REFLECTIVE ACCOUNT

Lauren Harrison

Various sources, practitioners and professional contexts have influenced my practice when concerning my latest film 'Holloways Garden', in particular those that relate to the genre of fantasy and fairytales, or my roles of producing and directing. Films include Pans Labyrinth (2003), Star Dust (2007) and The Great and Powerful Oz (2013) each of which are of the fantasy genre and have been influential in different ways for my film.Pans Labyrinth is a dark fantasy that reveals another world, and its characters/creatures, within a world; a world of a little girls imagination. The style seen and tense tone felt throughout, was inspirational for certain scenes within my own production as I tried to create a similar feeling and tone for effect, in order for a clear contrast to be made between the scenes and the rest of the film. Star Dust and Pans Labyrinth were very inspirational in terms of the creation of a fantasy world and its characters; set design and costume play a huge role within both and I knew for my own film they also would. As, creating another world and magical characters takes planning and creation through various aspects from costume to make-up, props to building sets, etc in order to create a world and characters that the audience finds believable, as is what I did in my production. Style of speech also stood out; each character that was not human had a stylised voice which aided there uniqueness. This was something I took into great consideration and worked on with my actors. Visiting Berlinale film festival also gave me the opportunity to speak with the film producer and director of Butter on the Latch, Josephine Decker. We spoke about Holloways Garden and it was great to get some positive feedback from a professional in the industry and some advice: try different techniques and not stick to the ordinary, and as a director don't try and force what you want out of an actor, let it come naturally though improvisation, advice that I went on to use. The producer Michael Knowles was great to meet and chat too, and influential in his advice regarding time management, how important it is and the order in which he works during the pre-production stages of films he produces. What he told me made a lot of sense and I tried my best to use his advice as a guide throughout pre-production in terms of management and what should be done and by when. In order to develop my employability and professional practice I have researched into working in the film industry and therequirements expected for various roles from producing and directing, to camera operating and editing. I found the skills I already obtain i.e. time management, orgasiontaion, creativity, people skills etc are right for areas such as producing and directing,yet I have learnt there are certain skills I still need to gain in order to develop my employability even further.'Myfirstjobinfilm' (anonymous, no date) has been a used source in particular to do this, as it lists jobs that are currently available, skills and attributes needed and gives you the opportunity to apply for them. Knowing I already have the skills needed for certain jobs of my preference gives me confidence about my employability, yet I would still like to widen my skills, and plan too, to enable me to apply for a more diverse range of jobs if ever I wish to. When undergoing work experience for the company Pineapps, as the creative producer and director, dealing with the clients and their needs was one of my roles and I found it was necessary to

organise meetings often in order to ensure I was on the right track and planning to shoot what they actually wanted. Meeting with the clients often also enabled to build a relationship with them which I believe is vital; as your clients they are a valued asset and you should be doing all you can to ensure their time spent with you is enjoyable and make them want to work with you again. Social networking has also been a key strategy in developing my professional practice as it has allowed me to sell myself as a filmmaker and advertise, promote and provide information on my current film Holloways Garden, in particularly through Twitter and Facebook. I have also been able to converge with professionals in the industry through Twitter and learn from them in order to attribute to my own profession. Whilst working for the company 'Pineapps' I was creative director and producer and made several films for the company and clients. The work was unpaid though promise of pay was constant from the owner. I was first happy to just be gaining the professional experience, especially when working with clients as I felt I gained necessary skills needed in preparation for the future. Though the promise of pay was never fulfilled and it began to feel like I was being taken advantage of. I also often clashed with the head and we found it difficult to come agreements on certain matters, especially when involving films as I knew I had much more experience than him, as he had never actually made films himself. Working with others in a production group I have found similar things happen- i.e. creative differences causing issues, though these problems have always been resolved professionally and an agreement has been made, which I believe is down to an understanding of filmmaking. Whereas with Pineapps the problems arose because of a non-understanding, and the false hope given. Eventually I resolved the problem by leaving and learning from my time there. Despite the problems it was good experience to have gained for both the positives and negatives; I gained skills professionally and learnt how to interact well with clients and cater to their needs, but also learnt that people can take advantage if you are not careful. As a producer I am very aware how much time is needed to plan a film and how time management is essential. When in the pre-prodcution stages of Holloways Garden, and many other films, my first concentration was to ensure the script was undergo and then find the perfect locations. Luckily for Holloways Garden the locations was an easy task and secured early on the process. A rough film schedule then came next; dates were set that would be ideal to film and these dates were then discussed with the audition participants. From the auditions came the cast and a set film schedule, of which I devised into a file in order to keep track of the shoots, shoot dates and cast and crew who will be there for each. Throughout pre-production I arranged meetings often with the crew to ensure everyone was on track and I could give them all the latest information that was needed, this information was also posted on the Holloways Garden private production group to ensure everyone could easily find something out if ever needed/something slipped their mind . I also ensured I divided my time and could get on with tasks I needed to as the director, such as devising shot lists and call sheets. Managing my time is a skill I have obtained and become good at over the duration of the past few years and l feel I have done it well with recent projects in particular. After receiving very positive feedback from one of the actresses in Holloways Garden I feel much more confident in my roles of producing and directing and feel like I am doing well with each. I also feel stronger about the decisions I have made/make, whereas in the past I would sometimes shy away from doing so or agree to another persons decision; I feel as though this past year has made me stronger as a filmmaker and I am much more confident in my roles.As a producer I am the planner, which I also find myself doing even when not related to a film- taking control and being organised is an attribute that is now with me constantly which I feel is a good skill to have for any role in life. As too is my creativity; being creative enables an individual alike myself, to bring something added/extra to what they do and encourage others to do so. In relation to filmmaking a key issue that has developed my practice, is the lack of female filmmakers in the industry..Having researched this issue during my Contextualising Practice unit, I

found it shocking at how much the male gender dominates the industry and how women filmmakers are having to fight their way through. This concept pushes me and helps me develop my practice as I want to make a film I am proud of and can use to promote myself and enter film festivals with, and possibly gain some form of recognition one day as a female filmmaker. The way in which women are sexually objectified in films has also helped develop my practice, but in the opposite way: the female characters seen within Holloways Garden are strong and independent and not seen for their appearance or to appeal sexually to men, which is a very common factor and issue that has risen in films. Regarding employability after university myself and Beth have been in talks/action of starting our own production company. We both attended a two day course with 'Ideation to Creation' where we learnt about how to start your own company up, Networking and promoting, maintaining and everything essential to the development of a new company. It was great course and a step in the right direction for the possibility of starting a company. There is also a bootcamp that they are running this year in June which I am thinking of attending in order to take the steps further. We plan to do freelance work, starting with a music video we have lined up in May. Music videos, promotional videos/events are what we have in mind to start out with and get ourselves known/earn money and potentially on to bigger projects in the end. Though I also want to gain more industry experience too, as I feel the more experience I have the better even if I do start my own production company. Therefore, I have been using 'Myfirstjobinfilm' to search for temporary jobs that I could apply for. As of yet there has been nothing due to the early start dates, though jobs are posted daily so I intend to keep my eye out from mid July onwards and apply to any relevant adds of temporary work. London seems to be the common place for the Jobs available, which excites me as I would like to spend some time out of Manchester once I have graduated and London is a city I love and the opportunity to work there is something of great interest to me.

Bibliography

Pans Labyrinth. (2006) Toro, G. (DVD) Spain: Estudios Picasso

Star Dust. (2007) Vaughn, M. (DVD) USA: Paramount Pictures

Oz the Great and Powerful. (2013) Raimi, S. USA: Walt Disney Pictures

My First Job In Film (2001) National Film And Television School. (Online) (Accessed on 6th February 2014) http://www.myfirstjobinfilm.co.uk/index.html