I thought Year 1 was a great year. I was so wrong. Year 2 is so much better. Semester One was pretty amazing but Semester 2 was by far the greatest semester at film school. I really enjoyed Semester Two because I pushed myself to do the impossible and managed to achieve it.
Here’s an overview of Semester Two. We focused on episodic content which is my favourite type of content in the screen industry.
Screen Business 2B:
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I really enjoyed this semester for Screen Business. We kinda moved away from the typical business side of things and moved towards social media stuff. It was interesting learning about multiplatform content and how that can help build an audience. The group presentation was quite food as well as I was with a good group (which is very rare). We also had a workshop where the tutors rotated in between classes and talked about their areas of expertise in screen business (ie budgeting, pitching, marketing etc.) which I thought was very useful and interesting. Also wanted to mention all the tutors for Screen Business were female which was super cool and badass (warms my heart that there’s female representation in the field)
Final mark: 78 (Distinction)
Story 2B:
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Probably one of the few subjects that I didn’t enjoy this semester. I do enjoy story in general since writing stories and planning out stuff is something I enjoy. The lectures were great since we learnt about returnable elements in popular television content. It was just the workshops that ruined the subject for me (which sucks big time)
Final mark: 79 (Distinction)
Image 2B:
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I think what made Image so interesting this semester was two things: 1) learning about rules and guidelines you need to consider when doing episodic content and 2) actually learning about production design (finally). My tutor was AMAZING and was so passionate about production design. It was interesting to hear how production designers work with cinematographers and vice versa. We had an activity in our final week of Image where our lecturer assigned us to re-create ‘The Amazing Race’. We were given activities to do in our groups of four. Two people would do the challenges while the other two would film them. We just had to make sure the camera didn’t stop rolling and predict what people would do next. I hope I make sense ahahah.I really enjoyed the assignment as well.
Final mark: 81 (Distinction)
Character & Performance 2B:
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I really despise directing. Even though I said Semester two was great, this was honestly the worst subject I have studied. I didn’t see how my lectures and workshops correlated with directing within the episodic landscape. Our workshops consisted of reading long scripts and trying to figure out the character’s motivations and stuff. We literally did this stuff in first year so I was disappointed that we were just doing the same thing in Year 2. The assignment was terribly confusing and my marks clearly reflect that.
Final mark: 66 (Credit)
Rhythm & Juxtaposition 2B:
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Fun fact: My original tutor for this must’ve been on industry leave or something because he didn’t turn up once! But that’s ok because we had recent graduates teach us how to edit. We pretty much spent all our workshops doing our assignment. We were given 3 scenes from ‘Rake’ and had to edit them into a 5 minute sequence. We were also introduced to VFX this semester which is so bloody interesting (not sarcastic). This lecture was run by my editing tutor from last semester (he’s the best tutor I’ve met at film school so I was super excited to see him run the VFX lecture)
Final mark: 76 (Distinction)
Sound 2B:
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Sound 2B was a literal carbon copy of Year 1 sound so I don’t really feel like I learnt anything at all in this subject. Learning to record sound on site was alright. Very disappointed with how post-sound was approached and I hope that part of the Sound curriculum improves for the next year.
Final mark: 76 (Distinction)
Episodic Production:
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This was the subject that really made the semester and made it the best one. Episodic production was very different to other productions I’ve had so far. Other productions = some writer/director pitches their short film idea and they get a crew of 8 ish people to make it happen. Since we’re doing episodic content, the school gave us two briefs to work on and we had to make the new season for the shows. Since we had to make five episodes, there had to be at least 30 crew members on board. We had to get interviewed for the role that we wanted which was super intense.
I applied for the role of ‘Series Producer’ for the reality TV dating show brief (called What’s Your Flava?- feel free to watch Season 1 on Youtube), which is basically the biggest role on the show. What’s your Flava? is a reality dating and cooking show for bisexual people and we had to make the second season this year. The role of the Series Producer (on a dating show) besides producing the show also included figuring out how to twist the original brief, getting cast, doing the paperwork, writing the challenges etc. I said ‘why not. I enjoy producing. I want to get assessed on producing. If I don’t get the role then it’s not meant to be’. I was up against 10 other applicants which was hectic. I was so terribly nervous during my interview and my glasses kept fogging up ahahaha. I pitched my idea on how to mix up the new season, why I would be a great producer and referenced successful dating shows in Australia (I believe our show can go viral) I waited a day to see if my interview was successful and it was. I was hired with two other Series Producers and thus began this amazing production for the rest of the semester.
It was crazy trying to handle a crew of 30+ people. I was so used to handling a crew of 6 people. Communication was key as a Series Producer so we had to hire heads of departments to keep the communication alive. It was sort of like a pyramid. Series Producers at the top. Directors, cinematographers, sound, prod design underneath and assistants of those said departments.
I spent so many days, nights, weekends, before and after school hours, in class hours even, trying to get cast, sorting out transportation, revising the budget, keeping crew together, holding meetings, attending meetings, doing mentoring sessions, doing risk assessments constantly and so much more. There were so many times where my brain felt so damn numb. It was to the point where my co-producers saw how I loopy I was becoming at meetings and have told me to leave ahahha.
But this whole experience is so so so worth it. It was worth the lack of sleep. Worth the stress. Worth the highs and lows. Worth all the paperwork. We shot the show in four days back in October, went through two weeks of post production and delivered our product in mid November. We got so many positive feedback for the show and I just can’t believe I helped create the product. What I’ve said about production is just the tip of the iceberg and I have so many more stories to share about it.
I would like to thank Episodic production for teaching me everything I needed to know. I have created stronger bonds with my crew members and have learnt to improve my problem solving skills and communication. I am so so grateful that I have experienced being a Series Producer- as well as working within the reality TV landscape whilst still at film school- because it is such a rewarding experience. I hope that we get approval from my film school’s selection committee for official release on Youtube next year.
Final mark: 86 (High Distinction)
Now what?
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Year 2 was great and I want to keep working. Though I know I must take a break, which is why I’m going on a holiday with my parents very soon. However, this is what I’ve got planned when I come back from my holiday before Year 3 starts. I would like to re-edit What’s Your Flava? With the post team and start creating social media content for the show as part of the lead up to its official release (if it does happen but I hope it does!)
Year 3:
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Year 3 is my final year of my degree and I am so nervous and excited at the same time. We get to work on long form projects this time. Honestly, not a huge fan of short film production BUT I am excited to hear people’s ideas for their graduation projects. Since it is my final year, we get to do our electives next year. I will be doing editing, motion graphics (VFX) and production design. On top of that include mandatory courses such as Screen Business, Creative Development and of course production. It’s crazy to think that I’ll be done with my degree in a year’s time ah!
See you guys soon!