Saffron Watson @saffronwatson-blog - Tumblr Blog

Finished Products

I’ve printed my CV onto thick paper, my business card as shown previously printed from Office Outlet, and my showreel onto a DVD with the same style from my business cards.

I’m going to present these in a file for submission, as they need to be kept safely together so that nothing falls out or gets damaged.

Testing my website

I wanted to talk through my website pages and test out some of the other elements.

Home Page

I really like my home page, as it’s clean and simple.

Show Reel

This next page is my showreel, of which I’ve embedded onto my website. I added a few details about the duration and the year it was made.

As previously mentioned I’ve updated my CV page so that the viewer can download it. I wanted to test this to make sure it works, as you can see it opened up a new page where the viewer can then download onto their computer.

About

I wanted to add a professional photo so that potential employers can see who I am, and read a little bit more about myself. At the bottom of every page I have my social media linked up as well.

Link to website: saffronwatsonfilm.co.uk

Final CV

For the hand in I’ve altered my CV to say that my job title is “Filmmaker” as I’ve made it so I can alter my CV easily to fit the job I’m applying for.

As well as Producing Burgundy, I took up many other roles to help the film come to life. One of those being that I managed our social media pages. I created a Facebook page, Twitter and Instagram. I try and update these as regularly as I can with good quality content without giving the storyline away.

Here are some of the images we’ve recently shared as stills from the film itself.

This is my short film: Burgundy’s official poster.

We went through a bunch of stills and photos from the shoot, but we couldn’t decide on anything worthy enough to add enough mystery like this poster does. I personally love it, and how the focus changes throughout the photo and how the writing blends into the forest.

Analysing My Showreel

I decided that I would annotate my showreel into how I chose the footage that I wanted to put in there.

This opening shot was taken on the Black Magic, I wanted some stunning landscape shots in my showreel. Even though the day was overcast, there were lovely beams of the sun shining through the clouds.

This is a still from the award winning “The Last Game” a 48 hour film festival of which I was the sound operator. There were some stunning shots in this short film, and the storyline although odd because of the rules of the festival was intriguing.

Next, is a shot from the opening of short film “Love” it’s yet to be completely edited, but we shot this over the summer last year. I was the Producer, and helped out on sound and even starred in it myself. This shot is one of my favourite by far, as it’s ad-libbed by the actor and is so intimate.

Here is one of my favourite close ups from my short film last year “At The Heart Of The Palm”. I filmed this shot due to our camera operator being unavailable to shoot that day, I really enjoyed getting up close and personal with the actress in the character’s most vulnerable moments.

This is a still from a scene recreation as part of a unit last year, we remade a famous scene from Contact, it was an interesting shoot as the finishing touches were made in the editing suite to create this confusion of perspective. I was the sound operator and I helped produce as well.

This is another Black Magic shot, I love the Black Magic camera and the sharpness and depth it gives to videos.

This is from short film Milk, it’s just been finished and will be doing the rounds in film festivals soon. I love this tracking shot bringing the audience closer to the main character. I helped produce this short and also starred in it.

Lastly, here’s some footage from when I got to film and record Bestival 2016. I mainly did the sound recording of live performances but also helped capture the festival through video as well

Overall

I am happy with my showreel, I didn’t want it to be too long as I carefully picked the shots I want to use. I didn’t want to put in stuff that I wasn’t proud of or didn’t fit in with the feel of the rest of the footage.

I loved having slow motion footage in there as well, as I find it looks stunning and adds an element of calmness.

I had thought about captioning the work, but some of my favourite showreels don’t have captions, I find sometimes it’s a little distracting from the visuals. When someone watches my showreel I want them to feel immersed with the visuals and the soundtrack along with it.

Creating My DVD Cover Designs

I created both of these parts of the CD in Adobe Illustrator, and I wanted to keep the same consistency as before. I kept the same font and replicated the effect from my business cards.

Again I wanted to keep it simple to not be an assault on the eyes, and that people can read the necessary information.

I’m looking forward to seeing the finish product now that it’s all coming to life!

More Research into my Desired Role

I found another article from the New York Film Academy titled “How to become a film producer” https://www.nyfa.edu/student-resources/how-to-become-a-film-producer/

In this article they comment on the view of a producer on every step of the filmmaking process. I think this is is a good article for those who don’t quite understand what it takes to be a producer.

From my recent film; Burgundy, I started to understand on a deeper level what it requires to be a good producer.

Despite not knowing many famous film producers (unless they directed, starred and wrote it), I also realised I didn’t know of any successful female producers.

I then went on to research female producers, and I find an article at Stephan Follows: https://stephenfollows.com/the-most-employed-women-in-the-british-film-industry/

Through this article I find some interesting facts and figures:

“25 of the top 104 UK producers are women”

From the outset of this list of female producers and their ranking in overall producers, I couldn’t tell you what these women have produced. I started to check their IMDB credits and was quite surprised as how many films I had seen of theirs.

And it’s quite an achievement for Tessa Ross who has thirty nine producer credits, and she ranks number two in all producers.

Conducting this research has opened my eyes in terms of female producers, and going out of my way to appreciate their work, who else am I going to admire and learn from?

What is my desired job?

In an ideal world I’d love to be a Producer. As I’ve mentioned previously in my blog posts I have produced the majority of my projects at university and I’ve been learning a lot about the role at an entry level and at a professional level as well.

I have a love for being at the head of the film, to organise and help the project come to life.

I understand that this is a difficult role to get into, as most Producers have the money to create films, or have the contacts and the means to source funding. I did some research earlier this year to see what the world wide web had to suggest.

I read this article from the New York Film Academy: https://www.nyfa.edu/student-resources/becoming-a-producer-tried-and-tested-career-paths/

In it they suggest further training at a film school in Producing as this can help further your knowledge and make contacts in the film industry.

This is a good suggestion but it also means paying more, as usually for film schools there aren’t government loans to help you out. They have different lengths of courses, but I would assume that the ones from a month onwards are the most valuable rather than weekend, or one day courses.

They also suggest getting a business qualification, as it will be useful to learn about how to handle money, and treat films like a business as well as an art form.

There’s also a good article from the Independent: http://www.independent.co.uk/student/career-planning/getting-job/its-less-glamorous-than-directing-but-film-producing-can-be-the-reel-deal-800908.html

They talk about what it’s really like to be a Producer, the hardships and how people usually dream of being Directors or Actors. In those roles you do it sometimes for the credit or the fame. I’m not interested in fame, I’m interested in success, and working hard. I’ve found that the harder I work on the film the more rewarding the outcome - that’s a feeling I want to keep receiving and always improving.

How am I going to get there?

This is a common thought and question that I receive. From previously articles and helpful advice online and from lecturers/industry professionals it seems that there is no easy route. Some popular answers were to become Production Assistants (I imagine at a company with a permanent position with room to work your way up). I am also interested in Production Co-ordinators and Second Assistant Directors. Both of these roles as I have witnessed are centered around organising the film and working with the cast and crew.

Although it seems stressful and tiring, I feel it can reap the same rewards as Producing.

I am a very determined character and I’m not afraid of hard work. I would also like to pursue making my own films where I can be Producer to get more credits under my belt and to make the rounds of film festivals to mingle with the industry, and hopefully create some award winning films.

Working for the University

Since last July I’ve been working as an events assistant for the university. This entails being a camera operator, editor and sound operator. I’ve covered events for the council to raise awareness of flooding and events in Portsmouth, Inaugural lecturers, videos for the Business School about the kinds of research that they’ve been conducting.

I’ve really enjoyed this job as I’ve been to events I wouldn’t have thought to go to otherwise, I’ve been learning more about Portsmouth and the university itself. I get to use different pieces of equipment in different roles.

I’m hoping to get more involved in being an events assistant, and hopefully get into more Production Management when my university work is over.

Software Analysis

Adobe Photoshop

I chose to design my own business card using Photoshop.

I have been using this software over the past few years and have been learning more and more about it. I looked at some set designs on business card sites, or that you can design some within the site, but I preferred to use Photoshop to bring my drawings to life.

You can be more precise about where you want your text, shapes and have more control over the colours.

Although there’s a lot to figure out and learn in Photoshop, when you use it on a regular basis it becomes easier to use. There’s lots of effects and editing tools for photos, but there is also Lightroom with the Adobe suite as well.

Adobe Premiere Pro

When I need to edit a video together I always use Premiere Pro, I’ve been using it since college and it’s never failed me. It’s really easy to use once you know the main tools, and you can chop and change the video as much as you need to. It has video and audio effects, and plenty of transitions to use.

I’ve used other editing software; Avid and Final Cut Pro, but I haven’t found them as easy to use and sometimes there’s a lot of issues surrounding editing and exporting.

Adobe Illustrator

Whilst designing my DVD, I used Illustrator for the first time. I have to admit that I did struggle to design it. It had similar tools to Photoshop but it was still quite new to me.

The only similar piece of software I had previously used was Publisher with Office. But that was some years ago now.

To add to my previous post about People Looking For TV Work: Runners. I saw this post for a vacancy as an Assistant Office Manager. I loved the sound of this job, so looked it up on their website and read all of the details.

I’m uncertain if I am qualified in certain aspects, but I’ve had customer service experience of over four years at one company, and I’ve worked in other customer service roles throughout that time.

I feel like it would be a great opportunity as it’s a full time job and I can learn more about the logistics of filming, in the description it mentions getting permissions to film around London. From a Producer perspective this is an ideal role to learn more about how to film in and around London.

I was recommended a while ago to join this Facebook group; People Looking For TV Work: Runners. I’ve turned on the notifications so that when anyone posts anything I can see it as soon as possible, as I’ve noticed that jobs go quite fast.

I check this page everyday incase I’ve missed anything or the notifications don’t work.

I’ve seen a lot of helpful advice to graduates which I take on board.

After adapting my CV, I wanted to make it so people could download a copy of it, perhaps potential employers.

I’d received some feedback to do so on the work experience unit, and I thought with my upcoming graduation and stepping into the professional world that that might be best.

Above you will see how I created a button on Wix to download my CV.

Also you will see that I’ve taken off the pages which were only relevant to the work experience unit to make it look more professional.

I also made my name in the heading slightly bigger so when a viewer clicks through the pages it looks more prominent.

After some thought about keeping my work consistent, I wasn’t too sure how I felt with the front of my business card on every aspect of my work. I like it for my business card, but realised I didn’t want it on my CV or my website.

I decided that by using the same font from my showreel, business card and website it will all still be consistent.

Here is my updated CV, I’ve also added in the logo from my business card to keep up a consistent appearance across my website, showreel and business cards.

I’ve added in who was the Producer(s) of my work experience and decided to take out my interests as I feel that my skills and experience are what employers will want to look at.

This is the other job I will be applying for through the training scheme at Channel 4, for Production Co-ordinator. I have seen what a PC does and I love the sound of what it entails, it also is more relatable to the role of Producer.

This would be a perfect opportunity for me, however I do know how many people apply for these jobs so I want to take my time to apply to make sure I tick all the boxes for the application.

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