New York

On Wednesday the 3rd of February, 50 lucky media students, including myself, took the trip of a lifetime to New York. We only went for 4 days but got a LOT packed in to those 4 days! Among the shopping, sight-seeing and NBA basketball games, we did manage to get several educational visits included. One being a 4 hour film masterclass at the New York Film Academy (NYFA) which everybody seemed to enjoy.

First we were given a talk on the how to use lighting in a film and the differences between orange and blue light. Also the advantages of backlighting and when to use it, even all the different things you need to think about when filming in a studio.

Then we got the chance to see what it was like to make our own mini-movie! We split into groups of about 15 and given a script. Hannah Herbert, Jon Orell and Callum Ramsey were the amazing actors in our movie. I was assigned the role of AD (Assistant Director) so had to be quite bossy and cue the cameras and actors. I also got to help director Bill Mcnish to interpret the script and tell the actors how to play their roles. I liked being so involved in this and it made me feel like I had contibuted well. Other members in my team had the task of lighting, prompter and director of photography. All of these were essential and we ended up making a pretty good film considering none of us had had any experience doing this before.


We also had a tour of movie locations around New York which was really interesting because I recognised so many places! We even got to see the F.R.I.E.N.D.S building! The whole experience was amazing and I wish I could go back!