Thinking about applying for the 2014 BFI Academy? Why not read this blog by Tom who took part in the 1st BFI Academy in 2013 and is currently on a work experience placement with us.
• The BFI offers a wide range of practical filmmaking skills and challenging
tasks that help bring your creative ideas into action. There are many workshops
that focus on particular elements that all help to bring the film together and
they allow you to have the experience you need to use them in practice when it
comes to your production. As well as having fun and enjoying what the BFI has
to offer, it also promotes your leadership, teamwork and communication skills
as you will have the chance to work independently and as a team throughout the
course, which will be beneficial to you as you will leave the course with film
contacts and a set of new personal filmmaking skills, such as; handling
lighting, sound and camera equipment, using various editing software’s,
creating stories and scriptwriting, casting a short film with actors and
receiving tips and advice on how to break into the film industry.
Throughout the BFI course we were also able to visit different places that specialises in filmmaking. My favourite visit was to Elstree Studios where TV productions like “Who Wants To Be A Millionaire” and “Strictly Come Dancing” were filmed. They also created blockbuster films like “Star Wars”, “The King’s Speech” and “Hot Fuzz”. The experience was amazing to behold and we were able to see an insight of upcoming productions and the sets of previous shows such as “Big Brother”.
This visit was one of my highlights of the whole course as it was inspirational
to me and was proof of what you can achieve if you follow your dreams and take
small opportunities that can lead to big success. After visiting the Studios I had a greater sense of what
filmmaking was like and knew that I wanted a future career in professional
filmmaking productions. I never thought I’d get to visit the sets and have a
tour around the place where thousands of celebrities have worked to create a
blockbuster film together and it felt incredible. The BFI could be your chance
to get that experience you need to develop your career for the future in the
British film industry.
By applying for the BFI course, you get the chance to make a short five-minute film to be shown on big screen but you also get the chance to get a Level 2 Silver Arts Award at the same time! This can be achieved by completing the blogging, which won’t be as much effort as you think as long as you get on top of it every week whilst it is still fresh in the mind. If you complete the arts award then it is a great thing to have on your CV when applying for jobs in the film industry or it is something beneficial to have when writing your personal statement for different universities.
The experience is amazing and by the end of the course you feel as if you have accomplished something individually and together as a team. You also then have lots of new friends and film contacts that you are able to stay in touch with. For example, the group that applied for the course I was on are now all friends with me on Facebook and we still invite each other to film events in case anybody might be interested. It is important to stay in touch with everybody from the course as another opportunity may arise to take part on a paid production set and it could be the start to your future carer.
My aims for the future are to start off from the bottom working as a runner for a production and planning on working my way up to something more involved with a film production such as becoming one of the editors or script writers or something within the production that I would like doing. As I love to write stories and come up with creative ideas, it might be that I produce a script for a movie and work alongside the director in a production to capture my ideas.
Throughout the BFI course we were also able to visit different places that specialises in filmmaking. My favourite visit was to Elstree Studios where TV productions like “Who Wants To Be A Millionaire” and “Strictly Come Dancing” were filmed. They also created blockbuster films like “Star Wars”, “The King’s Speech” and “Hot Fuzz”. The experience was amazing to behold and we were able to see an insight of upcoming productions and the sets of previous shows such as “Big Brother”.
By applying for the BFI course, you get the chance to make a short five-minute film to be shown on big screen but you also get the chance to get a Level 2 Silver Arts Award at the same time! This can be achieved by completing the blogging, which won’t be as much effort as you think as long as you get on top of it every week whilst it is still fresh in the mind. If you complete the arts award then it is a great thing to have on your CV when applying for jobs in the film industry or it is something beneficial to have when writing your personal statement for different universities.
The experience is amazing and by the end of the course you feel as if you have accomplished something individually and together as a team. You also then have lots of new friends and film contacts that you are able to stay in touch with. For example, the group that applied for the course I was on are now all friends with me on Facebook and we still invite each other to film events in case anybody might be interested. It is important to stay in touch with everybody from the course as another opportunity may arise to take part on a paid production set and it could be the start to your future carer.
My aims for the future are to start off from the bottom working as a runner for a production and planning on working my way up to something more involved with a film production such as becoming one of the editors or script writers or something within the production that I would like doing. As I love to write stories and come up with creative ideas, it might be that I produce a script for a movie and work alongside the director in a production to capture my ideas.
There are some disadvantages to the BFI course as you have to make sure that you are committed to it, to your filmmaking team and to your personal blog that keeps track of each session you have completed every Saturday. As the course was designed for 16-19 year olds, most of us were studying at college and so it was hard to commit to the course when all the college work was piling up and you had to try and prioritise. However, even though you do have to put some time and effort into pre-production and blogging, you should be able to cope with the workload if you continue to note down what you have done every week and keep track of the events. You definitely have to be dedicated to the course as well as being on a Saturday it does take up most of the day and therefore half of your weekend and sometimes you will have to be prepared to work on the project on the Sunday as well.
However saying that, I would recommend taking the course as it allows you to experience a one in a lifetime opportunity to work amongst other film fanatics and to discover new areas in filmmaking where you might have an unknown talent. As the editor for my group, I was able to experience new editing software I had never used before called Premiere Pro and enjoyed adapting to the new software. I thought that the final outcome of my edit and of our five-minute film was rather successful in the end and it was all down to the team’s performance and the support and guidance we received from our tutors and British directors and filmmakers.
The tutor who inspired me the most to pursue this career path was Jane Gull as she has been an actress in different production sets and influenced myself and my group when we were in pre-production. She has already managed to set me up with work experience at Signals where I completed the film course and I may be able to get a job as a runner in a film production soon after if I continue to take the opportunities given to me. Other people who have inspired me to work towards film production are writers Anthony Horowitz and J.K Rowling who have both written novels that have been made into worldwide films and encouraged me to be as successful as they have been. Director David Fincher has also been an inspiring person to me that has influenced my life choices and he has created films such as “Se7en”, “The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo” and “The Social Network”.
David Fincher is possibly the most successful director in today’s society and continues to express his creative views and ideas through his extraordinary films and I hope that one day I can be a part of something just as successful, starting off my career through the BFI.
