Focus on.. RADA Film, TV & Radio Dept.
It was a busy final few weeks of term for RADA’s Film,Tv & Radio department with activities and classes across the institution.
One highlight of the final week of term was seeing the mobile phone films created by various first year students across several courses all working together. They created some wonderfully imaginative and thought provoking films in a very short space of time.
Second year actors were busy finishing off their devised films, it was a chance for students to experiment while building on the improvisation and devising work from earlier in the curriculum. It’s also about building on the screen acting work from last term but in a more relaxed shooting environment. At the same time the tools they learn will hopefully encourage them to create their own screen work in the future.
Meanwhile the Green Screen workshop (again with second year actors) was edited and screened. This workshop allows students to experience the realities of working in a very particular environment that’s becoming increasingly common in the film and games industry, where pure imagination is needed (again drawing on the imagination work from earlier in the curriculum).
As for the third year actors (who weren’t in a theatre show) they spent the last half of this term recording individual voice reels in an outside studio, recording radio plays and working on various films.
As with all the third year films this year, the final film to wrap Sleepless (written by Asitha Amireeskeree) draws on themes from Shakespeare. With ghosts and strange witch like women not to mention a bit of sleepwalking you won’t be surprised to hear the theme for this one was taken from Macbeth.
With costume, sound, prop makers and stage managers learning how the skills they learn on the technical courses can translate to film it’s been a steep learning curve and a huge challenge for the technical students with three films to prep in two weeks before shooting three films back to back. But working alongside a professional DP and sound recordist has helped all the students experience the realities of a professional shoot while at the same time feeling supported by RADA staff. With the final two films being shot off the coast of Suffolk and with 19 students including half the third year actors involved, the technical students have had some interesting transport logistics to deal with including boats and jeeps to get everyone there! My thanks to all involved for all their help and congratulations to the students for rising to the challenge. As one student put it while standing outside a lighthouse and spotting a Seal ‘it’s a bit different to theatre!’
Although students are on holidays, work continues for the department with more content creation for the marketing and meetings with the composers who are scoring the films, as well as the small matter of six films to edit! With the recent success at film festivals including one previous film being screened on Amazon Prime let’s hope these films do as well. If you wish to see the results keep an eye out for details on a public screening in July (TBC - @edwardhicks).
