Today, we participated in an interview with two former students, Els Kenney (personal communication, 5th April, 2019) who came to give us advice on filmmaking tips on how to reach our full potential on with our FMPs.
After watching her FMP, she gave a lot of useful advice, for example, one of the first things she began talking about teamwork, and how important it is to work collaboratively with them. Even if your ideas collide, groups should always sit together and discuss their ideas out loud and even if you strongly disagree with the plotline, you need to come to terms with the fact that, that will be the plotline you are going with, so that the whole production stage can flow through quickly.
After discussing this, we started talking about the sound design and how to ensure that everything goes perfectly for this. She advised us to use Foley for most of the sound, it is extremely important to have a layered audio track, and to include audio even where it is not needed, Foley sounds such as machines buzzing in the background, jumpers coming off skin, etc. are all sounds that should be included as this aids the short film with being more realistic and professional. Also, on the topic of professionalism, she also stated that it is key to maintain consistency with your visual style and camera angles, as this gives the short film more variety.
Furthermore, we also went through the stages of pre-production and how crucial it is to keep data presentation neat as it is easier to read in addition to it being more aesthetically pleasing. We also got onto the topic of risk assessments and how important it is to not only list practical problems on the risk assessment but also personal issues such as allergies, or other health issues- so that there is always a plan in place if an emergency within this field does occur.
After going through this stage of pre-production, we started talking about idea generation, in which Els gave some very useful tips. Firstly, she said it is handy to create a mind map, even if you start off with basic ideas and start branching off, this way it is possible to come up with more ideas. Another thing she suggested doing was a mood board- take images from movies, or scenes from anything such as adverts or music videos that inspire you, Els stated that it is important not to over complicate your ideas, because the simplest idea could shape a whole 6-10 minute short film. You could also come up with more than one idea, choose one and write a short synopsis, which could help start up a storyline. Additionally if you are ever struggling with ideas, you could always get inspiration from other filmmakers by looking at their techniques and using it in your own work.
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