Bee(a) buzzing through film school

[beatroot]

I honestly want to go back in time and go slap my past self for not starting ANY of the pre production documents early besides my own script.

For the end of semester production block, it's also expected to do the pre prod docs for the other films that you're involved in.

ie; As producer, I have to do a risk assessment, a budget and crew lists. As first AD, I have to create a shooting schedule, safety notes and tech recce report (I have no idea what the hell that is). As cinematographer, I need to do a visual treatment summary and an equipment list. And lastly, as production designer, I have to do an art department breakdown and a visual reference and concept art report.

Like I'm not even getting assessed on these other roles (because I want to get assessed on my own film as writer/director) and I'm stressing so much because all the docs and templates on Moodle are messed up and I've got four days left to do all the pre prod stuff (HUGE reason why I very much prefer post production)

I'll see how I go ...

[beatroot]

10/04/18 - 13/04/18

Subject of the week: Screen Business 1

It would seem very appropriate to do an update now after I just submitted my pre production documents a few hours ago and I can now relax until the next flood of assessment due dates comes in three weeks.

tuesday, wednesday, friday

I'm not gonna update yall on what happened specifically on each day as all my three uni days felt so similar. This was the first week at uni I felt that I actually learnt something for once. It's gotten to the point where my brain started throbbing during class and I had excuse myself from class to go on a stroll around AFTRS just to clear my head. This week put a lot of emphasis on what producers do, the pre production process and all the goddamn paperwork that goes behind the scenes. I've learnt about shooting schedules, budgeting (I haven't done maths since my HSC exam so this part confused the hell out of me quite a lot) and risk assessments. A lot of the stuff we did in our workshops involved a shit ton of paper work. I literally haven't written this much since my paper two exam. Think I might stray away from pre production for the rest of my life thanks

play it, sam

It's actually quite interesting how the emphasis on censorship in the Hollywood studio system and the events of the Second World War had affected the ending for the film 'Casablanca'. During our screening analysis on Friday, we watched the film. The first hour confused me and I really wanted to drift to sleep (there hasn't been one screening analysis where I was fully awake. The seats in the main theatre are so comfy!) But then stuff got interesting in the second half and I sat right up in my seat the entire time. The ideal ending for Casablanca (spoilers ahead!) would've been Rick and Ilsa ending up together but since the Hollywood studio system did not tolerate adultery, they did not let that happen. The film could not keep Victor and Ilsa in Casablanca because that had meant the Nazis won and I highly doubt during the midst of WWII, America would let that happen. Therefore the most appropriate ending for the film, in order to satisfy the censorship rules and the American spirit during the war, was to simply let Ilsa and Victor escape on the plane. Fun fact: Kissing scenes during the Hollywood studio system could not go for longer than three seconds- it was considered immoral

the tale of bea and her pre production docs

So after starting my pre prod docs late, I surprisingly finished a day early. Once I got over the confusing doc templates on Moodle, I was ready to go. I did my risk assessment, budget and crew list as a producer. I did a shooting schedule, safety notes and tech recce report (discovered that this was just a fancy term for location survey report) as first AD. I did a visual treatment and an equipment list as cinematographer. I did an art department breakdown and a visual reference and concept art report as production designer. Last but not the least, I did a script and director's vision statement as writer/director (this is the role I want to be assessed on which is very fitting as it is my own film). I seriously cannot wait for the production block to see everyone's films come alive on the screen.

my acting debut

Very clickbait-y spoiler title but I got picked to play in someone's else film. I will play the girlfriend and I got one of my friends to play my boyfriend. I cannot tell you the plot of the film here as I do not want to disrespect the writer/director of the film. The shoot should happen on a day between May 31 to June 4. I haven't acted since I had a speaking role in a Year 6 production but this should be fun because I'll definitely be stepping out of my comfort zone. I hate being infront of the camera (hence why I'm studying film production) but it should be interesting...

fit hot guys have problems too

I decided to attend debating club this week because I felt bad for not attending the last one. Anyways, I was just expecting to watch people debate. But because there was so little of us compared to the very first meet up, everyone was forced to debate. My topics were 'Black and white films are boring' [negative] and 'good films and shows only have hot people in them' [affirmative]. I seriously did not have a proper argument for both topics (-even admitted it in my second debate), I just sassy strutted around the room and hoped my charm won the hearts of the judges. I kept ranting about 'A Streetcar Named Desire' and 'Riverdale' and surprisingly I won both debates. #blessed

We've got one more week of Screen Business left and I'm so excited because this subject is so content heavy ahhhhh and it hurts my brain and I just want it out. I still have to study it in my second and third years tho (it's mandatory for all years I'm afraid)

[beatroot]

17/04/18 - 20/04/18

Subject of the Week: Story 1

During this entire week, there was a HUGE emphasis on character, controlling ideas, the world and whatnot.

thanks for spoiling the sixth sense aftrs

Tuesday and Wednesday:
We began the first workshop of the week by eating fortune cookies and trying to apply the fortune to our character for our script. Then we had to create to write our own fortune that applies to our character so I wrote “You must accept the present in order to move on from the past”. After our workshop, we had a three hour screening of the film ‘The Turning’ which is basically a series of short films based on Tim Winton’s book of the same name. We got assigned a short film each and had to present our findings the next day. I shit you not, I had the second most confusing short film and practically had to bs my presentation and analysis. I really love how chill the culture is at AFTRS because even though I openly admitted that I had no idea what the hell just happened in the short film, my tutor was completely fine with it. I even included this screenshot in my presentation where I tried to ask for help in my cohort’s facebook group.

Thursday:
So I booked a mentoring session with the Head of Character & Performance (directing) and she helped me how to direct people for my upcoming film ‘Memento Mori’. She was heaps helpful and challenged my views on what directing actually was. “It’s not about bossing people around. It’s about putting your actors within the present time”.

Friday:
We had a lecture about Indigenous people within Australian cinema. For our screening analysis we watched Warwick Thorton’s ‘Samson and Delilah’ which was I thought was a refreshing film to watch because it was nice to see another culture being portrayed on the screen. We then had a seminar about how the audience’s background can influence how they interpret a film. Lastly for our reflection, our class we were given a scenario and we were assigned different parts of the scenario to write a script on.

It was a bit disheartening when I got my mark for my Story Development Portfolio because I was really hoping for a HD or at least a D. I spent so much time working on it and really thought I had it in the bag. Probably more than my other assessments combined. But I ended up getting a C and I was like NOOOOOOO!!! Anyways, I got my shit together and ended up writing a decent first draft in the following week which I’m really proud of. Still currently awating feedback from my tutor.

23/04/18 - 27/04/18

Subject of the Week: Image 1

This week was a bit weird because my days got shifted because of Anzac Day. So I had Monday and Tuesday on, Wednesday and Thursday off (Anzac Day and SDL Day) and had Friday on.

really busy week

Monday:
Our lecture was basically about a character and their world, so there’s was a lot of talk on production design. We even got a guest speaker who’s a costume designer herself from Hollywood and has worked in films like ‘The Dressmaker’, ‘Lawless’ and ‘The Road’. For our workshop, we just made mood boards based on descriptive extracts that we were given.

Tuesday:
Today we messed around the green screen and lights today. We were expected to do a double exposure ‘portrait’ of us and do VFX to make it super artsy and stuff. I ended up doing the ‘You’re Watching Disney Channel’ which took WAYYY TOO LONG to edit. Adobe Premiere Pro was completely fine but it was just Adobe After Effects that was being a little bitch to me. I could not for the life of me export the damn file. Took me about 45 minutes to render and export the damn edit. I didn’t know whether or not my tutor was impressed by it because I didn’t follow the criteria but o well.

Wednesday and Thursday:
On Wednesday, I headed off to Cockatoo Island to film my one minute short for my Image 1 artefact. Filming took longer because there were so many freaking people on the island (as it was a public holiday) so we timed it so there weren’t any people in the shot. I finally figured out the meaning I wanted to do with my film and it’s basically about internal conflict. Whilst on Thursday, I finished my parts for my Screen Business pitch, my script for Story and edited all the possible angles for my Image one minute short. It’s scary how fast I’m progressing with my assessments. I’m genuinely concerned. I also got my mark for my Image Contextual Analysis report and got a D yyeeeeee! It was essentially a report about any artist and an analysis of one of their artworks which was exactly just like HSC Visual Arts.

Friday:
We had our production check in instead of our usual screening analysis. We literally spent three hours on everybody’s risk assessments for their film which was a bit of a drag ngl. My tutor told me that my risk assessment lacked detail and was terrible ahah so I have to redo it before the shoot starts. I had my first brief with my actors in regards to my upcoming short film which went terrible than expected For our seminar, the topic was ‘Should we separate the art from the artist’ which is SO relevant in today’s film industry especially with the #MeToo movement. Our edits from Tuesday got screened in the main theatre in front of the entire cohort and people laughed at my Disney Channel edit ahahaha. Lastly, for our reflection I did a quick presentation on Billy Elliot’s costume in the film. Afterwards, it was my friend’s birthday celebrations and it was perfect because it was a great way to end two hectic weeks.

[beatroot]

01/05/18 - 04/05/18
Subject of the week: Screen Business 1

cultural competency and whatnot

Pretty much for the entire week, there was so much emphasis on cultural competency and diversity which I LOVE! This has been my favourite week of Screen Business so far because I can relate so much and it bring me hope that the industry will be inclusive and diverse in the future and that’s a workplace I would love to be in. We had to do an informal presentation in groups and we were assigned the Ghost in the Shell whitewashing controversy. It felt so good knowing that my opinion, as an Asian female living in a Western country, mattered the most. My voice was being recognised for once and it was so fucking refreshing. We watched the Australian film ‘My Brilliant Career’ which everyone ended up hating and our lecturer was so disappointed aha. We had a seminar on ‘gender matters’ and learn that Screen Australia (main funding body for film projects in Australia) will only fund films if at least 50% of the key creative team are females. Bonus points if they come from a minority background. It was nice learning this because at least I know there’s a good chance I will get funding in the future. We ended the week meditating on the front lawn.

08/05/18-11/05/18
Subject of the week: Story 1

goodbye story </3

I was so sad coming into the last week of Story because I love love love this subject so much and I admire my tutor and I will miss her. This week we focused on adding more depth to our five minute screenplay. We got paired up with another person in the class because we need to do a peer script report as apart of our assessment. This week has been a creatively draining week for me because I hate receiving feedback from other people but of course I’ve learnt that people will criticise my work and that’s ok. From this, I was able to create my screenplay much more dramatic. My script even had a table read in my class and hearing my script come alive felt so cool! I've also come to realise that I have this emotional attachment to my script which is bad. I've also learnt last week that I need to separate my emotions to my art in order to progress.

click me!

INT. BEA'S BEDROOM - NIGHT

FADE IN.

BEA, a film student, is typing her new entry for her university journey journal on atarnotes. She's got her headphones in. Her phone next to her. BEA is reminiscing the past.

BEA (CONT'D)
So it’s been about two and a half hours since I submitted my script and I’m starting to miss it.

She looks at her script. A melancholic look clouds her face.

BEA (CONT'D)
But I need to learn to let go. Goodbye script. I don’t know when I’m ever gonna see you again.

A tear falls down her cheek.

BEA (CONT'D)
(is lowkey sad)
But wherever you are, hope you are doing well.

FADE TO BLACK.

My short film: an update

memento mori progress!!!

So I had my first blocking meeting with my two actors and I seriously could not stop laughing. I think it was because I was uncomfortable with directing them not because their dancing was funny. They’re picking up what I want really quickly which is good. But I’m still worried about timing and all that. AHHH. Production is so close. My film shoot is on May 26 and I’m both nervous and excited all at the same time.

[beatroot]

Visual Storytelling - Production Block: A Review

We had our production block from May 26 to May 29. We have been asked to write/direct our own 1.5-2 minute films but as well as to work on your group members’ films in roles such as cinematographer, production designer, first assistant director and producer (rotated each round). There has been a lot of sweat and tears put into pre-production and I just can’t believe production just flew so quickly.

May 26:

the sugar plum fairy and ed sheeran on loop

Production Designer:

Was in charge of creating a Christmas-Office space for a lovely Christmas film. There was tinsel everywhere, fake snowflakes hung up on the wall and a Christmas tree in the corner. There’s a part in the film where one of the elves had to knock over the Christmas tree but in some takes, the tree either went off the opposite direction or just disconnects completely aha. It was fun resetting the set every time. I was also in charge of handing over the milk and cookies to one of the actors. Overall, it was a super fun film to work on.

Director: (my own film: Memento Mori)
Honestly biggest regret of saying I wanted to get assessed on this role because I was just too shy as a director. We had a slight problem with my actress’ dress ten minutes before the shoot and ended up spending $20 on the day to get it fixed. This cut time into my shoot. We also had problems with my location as well so this cut more time. Though my actor and actress were heaps chill and flexible which was nice. My crew could tell that I was so nervous and shy so they gave my actors suggestions and I just went along with it. I’m a very flexible director. Once my actors got the timing right, the shoot was smooth from that point on. We were super ahead of schedule so we decided to play random songs to get the actors into a different mood. Surprisingly the take where we played ‘Can You Feel the Love Tonight’ from Lion King, was actually my favourite take. Lessons learned from this: 1) make sure you do a dress rehearsal before the shoot. 2) don’t direct anything ever again.

May 27:

8:30 crew call :(

Actress:
Was technically supposed to be my break from the shoot but my group mate approached me weeks ago if I could act in his film and I was like why not. All I had to do was sit in his car and look at the figure outside the window. Heaps easy. It was also the shoot where one of the tutors visited us and observed our crew. He said that we were super professional and even better than the second years if he says so himself

May 28:

the time i was a glorified runner *not clickbait* ;)

Producer:
Technically in the real world, producers don’t go on set just because they’re more focused on pre production stuff rather than production. But we had to go anyways for the sake of the task. Since the shoot was in a small bathroom, there was no space at all for all crew members. They could only fit the director, two actors, cinematographer and first AD in the bathroom. The entire shoot I was just chilling with the production designer outside aha. Though I did go on a coffee run so that my cast and crew were alive during the shoot.

Cinematographer:
As it is a very small production, camera operator and cinematographer essentially became the same thing. Since the director just wanted a static, symmetrical shot of his film (dining scene between a couple) all I had to do was press the record button ahaha.

May 29:

so much love in the air

First Assistant Director:

Probably my second favourite role (just below production designer) because I was able to boss people around on set ahahah. I was in charge of everyone’s safety on set (got myself a first aid kit the other day) and had to do a safety induction as well. As it was a small production, the role of first assistant director and second assistant camera (aka the clapper loader/slate person), was amalgamated. It was so fun doing the slate for every take. This film was so cute to watch as well as it was very bubbly, so joyful, so pure and had so much love in it (it was a proposal scene) and I’m not ashamed to admit that I nearly cried during the first take.

Overall thoughts:

read if you want lol

- Production block went better than I expected. Shoots go by so quick it’s ridiculous!
- I’m considering being a first assistant director at some point in my (hopefully) film career. Creating the call sheets and shooting schedule made me oddly happy for some reason?
- I really shouldn’t be harsh on myself about the whole directing thing. But hopefully once we learn directing next semester, I should get better.
- Production design is also another area that I would like to be in as well.
- This production block was just so fun!!!

I still technically have other shoots to work on (ie; acting in two more films. Just acted in one after the shoot where I was first AD.) Will be working as first assistant director on a third year shoot next Tuesday and Wednesday which should be super exciting!! (we will be in the studios). Will also work in the post production team for a second year film.

Until our next production block which will be in mid October

[beatroot]

Semester One reflection:

So we finally reached the end of semester woohoo! Still can’t believe I made it through my first semester of university. It’s funny looking back on my earlier entries and seeing how much I was worrying about not being able to make friends and not thinking I was as good as the other people in my cohort. After going through my grades, I think it’s safe to say that, yes, I do truly belong at AFTRS and I deserve a spot and I shouldn’t put myself down too much (wow Bea you’re getting too cheesy stop ahaha).

June 15, 2018 (last day of semester)

93 short films!!!

So we started the day with watching everyone’s 2 minute films in the main theatre. We had to vote either HD, D, C, P or F for the films. There were heaps of fantastic films and I gave out a lot of HD’s and D’s. The voting process took forever so we had to continue watching the rest after lunch.

We watched the rest of the films in the lecture hall. Though there was a problem with the screening because the film sizes were too big so they had to render and compress the files. Whilst they were doing this, the course leader gave us a rundown for production for next semester. I’m SO glad we get to pick who we want to work with and there are more assessable roles this time round (editing here I come!!!).

We broke off into our reflection groups afterwards. Our tutor could not get anything out of anyone in the class so he started picking random people ahaha. About an hour later, we headed back to the lecture hall to watch the rest of the films. My film was finally screened and at first I could not look at it. Then I heard people going ‘oohhh’ and ‘ahhh’ and that’s when I started watching my film. I’m super glad that I got an audience reaction for ‘Memento Mori’. If you haven’t seen my film yet, feel free to watch it here.

When all the films were finally done (93 short films later holy shit), everyone headed off to the end of semester party.

Grades

!!!!!!

I think in terms of my grades, I’m pretty satisfied with them. My grade averages for Screen Business, Story and Image are within the Distinction range which is super cool and I’m so happy!! Not quite sure with Visual Storytelling/Production just yet but am hoping for a distinction too. I’m surprised that my university assignments have been less stressful than my high school assignments and exams. It’s probably because I enjoy doing them so much that it doesn’t feel like I'm doing a uni assignment.

Lil rant

bea gets super cheesy here lol

But in seriousness, I have to say that I LOVE university so much. I did enjoy high school too but there’s just so much freedom at university. I’m studying film and I love seeing my creativity grow as an artist. It’s AMAZING!! I love pushing my boundaries and seeing how far I could go with my art. Seriously cannot wait for next semester where we learn Character & Performance (directing), Rhythm & Juxtaposition (editing) and Sound. I also read my letter to my future self that I wrote back in O-Week and past Me was so optimistic. Bless her.

What now?

time to rest i guess

To make this one month semester break as productive as much as possible, I’m planning on purchasing the Canon EOS 80D camera and try and make some shorts/docs. I’m also going to work heaps at my job to earn back the money I’m going to spend for the camera. And of course, catching up with high school and university friends and family.

[EEEEEEP]

Semester One reflection:

So we finally reached the end of semester woohoo! Still can’t believe I made it through my first semester of university. It’s funny looking back on my earlier entries and seeing how much I was worrying about not being able to make friends and not thinking I was as good as the other people in my cohort. After going through my grades, I think it’s safe to say that, yes, I do truly belong at AFTRS and I deserve a spot and I shouldn’t put myself down too much (wow Bea you’re getting too cheesy stop ahaha).

June 15, 2018 (last day of semester)

93 short films!!!

So we started the day with watching everyone’s 2 minute films in the main theatre. We had to vote either HD, D, C, P or F for the films. There were heaps of fantastic films and I gave out a lot of HD’s and D’s. The voting process took forever so we had to continue watching the rest after lunch.

We watched the rest of the films in the lecture hall. Though there was a problem with the screening because the film sizes were too big so they had to render and compress the files. Whilst they were doing this, the course leader gave us a rundown for production for next semester. I’m SO glad we get to pick who we want to work with and there are more assessable roles this time round (editing here I come!!!).

We broke off into our reflection groups afterwards. Our tutor could not get anything out of anyone in the class so he started picking random people ahaha. About an hour later, we headed back to the lecture hall to watch the rest of the films. My film was finally screened and at first I could not look at it. Then I heard people going ‘oohhh’ and ‘ahhh’ and that’s when I started watching my film. I’m super glad that I got an audience reaction for ‘Memento Mori’. If you haven’t seen my film yet, feel free to watch it here.

When all the films were finally done (93 short films later holy shit), everyone headed off to the end of semester party.

Grades

!!!!!!

I think in terms of my grades, I’m pretty satisfied with them. My grade averages for Screen Business, Story and Image are within the Distinction range which is super cool and I’m so happy!! Not quite sure with Visual Storytelling/Production just yet but am hoping for a distinction too. I’m surprised that my university assignments have been less stressful than my high school assignments and exams. It’s probably because I enjoy doing them so much that it doesn’t feel like I'm doing a uni assignment.

Lil rant

bea gets super cheesy here lol

But in seriousness, I have to say that I LOVE university so much. I did enjoy high school too but there’s just so much freedom at university. I’m studying film and I love seeing my creativity grow as an artist. It’s AMAZING!! I love pushing my boundaries and seeing how far I could go with my art. Seriously cannot wait for next semester where we learn Character & Performance (directing), Rhythm & Juxtaposition (editing) and Sound. I also read my letter to my future self that I wrote back in O-Week and past Me was so optimistic. Bless her.

What now?

time to rest i guess

To make this one month semester break as productive as much as possible, I’m planning on purchasing the Canon EOS 80D camera and try and make some shorts/docs. I’m also going to work heaps at my job to earn back the money I’m going to spend for the camera. And of course, catching up with high school and university friends and family.

Bea bea bea =)

Glad to hear that you're loving film school =).

Now... are you gonna get any good glass with that? Kit lenses suck! By good glass, I mean something that reduces chromatic aberration, disortion and lense flare.. .hehe. 

Sidenote: Are you gonna get any LED, external lighting, lighting stands etc ? YOu need good lighting for videos!

[beatroot]

Bea bea bea =)

Glad to hear that you're loving film school =).

Now... are you gonna get any good glass with that? Kit lenses suck! By good glass, I mean something that reduces chromatic aberration, disortion and lense flare.. .hehe. 

Sidenote: Are you gonna get any LED, external lighting, lighting stands etc ? YOu need good lighting for videos!

Wellll I'm not 100% entire familiar with cameras yet so for now I'll just stick with the camera itself. The more I experiment and make more stuff, I'll start upgrading my lens and getting the /said/ good glass. I don't really plan on getting lights just yet because as much as possible, I like to film in natural lighting anyways. I don't plan on making proper films yet but I'll just make recap videos and/or documentaries for now. I'll start doing proper films during my summer break. My friend wants to direct my six minute script that I wrote so we're will gather a cast and crew sometime soon.  I can always rent out lights from school if I need to and find someone in my degree who has lights (in that case- that's a lot of people I can refer to)

[beatroot]

16/07/18-20/07/18

Subject of the week: Character & Performance

I really enjoyed this week because it was nice seeing everyone again after our one month semester break, but also I filmed and took photos of the AN NSW trial lecture series as well.

Character & Performance is just directing. In order to become a director, you must become an actor first. Because how can you direct an actor if you aren’t familiar with their acting process in the first place? We learnt about acting history in our lectures and played a lot of games during our workshops. I feel super bad that I’m not as interested in Character & Performance because directing is my least favourite part of film aha. Fingers crossed I’ll end up liking it in the future.

We also had our end of semester production check in. We could pick any roles we want to do (thank god!) and work with whoever we wanted to. There is a huge demand for roles that aren’t writer and director- so I shall be working as: producer, first assistant director and editor (the role I want to get assessed on!). The films I’m working on are (surprisingly) comedies- a little out of my comfort zone but I love a good creative challenge.

Besides from that, it was super rad just seeing the AN lectures once again. It’s weird because I was at the trial lectures this time last year and a year later, I was documenting the lectures themselves. It’s also comes to show how much I’ve grown since mid 2017.

Nice.

[beatroot]

Lil rant

It's scaring me how much I'm not liking this semester so far. Directing class scares me. Editing class, I thought would be fantastic because I LOVE editing, but I can't seem to edit at uni. Especially infront of other people. I cannot seem to edit on the spot. After having a talk to my tutor about my editing style (she doesn't seem to keen about), I've been questioning myself as an artist lately. And as for this week, sound class has been a drag. I've only had one lecture and workshop so far and it is draining the life out of me! I'm not an aural learner so I'm not seeing eye to eye with sound. I've been avoiding my assessments like the plague.

On the bright side, I am so excited to work on the three films at the end of semester. I'm thinking of taking producer as a career now. It's somewhat fun filling out the paperwork and being in charge of something ok.

Hope the rest of the semester flies by smoothly

[jamonwindeyer]

Lil rant

It's scaring me how much I'm not liking this semester so far...

I think everyone has good semesters and bad semesters. You can't study something for years and love every second of it. Hang in there!

[beatroot]

Two things from today!

1. So the tutor I had for my first ever short film course (at NIDA) back in 2016 was our guest lecturer today for directing! It was so cool seeing him again after two years. He was the main reason why I really got into film. I talked to him after the lecture today and showed him the picture of us from the course. He said congrats on getting into AFTRS and it's crazy to think how much of an impact one person could make!

i'm gonna spoiler this just cos-

And 2. We were asked to read this one page script in our workshop today and one by one we had to give a two minute director's pitch of how we wanted to block the actors scene, the mood and the coverage and all that jazz. I disliked the script so much which made it harder for me to do this two minute pitch on the spot! I could not envision this script whatsoever. I bullshitted my way through and my tutor thought that my vision was very clear (despite having no preparation beforehand). Although for the feedback part, I kid you not, she gave me the same exact advice as my screenwriting and cinematography tutors gave me back in semester one which was basically 'Bea you need to believe in yourself more and own it! You need more confidence' and that my friends- I discovered my character flaw that I need to overcome during my degree. My tutor asked the class if anyone else had feedback for me and literally three people repeated the exact same words she said.

I just need to be more confident with my craft and myself goddamit!!!! Why is it so hard :/ This is the industry I chose. Being shy will get me nowhere.

That's all

[beatroot]

It's been a while since I've updated my journal, hasn't it?

Nothing has happened much in the past three weeks... well- maybe these parts might be significant idk?

- Screened my edit of an action scene infront of my class and the substitute teacher (who was the Head of Editing and teaches the editing masters students at AFTRS) said that it was a 'sophisticated edit'. Simple but it was enough. I just needed to hear a sign of approval from the head of editing that's all.
- Realised that my little arms are too weak to carry a boom mic so I really don't see myself doing Sound in the future.
- Two actors came in for a directing/acting demonstration for our lecture this week and one of them was actually my co-worker from work! What a small world.
- Pre-production documents are yet again doing my head in; especially having to do a three day shooting schedule of this really confusing script smh. Although doing my producer duties is very fun to do !!!
- Got a credit for my video essay which was better than expected.

What now?
- I've got a film shoot for my three minute film next Thursday which is exciting!
- Gotta get all my pre-prod docs done for submission this Monday.
- Gotta do a Mood Reel and a Director's Vision statement for any script we want. So I've decided to revisit my script from last semester.

PS: Has anyone read/watched 'To All the Boys I've Loved Before'. I love it so much. I love representation of Asians in the media. Everyone's literally frothing over Peter Kavinsky but I honestly think Lara Jean Covey is the real MVP of the series tbh. I also watched Crazy Rich Asians last Friday (skipped a screening of Gravity in our lecture oops) and everyone needs to see this damn film goddamn it!

[fantasticbeasts3]

PS: Has anyone read/watched 'To All the Boys I've Loved Before'. I love it so much. I love representation of Asians in the media. Everyone's literally frothing over Peter Kavinsky but I honestly think Lara Jean Covey is the real MVP of the series tbh. I also watched Crazy Rich Asians last Friday (skipped a screening of Gravity in our lecture oops) and everyone needs to see this damn film goddamn it!

Yes, yes and yes!!! Loved it, I thought it was great and proceeded to read all the books from Saturday to Tuesday after I watched the movie last week. So awesome to see Asian representation lately -- makes me so happy!

[beatroot]

Hey everyone!

So last week we had Rhythm & Juxtaposition (editing) class again! I am starting to like R&J more as we have moved on from editing action scenes to dramatic scenes. In our lecture, we were taught the three main steps to planning a dramatic cut- information, timing and context. I honestly never really took this into account before because I kinda wing my editing and just let my instincts determine which clip to use and when to cut it. I genuinely thought that was interesting. Though when it came to our workshops, all of that kind of flew out the window and I reverted back to my winging methods.

We spent most of Tuesday and all of Wednesday cutting our dramatic scenes for our assignment. We were given the rushes/clips from an Australian film called Balibo (2009). Honestly have no clue how my uni managed to grab the raw footage from the film but I guess they have connections with the production company. As of today, I currently have 5 minutes for my dramatic cut which is way beyond the time limit for the assignment. I'm still halfway through the script and I honestly have no clue to cut it down to 4 minutes. I screened my edit in front of my class on Friday and asked which parts I should cut out. Neither my tutor or my classmates said anything because they like the pace of my dramatic cut.

Besides from my dramatic cut assignment dilemma, I managed to film my short film with a fantastic cast and crew last Thursday and I cannot wait to show everyone! I booked a room at uni this Tuesday at lunch where I'm gonna screen it to people in my degree. I'll share a link on my other thread once it gets uploaded on the Youtube channel that I do freelance work for. Should be sometime this week.

We have Sound this week which is such a huge drop from Rhythm & Juxtaposition. I just can't seem to connect to it like I do with my other subjects. Fingers crossed we do something decent this week please. If I have to hear another lecture and workshop about frequencies and microphones, I will leave ahaha (jks I won't do that maybe)

I'm gonna make it a goal of mine to watch at least once a week (minus the screenings during our Friday lecture). Last week, I managed to watch 'Heathers' (1988) which is a cult classic starring the one and only Winona Ryder. I thought it was quite an unconventional teen film which I liked, though parts of it shocked me. I also watched 'Sierra Burgess is a Loser' (2018) which is the new Netflix film with Shannon Purser and Noah Centineo. Cute lil rom com that melted my heart <3

Hope everyone is going well!