Lesson Three

There was no venturing outside in lesson three. We learned about the different roles within filmmaking and we also took a special test that would assess what roles would suit us best.

Learning about the different roles was very helpful to me! There were a few more than I realised, especially concerning the different production roles, and all the assisting roles that are necessary to get the show on the road.

For me, the roles that I always hoped I'd get involved with were Scriptwriting and Editing. I'd like to have thought I could be a Director (what a fulfilling role!), but I don't know how I'd go with all of that pressure as well as giving out orders to others. You'd have to be so focused and know exactly what you want. At this point, I feel I'd struggle a bit with all of that! I love writing and coming up with ideas of a story, and seeing those ideas come to life on the big screen would just be incredible! I also love Editing - I'm a bit of a perfectionist so chip-chopping everything to make the final clean product is rather appealing to me.

The test we took was called "The Belbin Test". It was a series of multiple choice questions, however it was a little bit more complex than average! We were asked what we would do in different situations, and we had to tick the answers that related to us most, and THEN we had to disperse 10 points between the answers we ticked in order of what was most relevant. For example, one of the questions was:

In contributing to group projects in general:

1. I think I have a talent for sorting out the concrete steps that need to be taken given a broad brief.

2. My considered judgement may take time but is usually near the mark.

3. A broad range of personal contacts is important to my style of working.

4. I have an eye for getting the details right.

5. I try to make my mark in group meetings.

6. I can see how ideas and techniques can be used in new relationships.

7. I see both sides of a problem and take a decision acceptable to all.

8. I get on well with others and work hard for the team.

In this scenario I ticked 2, 5 and 8. Then I had to share my 10 points between them (which was quite difficult for my brain at the time)! I gave question 2 3 points, question 5 2 points and question 8 5 points. At the end of the test was a scoring key, where we would assign our points into different categories to determine which roles would best suit us. 

Overall, my points were very well rounded with similar totals for each category. The two categories I ended up with were tied! I scored 14 points for both IMP and TW. IMP stood for "Implementer" and was assigned to the role of Editor. Yay! I was quite happy to see that, and definitely confirmed my passion to delve into editing. The TW stood for "Team Worker", and was assigned to Lighting. I'd never really thought about lighting much, but I suppose it could be quite fun to play around with shadows and contrast and essentially the 'look' of the film. Apparently, in order to be a good Editor and good at Lighting, I have to have great organisational skills, have practical common sense, be hard working, have self-discipline and an ability to respond to people and situations to promote team spirit. I would like to think that I obtain all of these points, but especially in terms of self-discipline and organisational skills, I have my lacking moments! My weaknesses, according to the test, is that I have a lack of flexibility, resistance to unproven ideas and that I have indecision at moments of crisis and some failure to provide a clear lead to others. I would say these results were fair!

However, while this test may be quite on the mark with its results, in terms of the questions asked, it's hard to judge yourself in these scenarios. I may think I'd react in the ways I ticked, but then again I don't observe myself from an outside perspective. I could be more assertive in my ideas than I thought! I guess I'll never know until I play a part in every role. Also, looking upon the question above now, I would also tick question 4. Either way, I think the results are fairly accurate!