Dirigo Film Festival 2023
On the 12th October 2022 we started planning for a film festival called 'Dirigo' which is a festival that 2nd year UCW film students hold each year showcasing student films from across the globe, we had planned this festival to be based at Arnolfini Bristol on the 26th January 2023 which was a free event provided you reserve your tickets via a website called 'poool'.
In the early stages of planning our film festival we were in heavy communication with the graphics design students to make us a poster for the festival, all of the students produced their own work based on our meeting with them where we discussed our ideas for what the posters should look like. Once all of the graphics design posters came through we whittled them down to just two different design ideas through a voting process.
Lucy's designs
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Beth's designs
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In our final decision we decided we liked Beth's poster designs better and wanted her to focus more on the design with the black background as it better suited the theme we were trying to go for. After some more communication we had some social media versions and other graphic alternatives of the poster created also.
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Here are some of the flyers in Bristol
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My key responsibility during the planning of our film festival was the production of our trailer which was very important as it was one of our main uses of advertisement. As the festival was going for a Hollywood golden age of cinema style i decided to find some music that would fit into that theme and time period, i then had to make sure all of the details of the festival were featured in the trailer which i achieved through some text pop ups at the start and included a full poster at the end of the trailer with all the details you would need to know if you wanted to attend.
First trailer
The issue i found with this first cut of the trailer were some noticeable black lines between the graphics and also the graphics being of low quality. The issue here was that i had screenshot the graphics and imported them in that way rather than downloading them directly which meant the quality was lowered and the colours were slightly off. Another issue i found was that there were some details missing about the festival which i decided to add as text pop ups throughout the trailer such as the date and time.
Final trailer
Film Submissions
To manage our submissions we used a website called FilmFreeway where we all went through a number of films and reviewed them accordingly, eventually after most had been reviewed we started flagging the films we wanted to consider for the festival, here are some of my reviews.
We then were all responsible for picking our top 3 films for the festival in order to get a fair voting system in place. My top 3 were 'hard resident', 'late autumn period comes' and 'the dreams in which you die'. Once the films were all picked for our festival i was then in charge of creating part 1 of our showreel, this was a rather simple process although took some time and communication getting download permissions at times.
I was also responsible for creating a poll for everyone to vote on, i decided to do this via a website and had the link through a QR code on the leaflets handed out on the night.
Festival day
When i first arrived at Arnolfini that night i arrived with around 30 minutes before the films started screening to ensure everything was ready and prepared for the night to go as a success, i was in communication with the projectionist to ensure the showreel i had created was working properly and that there would be no issues in terms or quality or framerate.
I was also in heavy communication with some of the producers of the festival as they were running short on time and had all of the leaflets that were meant to be handed out at the beginning, i made sure to let our presenters know this and make a brief announcement just before the first screening. Fortunately they had arrived just before our 15 minute interval break meaning we could still get the leaflets handed out in time before the second half.
Here are some photos our photographer took on the night. ---->
As for the results of our audience vote we had 'The dreams in which you die' win with 45.45% of the votes with 'Brown sheep' coming in second with 19.91% of the votes and thirdly 'A portrait of greed and grief' with 12.99% of the votes.
Work on other films
Throughout this academic year i did lots of work with another student in my class that involved lots of acting and some co-directing/cinematography. through this experience i can now say i know what it is like to be an actor on set and the struggles that come with it, this knowledge will be helpful for the future as i now have a decent understanding of what an actor may expect or benefit from me as a director. When acting in these films i found myself struggling on the scenes with lots of dialogue and had to ask the director to hold up the script next to the camera at times which was handy for me but looked strange in some shots that made me look the wrong way, through this struggle i've learned the importance of reciting lines.
For one of the films i helped this student with i was responsible for the cinematography of the opening scene which i believe to be some of my best camera work yet, here are some of the shots from this sequence that i like the most.
These shots were all taken using the Sony FX3 which is a camera i've started using for all my projects this year as i have a much better understanding of this camera over the canon C100 and it also produces much higher quality film. Through this experience as a camera operator i now feel much more confident with our camera equipment and can say that i am an experienced cinematographer although i still have lots to learn and perfect.
In all three of this students films i was able to have my say in co-directing to a certain extent and found this process to be quite relaxing knowing that there's not as much pressure on me to be the sole director and only have to add input when i feel its necessary. Some of the struggles i found in co-directing however was the lack of complete freedom in my creative input as the other director had to be happy with my idea aswell which didn't always work out the way i wanted.
As a part of my acting roles one of the films required me to partake in an action scene which required lots of choreography so i decided to meet up with the director in the tv studio to try and practise some of this choreography so i'm ready for the shoot day and to also get some pre vis.
Grievance
Another film i helped out on is called 'Grievance' which was shot on location in Perranporth. For the production side of this film i was on my own for the entire sound department as our crew size was only minimal, i found this role to be refreshing as i hadn't had much experience doing sound before let alone the entire department. In experiencing this role i learned a lot about how to produce high quality sound and the importance of planning folders for saving sound files, having equipment organised and ready for each shoot and also how to position myself well with a boom microphone to ensure i'm picking up the best sound possible and i'm also not in shot. One thing that i think really enhanced this experience was the fact that i was staying on location for the 5 shoot days which i believe really helped me stay in the mindset of a crew member and in my free time gave me full access to equipment which i could plan the next shoot day with. I found this experience overall to be very fun and exciting as we went to many different locations for filming such as the beach nearby to local pubs and even to a town nearby called 'Newquay' which we took the minibus to get to. I had great experience in helping produce this film and would happily do a project like this again.
Another role i had in this film was in post-production as the editor for the film, this required lots of communication with the screenwriter to make sure the timeline for the film was correct and there was nothing missing, i also had to communicate with the cinematographer to ensure everything was colour graded correctly and looked how he had envisioned it. This role came with its many struggles as i hadn't edited something of this large scale before and it became tricky to try and manage everything from trying to sync the audio with the correct shoots, trying to ensure our flashback sequence looked believable and issues with poor shots in the final scene but in the end i was able to edit it all together as best i could with what i had and with the help of the screenwriter and director.
Overall, this experience as an editor was challenging but satisfying in the end once the edit was finished and im happy to say that i was able to use my skills to finalize this film.
CWBP Presentation
Showreel
Presentation script
SLIDE 1
First off I’d like to identify some of my key skills.
SLIDE 2 to 7- My skills
I believe I’ve developed a number of skills through the years that will only improve as my career continues, here are a few of those key skills I’ve learned.
◦ EDITING I have lots of experience with premiere pro and other kinds of editing softwares as I have been making all kinds of films and videos over the years so I am confident in my ability and believe i can be quite an efficient editor when I’m dedicated to a project.
◦ SOUND EQUIPMENT I recently learned a lot about how to produce high quality sound when working on a film called ‘Grievance’ where I had to learn about all different types of sound equipment and how it can be used in different shoots to achieve certain types of sound. Through this learning process I can now say I’m very confident to be apart of a sound department in the future for any film projects.
◦ CAMERA EQUIPMENT Concluding my second year of this course now I have filmed several different projects and can safely say that I have had lots of experience in using camera equipment such as the Sony FX3, CANON C100 and tripods aswell. I know how to produce a high quality film and how to counter technical problems that I’ve encountered with this equipment over the years.
◦ CINEMATOGRAPHY I believe that my cinematography skills are improving with each film I make as I like to experiment more and more with different kinds of shots and the effect they can create. I believe that the job of a director of photography can be crucial to how a film is presented and if not explored correctly it may come across as a poor or low quality film.
◦ DIRECTING I got to gain lots of experience last year when working on a group film project called ‘The Mission’ which I was able to lead and direct. I learned a lot through this experience about the struggles and responsibilities of being a director and also about the difficulties of trying to express a creative vision. Since then my experience has only grown through directing 3 of my own films.
SLIDE 8
For my professional development plan I wanted to first look into what kind of jobs and roles in the film industry might interest me before putting in research.
Director of Photography - This role has always interested me as a possible future job opportunity as I have always very much enjoyed having a creative vision on the visual side of things and can be very passionate about projects when given that freedom, I believe this role has lots of opportunity in that area as it gives you responsibility for the look and feel of a film as a whole.
Editor - For as long as I can remember I have been using editing softwares as a means to produce passion projects through the years and have always loved the creative outlet that being an editor gives you access to, through this experience ive developed a good understanding of this role but I also still have a good amount to learn about editing and the features of premiere pro which excites me to learn more.
Sound mixer - in my recent experience through sound mixing I happened to find this role very interesting in its own unique way and would like to learn more about sound as a whole. There’s several different areas I’d be interested to explore such as creating foly sound, gathering ambience tracks and even creating ADR for the editor.
Director - A job with responsibilities as high as this seems tough but also very rewarding, I would want to have a job with this role because it allows me to be completely creative with how I want a film to be made and how it can represent the story I’m trying to tell. I’ve enjoyed my experience directing so far and would like to try and conquer more of the challenges I’ve faced previously.
Now that I know what I’m interested it, I need to know how I can get a job in these roles.
SLIDE 9
DOP - As this role is known as a ‘senior’ role it means that I may need some experience in other roles before hand. (CLICK) Some of these roles include camera trainee (CLICK) assistant director (CLICK) and jobs in the lighting department. (CLICK)
Another pathway could be through taking an apprenticeship in the industry, (CLICK) this would be valuable as I would be able to learn all about what it’s like to be on set and working in the industry aswell as earning money on the side. An apprenticeship I could take is a level 3 degree as a photographic assistant (CLICK) which would help me learn the core skills of photography and would show me how I could transfer those skills into film and tv at a later point. Being a photographic assistant would involve carrying out skilled work in the industry utilising my knowledge and skills to generate, print or publish a photographic image of high quality.
An opportunity that offers this apprenticeship is known as Opulent media limited (CLICK) who would use my images for their magazine ‘Oracle Time’
SLIDE 10
EDITOR - The traditional route of becoming an editor involves starting as a post-production runner or trainee (CLICK) and go on to become an assistant editor (CLICK)
However, another pathway is taking one of these two options for apprenticeships that could be nearby which includes a creative and digital media level 3 degree based in Wales (CLICK) and a level 4 post production technical operator degree based in England. (CLICK)
As the post production apprenticeship seemed more fitted for me and is of a higher level I decided I would research this one instead. (CLICK) The responsibilities of this apprenticeship are providing post production work for film, TV and advertising whilst also making sure all raw materials have been refined into a finished product before distributing.
An opportunity for this apprenticeship is working in advertising for a company called ‘ADOPSTAR’ (CLICK) who are looking for technically minded individuals to troubleshoot issues and implement technical solutions involving online ads.
Here are some more of the details.
SLIDE 11
SOUND MIXER - To become a sound mixer I could start as a trainee (CLICK) and work my way up through the department to become a sound assistant (CLICK) which I would need roughly 3 years of trainee experience for. Then I would be a sound mixers right hand man so would be able to learn all about the role before I am ready to apply for it. (CLICK)
Another option is for me to take the ‘National Film and Television Schools’ course in location sound recording. (CLICK) This course would last 15 months and I would be gaining practical experience on fiction and documentary films and in multi camera television.
As for apprenticeships there’s a level 3 degree where I would learn and work as a creative venue technician (CLICK) which I could potentially find a job with an employer in another sector such as theatre, I could then use the core skills learned here of sound and transfer them into film and tv at a later point.
SLIDE 12
DIRECTOR - Becoming a director would be a long process that would require lots of experience in other roles first, some of these roles could be working as an assistant director, (CLICK) working my way up the camera department (CLICK) or starting out as a screenwriter. (CLICK)
Another option is to work on directing short films with small budgets and using these to build my portfolio that could be recognised by future employers. I could fund these short films through networking myself online, for example I could research Facebook pages (CLICK) or other social media groups for people making films in my area or I could use websites like Tabb (CLICK) to showcase my skills and interest aswell as my portfolio.
I decided to make a showreel to document some of the things that I’ve worked on over this academic year (CLICK)
I believe that the films I’ve helped create this year have all helped support my professional development plan as they have all come with their own set of challenges and experiences, no project was like the other which made me learn even more about different aspects of filmmaking.
Thanks for listening.