For this module, we were asked to
create two short films, one being a two-minute character observation and the
other expanding on the emotions displayed within this work and creatively
taking it further into a new longer narrative, which was the second part of the
assessment – a 10-minute short film.
In this evaluation, I will reflect on the work given and completed
within this module, how it was planned and how the work changed, the process of
creating both works, what I’ve learnt and how my individual contribution was
important to create the final films.
The two-minute drama was created
on a man who goes for a job interview, filled with hope and happiness as he’s
sure he’s got it, to drop instantly into rage and sadness when the agency
rejects to take his application further. We wanted to create a theme for the
interview, and decided that the character would be an architect; this is
because of all the picturesque places we found on location scouting, we thought
they would work nicely into the theme by using them as locations as well as
cutaways. I do feel that we played this project safe, it was creative, but we
could have done a lot more to make it unique and stand out – with lack of time
management and problems with actors, this was a successful work. I feel we
achieved what we aimed to do, but expanded on the idea by adding the architect
theme and other links to bring the piece together, so I feel as a group, we
progressed well with this project.
For this project, we held many
group meetings to come up with the idea behind the film, talk about scripts,
storyboards and shot lists. We also had an online group where we could talk at
anytime about the project. We
first created a complete script, and when everyone, including our tutor,
approved it, we decided to location scout. This is because we wanted to ensure
we picked the best places possible for our piece to look good and also
represent the ‘architecture’. After choosing locations we wanted to film, our
producer and director contacted our actor and voice actors. This was
troublesome at times as we had people drop out, however we managed to fix the
problems we had in time for the post-production. Then came the shoot, we shot
the footage over two days and had about 2 hours worth of footage, which was a
good amount for me to work with in the edit. After production, the sound
designer and I concentrated on bringing the piece together. An important lesson
I learnt from this was time management. I feel that as a group, there were
times when people couldn’t be ‘bothered’ to meet up or in other cases had other
works they had to complete. I feel we worked together well in regard to
meetings and organization (documentation needed for shoot), however we could have
managed our time skills much better.
I do feel that this wasn’t one of
my strongest modules. I feel that as a group we could have worked harder and
more creatively, however with other works and members of the team being
unavailable to times, it caused problems. I feel that the work were produced
was successful, however could be greatly improved if we, as a group, had spent
more time and worked together. I feel that the group, which shows in the final
product, didn’t approach the module in a very creative way.
This project has taught me,
however, a range of skills in both group work and my individual contribution.
For this project, I chose the role of editor, so it was my responsibility after
the production stage, to edit the footage into the final two-minute piece (with
sound editing help from the sound designer Alex). I feel I took on this
responsibility well. Unfortunately, I didn’t get a lot of time to edit the
footage, due to the overrun of the production process, however I feel I worked
through this successfully and managed to edit the footage in time, by working
on it every day I could until deadline. I feel my contribution was quite
important because I did spend a lot of time alone bringing the piece together.
I managed to get reviews from the producer and director occasionally, but due
to a busy timetable, I was left to creatively work with the footage on my own,
which had it’s advantages and disadvantages – for example, I was able to look
through the footage with fresh eyes and creative pick out a narrative route the
project could take, but I also would have liked more input into the edit, as
the film is technically the director’s vision. However, I feel I managed my
role successfully and was able to manage any problems I came across.
This project taught me a number
of things in regard to the edit. I was able to expand some skills on Soundtrack
Pro, as I’d rarely used the program during my first year, and created a
telephone sound effect, which is useful to know for other productions, as this
effect is quite popular. I also learned about setting up a Final Cut Pro
project when it comes to DSLR footage, as the frame rates are different. Also,
with the help of my editing module, I was able to be more precise with my
editing, using more advanced tools and effects to trim and colour correct. Also, the project taught me a lot about
working with others. Usually in projects I like to know and have control on
each section, almost like the director role, however in this project I was only
in control of the edit, which was a different experience, and allowed me to
work off others’ ideas and production. It allowed me to work on motifs given to
me by a director, rather than me setting them myself but also allowed me to be
independent with my contribution.
Overall, this project was, in my
opinion, successful. We worked well as a team and ensured all problems were
solved and the final product reflects that.
The 10-minute project was to
expand on the emotions of the first project. We decided to focus on the rage
and upsetting emotions from the first piece, and created a drama about a boy
who cheats on his girlfriend and tries to fight for her back.
The finished film isn’t what we
intended. During the pre-production process, we had a script with many more
connecting scenes and information, however the production team ran out of
time/left scenes out as they thought we didn’t need them. However, this made
the end product look slightly fragmented, which works in it’s own unique way,
but wasn’t the purpose we were originally going for. We intended to create a flowing story of a couple, which
eventually showed why they were having trouble, how they argued and how they
got back together. However it was rather jerky. We found out straightaway he’d
cheated, an idea of a ‘limbo’ character was included but not to it’s full
intent, so therefore looked out of place and there were lots of blackouts. Unfortunately this wasn’t what we
intended and we managed to problem solve, but we weren’t completely happy with
the outcome. I feel that if we’d
worked together as a group, prepared and organized as well as we did with the
previous project, we would have had a better outcome – however we didn’t manage
our time and projects very well, and therefore didn’t achieve this, however this
allowed us to learn how important organization and time management is when it
comes to producing a film. Everything needs to have enough time – each process,
as the sound designer and I only had 5 days to edit, when we were supposed to
have a week each. This was due to actors dropping out last minute and losing
locations. Of course, an advantage of this project was our problem solving. We
worked together to ensure we had actors, locations and edits completed, so we
did work well together, just didn’t manage the project very well as a group.
In regard to making the film, we
started by creating a script, and going through it to create a final revised
script. This gave us all a chance to look through and change anything we didn’t
think would work, or change it to what we thought would work better. The script
writing was very successful and the film looked like it was going to be
creative and unique. We then went location scouting and looking for actors.
Unfortunately we ran into problems here. In regard to actors, we found each one
and planned the shoots accordingly. However two of the actors dropped out the
night before the shoot was planned to run, and therefore we ran into time
restraints, which caused stress on the group. Luckily we managed to find some student actors to fill the
part, however in future, we should ensure to contract people to the shoot and
also have back up actors booked incase this situation occurred again. In regard
to location, we used a house in our first shoot, however the residence of the
house we’re still there and kept making noises throughout the shoot, making the
entire scene almost unusable, therefore the producer had to once again location
scout for another property we could use – so another idea in future would to
have backup locations in case the first choice doesn’t work out. Luckily we managed to problem some both
of these issues and complete the shoot. After the shoots were completed we
brought the footage to the edit, where Alex and myself worked together to bring
the piece together, with the help of Jessica (the producer). There were
problems we ran into during the edit. At this point I didn’t know scenes had
been cut from the piece, and I only had script to work with, as the production
team hadn’t completed a shot list or storyboard for me to use, which made it a
lot harder however more interesting for me to tackle. The edit itself does appear jarred due
to the missing scenes however and I feel that better communications and
document organization would have made this process run more smoothly, and also
help me understand the story and the film the director had in mind.
My individual contribution to the
work was once again the edit. I didn’t have much input into the production
process, however helped out whenever I was required to, for example I created a
new script to try fix some problems during pre-production, however the changes
were made to the original script and worked better for the piece as a
whole. I feel for this project, we
could have worked better and more efficiently as a team, however we managed to
problem solve and work together in a way that brought the piece together –
there wasn’t any arguments or problems between the group members.
This project allowed me to expand
my skills on group work and technical skills on Final Cut Pro. Such as the
colour correction, the trimming and also effects and transitions of sound to
make the piece flow. I feel this module has broadened my knowledge on how to
edit for drama, in regard to ‘emotion is the most important aspect’ as stated
by Walter Murch and other editing techniques.
Overall, I feel our project went
well and we all worked well as a group. In future, I would like to work more in
depth with production however we were able to gain new skills socially
(production-wise) and in editing (technical) therefore this has been a great experience,
which will help me greatly with future projects. I also learnt the importance
of time management and organization within this type of project, and know that
this could have been improved throughout the duration of this module.
Word Count: 2000
Reference:
Murch, W., In The Blink Of
An Eye, 2nd Edition (2001)
Silman-James Press, U.S
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