Evaluation
Evaluation:
When delving into my film studies coursework, I had to create a 4-5 minute short film that was a low budget, experimental, dramedy, titled, ‘The Sound Effect’. I was being assessed upon a number of different things such as narrative, micro-elements and ultimately, character development throughout the short amount of time. Throughout the production of my film, I tried to incorporate as many techniques from my influences as possible. This was in order to ensure that my piece would be appropriate for my target audience of 12 and my own creative ideals, this would include students who want to gain inspiration for their own films, and avid fans of Edgar Wright and dramedies within context. I aimed to create a film that was different, and unstereotypical of the usual student films you see, I wanted to create a dramedy that told a story through both dialogue and creative silent scenes, and conveyed the message that anyone can be a hero throughout. My overall piece is the journey of a young boy, burdened with useless superpowers, who grows up living with bullies, until he grows to be the most endorsed superhero of all time, when in fact it's not all about his growth to success, but much just a story of his awakening.
One of my main influences for my piece was Edgar Wright's cornetto trilogy and the cleverly conveyed friendships portrayed by Simon Pegg and Nick Frost within these films. I tried to incorporate his ideas of improvisation and experimenting with scripts and his working environment into my own work. In particular, their 2004 film ‘Shaun of the Dead’ was very influential with its use of improvisation and quick zoom shots in order to make certain aspects within the film more comedic. An influence was also evident within my film from their 2013 film ‘The world's end’ through the sliding transitions to show different characters and their lives without actually introducing them. During the planning stages, I also adopted many of the elements used within the eight short films in which we studied.
From ‘The Fly’, I adopted the frantic and comedics nature that their main protagonist had into my own protagonist through the use of dark comedy and character development, I gained inspiration from ‘The Ellington Kid’ through the overarching sensitive subjects being woven into the darker comedy, and the way the actors were able to shape and act out their characters depending on which environment they were present in, I used ‘Over’ as it assisted me when trying to keep my audience on the edge of their seats, ‘Tight Jeans’ had a prominent use of establishing shots in order to consolidate the setting and mise-en-scene, this was also further reinforced by the non-diegetic soundtrack, I used ‘Slap’ as my main inspiration as it shows how someones true colours are revealed through the build up of conflict and constant indoctrination into a certain way of thinking and behaving, this is reflected in my main protagonist as he is dealing with useless powers in an unforgiving world, I used ‘Echo’ due to its use of wide shots and blurred images to pinpoint a protagonist from the opening scene and the emphasis on emotion and character development to give the viewer a more conflicting opinion of the main character and their situation, I also used ‘Operator’ as they used a sense of urgency in order to make the main characters react to certain situations to develop them further, and I lastly gained inspiration from ‘Arrival’ due to the way that the film unfolds like a minimalist play, the cafe being the set, and the main protagonist being spotlighted amidst this, I was also inspired by the way it inspires an emotional connection to the lead role and the conflict between our own instincts and the characters views.
In the beginning of my film, I wanted to entice my audience from the very offset but due to the lack of budget, and the lack of digital technology that most ‘successful’ films rely upon today, I had to become more creative and use rather simple, panning shots to convey the mise-en-scene as the more significant micro-element. The beginning of filming, editing and directing proved to be rather extraneous task, as I had no previous experience with cameras, editing or with the overall creation of film, but with the assistance of microelements and critical approaches, I was able to create my 5 minutes. The entirety of my film was filmed using a handheld camera, to create that realistic feel that I was going for. The first shot in which I took was a screen test, that I incorporated into the final film in post production, this was the wide panning shot in which I edited so it seemed as if it was continuously flowing from room to room, this was a reflection of my inspiration from ‘The World's End’. Within the Pre-production stage, I was writing my script and detailing my main protagonists, using inspiration from the short film in which we studied, ‘Slap’, and many other full length films and their directors works. I used ‘Slap’ as a baseline for my character's hardships, as he is dealing with useless powers which deviate him from the majority of society. There were a vast number of references used within my Pre-production works, such as the chaotic but organised writing and dialogue focused style of Edgar Wright and Quentin Tarantino, and the thematic and emotional aspects used within the characters and scripts of ‘Slap’.
When focusing on the narrative devices, dramatic elements, and genre used within my Pre-production works, I decided upon using the ‘Hero's Journey’, ‘Binary opposites’, and ‘Dramedy’ to achieve my final piece. I used the hero's journey as my main protagonist is on a journey to find himself, and to forgive others, and binary opposites as it was initially the idea of ‘good versus evil’. I also incorporated ways of enhancing character development, as it follows my protagonist's journey from childhood, to adulthood, and shows how he develops as a person, both physically, and emotionally. The overall message of my film that ‘Anyone can be a hero’ has many psychological insights, and is able to be conveyed to my target audiences in a coherent way. I also gained inspiration from Sigmund Freud's psychodynamic theories, in which dreams are sleep-like visions of what the mind truly desires, and should be something taken in a more artistic light.
In the middle scenes of filming, I came across complications that required contingency plans. Whether this was script changes, or the lack of actors, I was able to overcome this by making key decisions and consolidating the final script and incorporating improvisation if something did not fit quite right, and giving the actors the freedom to use and create their own space to act their characters. Here, I made the decision to try out techniques used by other directors, I took my main directing technique from Todd Phillips, in which he allowed his actors to play around with the space provided to them, the actors acted, and the camera became adapted to this. I used this technique heavily within my tracking, dancing scene, and my panning wide shots, I allowed my actor to act the way he felt was right for the character and incorporate his character into the space provided to him, all while I allowed the camera to adapt to his movements. I was also heavily influenced by Sergio Leones ways of building tension and suspense within a scene, by using a range of extreme close ups, and forcing the camera to linger upon these intense scenes, I used an extreme close up like these within my piece in order to fully show the emotion in which my character was feeling rather than using it as a tension builder. Another scene influenced by this was my anti-hero revelation scene, which relied on a car's interior and the correct chiaroscuro lighting techniques. I discovered later on whilst filming, is a coming-of-age and Dramedy journey, and is the reason why I was so influenced by ‘Slap’. The overall aim of a coming-of-age film is to touch upon the idea of growing up, romance, and the complications of teenage life. My main protagonist is the lonely, deviated boy who is rooted out of normal society, the hidden messages are that anyone can be a superhero, and I used particular cinematography conventions within a coming-of-age film such as distinctive character types, and montage editing, reflection of modern-day society and transitions. From this, this shows the importance of genre theory on the making of film. A few of these which influenced my own style of filmmaking is the Psychoanalytic theory, emphasised by Jacques Lacan, and John Fiske. Jacques Lacan suggested that the main idea of psychoanalysis is that it deconstructs the spectacle of cinema and that film elements are shaped by the unconscious mind, this is shown in my own film by the hidden messages and my idea of using dreams and subconscious ideas as a baseline for my character and script. John Fiske suggests that people naturally categorise events that take place in their reality in reference to texts they have experienced in the past, this means we all create a context for what we are seeing through intertextual referencing, this shows that people tend to believe that genre is based on real life.
Within the penultimate scenes and post production stages, i communicate my editing and visual skills to the footage filmed, and assembled this to create the 5 minutes required. During this stage, I used the imovie editing software available to me in order to assemble the footage I had gained, adding a non-diegetic soundtrack to my diegetic audio, sound effects, and dubbing. When I had commenced editing, I continued in no particular order, other than the difficulty of the scene, and the amount of editing that needed to be accomplished. I began by editing my panning, continuous shot in which my protagonist moves to different positions within the room, in order to incorporate a sense of comedy, all while making the scene flow. I did this by placing the scenes in order initially, then adding five ‘right swipe’ transitions between these shots to create the visage that the scenes were continuous and flowing from room to room. I was inspired by the beginning scenes of ‘The World's End’ and ‘Moonrise kingdom’, in which they both used this technique to introduce the audience to the films main protagonists. Another difficult scene to edit was my older Peter introduction montage which involved a vast array of different editing techniques to achieve. I firstly placed the footage in order, and placed the voice over I had recorded separately over this. I then made the scene fast paced by not incorporating any transitions between the scenes, and added a non-diegetic soundtrack over this, the most difficult aspect of this scene was attempting to keep the dubbed track in line with the scene, in which I had to later on allow the actor to watch the scene whilst giving his dialogue, in order to keep the scene flowing at a realistic rate. Here, I also created my opening credits and my closing credits, in which I used photoshop to achieve.
When reflecting upon my work, there were a number of things in which I would have changed. I would have continued with my original idea and script, in order to make my piece achieve a higher grade, and I would have chosen a vast array of different actors or, I would have cut down on the number of people present within my script, in order to make it easier to film, and to allow there to be time slots available in which all of my actors were present. However, I was satisfied with the editing I was able to do, through my creative panning, continuous shot, in which my class were impressed by. Continuing on my audience, I was able to ask film studies class to watch my final piece, they gave me a mixed review of feedback, most of this being that I should have stuck with my original idea, and that the panning shot was the most creative and well-edited part of my film. I managed to learn a lot of things whilst making my final piece, and if I was to recreate this task, I would use this experience to reflect upon and learn from my work.
When delving into my film studies coursework, I had to create a 4-5 minute short film that was a low budget, experimental, dramedy, titled, ‘The Sound Effect’. I was being assessed upon a number of different things such as narrative, micro-elements and ultimately, character development throughout the short amount of time. Throughout the production of my film, I tried to incorporate as many techniques from my influences as possible. This was in order to ensure that my piece would be appropriate for my target audience of 12 and my own creative ideals, this would include students who want to gain inspiration for their own films, and avid fans of Edgar Wright and dramedies within context. I aimed to create a film that was different, and unstereotypical of the usual student films you see, I wanted to create a dramedy that told a story through both dialogue and creative silent scenes, and conveyed the message that anyone can be a hero throughout. My overall piece is the journey of a young boy, burdened with useless superpowers, who grows up living with bullies, until he grows to be the most endorsed superhero of all time, when in fact it's not all about his growth to success, but much just a story of his awakening.
One of my main influences for my piece was Edgar Wright's cornetto trilogy and the cleverly conveyed friendships portrayed by Simon Pegg and Nick Frost within these films. I tried to incorporate his ideas of improvisation and experimenting with scripts and his working environment into my own work. In particular, their 2004 film ‘Shaun of the Dead’ was very influential with its use of improvisation and quick zoom shots in order to make certain aspects within the film more comedic. An influence was also evident within my film from their 2013 film ‘The world's end’ through the sliding transitions to show different characters and their lives without actually introducing them. During the planning stages, I also adopted many of the elements used within the eight short films in which we studied.
From ‘The Fly’, I adopted the frantic and comedics nature that their main protagonist had into my own protagonist through the use of dark comedy and character development, I gained inspiration from ‘The Ellington Kid’ through the overarching sensitive subjects being woven into the darker comedy, and the way the actors were able to shape and act out their characters depending on which environment they were present in, I used ‘Over’ as it assisted me when trying to keep my audience on the edge of their seats, ‘Tight Jeans’ had a prominent use of establishing shots in order to consolidate the setting and mise-en-scene, this was also further reinforced by the non-diegetic soundtrack, I used ‘Slap’ as my main inspiration as it shows how someones true colours are revealed through the build up of conflict and constant indoctrination into a certain way of thinking and behaving, this is reflected in my main protagonist as he is dealing with useless powers in an unforgiving world, I used ‘Echo’ due to its use of wide shots and blurred images to pinpoint a protagonist from the opening scene and the emphasis on emotion and character development to give the viewer a more conflicting opinion of the main character and their situation, I also used ‘Operator’ as they used a sense of urgency in order to make the main characters react to certain situations to develop them further, and I lastly gained inspiration from ‘Arrival’ due to the way that the film unfolds like a minimalist play, the cafe being the set, and the main protagonist being spotlighted amidst this, I was also inspired by the way it inspires an emotional connection to the lead role and the conflict between our own instincts and the characters views.
In the beginning of my film, I wanted to entice my audience from the very offset but due to the lack of budget, and the lack of digital technology that most ‘successful’ films rely upon today, I had to become more creative and use rather simple, panning shots to convey the mise-en-scene as the more significant micro-element. The beginning of filming, editing and directing proved to be rather extraneous task, as I had no previous experience with cameras, editing or with the overall creation of film, but with the assistance of microelements and critical approaches, I was able to create my 5 minutes. The entirety of my film was filmed using a handheld camera, to create that realistic feel that I was going for. The first shot in which I took was a screen test, that I incorporated into the final film in post production, this was the wide panning shot in which I edited so it seemed as if it was continuously flowing from room to room, this was a reflection of my inspiration from ‘The World's End’. Within the Pre-production stage, I was writing my script and detailing my main protagonists, using inspiration from the short film in which we studied, ‘Slap’, and many other full length films and their directors works. I used ‘Slap’ as a baseline for my character's hardships, as he is dealing with useless powers which deviate him from the majority of society. There were a vast number of references used within my Pre-production works, such as the chaotic but organised writing and dialogue focused style of Edgar Wright and Quentin Tarantino, and the thematic and emotional aspects used within the characters and scripts of ‘Slap’.
When focusing on the narrative devices, dramatic elements, and genre used within my Pre-production works, I decided upon using the ‘Hero's Journey’, ‘Binary opposites’, and ‘Dramedy’ to achieve my final piece. I used the hero's journey as my main protagonist is on a journey to find himself, and to forgive others, and binary opposites as it was initially the idea of ‘good versus evil’. I also incorporated ways of enhancing character development, as it follows my protagonist's journey from childhood, to adulthood, and shows how he develops as a person, both physically, and emotionally. The overall message of my film that ‘Anyone can be a hero’ has many psychological insights, and is able to be conveyed to my target audiences in a coherent way. I also gained inspiration from Sigmund Freud's psychodynamic theories, in which dreams are sleep-like visions of what the mind truly desires, and should be something taken in a more artistic light.
In the middle scenes of filming, I came across complications that required contingency plans. Whether this was script changes, or the lack of actors, I was able to overcome this by making key decisions and consolidating the final script and incorporating improvisation if something did not fit quite right, and giving the actors the freedom to use and create their own space to act their characters. Here, I made the decision to try out techniques used by other directors, I took my main directing technique from Todd Phillips, in which he allowed his actors to play around with the space provided to them, the actors acted, and the camera became adapted to this. I used this technique heavily within my tracking, dancing scene, and my panning wide shots, I allowed my actor to act the way he felt was right for the character and incorporate his character into the space provided to him, all while I allowed the camera to adapt to his movements. I was also heavily influenced by Sergio Leones ways of building tension and suspense within a scene, by using a range of extreme close ups, and forcing the camera to linger upon these intense scenes, I used an extreme close up like these within my piece in order to fully show the emotion in which my character was feeling rather than using it as a tension builder. Another scene influenced by this was my anti-hero revelation scene, which relied on a car's interior and the correct chiaroscuro lighting techniques. I discovered later on whilst filming, is a coming-of-age and Dramedy journey, and is the reason why I was so influenced by ‘Slap’. The overall aim of a coming-of-age film is to touch upon the idea of growing up, romance, and the complications of teenage life. My main protagonist is the lonely, deviated boy who is rooted out of normal society, the hidden messages are that anyone can be a superhero, and I used particular cinematography conventions within a coming-of-age film such as distinctive character types, and montage editing, reflection of modern-day society and transitions. From this, this shows the importance of genre theory on the making of film. A few of these which influenced my own style of filmmaking is the Psychoanalytic theory, emphasised by Jacques Lacan, and John Fiske. Jacques Lacan suggested that the main idea of psychoanalysis is that it deconstructs the spectacle of cinema and that film elements are shaped by the unconscious mind, this is shown in my own film by the hidden messages and my idea of using dreams and subconscious ideas as a baseline for my character and script. John Fiske suggests that people naturally categorise events that take place in their reality in reference to texts they have experienced in the past, this means we all create a context for what we are seeing through intertextual referencing, this shows that people tend to believe that genre is based on real life.
Within the penultimate scenes and post production stages, i communicate my editing and visual skills to the footage filmed, and assembled this to create the 5 minutes required. During this stage, I used the imovie editing software available to me in order to assemble the footage I had gained, adding a non-diegetic soundtrack to my diegetic audio, sound effects, and dubbing. When I had commenced editing, I continued in no particular order, other than the difficulty of the scene, and the amount of editing that needed to be accomplished. I began by editing my panning, continuous shot in which my protagonist moves to different positions within the room, in order to incorporate a sense of comedy, all while making the scene flow. I did this by placing the scenes in order initially, then adding five ‘right swipe’ transitions between these shots to create the visage that the scenes were continuous and flowing from room to room. I was inspired by the beginning scenes of ‘The World's End’ and ‘Moonrise kingdom’, in which they both used this technique to introduce the audience to the films main protagonists. Another difficult scene to edit was my older Peter introduction montage which involved a vast array of different editing techniques to achieve. I firstly placed the footage in order, and placed the voice over I had recorded separately over this. I then made the scene fast paced by not incorporating any transitions between the scenes, and added a non-diegetic soundtrack over this, the most difficult aspect of this scene was attempting to keep the dubbed track in line with the scene, in which I had to later on allow the actor to watch the scene whilst giving his dialogue, in order to keep the scene flowing at a realistic rate. Here, I also created my opening credits and my closing credits, in which I used photoshop to achieve.
When reflecting upon my work, there were a number of things in which I would have changed. I would have continued with my original idea and script, in order to make my piece achieve a higher grade, and I would have chosen a vast array of different actors or, I would have cut down on the number of people present within my script, in order to make it easier to film, and to allow there to be time slots available in which all of my actors were present. However, I was satisfied with the editing I was able to do, through my creative panning, continuous shot, in which my class were impressed by. Continuing on my audience, I was able to ask film studies class to watch my final piece, they gave me a mixed review of feedback, most of this being that I should have stuck with my original idea, and that the panning shot was the most creative and well-edited part of my film. I managed to learn a lot of things whilst making my final piece, and if I was to recreate this task, I would use this experience to reflect upon and learn from my work.
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