BFI SILVER ARTS AWARD
UNIT 2

This is Part E, my reflection on this unit as a whole. 

With the leadership project complete, I can now reflect on its production and development alongside my leadership skills. As a team leader, I have been able to conduct a team member effectively, while taking ownership and leadership of this project as a whole. My team member assisted me with a second opinion on many of my creative decisions, examples including the structure of the video along with the style of the graphics. It was very useful to have his guidance and constructive criticism because it is sometimes hard to gauge how my edits would be perceived by the audience when I have watched it so many times during the edit. Ultimately, I made the final creative decisions with the informed opinions of my team member, allowing me to develop the skill of taking control. I have not previously directed a production or had a leadership role in a short film, so this has been a new experience that has allowed me to develop confidence in an authoritative role as well as improving my communication skills as a whole. I took into consideration any criticism or advice that I was given to develop this short music video film to a high standard.

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Reflecting on the project plan, I have been able to carry out the exact work that I planned which has been a testament to my organisation skills. I set realistic goals that still required me to stretch my creative abilities, learning new techniques and developing my confidence along the way. For example, my editing knowledge within Premiere Pro has improved as I have had to learn how to add effects such as glowing graphics and strobe effects, providing me with more confidence for editing projects in the future. Developing this project using the steps that I outlined in the project plan helped me to stay focused and co-ordinated when developing the short music video film. 

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I am proud of the final film, particularly of the editing techniques that I used. For example, editing the footage to the beat of the song was successful at emphasising the beat and pace of the song. This is a common convention of music videos, and implementing this technique contributed to the achievement of developing an effective music video. In addition, editing the glowing text meant that I could further display the theme of fire, and based on my own opinion and the feedback of my team member I believe that this was an editing success. As a team we were faced with the challenge that we were communicating fully online, so we made sure to pay attention to our contact to ensure that we did not have any misunderstandings or misinterpretations. I also felt that the approaching deadline was a challenge because I was handling college work as well as a part time job on top of this project, so maintaining effective organisation was key. Despite these challenges, I had effective solutions which meant that I was still able to successfully complete this project. 

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Working well with another team member has allowed me to learn the importance of secondary opinions. When editing projects I often find that I watch the video so many times that I miss areas that could be improved, and Jack was able to spot tweaks to be made that I was not aware of. This helped to elevate the video in a way that would not have been achieved if I was working by myself. The feedback I received helped me to understand specific improvements to make on the project as well as ways I could improve as an editor generally. His criticism helped me to improve the video, particularly with his opinions on the structure of the video and the graphics. Furthermore, having Jack’s guidance provided me with confidence in this project and my editing skills as a whole, as he reacted positively to many of the creative decisions that I made. 

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For future projects that I am working with team members, I will make sure to have meetings in person as this is more effective at getting messages across and preventing communication issues, although Jack and I were able to work around this potential issue well with the way that we kept each other updated. Additionally, if I had to do this arts award again I would film the footage within the timeframe of the project so that I could write about it in my logs and reflections. Despite these minor changes, I am proud of this project and believe that I have successfully carried out a leadership role as well as creating a successful music video short film.