NFTS course - the result.

After 3 weeks of waiting, the NFTS has finally responded to my application. They have accepted it! I now have the opportunity to work with the top 66 young film makers, myself included, in the UK to create a short film, working along side industry specialists. It will be a two week course over the Easter holiday at High Wycombe Lane End conference centre. We will learn about the different tricks to film making whilst also enhancing our skills working in teams to create a final outcome.
I myself have received my first choice specialism, editing. I will edit along with a second editor to stitch together the film over a two day period once its been captured.

This is a huge opportunity and I feel quite honoured to be selected out of 300 applicants to take part! This will hopefully do wonders not only to my film making skills but also for my contacts into the industry, as we all know it is based mainly on who you know, not what you know that gets you a job in this vastly competitive industry.

Really excited! Just 6 weeks away, can't wait. Keep you posted!

Evaluation of my evaluation

So you've seen my evaluation pieces, hope you enjoyed them! But I do feel they weren't as good as they could be so here is my evaluation of my evaluation pieces!

Question 1:
Carrying it on from last year's evaluation, films4review I revived to act as the medium for my answer to the question using the multi-cam set up. I didn't use the green screen though as I would already use that technology in my media student episode which would link all my responses together.
I did find it extremely difficult to attempt the multi-cam shooting though without monitoring the camera's themselves and did result in a few times both of the cameras cutting out whilst shooting, which is why sometimes we don't switch back to Robert during the interview even when he's talking as his camera has stopped without me knowing.
I would also improve the lighting set up of the piece, but unfortunately I did not have enough time to properly set it up and so, while still useable, we do get that rather darkened image of myself and Robert sitting in the studio.

Question 2:
This was me doing the youtube live discussion. I had for this one taken the time to set up suitable lightings and camera arrangement, and mic set up. Though unfortunately the audio system failed and I had to revert to my camera's onboard mic to broadcast, which is why the piece features rather a lot of noise in it's audio track. To fix it, I would use an external mic suitable for my camera which could plug straight into it, rather than my current microphone which isn't.
My performance in the piece isn't to great either, constantly 'erming' and stuttering. If I were to recreate it I would make more detailed notes to refer from, or even script the entire piece to avoid the problem altogether.

Question 3:
I was the most impressed with in terms of how it turned out, everyone I interviewed seemed happy to help and more importantly enjoyed the film! The audio system worked perfectly and we got good footage. Though, whilst the presentation of the material was to my satisfaction, I do feel a larger number of audience members could have been reached. I managed about 10 interviews in the end, all saying roughly the same thing. It would have been good to find someone who didn't really enjoy the film to ask them why they didn't like it and gain some feedback on how to improve in the future!

Question 4:
The radio interview was the piece I was the most pleased with. We got great audio quality and it did feel like a real radio interview, seeing as Robert is himself a part time DJ on SNYA radio. We used one of the schools sound studios and mics to record and got some really nice material from it. To improve though I would alter the amount of waffling we got through, with the unedited interview coming in at over 12 minutes! So in future I would again improve my notes for what I wanted to say and how detailed.

So I hope this clears up some of the issues you may have seen in my evaluation and how I'd go about fixing those issues in the future!