Sandra’s lecture was really enjoyable.

A point I found really important was the mood on set. I’m looking to study film because I absolutely love it and want to have a career where I am thrilled to wake up each day and go to work. I’ve worked on sets before where the directors are egotistic and angry and boss everyone around in a really uninspiring way and it’s just horrible to work with. If the director is stressed and angry it will affect everyone on set. Sandra stated that the best way to remain on set is enthusiastic yet relaxed. If the director is unhappy the actors will sense it and therefore not perform as well as they can ending in a film that could have been a lot better. It’s important to communicate with your actors, and tell them what you want – ‘dumb it down’ in a simple way yet encourage them that they are doing an excellent job. Although I wasn’t the director on set I found that encouraging the actors and joking around with them in between takes put them in a better mood and therefore provided us with a better performance. Having fun is important!

Another point Sandra made was keeping the ‘B-scenes’ a secret between only a couple of the crew. Letting everyone know about the B-scenes would lead people to believe “at least we get the B scenes everything’s all cool”. You should make the team aim to get all the “A-scenes” without knowing there’s a fall back plan.