Industry Day- Friday 15th November 2019
The Norwich Film Festival Industry Day, at the UEA, was a day dedicated to various roles in film. The day was a part of a film festival Norwich and the BFI had put on for the local area. On the day we had lectures about Visual Effects, Script Writing, Directing, Acting and Careers in film.
The first talk was about Visual Effects and this proved interesting as I had no prior knowledge about the topic. It was surprising to find out how much VFX was needed for Spider-Man Far From Home, from the spider suit, surroundings, and clothes of the criminals stuck in spiderwebs. The detail that the speaker and his company had created for the spiderwebs and for Spider-Man himself was impressive. They made Spider-Man around Tom Holland's height and build, and copy the actors actions during the clips. They did not know about the sequences of the scenes they were tasked to do because Marvel was secretive about their scripts. The talk also introduced me to Panoramas, spherical images of landscapes used for CGI. The only downside was the lack of spoiler warning for the film, as the videos shown during the talk had included a mid-credit scene that spoiled the ending.
The next talk was from a script writer, director and comedian, and he was a very engaging person to listen to. He showed us a short film reel at the beginning of the talk, and this included scenes from projects he has worked on. These included The Kid Who Would Be King, Ant-Man, Adventures of Tintin and Attack The Block. He then told us about how he got into script writing and directing, how important networking was, especially with finding like-minded people, how his Attack the Block idea came from a real life experience, how important it is to ask those around you to read your screenplay and he gave us advice for short films. The advice included to make the film funny and to subvert the audience's expectations. Another piece of advice given was to make the film personal.
After this talk, in my personal opinion, the other two were not as good. The next talk was acting for the screen. They had three young actors and another older person on the stage. The older person was interviewing the actors, and this, for me, was not very engaging. The information given was good, they revealed how actors do not believe they have made it yet, as there is no level of there, and how difficult finding acting jobs were. The advice they gave were to be prepared for rejection, do not be afraid to try something new, be adaptable, research the characters you have to be if possible and remember where the camera is but act like it is not there. I believe this talk could have been improved by showing us the actors acting reel before the interview and just allowing the actors to speak about their experience without the constant asking of questions from the interview person.
In my opinion, the last talk was similar in feel to the last one. The Careers in Film talk had a panel of a producer,a screenwriter, someone working in sound and a film project manager. The talk started with how they got into their respective jobs and it also included good advice. Some of the good advice included, to network and meet new people, take any job and develop a range of skills, work with experts, find like-minded people, become a runner, research companies and be prepared for rejection. Freelancing was also mentioned during this talk, and it was compared with a normal structured job. A freelancer would have to be prepared for gaps in their work year and will be constantly looking for their next job. A structured job, despite the lack of choice, will give financial stability freelancing cannot provide. I believe more visual content, for example, examples of their work, could have made the talk a little more engaging.
Overall, the Film Industry Day was very informative and a great opportunity to experience.
The first talk was about Visual Effects and this proved interesting as I had no prior knowledge about the topic. It was surprising to find out how much VFX was needed for Spider-Man Far From Home, from the spider suit, surroundings, and clothes of the criminals stuck in spiderwebs. The detail that the speaker and his company had created for the spiderwebs and for Spider-Man himself was impressive. They made Spider-Man around Tom Holland's height and build, and copy the actors actions during the clips. They did not know about the sequences of the scenes they were tasked to do because Marvel was secretive about their scripts. The talk also introduced me to Panoramas, spherical images of landscapes used for CGI. The only downside was the lack of spoiler warning for the film, as the videos shown during the talk had included a mid-credit scene that spoiled the ending.
The next talk was from a script writer, director and comedian, and he was a very engaging person to listen to. He showed us a short film reel at the beginning of the talk, and this included scenes from projects he has worked on. These included The Kid Who Would Be King, Ant-Man, Adventures of Tintin and Attack The Block. He then told us about how he got into script writing and directing, how important networking was, especially with finding like-minded people, how his Attack the Block idea came from a real life experience, how important it is to ask those around you to read your screenplay and he gave us advice for short films. The advice included to make the film funny and to subvert the audience's expectations. Another piece of advice given was to make the film personal.
After this talk, in my personal opinion, the other two were not as good. The next talk was acting for the screen. They had three young actors and another older person on the stage. The older person was interviewing the actors, and this, for me, was not very engaging. The information given was good, they revealed how actors do not believe they have made it yet, as there is no level of there, and how difficult finding acting jobs were. The advice they gave were to be prepared for rejection, do not be afraid to try something new, be adaptable, research the characters you have to be if possible and remember where the camera is but act like it is not there. I believe this talk could have been improved by showing us the actors acting reel before the interview and just allowing the actors to speak about their experience without the constant asking of questions from the interview person.
In my opinion, the last talk was similar in feel to the last one. The Careers in Film talk had a panel of a producer,a screenwriter, someone working in sound and a film project manager. The talk started with how they got into their respective jobs and it also included good advice. Some of the good advice included, to network and meet new people, take any job and develop a range of skills, work with experts, find like-minded people, become a runner, research companies and be prepared for rejection. Freelancing was also mentioned during this talk, and it was compared with a normal structured job. A freelancer would have to be prepared for gaps in their work year and will be constantly looking for their next job. A structured job, despite the lack of choice, will give financial stability freelancing cannot provide. I believe more visual content, for example, examples of their work, could have made the talk a little more engaging.
Overall, the Film Industry Day was very informative and a great opportunity to experience.
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