Me in 2013 (age 6) performing in our infant school 'future careers' leavers assembly. I still own the totally authentic oscars award...
Hey, I'm Ava.
'Back to the Future' holds a special place in my heart. Not only is the film a much-loved classic, it triggered my obsession with film. My childhood was a nostalgic education in the films from my parents' youth, and every time the credits rolled I would be desperate to know more. I was always searching for the 'special features' button, and would repeatedly watch the behind the scenes footage and the director’s commentary - a feature I mourn since the 'stream-ification' of renting and buying films. For as long as I can physically remember, I've wanted to work in film - I used to think maybe it was a childish dream, and knowing how hard it is for women to successfully crack the such a male-dominated industry isn't exactly reassuring. But I'm not giving up - I owe it to my six year old self! Everyday I fall more in love with film, it's all I can think about most of the time; I've always treated the world like my eyes are a camera lens, it makes the world feel much more romantic. My friends are tired of my endless film references, and I need to be with my people! University would let me fully immerse myself in my longest and most profound fascination, extending my knowledge and experience to levels of professionalism I've dreamed of through my childhood and teenage nights.
some of my... 'early works'
2016 - 'HARRY POTTER MAGIC'
I got a stop frame animation kit for my 9th birthday, and got very into making my own little animations. I joined a local club, which taught me a lot about the craft. This is pretty smooth looking considering my equipment and age!
2015 - THE 9 YEAR OLD MIMI
Take me back to when I didn't have to beg my friends to be in my projects. Where did that pre-teen camera confidence go, I must find it ASAP! Also, iMovie trailer presets are actually a really helpful tool for anyone who wants to learn film - it taught me all the different shot types and which ones look good together in sequence.
2016 - UNTITLED
I honestly don't have much recollection of filming this, but ignoring the very dodgy aspect ratio and 'interesting' narrative (don't ask about the costume because I don't know either), the continuous editing is actually very decent considering I was only 10 years old!
subject references from my teachers
CTEC DIPLOMA IN DIGITAL MEDIA
TEACHER CONTACT: jthomas@farnborough.ac.uk
Ava is an excellent digital media student. At the first year awards for CTEC digital media students Ava was nominated and won outstanding student of the year. Ava works very hard to ensure she meets all deadlines and completes all work to a very high standard. Through the first year of the course Ava has continued to develop her skills culminating in an excellent ident for the media and film department where she used software such as After Effects to create an engaging piece of work that clearly met the brief and was creative in its approach to the brief.
Ava has had an excellent year overall gaining distinctions for all coursework projects and a merit and distinction in her exams, this has resulted in in a D* overall for her first year.
Ava has worked in groups and individually and in both cases she has shown excellent organisation, planning ability and the ability to evaluate her work with accuracy and detail. Skills developed on the course have included pitching an advertising idea to a client and creating a cross media advertising campaign where Ava focused on the importance of the use of social realist film in the classroom with particular focus on the cost of living crisis, this work was so good that the client, intofilm, shortlisted the work for an award. Ava has developed skills in pre-production such as storyboarding, scripting, research and creating contracts for actors and crew. Ava has also learnt about how media texts are created for specific audiences and the role of personal in the media industry. In the second year Ava will go onto create a soundscape, a short film, a cinematography project and a music video and I am sure that Ava will approach all of these projects with the dedication and professionalism she has approached her first year projects with.
Ava wishes to pursue a career in the film industry and in pursuit of this has not only worked very hard on the course but also attended every guest speaker opportunity in the department including a Q&A with Wes Anderson’s storyboard artist and a talk and workshop with a Marvel VFX artist. Ava has now joined our in-house production team F6. Additionally Ava has attended BFI online courses. Ava has also completed work experience with ITV in her first year.
Ava wishes to pursue a university route and whichever institution is lucky enough to have her study with them will be very fortunate indeed.
ALEVEL FILM STUDIES
TEACHER CONTACT: rjames@farnborough.ac.uk
Ava is a confident, self-motivated individual, with a notable intellectual maturity and desire to do well. She has maintained an exceptional effort towards her studies in Film, steadily progressing both academically and creatively over the year. Ava's creativity has flourished during the coursework module (Component 3) where she has produced an outstanding short thriller film inspired by Phone Booth (2002). Ava demonstrated a sophisticated understanding of cinematography, effectively using a DSLR camera to create a tense look and feel to her film.
Ava’s natural engagement and passion for the world of film is always evident as she approaches each new task with enthusiasm and puts 100% into all she does. She always contributes in group discussion and is encouraging and supportive of her peers, displaying excellent leadership qualities. The theory element of the A Level Film specification has proven to be tricky for some and covers a comprehensive range of academic ideas such as spectatorship. Ava has risen to the challenge and has embraced the subjects in a confident and mature manner, with an excellent understanding of film form, particularly with regards to mise-en-scene in the Global Film study texts – City of God (2002) and Pans Labyrinth (2006).
Ava is a true film scholar and has maintained an outstanding attention to detail through out the course. She is able to verbalise her analysis in a highly sophisticated manner, often encouraging her peers, and it has been a pleasure teaching her.