This is my “Portfolio for University Applications” section of my website. I have picked out 6 of the films that I’ve made that I feel best show my abilities and skills in different areas. I have put each film, a brief explanation including why I chose it, and a button that links to my website section with more details about the film project.
I have also included some links to specific written work that reflects my passion and work approach, such as a script, shot list, storyboard and a research paper. To demonstrate how I love teamwork I have included a link to a section I wrote for my Year 2 Final Major Project explaining about my “90%Bloopers” filming group.
I have also included a link to a Timeline of All Films I’ve Made with links to play them and links to more information. I hope the variety shows my passion for making films.
Please also feel free to explore the rest of my website. It was started in Year 2 of my course which is why the Year 2 films and Year 2 FMP sections include things like research, preproduction, postproduction, evaluation etc as relevant to each film project. In the Year 1 and Independent Films sections I have included a longer explanation than I put here of the films in those sections.
"Serebrus"
Serebrus was my first short film that I made for my GCSE Film Studies.
We had to film a 5 min extract from a potentially longer film. It is about a spy being given a serum to make him able to read minds, but it goes wrong, and he can hear everyone in the world talking which sends him crazy. I am particularly pleased with the car sequences near the start and also the detailed matching of the shots in the mirror sequence from about 1min20. I chose it because it shows the passion for detail that I have had right from the start of my filming journey.
My Roles: Director, Writer, Cinematographer, Editor.
2 Poker Hand films
These two Poker Hand Films were filmed 2 years apart. I have chosen these to show my progression and how far I’ve come in my two years at college. My first Poker Hand film, Poker Hand (UNO Cards), was the first film I made at college. For my first film I’m rather proud of it, despite its obvious flaws. I am pleased to be able to see the areas I developed in by comparing the two as I did a few similarities in my shots. A difference I’m particularly pleased with is the development of the Dolly Zoom.
There are 2 versions of my more recent film as you can chose whether to watch it in cinematic or IMAX.
My Roles: Director, Writer, Cinematographer, Editor.
Spy Toast Advert
My Spy Toast Advert. What many consider one of my best College Films, and I would agree, I am very proud of the humour I was able to capture especially as my second College Project. The editing is also something I am proud of here as it’s the first time I did White Balancing, ADR, and Chroma keying. At the time I wasn’t aware that I was doing ADR, I was just doing what I felt would be best to make thing film better as the audio was rather polluted in the scene where the agent brings the toast to the tech guy.
My Roles: Director, Writer, Cinematographer, Editor.
Year 1 FMP Film – Documentary on the effect of camera movement on an audience
The link takes you to a separate website, the first one I have ever created which was for all my Year 1 Final Major Project (FMP) work. I feel this project demonstrates my persistence and resilience – at very short notice I had to entirely rethink my Year 1 FMP idea. I changed it from a fiction chase using camera movement to a documentary on camera movement. Even though Covid came and sealed us away in our homes, I was still able to use my recourses and create a Final Major Project for Year 1 that I am pleased with, only using me and my parents as crew for the whole thing. I directed them on what I wanted them to do as they both had no film making knowledge so I had to show them exactly what I wanted them to do. For example, I showed my dad how to hold a boom pole that I made out of a broom stick, a little Rode Video Micro, and a small Sony Audio recorder I taped to the end of the stick. And I showed my mum how to move the camera on my slider how I envisioned it to get the shot I wanted. It was a rather hard film to make not having my usual crew of 90%Bloopers to back me up.
My Roles: Director, Writer, Cinematographer, Editor.
Year 2 Final Major Project – "A Trilby in Time"
Since Covid was still around, but not as serious as in the first year I was able to ask my friends of 90%Bloopers to help me film this and thus was able to do something I had wanted to do in Year 1, which was a short fiction film. It is about time travel using Trilby hats as time travel machines. The part of this I am most proud of is the title sequence as I taught myself how to track the camera for the text bubbles and also use Key Frames to mask around my main actor to have the text be behind them.
I chose this film for my portfolio as it shows how my technical abilities have progressed, particularly as I have taught myself skills beyond the course, and also my development of a narrative. I also challenged myself by having one actor play 4 characters, on a couple of occasions appearing on screen at the same time.
I am pleased with the script I wrote. While it won’t win any Oscars it’s still something I’m proud of.
I developed my understanding of sound further by creating a more in-depth soundscape than I have in the past, adding in over 40 extra sounds, both diegetic and non-diegetic. This totally transformed my film, as sound usually does. I need to learn more about lighting, since, despite colour correcting, you can still see several variations in the external light. This is something I am looking forward to doing at university. There is so much I could write about this project – if you want to see more feel free to use this button to link to all of my Year 2 FMP “A Trilby in Time” writeup.
My Roles: Director, Writer, Cinematographer, Editor.
Small Town Heroes "3 to 16" music video for on YouTube (and also a behind the scenes video)
One of the things I am pleased about this music video is how it was all student led. A band at college wanted to make a music video so they asked other students to help them make it and my group of 90%Bloopers was asked. I remember the main liaison for the band said, in a radio interview, that he was not expecting the quality and professionalism of our final videos, and was very impressed with both the filming day and the end products. We were also very pleased, and I have included it here as an example of teamwork and independent work.
My Roles: Director, Cinematographer, Editor.
Research Paper – "Will the skills that I develop by being a Dungeon Master (DM) for Dungeons and Dragons (D&D) be helpful to me as a Fiction Film/TV Director?"
I have included this to show my essay writing ability. We were allowed to choose anything related to the Film/TV Industry to write a research paper about, and my tutors were delighted with my original take on the challenge. I knew that D&D is getting more popular but even I was surprised at how many creatives in the Film/TV Industry play/played it, including The Mandalorian Producer Jon Favreau, Vin Diesel, Game of Thrones co-creator D.B. Weiss and the Russo Brothers (Joe and Anthony) who directed Avengers: Infinity War and Endgame. And Joe Russo said “If you want to make movies, go play D&D”. A great result!
90%Bloopers
I included this as it demonstrates my dedication to and love of teamwork. It explains how my 90%Bloopers Group came about and how we help each other.
"A Trilby in Time" Script
This link takes you to the script section for my Year 2 Final Major Project, “A Trilby in Time”. If you click on the first small image of a script it makes it full size and you can use the arrows to move between pages. Some of the lines are different to the finished film since my main actor improvised some lines which I felt fitted well with the character so in the edit I chose to use them.
"A Trilby in Time" Shot List
This link takes you to the shot list section for my Year 2 Final Major Project, “A Trilby in Time”. If you click on the first small image of a shot list it makes it full size and you can use the arrows to move between pages. Because of my dyslexia I find that I visualise the film in my head. Also, I tend to change some of the shots when I am filming if other opportunities present themselves. I have read that this is not unusual in the industry, however I also appreciate that you need a shot list in the industry since other departments need the information too, such as for lighting, sound, camera, props etc. Also a shot list helps ensure you don’t miss out shots that are vital to your story.
"Match Advert" Storyboard
In all honesty I don’t like doing storyboards, since I don’t feel I am a good artist. But the more behind the scenes videos that I watch, the more I am understanding that they really can be very useful when filming to keep everyone on the same page. I may know what I want in a scene, but, when a variety of departments are involved then storyboards become very useful. This is an area I need to develop, and I did a storyboard for my latest film, an advert for matches. I have included it as an example and I know I need to work on storyboarding at university.
Year 2 Final Major Project (FMP) - "A Trilby in Time" Reflection and Evaluation
I have chosen my Reflective Evaluation of my Year 2 Final Major Project – “A Trilby in Time” to give a glimpse of my thought processes as I do a project. This brings together my thoughts about the whole process and I summarise all the different areas in one place, rather than looking at all the different sections which have a lot more information in. You are welcome to look through my whole project, but it may take you quite a lot of time, so I thought this summary (which still isn’t short) would give a good overall view. This is a project and final film that I am particularly pleased with.
Photos
There are many photos scattered throughout my website for different films and projects. Here, I have included a link to the home section of my website where I have an assortment of photos from various filming projects, to give a flavour of what I have been doing.