48 Hour Smartphone Challenge

Our new first year have been asked to use their smartphones create a 2 minute digital media work as a fun activity for Induction Week.  

They have been asked to explore their relationship to the environment and each group group of three will research into artists, filmmakers, factual information, literature or other relevant sources to come up with a concept by using the wonderful UCA library as well as searching online.

We've told them that their moving image work could be linked episodes of short videos, animations or a series of stills and their challenge is to use at least one of their favourite apps to capture or manipulate their material but to use them more critically and to reflect on how they are used on social media for representation and interaction.

“When I was young, most people just assumed the permanence of the fragile system which we were living in. Now we cannot deny the interconnectedness of everything we do” Olafur Eliasson.

We are excited to see what they do tomorrow. Check back here to see what they come up with... 

And here they are...  https://www.instagram.com/explore/tags/48hoursmartphonechallenge/

Two more videos from our 48 hour smartphone challenge now uploaded on our YouTube channel! Check them out below!
 

Wow wow wow! Everyone made an amazing attempt at the challenge and hope you all had fun. There are still some wonderful films saved locally on our archive drive to upload so this is not the end of it. So much talent in this group and we're all so excited to be working with them. Keep watching this space...

FIVE FILMY ARTY DFSA THINGS that all DFSA'ers & Creatives alike should do/check out

Here I have used my past DFSA experience to help me compile a list of things that DFSA'ers (but also fellow minded creatives alike) should be getting involved with, partly because its fun but also because it will really help you develop and expand your knowledge. I know some sound obvious and others may sound dull at times but trust me, I have learnt from the mistakes and successes that were made when I was on the course. It always works out better for creatives who are prepared to utilise tools to enrich their knowledge and accessibility, who will push themselves out their and who will speak up and get involved. So since its the summer and many of you may have some spare time on your hands get reading and get going.


ENTER FILM FESTIVALS:

I only began to get involved in the idea of film festivals after my second year was completed on the course and even then it was only 1 or 2 that I applied to. However since graduating and knowing I needed to make a career and a name for myself I have entered a bunch more. Now I realise that I could have got myself and my name a lot further if I was more willing to do this during Uni. Mainly I didn't enter film festivals a lot because I was too nervous; I felt like rejection must mean my film was bad, however I soon learnt this wasn't the case. Sometime you just need to find the right festival and the right audience for you, for example I have had the same film be rejected from 1 festival and then go on to win another which it was much more suited to it. Another worry and issue for students when it comes to film festivals is always usually money. However while your a student you can enter Student Film Festivals which are much cheaper or free and also usually there are student entry rates into normal film festivals which will be cheaper/affordable... It's almost like the film industry and these film festivals want young talented filmmakers to send in their student films... Wink Wink Nudge Nudge! What I also found more than helpful was finding out how to find the festivals for you. I came across an amazing website for this called Film Freeway! One of the best things you can do is sign up to this website for free and then get searching. It has thousands of film festivals from all over the world listed on it and you can search through them all using loads of different search parameters; meaning you could get certain locations, certain types, certain prices and even just find the free entry festivals... thats right, many are free to enter! You can also then do the whole application process to these festivals via Film Freeway by setting up an account which is surprisingly simple to do and uploading your work privately onto here. Also you want to keep in the loop with the tutors and teachers as they will very often know of film festivals themselves and even at times suggest these to you. Now that you have no excuse get out there and start spreading your work. (Just always remember to read the rules and the Terms & Conditions of the festival when applying so you don't waste your money applying if your film isn't applicable to the festival or competition.)

ATTEND SCREENINGS & EVENTS:

This will and has probably been said to you a lot but its good practice. The tutors will quiet often send emails about events they know of and I must admit I never always paid attention to these. However I realised as I got towards the end of my studies that these events and screenings were more useful to me than I realised. Not only did these events and screenings allow me to see more films and artwork but they allowed me to build my knowledge and my ability to evaluate and critique the artists work and this is a well sought after skill in itself. Being able to professionally have a discussion with other creatives about the work builds contacts, connections but also lets you learn from other artists successes and maybe even mistakes allowing you to further develop your work but also your communication skills. Its a win win! Also remember not to only get sucked into Film and Photography screenings and events. Expand yourself into art events in general as their are lots of transferable skills, themes and knowledge to learn form other art practices. For example even just going to the Tate Late is an exciting art event in itself. The Tate Modern is open late on the last Friday of every month and you are aloud to explore the galleries of modern art work at night which is a new vibe in itself but also they sometimes open up the tank rooms below were they have films projected, music playing and a bar (very underground cinema-ish). Alcohol, music and free art; what more could you want from a Friday night. Also London itself is a great city that your close enough to in Farnham that you can visit easily via train (Get a student rail card or a group ticket and its cheaper to get to). As a student any time you go to London you should utilise the whole day by finding things to see and trust me, art is fairly easy to find in London. Any of the major galleries will usually have free exhibitions as part of them and you can also find many independent small galleries in old shop spaces while walking round the streets. This is particularly common in the arty areas of London such as Shoreditch, Hackney and Hoxton. Go get exploring and have fun!

FUNDRAISE  FOR FILMS :

I made the simple mistake of never officially fundraising for many of my own projects in and out of uni and instead using my own money (...well my student loan!) however this always left me far too skint which made things stressful! Yes; I learnt many life skills like budgeting to the max on production and in my own life, however I could have achieved so much more at a less stressful price if I had the nerve to fundraise. I will admit not every film project will warrant fundraising, but the more ambitious projects do! Why should a lack of money stop you fulfilling your filmmaker dreams... It shouldn't! Make sure you are getting people to invest in your film and therefore you are making your goals a reality. Some of the ways people raised money on other projects I was involved in varied greatly, however as long as you get the job done its all good. Indiegogo is a website which I have seen and heard many a successes via such as the 2018 graduation film 'Girl Happy' which raised a lot of money through this website by creating marketing material on there and then advertising it around as much as they physically could. Social media pages were set up everywhere for it too  (Facebook, Twitter, Instagram) and this along with events worked to get them the money. As mentioned events are another good way to raise money, people tend to opt for simple cheap things like cake sales which is all good if it works but a word of advice; maybe avoid doing it in the uni quad all the time as we began to see a new fundraising cake sale etc in the quad every day at busy times of the year. Instead maybe grab peoples attention by doing it somewhere more student friendly and fun... like a pub! Many local pubs and establishments are happy to speak to students and allow certain events like well planned fundraisers as long as it will get people through the door and buying their drinks. Just remember there isn't any harm in asking, and most places are understanding as farnham is a student town.

SHOUT ABOUT YOUR SUCCESS:

Before I get too into this I firstly need to mention don't be cocky! But instead be proud of what you have done. So many times when things were going really well at university for me or I had made/achieved something I was really happy and proud of, most of my friends and family etc outside of university didn't even have a clue about it. This is because I never liked to publicly post things about what I was up to on social media pages or advertise my flickr and youtube etc because I was worried that firstly it would come across as bragging or that nobody would really care that much. However as time went on I realised that this was stoping my work from getting out into the world in general and it stopped my achievements being noticed even by potential employers or colleagues. You never know who may find you online and what platforms they may use so you need to use all the platforms you have at your disposal to talk about your current projects, advertise them, post your work if you want to (remember to consider copyright etc) and let people know what you have and can do. This will also work wonders for your confidence as it lets you keep track of your own progress and reinforces to yourself how you are doing. Sometimes people like to have separate professional social media pages to personal ones so do this if it makes you feel more comfortable. Lastly keep your Youtube, Flickr, Instagram, Linkedin etc up to date because it encourages you to want to show it off more, especially to people you may meet at events and may be networking with. (Linkedin is really useful so make sure to get one set up!) Basically be loud and be proud but do it respectfully!

KEEP BUSY:

Summer is a good chill time and make sure you do spend some time relaxing. However too many times would I spend weeks putting off doing anything uni or work related and then by the end of the summer I would feel disappointed that I hadn't got more done so don't make this mistake. You can keep busy by working on the above but also by working on things which interest you or potentially things that are new for you. Even if your relaxing having a nice time off, find hobbies you enjoy and ways to keep your mind active so you don't start forgetting useful knowledge and skills. I began spending a lot of the summer working on photography projects and occasional low key personal film projects. I would work alone on these and even though I am not a camera operator I would film things myself. You should think about doing the same. Even if your not a photographer or a camera operator you can learn so many transferable skills that will help with other roles that may interest you more. By practicing these skills it will help in the long run especially in helping you develop a keen eye for exciting and interesting visuals and building your own authentic style too. Just test yourself and have fun, use the summer to focus on projects that are for you.

Hope everyone is having a good summer!

Written By Billie Williams

Second Year Dance Project 'Avoidance' moving into Film Festivals

Having now graduated from DFSA there are many projects I look back on as being moments of inspiration for me as a practitioner and creative. There have been projects that have shown me where my skills lie and have let me develop these, projects that have let me realise the areas I maybe don't want to work in and projects that I have enjoyed so much that they have been pivotal in my own creative journey. For me the Second Year Dance Video project was a massive inspirational and pivotal project for me which had many ups and downs but overall I loved taking part in it and learnt many things from it. Whats made it even more important for me and the crew is that our Dance Film has now gone on to achieve in film festivals and we are still pushing it out their now. Here is how we got there:

We began in second year with a choice for this unit between creating an experimental film for Fields and Frames or making a Dance Video. I began by exploring both these options and working on both, this is something I strongly encourage; you pay for the course so you might as well get the most out of it as you can! However Dance Video did start to steal my attention, especially after the original dance workshops with visiting teacher and professional Choreographer Rachel Deadman. She taught us the basics of dance (which definitely came more naturally to some than others!) and we then moved on to look into choreography techniques and how to start building dances together based on themes. These workshops were really helpful at inspiring us with ways to really dive into this project. This along with a lot of personal research into the medium and genre helped us to begin forming ideas. 

I quickly formed the idea of phobias as this was something which had interested me at the time because of the obscurity and unknown nature of why people sometimes have certain phobias. During the workshops I formed a group/crew with other people in the class who were interested in this idea and passionate about making a dance video. The original crew consisted of 3 including myself (Billie Williams) as Director & Choreographer alongside a Producer & Editor (Katherine Whetton) and a DOP/Cinematographer (Sugini Nageswaran). These were the main bases covered and the three of us set out to work; tediously researching and fleshing out the idea and compiling and creating the needed documents and paperwork for the production. We had to take our prior filmmaking knowledge on all of this and transfer and adapt that to work for a dance video.

Production Photo from Avoidance

It took a lot of time and work from all three of us to make sure we have a fully realised and refined concept which could be demonstrated through choreography and visuals, in particular through the camera as the film techniques and camera work to us was just as important as the dance itself. With dance video it is best to realise this earlier on because the camera techniques are so key to really making a piece of choreography stand out in a video format. Thankfully I had a really talented DOP working with me who was eager to learn more about dance video techniques. She also utilised her knowledge on other areas too employing horror film camera techniques and shots she knew about as this worked with out theme well particularly to create fear surrounding the chosen phobias. In essence our final realised idea was to take three phobias which were chosen based on first and second hand research; Arachnophobia (Fear of Spiders), Claustrophobia (Fear of small spaces) and Astraphobia (fear of thunder and lightning). Then create contemporary choreography with a dancer that would embody and represent each of these phobias but also then demonstrate the fear behind these phobias and the way suffers feel to and about them. Overall we wanted to create an intense and immersive contemporary dance video which experimentally represents certain phobias to the audience making them feel vulnerable and therefore more understanding to the sufferers of these.

Production Photo from Avoidance

One of the main triumphs for our group was managing to get such a talented dancer involved in this project. Through our Producers eager advertising round dance schools, collages, social media and in the area we had a fair amount of dancers apply and send us audition videos. We were fortunate enough that we had an amazingly talented young female dancer who was local to the area apply, she had done many dance competitions in America and round the world and she was very excited to give working with video a go! This was amazing and of course we followed all procedures like having an official meeting in person, signing paperwork and seeing her dance skills first hand but we knew she was the right dancer for the piece. She danced in a contemporary style, had a good understanding of dance and building choreography and was also skilled in gymnastics and flexible which was particularly helpful for some of the dance ideas I had in mind, again relating back to the horror and fear aspect of the piece. Myself and Grace (Dancer Colebrook) worked together to build the choreography using techniques learnt in the workshop and building off of the ideas we had already come up with as a group. With limited rehearsals we managed to get the three sections of our piece choreographed and we then went and refined this further after tutorials with Rachel (dance tutor). It was so fun and exciting to work with dance as it is so different to other film making processes in the fact that its a lot more hands on and I had the privilege of working with different types of practitioners in a more energetic and fast paced environment.

Production Photo from Avoidance

We also found through out the process of all this going on that out crew began to grow as we got more people interested in the piece and we also found we needed specialists in certain areas for things such as lighting. We gained a Gaffer, multiple runners, a clapper and camera operators. This meant we could really make sure that things were being planned and produced to their full potential but it also meant that things then flowed a lot better on set especially since we only had two shoot days to film this 6 minute dance video in. We also got a original sound track made for us to specs we set by the band 'False Idols' and this fitted again exactly with the piece the way we had wanted it to. All these elements came together in the end and so did we all as a crew/team and we managed to produce a 6 minute dance video which in our eyes was successful and turned out how we had hoped and envisioned.

Production Photo from Avoidance

We were so proud of what we had managed to produce in a few months, especially working in an area of film which was new for each and every one of us. We pushed ourselves to do something different and something bold (also something long) and we pulled it off. I am proud of all our efforts but also proud of all the skills we each managed to learn and develop over the course of this project. We overcame many challenges as well and managed to keep true to what we wanted to make. It also opened up a whole medium and genre to me that I can now confidently and comfortably work in (and have since) which has added skills to me as a creative practitioner and allowed me to expand into an area of film I really enjoy.

On Set Crew for Avoidance

Since making it we decided to enter a film festival the summer of the year it was finished (2017), however we found ourselves unsuccessful, yet we still got a lovely response from the festival. However undeterred by this, this summer I applied with the film to more film festivals. This time though I applied in particular for U.Dance film festival as it had been suggested to us by Rosie (course leader) and  it seemed more fitting for our piece because it focused much more precisely on making choreography and dance for the camera/screen. This time our talents were recognised and we found ourselves winning alongside 7 other amazing dance films. The 8 films now proudly stand on the U.Dance Website and on their youtube. They were also displayed at live dance events in front of audiences this summer and we are featured in the events official brochure too. It's amazing publicity for us and has made me even happier than I was that I got to branch off into the exciting and extravagant world of dance video. And I haven't stopped their, I am now trying to spread the film out further now by entering some European film and dance film festivals! Fingers Crossed for those!

Dance Video 'Avoidance' :

Written By Billie Williams
Photos By Ethan Salley

DFSA 'The Collective' Private Screening in London

On the 19th June a group called 'The Collective' formed of DFSA students, presented and screened there work at a self organised event in London in the heart of Hackney Wick at The Yard Theatre. It was an event many of us were keen to hold and be a part of, including myself, along side many other talented members of the class. Our determination and pride in our films along with the leadership of a particularly determined student, Katherine Whetton, led us to fundraise, arrange and have this celebratory evening where everyone involved was able to show case their achievements and work in London. 

As a small yet eager class many of us were determined that we wanted to show off our work to audiences outside of Farnham and the University. We were keen to push our work out there and also celebrate how much our final tough year of university had paid off with all the work we had produced and were proud of. A group of us banded together to make this happen and under the leadership of Katherine Whetton, who took matters into her own hands, we formed a group know as The Collective. The members consisted of: Adeleke Adewale, Arturs Reinholds, Billie Williams (Me!), Colin Chan, Daniel Carter, Ethan Salley, Jay Hayes, Logan Gourlay, Maisie Mok, Natalie Hodgins, Nicole Harman-Smith, Preston Hartley, Sugini Nageswaran, Tarald Tvedt, Umor Hussain, Ivan Uzunov and Katherine Whetton.

As a group we then had meetings to decide and organise many thing, one of the most important being location. We chose London because what better place to showcase our films than in this busy city where film is thriving. In particular we eventually narrowed it down and picked The Yard Theatre in Hackney Wick. The Yard theatre was a really cool quirky space tucked in amongst bars and many other business in a industrial estate. We were able to showcase our films in this contemporary and urban setting (very underground cinema ish!) After some fundraising and input ourselves we had enough money to book it and a date was then set. We then invited along our guests to join in the fun of this celebration and also advertised on Social Media to try and tease in new faces. Then with some final preparations such as programmes made by Katherine, everything was set.

With 10 of us on hand to help we rallied together to make the night run as smoothly as possible and make sure fun was had. Before guests arrived a sound and screen test was done and Programmes were placed out ready. Myself and Sugini began checking off the guests lists, welcoming in our finely dressed guests and class mates ready to celebrate this showcase with us. With drinks and conversation flowing we proceeded into the theatre space to seat our guests and begin the show!

Katherine was our presenter, on hand to introduce the films for those unable to attend and guiding everyone through this emotional rollercoaster ride of films. We had everything from documentary moving through to some experimental artistic films, the more serious dramas, dance and music videos and some skilful animations. See below an image of a well used programme from the evening:

It was a wonderful evening and the highlight for me was seeing everyone get to introduce their own films and express so much pride and passion in what they do. The thank you's people gave were so thoughtful and well deserved and the explanations behind some of the pieces were so in depth and intriguing. The development of everyone is amazing, compared to where we began as a class of nervous and slightly unsure students to now being a group of artist hosting an event and proud to speak up about our work and express ourselves.

I did however find the idea of presenting my own piece very daunting as I knew I was going to be speaking to completely fresh faces about my work without them having any knowledge on who I am and what I do. I did try and keep my cool though and with some helpful words of wisdom from our photographer and former student president Tomm Morton I was able to get through it. The rest of the evening was a breeze and everyone was able to enjoy themselves and watch some inspirational films with their friends, families and even teachers right along side supporting and celebrating with them.

This was such a good experience to be a part of and I am so proud to have showcased my work along side so many other creative individuals. It was a pleasure to work alongside them for this event and for the past three years and I can truly say that we have come such a long way together! To any other creatives who want to gain experience, push themselves out there and get involved with other like minded creatives I would encourage you to put creating an event like this on your to do list. Also it may be worth mulling over the fact that Digital Film and Screen Arts could be the course for you!

Written by Billie Williams

Photography by Tomm Morton

Journeys & Gender - Second Year Exhibition

For the first term of year 2 DFSA, the class was given the artistic assignment to make a project following the theme of Maps and Networks. Students took this theme to different lengths, thusly, the output of the unit deemed that the collective has been called Journeys & Gender, covering the mediums of photography, video art and sculpture. The ideas developed over several weeks following individual tutorials, group brainstorming and ending with a peer assessment. The results included feminist creations such as anecdotes from young women leaving university to the world careers and a dual screen piece showing women's powers and experiences. Demonstrations of journeys were presented in multifaceted meanings, including an intrinsic documentation of depression and a photo gallery of a young boy growing up.

These are just a few distilled descriptions of a larger body of work exhibited in the spinal corridor at UCA Farnham. There are sixteen works installed to be viewed before the exhibition ends on February 1st, along with next weeks alumni event when graduates can explore the work alongside the creators.

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"Students explore the metaphor of ‘maps’ and/or ‘networks’ to investigate narrative and non-linear ideas through inventive and imaginative interpretation of conceptual themes. Spanning photography, video, animation, multi-screen film, participatory artwork and installations students explore a host of themes including the expression of sexuality, shifting perceptions of global and social issues and metaphorical travels." Rosie Gunn - Course Leader Digital Film & Screen Arts BA

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Artist Statements

Savina Simmons

Forget Me Not

Forget Me Not is a mixed media piece reflecting upon a journey from childhood to a place of creative development, invoking a feeling of nostalgia. Using elements from the home and replacing items to create an uncanny effect, this piece represents a journey that is not necessarily what it seems. 

Ciara Rose Goldfinch

Four Lives (Varied Colour)

An insight into four individual women’s experiences whilst at turning points in their lives. Told in their own words and represented by different colours.

Alice Ball & Danielle Winter

Avert Your Eyes

This twin screen video installation explores the themes and ideas of women, sexuality, power and experiences.

Suzanne Bellisio

Lost in Communication

A comparison between how we communicated and networked in the 1950s is compared to the modern day. Even though technology is useful, is it bad for us? Do we keep getting lost in communication with each other?

Adelaide Somers

Face Up

This video documentation of my performance was designed to put people on the spot and ask them to confront the choices as to what they say online. I wanted to show that the words you say leave marks on those you say them to. 

Holly Probert

Support Network

Building off the work of artists such as Zawadzka, Rankin and Biennial, I have created this piece to represent the network of support that exists around me and to remind you that everyone is surrounded by the ones who helped build you.

Lorna Moseley
Chanced Impressions 
This installation uses fingerprints to explore identity and criminality. The sound explores the concept of selective hearing; what we choose to hear or not. 

George Pryer

Fuck My Gender

Influenced by Duchamp and his concept of the ‘readymade’, this sculpture attacks the metaphysical idea of gender. In a moment of self-discovery this sculpture confronts societal fascination with the gender and genitalia of the transgender community, in hope that the artist can detach themselves from the ‘psycho-sexual’ and biology.

Jodie Lambert

De.personalisation

An exploration of losing a sense of yourself and trying to find your emotions again. 

Jack Gunn

Frownland

Frownland is a dystopian world where everything seems broken. The blues of lingering misery interrupted by an overwhelming wave of red lines. The gloom lit night is long when in sorrow, but the morning always comes like a switch.

Luca Balivio

Light trails are formed into a journey through familar spaces in Farnham and London to create a metaphorical map that joins places of personal significance. 

Paige Armstrong

Joseph Palmer & Nina Sayuri Noreiga Sato

Turn Around

This is an experimentation of perspective and the representation of unspoken communication, where we break the boundaries between language and understanding.

Oliver Wilshaw

Emotion’s World

Four characters express their emotions and behave as opposites to each other but the story isn’t one that has a defining narrative. It is set in a fictional dream world full of symbolism, of ideas and of possibilities.

Jacob Howard & Ben Manning

Mind Out

Delving into the human brain to explore the creative right side and academic left side and how our thoughts and emotions are affected by the two working together.

 

  

Gareth Loughlin (in the stairwell at the end of the Spinal Corridor)

Boundless and Bare

Inspired by poetry by Percy Shelley, this piece documents the admiration and exploitation of nature. An observational work that investigates mother nature as its own entity, and human interaction with it.

Written by Gareth Loughlin and George Pryer

That's a wrap! - Second year studio shoot

At the beginning of the 2nd year DFSA students are divided into two groups and assigned a studio shoot project that is forged from a photograph as inspiration and only allowed 5 words in the script. The assignment entails working professionally within a studio space from pre-production to post. Production roles are chosen covering all positions such as producer, art designer to gaffer and sound recordist.

The exercise is assessed by a critical reflection made by each crew member of what they learn in their role, rather than by the quality of the film outcome. Later the rushes go to those that took the Avid workshop as a specialism to edit for their assessable outcome from those workshops.

The DFSA team are very proud of all those that worked on the project this year and trust that they will reflect on their roles; what the learned, what worked well and what they may do differently in the future.

Here are some early thoughts from class rep George Pryer, who worked across both shoots.

"I was very fortunate to get the opportunity to work across both shoots as Assistant director and sound recordist. In advance, I listed my learning aims. Firstly and importantly I wanted to develop my cooperation and communication abilities within a leadership role. I got the chance to do so as I de-escalated problematic issues and spontaneous disruptions. I noticed there was some friction as departments crossed duties, leading to frustrations that had to be addressed. In think that in the future it would be beneficial if assigned jobs not only were abided by also clearly researched and understood during preproduction.

"One of the shoots involved improvisation so the schedule was loose, whilst the other was much more planned out and punctual. Overall the latter worked much better due to the director's approach to the production that allowed everyone to follow a laid out plan. Concrete ideas prepared in advance are crucial for a smoother shoot. This is applicable to the project, not just in theory of the idea and but also in the execution of the on set shoot. The pre-production idea not only has to be concrete but the framework of the schedule needs to be thought out enough to allow extra time for complications.

"Personally I have made the reflection that I could've have been less independent and more team oriented. At one point I realised I had been neglecting the fact I had a support network to assist and deliver results, not just for myself but the director and the overall outcome of the shoot; I wish I had realised this sooner.

"Overall, the shoots were draining but satisfying. I strongly believe that investment and the desire to work hard is critical. Don’t be shy to input your ideas no matter what your role is. The more you put in the more you get out."

Written by Gareth and George. And a big thank you for your insightful reflections.

The DFSA team look forward to reading all the blog posts and we are fully confident that this experience will have developed your professional development and skills in digital workflow, as well as identifying future goals.

Film Screenings for under a Fiver!

Resourcefulness is probably the most useful skill learnt during undergraduate student years. When else can you share proudly how you haggled with your student card to get an already reduced item from Sainsburys even further reduced? Or, when you went dumpster diving into the depths of Waitrose Wonderland at 2 in the morning to fill your freezer with never ending amounts of posh bread loaves, crumpets and hot cross buns? Indeed, with the Easter holidays around the corner - this resourceful artistry can continue to be put into good practice. To all you film loving students (who clearly need to be very resourceful right now!) - Here are my Top 5 cheap and cheerful locations for film watching (and studying) *cough cough* these Easter holidays.

1. Peckham Plex 

Showing the newest movies at a FIVER each and every day - This is definitely my favourite student spot.

2. BFI

If you're 25 or under - then this is the deal for you. With previews of new releases as well as classics like One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest for just 3 quid... YES, 3 QUID!!!!

3. Picturehouse 

Ok, so this one isn't as cheap as the other two, but it still provides awesome deals in comparison to main stream cinemas. Also, the decor of these cinemas is always great - if you like a bit of "fancy" when you watch a film! The Ritzy in Brixton is my personal fav. All you have to do is choose a cinema closest to you and then choose the Student Membership Option to access awesome student benefits and discounts.

4. The Barbican

Another one for you under 25'ers :) This membership includes not only films for a fiver, but also deals in art, music, theatre and dance too!

5. The ICA

Last but not least, this beautiful location by St James' Park offers students one year membership for just £10. Again, the highlight is £3 cinema tickets but also access to industry talks and film clubs for a bit of boozin' and schmoozin' after! Win WIN.