Alice Chants final term: Following the Ravensbourne 3

The final term of a degree is going to be challenging, but what an amazing learning curve I have been on. I have had the opportunity to work with some great people on various projects and have been able to further develop my skills as a Director.
My main project is an experimental film of which I wanted to showcase my ideas and a concept, without the extensive budget. The piece incorporates underwater filming which is a huge interest of mine. After experimenting with it four years ago at college, it is something I am always desperate to play with more. This brought about some huge challenges as a Director and taught me a lot about trusting my camera department. Working on the same creative wave length, by fully expressing my vision in pre production also proved to be important. It was also nice to be able to grab the camera myself sometimes and film, rather than sitting back and keeping my fingers crossed about how the footage was turning out.
Directing actors is a skill in itself, but throwing them in a 5 metre diving pool made the process slightly more challenging! Scene blocking and helping the actors to convey emotion as well as keeping them in character were not easy, but I feel that I achieved well.
Appointing a Producer for the first time was a whole new experience, after consistently producing all of my own projects. Letting go of control sometimes was difficult, but when it came to the shooting days, I think that was the most relaxed I have been, due to only having to concentrate on my job as a Director alone. I hope to officially launch this film in June, details of this will be able to be found on my website. (www.alicevictoriamedia.co.uk)
I have also directed a corporate film for visuals company Immersive and Greenpeace, covering the lead up to the Save the Arctic campaign in London. My interviewing skills have increased and it has shown me the differences that there are in directing factual and fiction, as well as confirming the basic fundamentals of directing which is structure, vision and creating something which is viewable by the audience.
As a die hard fan of heavy metal music, I love going to watch my favourite bands. As well as my directing work, I do a bit of camera operating at live events. I think it's a challenge trying to capture the full extent of the atmosphere in the building, combined with the energy of the crowd, as well as capturing beautiful imagery with the smoke, lights and silhouettes. One of the bands I have had the pleasure of filming recently was a band called Meshuggah, of which the footage is planned to be used on their upcoming DVD. I hope that this is something I will keep doing, with the hope of one day being able to direct a crew to capture live events.
As I write this, it is currently two weeks before my final deadlines at Ravensbourne and I am in the final stages of post production and pulling together all the final bits of paperwork. At the same time, I am preparing myself to launch myself into the industry as a professional by updating my website and showreel, ready to start the exciting, unpredictable world of working in film. Maybe one day, sometime in the near future, I may be able to meet you, the reader, on a film set!