Thursday 27 June 2013

104 Film Workshop

I was suppose to type up about this as soon as I got home but stupid me decided to forget my own username and after hours of working out what it was (it was a bit silly really, I should of asked Google to email me my own flipping username!)

ANYWAY, on the Tuesday the 25th of June, I attended a workshop which was at Edinburgh which was based solely on film making. This was a different experience for me because I am an actor and I've always been interested in performing on Theatre stage and in front of camera. This was about being BEHIND the camera and directing. It was very interesting although there was only one workshop really for two days. The workshop we did was with William Mager who goes by the name of Billy. He did a workshop about being a director behind camera. I wasn't really interested in becoming a director but it may possibly happen in the future and is something that I might give a try so it was useful hearing from him about his experiences and camera techniques. I learnt something new! It was also fantastic to hear from a deaf person who was at the top of his profession and is doing well for himself. He is a director who just happens to be deaf.

After the workshop, we went down to the Traverse Theatre Bar (it was only exclusively open to people who were film directors, actors etc so it was nice to feel special in that environment) and had the most delicious food. Afterwards there was a free bar and as part of the workshop, we had to do some networking. I am the shiest person in the whole world (although my father may disagree with me on that) so networking is something I've dreaded. I gave it my best shot and only received one business card...

This is something I found difficult as a deaf person as the environment was extremely busy and noisy and for me it was not pleasant as I had to rely on lip reading. Sometimes it works out well, sometimes it doesn't but having an interpreter there really helped me to get all that information. I was with my pal, Bea Webster who helped me to think of all the questions to ask and I tried my best to speak up but me being shy, it was hard.

The film workshop was a part of the Edinburgh Film Festival so there was the opportunity to go out and watch some films. We saw a film called "All Cats Are Brilliant". You would think it was about cats and me being a cat lover, I was really excited about this film. It did not involve cats at all. Disappointed but moving on, the film was okay. It was about a girl who was obviously struggling with her own life. Her fiance was in jail for being a terrorist, she was in part of the group who wanted to free him as he wasn't a terrorist, her parents didn't support her beliefs, she wanted to move out but couldn't at the same time as she was a nanny to a young boy who she loved and cared for. Despite her struggles, in the end, she danced away at a party forgetting about it all. For me, political films are not my favourite things in the world but this was focusing on one person who was going through this struggle which was a different perception and really interesting. The end was just stunning as she was at a party just dancing away for the last 10 minutes and only one single shot was used. It was just simply beautiful and lovely to view.

The next morning, we got up with breakfast at our door in the hotel (we were staying over at a stunning hotel with modernised rooms which was comfortable, best hotel ever). We went back to the cinema to see another film which was completely different called "Of Snails and Men". It's about a guy who worked in a factory which was about to close down and he decided to buy the factory by getting all his fellow workmates to donate sperm to a clinic for 50 dollars each. Of course things didn't work out so well. It was a Romanian film which was unique for me because I've never really watched that much international films so watching a film in a different language with subtitles was weird because I'm so used to watching films that are in English. An experience which I hopefully will never forget. The film was quite good, the performance from the actors in the film was really great. The fact that the film had three languages involved, Romanian, French and Spanish which was something I found quite interesting. Therefore there was language barriers for everyone but still understood through subtitles.

We headed back to the Traverse for lunch and then went to a talk by the people of "Coming Up" which was a scheme that helps scriptwriters and directors to showcase their work on Channel 4. Although I wasn't really interested in writing up scripts or being a director the scheme was quite interesting which got me and Bea thinking about writing up a script. Se we decided to collaborate and write our scripts together. There has been interesting debates and not so interesting debates. This happens all the time eh?

The two days we've spent felt really short. The networking hour could be more and maybe have an extra networking hour on the second day and maybe stay in Edinburgh for 2 days. Also have more workshops. I felt I only learnt a little and only motivated me to do something. Maybe workshops on acting in front of camera, camera work, young critics etc. This would be something that would benefit the mass audience rather than just directors and film makers. This is just my opinion. Apart from this, it was a different experience as I wanted to become an actor but made me think of trying out different things.

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