Production Diary 8: BFI Academy/Half Term

In the half term, I have unfortunately not been able to do as much work as I had planned as I have been extremely busy, however since today is Thursday, I would have liked to completed the Channels/Festivals and Research into Equipment tasks by the time I get back to school.
The primary reason for my being busy this week is actually very media related, hence the reason I thought I would mention it on my blog, plus the experience it is giving is significantly helping me in creating not only my music video but also my short film for my Film Studies.
A while ago, my teacher approached me and few others with an application for the Eastside Educational course, run and supported by the BFI (British Film Institute). It's a 10 week course which allows around 25 16-19 year olds aspiring to be film-makers to get together and complete workshops in all aspects of film making, as well as meeting industry professional and visiting places of interest e.g. 3 Mills Studios, London School of Sound. I was fortunate enough to be accepted onto this course, and without sounding cheesy, it is definitely one of the best experiences of my life.
As well as meeting professionals and visiting studios, the main goal of the course is to, within a group of 5, produce a short film, which will then submitted and showcased, and we will be awarded the Silver Arts Award. In the group there is a director, producer, cinematography, screen writer and an editor. I have been chosen to be the cinematographer, which is both a exciting and terrifying role as ultimately it is up to me to shoot the whole thing, and to hopefully bring to life my director and producer's vision on the screen.
This course runs every Saturday but in the half term it was on both Monday and Tuesday, and as it is an all day thing it limits my time to complete coursework, however it is 100% worth it. As the cinematographer, it is my job to not only press the record button, but I will need to have figured out in advance the camera angles, shot types and composition - as well as the lighting - is it going to be natural or artificial? Which side of the protagonist's face does the director want to be lit up? Luckily for me, I have a fantastic and cooperative group and there have been no arguments - yet! The skills that I learn from this role are going to help me so much with the development of my music video (and short film) as I am all 5 roles for that!
Here are some photos from the BFI experience so far: