Well, here’s my opportunity to tell you all about my weaknesses. It’s easy to list a mountain of weaknesses you may have and not so much about the areas you have strength in. I will try to keep in even between the lists so it doesn’t look like I have too much self hatred.

In regards to film I would say my strengths are;

• I look at every experience and project as a learning opportunity. 

I am someone who thrives for knowledge so I always look for information and methods that I can take away from all departments of film production. If what I have worked on (projects/assignments) isn’t great or doesn’t do well, I at least learned something and can take something away from the experience.

• Creative visual thinking

Over the years through school and also through photography/film work, I have come to the realisation that I am a visual thinker. I can easily visualise scenes and characters whenever I read scripts or books. Also visual expression is something that is very important in film and art so being able to tell a story using visual means comes very effortlessly to me. Throughout my life I have always been told that I have a big imagination, it is a great way for me to convey complex or masses of information into a more understandable form for me to perceive.

• Working in a fast paced environment

This one really explains itself so to keep in short, having pressure and physical tasks needing done quickly makes me work without overthinking anything. This is an important skill for most crew roles in production as working on a set can be very fast paced.

My weaknesses are;

• Writing a screenplay

For the life of me I can’t seem to ever be able to start a script/story from “The beginning”, I just never feel like I know where to start. I am alway having ideas but once it comes to actually writing the scripts or the full stories its almost as if there isn’t a beginning.

• Editing

I have a basic understanding and skills of how to edit but editing to a film standard is something I am yet to learn and discover my own style.

• Understanding film movements

Film movements are something that confused the hell out of me when I was first introduced to them. I still struggle with understanding a lot of film movements and how to know which one would best fit a film that I want to create.

How I am going to develop my skills;

During the first trimester at the SAE Institute we have a script writing portion of the course where we get to read screenplays, work on story development and story structure. I’m looking forward to seeing the progress I will make and what methods I can take away from this portion of the course.

Also in the first trimester we study film history (styles and movements) along with reading films, this has so far been giving me a better understanding although I do feel that it is something that I need to study a little more.

In class we did go over a quick basic of editing with our “Film in a fortnight” but we’ll be going over it again and in more detail throughout the trimester. During this I will be sure to take plenty of notes and make short checklists of important methods that will help me.