My Trip to the York Film Festival ...
 The beautiful view of the river from the York bridge |  This image was taken at the York University where I attended many lectures |
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 This image shows myself and two of my peers in the York town |  This is my ticket for Robbie Gibson's lecture |
 This is my ticket for Edward Hicks' lecture |
On the 6th November I visted the ASFF in York. Whilst I was there I saw a number of films, particulary films that were of the Drama genre as my opening sequence that I am working on is of that genre. I also saw four lectures at the York University, which gave me lots of tips and ideas of how to be more successful off and on camera. The main point I took away from the film festival was to get out there and start creating because otherwise I am not going to learn what works and what doesn't on film and therefore I will not progress in the world of film-making.
From this lecture, I learnt many important aspects of acting on screen. What became apparent was how important trust was between the director and the actor. If trust is felt then the actor can come to the director asking about any problems or questions they have about the script or their character. In this instance, the director needs to know the world surrounding the actor and what their position in that world is.
Edward Hicks also discussed an interesting method of going deeper with the characters and finding out what their whereabouts is between scenes. This then results in possible changes of moods for the character in each scene, due to events that took place before the scene - this could be as simple as being more hyper or excitable because they have had a coffee.
The most important discovery I came away with from this lecture was the difference between acting and performing. Performing is the external display of emotion to an
audience and acting is simple just being.
When casting, Edward Hicks stressed the importance of casting actors that inspire you - they might look at the character differently, in ways the director never saw them or they might bring an interesting edge to the character, which the director never saw the character having before but enjoys it nontheless. Another important part of casting is to let the actors give their own ideas to the director as other aspects of the characters personality could be discovered this way.
Finally, I learnt that as a director on a film - it is key to know the subject matter. If an actor came to you for advice about a specific line of dialogue and you, as a director had no idea as to where and why the actor says that line - then you are not able to help the actor out and therefore the piece will suffer.
EDWARD HICKS - RADA DELIVERING PERFORMANCE FOR SCREEN
Framestore- making the impossible possible...
Framestore is a British visual effects company that was founded in 1986. They are best known to have been involved with Harry Potter, Batman and Gravity (2013).
They were also responsible for the Galaxy Advert that starred the CG face replacement of Audrey Hepburn, which they only had 4 months to complete. Framestore then moved onto innovation and framing, which they focused on in 1996 whilst working on 'Jurrasic Park' - which only 6 minutes consisted of computerised dinosaurs and the rest was anomatomical. Whereas, 'Walking with Dinosaurs' was computerised for 85% of the film.
This film took 3 years to make. For this project, they analysed closely the sounds of rhinos and elephants to match to the sounds they wanted for the dinosaurs.
During the 'Golden Compasses' Framestore had to create the polar bear in this film - this was very difficult to make according to Framestore due to the fur on this animal as it moves through the wind.
Framestore is responsible for the BAFTA winning film for visual effects, 'Gravity'. To create the outstanding visuals in which they - they circled the camera around the actor during filming with the space setting projected onto screens, which surrounded the actors. The lightbox in which they used these projections held 700,000 LEDS.
They then went onto create the 'ROBINSONS' advert where they filmed within a plane that had zero gravity.
I learnt from this lecture that visual effects is a combination of creativity and technology therefore if you want to have a career in this industry, those are the two main aspects you need to have.
Robbie Gibbon is known for being assistant editor to shows as big as 'DOCTOR WHO'.
An assitant editors job is to take responsibility for the smooth running of the cutting room on feature films.
A big piece of advice I learnt form this lecture, working as an editor, is to keep as organised as possible so that you can easily find different sections of scenes ready at hand so the process is as quick as possible. During the filming process for 'Doctor Who' the editing takes place as the same time so they can go back to the director and say if they need more shots of a specific object or character - because of this its important to be organsied because the process is so quick.
I also learnt the difference between offline and online editing. Offline editing is when the footage comes directly to you and you hand it to other people to mix and edit around the scene. Online editing is when the whole piece is finished and the scenes get mixed all together at the final point before it goes out.
He is also taught me about the importance of an opening sequence. He stressed the importance that the start has as it sets the tone for the rest of the film. Have your idea fully explained and detail so you are ready to film your exact idea and try and make it as interesting to the audience as possible.
The main point I took away from the lecture was to just keep making films. Nothing is going to happen if you just sit at home waiting for an opportunity to come about - it's important to just keep creating.
Robbie Gibbon: Big Screen and Television Storytelling - The Craft and Technology of Film Editing
Tim Pope is a film director - most famous for his music videos, for having directed featured films and for having a brief pop career.
Pope applied to many film colleges, realising that film was something he seriously wanted to devote his life to. He then attended Ravensbourne College of Art and Design. This is where he achieved his highest course marks when a brief was set to create an idea to a piece of music. This was the first thing that Tim Pope taught me and this was how effective music can be when applied to the right story. This point I was going to really think about when making my opening sequence because music can enhance your piece dramatically if it fits well with the mood and genre that you are trying to create.
Another point I took away from Tim Pope's lecture was to stick to what you know and be true to yourself. There is no point in making a film genre that you do not enjoy because then the passion through the work will not show and the piece will fail because of it. If you are trying to produce a genre that you love then you will enjoy filming and editing and therefore the piece will look and hopefully be magnificant.
Tim Pope also discussed the power of the colour red within a film. He considers red a key colour in a film as it can signify many different things such as love, violence and lust. This point made me think of how I could use colour in my piece to create a specific mood that blended well with my chosen genre. This gave me lots of ideas on different gradients I could use and colours of costume for my characters that you could be seen in.
Tim Pope: Director
My response to the films that I saw...
I saw many films over the two days I spent at the festival. Many of the films I saw were drama genre as the opening sequence I am working on is of the drama genre.
These are the films that most inspired me-
'STUTTERER'
This film was about a reclusive typographer with a speech problem who must face his worst fear as he meets this girl he has been talking too online for a long period of time. From this film I learnt how voice-over can be used effectively in a piece. The voice-over was used to state his thoughts as they took place in his mind as he failed to say them out loud to the audience due to his speech problem. This way the audience gets to symphathise with the character and this is a main convention in the drama genre. I thought the acting performance was brilliantly captured from the use of extreme close ups of his face showing his emotions. The script was also very strong, which helped with the characters performance. The most effective creative element I enjoyed from this piece was when the voice-over built up as they lapsed over creating a sense of confusion and distress for the character as he looked in the mirror.
'Father'
I also enjoyed this film as there was a camera shot that stood out for me. The lighting was dark and the camera moved down through a corrider, as if watching someone. The zoom worked really well as the audience was drawn in.
This film also had a grey/brown gradient throughout, which fitted to the dirty India streets that they filmed in suggesting that this film was realistic.
The acting performance in this piece was excellent as I felt a strong emotional attachment to the protagonist and I wanted to continue his journey with him more once the film had ended.
'A Stranger Kind'
This film was about a caberet girl who is rescued from her fate by the hand of a bloodthirsty stranger. I enjoyed the comedy aspect of this thriler film due to the 'killer hand' that comes into screen many times. The hand was comical as it did not look real and it travelled in a quick and jumpy way contrasting to the hands objective, which was to kill.
The colours used throughout this piece were very bold. They were either red, blue or yellow creating a very specific mood within each scene. For example in a scene at night when the girl comes to look at the Lizard in it's cage - a blue gradient is used to show a calm but unnerving mood so the audience is on the edge of their seats.