NEW SKILLS
During my last year of my university degree, it has been an important process learning new skills and gaining additional knowledge. I will discuss a variety of the skills and techniques I have acquired in order to improve my overall experience regarding film and television production.
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One of the main skills I have gained is the art of directing. I have been able to conduct primary and secondary research in order to improve my experience within a practical environment. During this process, I researched well-established directors such as Scorsese, Hitchcock and David Fincher, discovering the conventional techniques they use whilst directing. Additionally, I shadowed the director Dan Allen whilst I was a production assistant on the feature film Unhinged. I was able to witness the techniques that Dan used during production, as I also utilised similar skills whilst directing on a number of productions such as Masked, the Mental Health Advert, as well as the Wild Beasts music video.
During the process of directing, I learned that I had one of the biggest responsibilities during production. My primary objectives were ensuring that I balanced the role of directing actors, as well as directing the cinematography department. This was a challenging task, however rewarding as I believed I completed my purpose as the director, of fulfilling the creative vision. During the production, Masked, I also gained new skills during the post-production process. I felt that in order to fulfill the creative director's vision, I needed to collaborate with the editing team. Not only this, but I created my own edit and a director's cut of the production, in order to complete my main objectives.
In addition to directing, I have also gained new skills such as learning Adobe After Effects. During this process, I have been able to comfortably navigate around the software, as well as learning a selected set of skills whilst making digital title sequences from the film and television industry. I have recreated a number of title sequences such as Harry Potter, The Dark Knight, Home Alone, amongst many more. Whilst learning the software and gaining an insight into a number of useful effects, I have been able to create my professional ident which is now a part of my own production company.
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The screenshots above show the ident I made on after effects. I utilised effects such as ripple, and fade effects in order to remove the text, as well as keyframes which have been used to create the moving image. Overall, I have advanced a strong skill set of directing as well as the post production process, however, I hope to continue this process by improving my experience and gaining further knowledge.
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