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Year 13 Advice

I attend a new sixth form at FitzWimarc, and so access to year 13 students is limited, as we don't have any. However, I was able to gather some memoirs from general friends I have that have taken media studies at college or other sixth forms, and even at University. Also access to Shenfield blogs have granted particular assets in gaining peer advice and experienced opinions.

'Set your scene up the day before the shoot, this saves time and helps you mentally prepare.'  In a way I feel this may be the most valuable piece of advice I have received, ever. One of my key flaws as a creative is my hatred of setting things in stone. I am the human embodiment of juxtaposition as I simultaneously maintain the most spontaneous control-freak persona, constantly - and it shows. I may try to convince myself the lie that 'I can pull it off in time' or 'the idea will hit me eventually'. But after hearing this I feel I may need to get over my slight fear of permanently settling with one idea, and set my vision into the brickwork, particularly as my primary vision involves a particular essence of mise-en-scene, setting up of the scene will be painfully time-consuming, require plenty of attention to detail, and one misplaced prop could butcher the entire sequence. Setting up my location the day before the shoot, and allowing myself time to carefully look over the scene to notice any anomalies and replace and incorrect items will be beneficial in maintaining a cool, calm and collected attitude on set.

'Choose your group carefully. Make sure you choose people that will pull their own weight and will take the tasks seriously.'  I initially did work in a group, and found it just wasn't working for me as a creative. Clashes of ideas and artistic differences interfered with the progress of the project and so I chose to work solo as of March. Having total independence over my own work, and knowing I will receive every credit as an individual is far more gratifying to me. Also I've been told I can be a bit of a dictator, so perhaps it was for the best.

'The camera is not good at picking up sound, therefore keep the dialogue to a minimum.' There is no dialogue in my piece. This is partly because my greatest fear for the outcome of this project, is that it will look like a typical media studies project, and I aim to achieve anything but that, partly because I recognise that we media students cannot act to save our lives, there's a reason why we choose to study, behind a camera; but mainly because I hoped a deficit of dialogue would establish a sense of enigma throughout the course of the title sequence.



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