Shana's best moments of Creativity Works: Film

9 December 2016

As Creativity Works: Film comes to an end, it seems a good time to recap some of the best moments from the course. It’s a slightly daunting task; the past 3 weeks have been very eventful, sometimes even requiring us to sacrifice a few weekend days! But it was all worth it to fully take in everything that A New Direction had in store for us. In no particular order, here are the top three events that we were lucky enough to attend.

The 3 Mills Studio Tour

Located on a tiny island in the heart of east London, this former gin mill-turned-film-studio marked a great mid-week treat for our group. Thanks to our tour guides, Tom and Phil, we gained insight into how production houses book studio space, how much a big-budget feature will typically spend on hiring space and how long they can rent it for. We were also given the opportunity to see the sets of several major upcoming productions, most of which were not open to the general public. It was a fantastic way to spend the afternoon.

On set work experience at Portsmouth Prison

Not many people can say that they have looked forward to serving time in prison, but this wasn’t your usual prison sentence. For an entire day, we got to work on a genuine set for an upcoming feature film, assisting various departments such as Production, Production Design, Assistant Direction, Sound, Lighting, and Camera. It was a physically demanding day that really kept you on your toes – which helped to keep you warm in those freezing cells! Proactivity was the order of the day as there were many crew members who needed help but didn’t want to ask for it. It was a wonderful way of helping you to get stuck in, as well as preparing us for work on film sets in the future.

The first day of filming our short film

After a week and a half of preparation, we were finally ready to begin filming our very own short film. We settled into our creative grooves fairly quickly; it was the first time we worked together as one large group of 20-odd people, so it wasn’t long before we began to feel like a real film crew. The team got a staggering amount of work done that day, thanks in part to the patience and responsiveness of our actors, Carl, Courtney and DJ. In addition, everybody on the crew got to experiment with different roles on the set, which was great opportunity to work with some top-of-the-range equipment, generously provided by London Film Studios. This was the moment many of us began to believe that it was possible to start a career in film!

As the course drew to a close, there were many of us who wished it wouldn’t end, but it has left us feeling much more prepared to enter the world of creative media. The course was very intensive; we covered a lot of ground in such a short space of time that it could have been overwhelming, but managed not to be. It was definitely a worthwhile experience for any young person who felt unprepared for working in the film industry.

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