1.1 Develop your current knowledge, understanding and skills

Ever since I was young, I’ve had an interest in film. My exposure to a plethora of remarkable stories and characters led me at first to pursue a career in front of the camera, I enlisted in every single acting class and summer course available, including Bristol Old Vic youth groups and the ITV West Television Workshop. I even had the brilliant opportunity to participate in a couple of short films and some Norwegian produced English language videos. However, these repeated experiences of being on a set had me more intrigued with the inner workings of my favourite films and I started to move away from acting and spend more time writing scripts and editing.

Most of my experience has always been within the more conceptual aspects of film-making. For example, I’ve always been interested in editing which has lead me to engage in software such as Adobe Premiere Elements and After Effects. I also have experience using design programs such as Photoshop and Sketchbook Pro.

However I would say that I currently most of my time writing scripts as screenwriting has always been something I enjoy. I’ve had work experience at DNEG, a visual effects house in London along with the BBC in Bristol. 

In terms of a specific role I could see myself taking at the BFI film academy, I would say writing or directing would highly preferable as it’s an aspect of filmmaking that I’m really keen to learn more about and feel most confident with. However, I am not fixed to that idea and I would be very happy to be a part of the cast as well. I also have a lot of experience creating my own storyboards for potential short films.

Being part of the BFI Film Academy is a great opportunity and i would love to gain as much from this experience as possible. However, the main reason I applied is to meet like-minded people and tell a great story. Admittedly, I don’t have a large amount of experience with the hands-on nature of film production and so hopefully during my time at BFI I’ll have the opportunity to collaborate on a great film.

When it comes to my future, I have no hestitations about working in the creative sector and the film industry, to me, seems a fascinating and fufilling environment to work within. I’d love to expand my knowledge of the field I would like work in and I feel the best way I can do that is purely through experience. Making short films and writing in my own time along with applying myself to more professional projects such as the BFI Film Academy  seems to be the best course of action. Simply put, I feel confident in my own abilities yet am always looking for opportunities to learn and create.

1.2 Take a role in the production of a short film

Whilst I do have other roles in the film, such as writing, my main role is to be an actor. More specifically, I play the character of Charlie, a naive social pariah with an almost feverish need to become popular.

In my opinion, this role requires an ability to perform naturally and believably. The premise of this film is fantastical and eccentric and so I feel it’s important that the characters and the relationship between them should be as human and as grounded as possible.

I would also, of course, need to learn the script and determine the character and the themes of the script. This would be a lot easier considering I am also a part of the writing team and thus have had the opportunity to delve deep into the narrative which may help in my acting role.  I would also need to maintain a consistent dialogue with the director and other members of the crew in order to gauge just what I would need to do on the day.

In terms of how I would like to carry out my role, I will absolutely attempt to be professional. However I will try to be relaxed and enjoy it as much as possible. I’d also need to wear clothing that would reflect the time and setting of the film, this may involve discussions with the directors and costume/production design departments.

As an actor, I wouldn’t need a great deal of equipment, I would only need to script. I’ll try and keep the script on me at all times, highlight my lines, annotate and keep going over and over the dialogue. I’d like to have my lines memorised as deeply as possible as I feel like that would make my role a lot easier.

1.3 Gain feedback on how you performed your role

What did I do in my role?

Part of the cast, playing the part of Charlie.

What did I do well?

• Performed the lines and actions naturally.
• Maintained professionalism on set.
• Was successful in communicating the character’s motivations and personality.

What were the challenges and how were they dealt with?

•  The long hours and constant repetition for the sake of coverage. Overcame this through simple perseverance.
• Had a ‘blank’ moment, which caused some lines to slip.

How did I work within my team?

• Dialogue with directors  was effective and only really needed to be kept to a minimum due to ability to follow direction.
• Worked well with the other actors.

Any areas for development?

• Constant repetition of scenes occasionally caused the lines and actions to slip into monotony. Need to keep the characters motivation and thought process clear for every single scene to maintain naturalism.
• Be more thorough when it comes to the blocking of scenes so as to not ‘fumble’.

1.4 Review your technical skills and use of equipment

I felt that the feedback and constructive criticism given to me was incredibly valid. Specifically from the directors, it was reassuring to hear that they were pleased with the performance and especially satisfying to have them confirm thoughts I had regarding possible improvements.

I think, as an actor, I carried out my role to the best of my ability. Objectively it might not come across as the strongest performance, with occasional lapses in character and naturalism causing the scenes to feel stilted. However, thanks in full to the precision of the directors, the talent of the fellow cast members and the overall professionalism of the rest of the crew, I felt I was able to carry out my role well.

My strengths within my role consisted of a predominantly natural performance along with retention of the lines and, according to my feedback, an ability to take the lines and improvise with them in order to make them come across as more spontaneous and natural. Challenge-wise, I think that staying in character, even after turn- overs and breaks, proved to be tough.

I personally feel that my technical knowledge and ability has definitely improved over the course of film production. In general, I’ve gained a better understanding of the inner workings of a film crew along with knowledge of various pieces film equipment. More specifically, I’ve become more in tune with what it means to be an actor on set. That was noticeably interesting as, after spending a great deal of time acting prior to this, I felt certain that I knew everything about acting – however this experience taught me several valuable lessons about the acting process, time-keeping and more.

After reviewing the footage, I have picked up a substantial amount of knowledge about editing and shot composition.  It’s also given me a chance to study my acting in detail which was definitely cringeworthy but valuable in that it allowed me to notice the gaps in my performance which I intend to work on moving forward.

The Academy has left me with an invaluable wealth of new skills and knowledge that will greatly enhance my future career (hopefully). For example, I’ve recently been going over a rough cut of the film, adding visual effects and other enhancements. Getting involved with the post-production of a film is incredibly interesting as it’s something I’ve never tried before, specifically adding in VFX in After Effects.

Moving forward, I would absolutely like to pursue acting, however I feel personally more intrigued by the writing/directing aspects of film production and so will definitely be more lenient towards that specific area. Saying that, working on this film in particular has led me to become more engaged with post-production and VFX and so may take that further.