plan must include finishing and returning my equipment used along with reflecting on skills we have learnt. Skills in which I would have hoped to gain by the end of the project

include learning to be more committed. An activity in which may help me when reflecting is one we completed on day 13 of the academy, which included speaking about who we know

of that is seen as a leader and successful in the leadership category. I had chosen an influencer named Connor Franta, who I see as a good example of a leader due to his a

acquired influencer role impacting a wide audience, along with a teacher of mine who specialises in photography, due to the passion he holds within the medium

along with good communication and listening skills, with a balance of authority. These are aspects in which I feel make a successful leader in a situation.

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My arts leadership role

As part of moving onto unit 2 off my silver arts award, the knowledge I had gained beforehand from meeting professionals, completing research and being on set now is being applied. One aspect I now must demonstrate includes leadership. Qualities I believe make a good leader includes:

Good communication skills
Teamwork skills
Confidence
Authority
Knowledgable on what they’re doing and how to structure their desired presentation methods

Leadership skills from both this list and other aspects that I would like to improve include organisational skills and having confidence within presenting when leading a group of people. I believe that one of the most successful ways of learning is by teaching it to others, therefore being a leader when teaching others will benefit me in terms of what I have already learnt along with helping my overall presenting and leading skills by practicing them with an audience. My arts leadership project therefore includes a theme in which I am skilled in and can teach to others, including technical and visual qualities.The project is based around photography, with the technical sides of setting up a camera then the end result and how photographs can tell stories. The aesthetics may involve connotating what the photo looks like in the end result and analysing this with professional photography terminology. and speaking about the settings the camera may have been on etc. There are two aspects included under this theme giving two sides to the workshop. There are planned ideas about having activities such as creating a storyboard to allow our audience to interact and visualise what their story may be when photographing, along with a possible game once the scripted aspect of explaining the technical side is complete. The overall outcome will hopefully include our audience being more knowledgeable on photography and the impact it has when creating or telling stories with deeper meanings.

Resources we require will include cameras to demonstrate, pens / papers for the storyboard and a projector for everyone’s examples of photographed work. There may be safety issues as to where cameras are being placed and consideration when using equipment. As there may be a few cameras around as part of our resources needed, we must be careful of electrical hazards of water coming in contact with the equipment. Within my role, I will be responsible for the first part of the workshop – teaching and demonstrating the technical things of the camera and shooting locations, for example, actually filming outside and how aesthetical qualities such as lighting an affect a photograph, or, the basic 3 lighting setup in a professional photography setting. This role will help develop leadership skills as I must take responsibility and demonstrate a clear understanding as to what I am talking about, and organisational skills to ensure the workshop works well. The idea of two aspects of the workshop came from working with another person in the academy, Kate. She will carry out the second part of the workshop where the idea of stories behind photography will come into place, as that is an area she is skilled in. My role therefore requires me to be strengthen my knowledge of setups and qualities of cameras before the workshop begins, with examples to make sure that our audience involved in the event understand whats being shown and photography itself as an art form. To understand and help the role of my partner, I could also collect some examples of my work that tells stories in which makes sense to what we’re showing our audience.

BFI London Film Festival

As part of overall learning more about the industry and applying my understanding to viewing other made films, I attended London Film Festival on on the 13th of October In Leicester square. I watched the film Beautiful Boy, starring protagonists Steve Carell and Timothée Chalamet, based on a true story following Nic Sheff’s drug experience and his father David Sheff dealing and helping his son. The source material is based on the Sheff’s memoirs and the film is directed by Felix Van Groeningen, following the relationship between the father and his son.

The art event took place in Leicester square Cineworld and included the experience of seeing the actors, director and writer of the film and viewing their piece for the first time. Film itself was involved as an art form in this event. My review of the whole experience includes many positive emotions. Excitement as this was my first film premiere to viewing other fans of the actors. I found the amount of people overwhelming and thrilling.

The main storyline intertwined both deep messages and meaningful emotions, including heartbreak and devastation from both Chalamet and Carell’s performance. The camera follows the sons actions (Nic) and begins to compel the audience into the struggles of his drug addiction, mainly consisting of crystal meth, heroin, and cocaine.

What I liked most within the film was the on screen connection both protagonists had, successfully allowing a heartwarming family relationship to be built in an emotionally attaching way. These moments occur in the setup, where David Sheff, the father, researches his son’s increase use of meth, along with always keeping an eye as to where his son is & getting him help. The gripping scenes of relapse from Nic are heartbreaking however are powerful in presenting the real and raw side of addiction. I also like how the story emphasises the idea that those affected don’t always get better straight after rehab, therapy, etc.rather that relapse occurs and that the issue is important to voice in modern society. Another interesting aspect in the film included the manner in which Felix Van Groeningen directed – in which he had David, the father, never judging his son, even in the lowest times of struggle, along with mostly framing the point of view from the father, rather than directly from the son. This adds further emotion by making the audience feel pain not only from viewing the struggling addict, but from the fathers self doubt and worry.

Aspects of the film in which I disliked included the scenes roughly after the middle, near the ending, where Nic meets Lauren, a previous drug addict, played by Kaitlyn Dever. The cycle of the story seems to get repetitive and tiring at this point, and has possibilities of losing audiences interests.

However, I personally overall enjoyed the film and feel that the setup began with compelling acting, resulting with heartbreaking and thought-provoking messages. Though some tiring recurrence in the middle, the storyline proved to be impactful and authentic.

A favourite aspect of mine within the film includes a cinematic shot of the “Beautiful Boy” driving down a long, free, Californian road when sober. The idea that he’s free from reality without a drug is captivating, however ironic that he relapses soon after the scene giving that element of frustration. As cinematography is a main key in film that intrigues me, I found the shot inspiring and aesthetically pleasing,similarly with the overall cinematography of the film which holds interesting connotations -Groeningen’s choice of cinematic locations surrounding David and his family, from their house next to the beach to drives down long roads, contrast with some of Nic’s surroundings, overdosed in darker streets and dosed on unknown floors.

Thoughts I would take away from viewing this film include different views on addiction and hope that the story has impacted audiences and will give a voice to those who require as such and to this topic as a whole.

To gain feedback from my review, I have asked someone to watch the trailer of the film as well as read my review.

Link to a voice note of their feedback:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1zS71uRVZOkAl-kc4vrFxi1ekSrsX2BNP/view?usp=sharing

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