Silver Arts Award Unit 1C - Review a Live Arts Event

The arts event I've chosen to review is a cinema screening of "The Monuments Men" at the Courtyard Theatre, Hereford, as part of the Borderlines Film Festival.

Upon entry into the cinema, every member of the audience was handed a sheet of information concerning the film, which was useful and gave insight into exactly who was in it and what the context of the film was. This, I thought, was a nice touch. Subsequently, a member of Borderlines said a few words regarding both the film in question and the festival as a whole, finishing on a joke which, although I can't remember exactly, had the majority of the audience laughing. Personally, I didn't see the humour, but I'll put that down to the fact that, other than the BFI Academy films, "The Monuments Men" was the only film I attended at the festival this year, and as the joke pertained to the festival I wouldn't expect to understand it. Even though I didn't get the joke, I appreciated it, and I again felt it a nice touch that the festival's organisers could spare the time to do this.

The film itself was enjoyable enough, though once it had finished I experienced a moment of awkward consternation. With the credits rolling, I stood up to leave, as I would in a cinema to see a film as part of its main exhibition run (rather than as part of a festival), and didn't expect the rest of the audience to remain seated. I then had to pass across the cinema while they sat, obstructing their view of the credits.

Outside the cinema was a series of ballot boxes which allowed me to rate the film, which would then be compared to ratings given to the other films in the festival. I liked this feature, as it gave me a chance to express my personal opinion on the film, and based on the full set of scores the festival could improve the selection of films they offer next year.

Overall, I enjoyed the experience, and I would certainly attend a film at the Borderlines Film Festival next year, provided there are films that I'm interested in seeing.

Silver Arts Award Unit 2D - Work Effectively with Others

Included in this page is evidence that I worked well with the others in my team, both in photographic form and in the form of the finished film.

Silver Arts Award Unit 2B - Plan Practical Issues

I plan to keep a detailed log of the camera shots recorded by the cinematography team, including their usefulness for the final cut, and then use this to help me determine the best combination of shots afterwards when I edit the project together. In order to achieve this, I'll have several blank camera log sheets which I will fill in as and when shots are captured, making sure my designations match with those on the clapperboard. Once all of the footage is transferred to a computer, I'll synchronise each clip in turn with the externally recorded audio, all placed on one timeline, then begin to cut the film by selecting the takes I've marked as 'good' and finding the best parts of those.

Silver Arts Award Unit 2E - Review the Project

For my Arts Award, I took charge of the editing for a short film - The Careers Interview - which was made as a collaborative effort by a group of people of a similar age to myself as part of the Rural Media Company's BFI Film Academy. As the editor, I spent the shoot itself taking notes of each shot as it was being filmed, while making a mental rough cut in time with production, so that I could make suggestions to the camera crew if I felt they hadn't got enough. For the edit itself, I worked with the group's sound operator to sync the footage with sound recorded on an external microphone, before preparing a rough cut of the film. Over the course of two days, I edited the film down so that it was short enough to meet the Borderlines restrictions without compromising the story. The final project was premiered at the Borderlines Film Festival on 5th March 2014, and I will provide a link to the video online as soon as it's available.

Silver Arts Award Unit 2C - Undertake Effective Arts Leadership

I have included a link to the finished film on Vimeo.

Silver Arts Award Unit 2A - Establish the Purpose of the Project

Identification of the Project

In order to complete my Arts Award leadership task, I will be working as part of a small team to create a short film which will hopefully be screened at the Borderlines Film Festival in March. On 17th February 2014, the group will complete pre-production, before filming over two days from 18th to 19th February. The next two days will be spent editing the film, ready for screening.

Silver Arts Award Unit 1B - Make, Implement and Review an Action Plan

Action Plan

Having set out my challenge in the previous section, I took part in a short film entitled Wraith, which I edited with the joint purpose of being my AS Film Studies coursework contribution and the chance to fulfill my Arts Award goal. The film was shot in December of 2013, but all of the editing was done in the space of a little over a week due to a delay in getting hold of the footage. As a result of this delay I had only a short amount of time to edit before the coursework deadline, and the restrictions put on the coursework submissions meant the story had to be cut to less than two and a half minutes. With these restrictions in mind, I had to keep the film succinct, whilst sustaining the narrative flow.