The film Portrait of a Lady on Fire by Céline Sciamma has inspired my dreams for perfection in film, particularly in terms of developing my skills in editing and post-production. Sciamma's beautiful study on the female gaze demonstrates the power of focusing on small fragments of character and story to create universal appeal. As a filmmaker, I view storytelling through film as an imaginative and creative vocation, one in which editing and post-production play an immersive role. I love the freedom of imagination between audience and storyteller.

 

Living near Bourne Woods in Surrey, a location used for Ridley Scott's Gladiator and many major films since, has given me the opportunity to observe the production process in action and witness first hand how feature film production evolves into editing and post-production. I enjoy my research into sound design with documentaries like Making Waves: The Art of Cinematic Sound celebrating the work of sound designers; I understand how sound is "written" just as much as the screenplay.

 

Building visual storytelling skills I attended UAL Central Saint Martins, studying storyboarding for film and animation developing awesome skills sketching storyboards by hand and sketch animating with Procreate on iPad. After Central Saint Martins, a documentary film production course at Raindance, learning many insights into creating compelling documentaries. Film Production at MetFilm Ealing Studios writing and directing a short film end to end from pre-production to post-production co-ordinating crew and working with actors. Directing my short film, '2042’ included illuminating insights into the threads running from production through to ultimate realisation in editing. Attention to detail combined with creating a compelling visual story has been a great source of learning and fun for me. My focus on filmmaking continues with my application for MAs in Editing & Post Production. I am eager to further my knowledge and experience in this area to achieve my ultimate goal of becoming a skilled and successful film editor.

 

Ideas from the literature have reinforced my focus on editing and resonated with my own conclusions particularly the concepts presented in Karen Pearlman's Cutting Rhythms on the role of editing as a form of choreography examining the purpose of rhythm in film and proposing that rhythm is time, movement and energy shaped by timing and pacing for the purpose of creating cycles of tension and release.