90% Bloopers
You may be thinking “That is an odd title for a Section”. Let me elaborate.
“90%Bloopers” is the name that a group of 5 of us (Me (Gareth Edwards), Adam Vincent, Ellie Simpson, Jack (Quest) Harper and Harley Graham) on our UAL Level 3 Extended Diploma Film&TV have created. It started after our first Year 1 film project in 2019 when we learnt the importance of being professional on filming projects. We learnt this by actually not being as professional as we could have been whilst being cast and crew for each other, by actually joking around quite a bit, and realising that because of this joking around, it took us ages to film and about 90% of the footage that we each had was bloopers. So, the name “90%Bloopers” was born. I should say though, that that first project was great for getting to know each other, bonding, and teambuilding.
Since that project, we have all been much more professional when we are planning and filming. Another thing we learnt on that first project was the importance of being reliable, a very important attribute for when we enter the Film/TV Industry. We learnt this because some of the larger group who we were filming with were not so reliable, and we saw the problems this caused.
Since then, we have been cast and crew for each other on all our projects. I know that it is also a good thing to practise working with other people in our class, and we have been cast/crew for other people too. But Covid has totally changed the current way the Industry is working as well as been challenging for all our Units. It has been a very stressful time, and having a reliable group to film with, plan with and create with has been an enormous benefit to us getting successfully through a time that has been very unpredictable and stressful for many people.
At the start of Year 2, we had to set up websites to put our work on. Adam suggested that we all share a “90%Bloopers” server and set up individual WordPress websites for our College work on it. He administers is, is very knowledgeable and has been helping us all to learn. You will notice that all 5 of our websites are our initial and surname, followed by 90bloopers.com (there is no % sign since it won’t take that).
We have developed our set up further, we keep lots of useful documents here, and a variety of other stuff. In a lesson with one of our tutors, Sabah, early on in the Year 2 Autumn term, we learnt about creating logos. And so our main 90%Bloopers logo was born, with an element relating to each of us on – for instance “sound” for Adam. You can probably tell, by the name of my film – “A Trilby in Time” – that the trilby hat is my element. Yes, I am “Hatman” specifically trilby hats. I am known for my trilby hats, of which I have over 50 different ones.
We also have several different colour variants
Also, Adam created individual versions for each of us, based on our individual element. Mine has the trilby hat on.
We set up a Discord server, for us and our friends, and various other social media.
Near the start of the 2020 Autumn term, we also got to know Charlie G on our course, who is great, and who has become part of our filming and friendship group. We have been being cast and crew for each other as a group of 6 since then, although he already had his own website.
Just before Easter we were filming our TV/News Show, as a group of 6 (90%Bloopers plus Charlie G) which was a rather challenging business due to Covid meaning that we were out of College for most of the planning, hence had to film and edit everything in preparation for our live show in our first and only week back in College, and also learn how to operate the cameras, autocue and Tricaster that we would have ordinarily spent much of the term practising with. Adam (Tricaster Operator) and I (Producer) had spent time watching videos about the Tricaster but it’s not the same as using it under live conditions. One of our tutors, Simon, sat in and watched our live session. He commented afterwards that one thing that came across strongly was that we obviously trust each other.
I hadn’t thought of that before, but it’s true. We do trust each other, including very much when we are filming. It made me think of Director/Cinematographer partnerships like Steven Spielberg and Janusz Kaminski. They have both commented how helpful their partnership is when filming, and how they trust each other.
Simon also commented how good our teamwork skills are, which are obviously also necessary skills for the Film/TV Industry.
All 6 of us are also being cast and crew for each other’s Year 2 FMPs. We are not all always available for every filming session, but that’s OK. We make sure that once we commit, then we will be reliable.
We have also filmed and recorded some Independent projects together, for example our own Adaptation of Emma, which we filmed over Autumn half term.
We also started recording podcast discussions, having arranged with College that we could use one the Sound Studios for this. Before the first Covid Lockdown over a year ago, we had been planning to film various independent projects after our Year 1 FMPs. Unfortunately, Covid put a stop to that.
But we are looking forwards to making lots of films together after our Year 2 FMPs.
And what then? What happens to 90%Bloopers next year, when this course finishes? Well, we are such a strong group that we are sure we will continue to work together. After all, an important part of being in the Film/TV Industry is networking, making contacts and finding reliable people to work with, which we have done. My long-term aim is to become a Fiction Film/TV Director, via cinematography and so I (and 3 of the others) are hoping to do the UAL Foundation Diploma in Art and Design (Specialising in Directing and Production Skill), 1 is off to University to study film (the rest of us are already planning visits) and the other is hoping to start a UAL Level 3 Drama course at the same college as the rest of us. So, you can see we are all staying in the Film/TV Industry, so we will be keeping in contact. We “talk” daily on Discord and have lots more projects in the pipeline. We value our group and feel it will be helpful for our future careers. And we just like each other too.
So, keep an eye out in the future for 90%Bloopers, we will be there!