Evaluation

Your own performance throughout the FMP

I was really happy with my performance throughout my FMP as I managed— to get all work completed on time. I will admit that during the pre-production stage I was very slack and did not get the work done as quickly as I could've, therefore putting myself under unnecessary pressure and meaning I had to work through a few weekends to catch up. When it got to the production stage my attitude changed for the better and I did just crack on and get it done. I filmed all that I needed to on my own within two days as all of my shots (high angle shot, low angle shot and close ups) did not require another camera operator. There was not as much filming to be done as a certain amount of my footage was pre-recorded by my Grandad when I was on holiday with my Grandma, him and myself seven years ago. I was quite worried about how I would manage to create such a personal film that involved sharing some of the best memories that I have of my Grandma with my peers who enjoy their banter and could potentially make a sick joke out of my film. It was created as a sad yet melancholy expressionistic short film with the intent of upsetting my audience. I was pleased with myself as I have made this film and though it may not seem that important to others, it has definitely helped me with my grief for my Grandma. I think apart from my slow start, I really managed to turn a corner and get the work done to a really good standard. The reason behind me working alone is mostly because it was such a personal film that only I could decide certain aspects of, but also because I was therefore able to get all my filming and editing done at my own pace and not having to rely on anyone else. I also wanted to prove to myself that I didn't need any help filming or directing.

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Your thoughts on your final productions (Film, Poster and Trailers)

—I was really happy with all of my final pieces. After reflection and feedback from the limited people that I have shown, I believe that I have made all four of the production pieces to the best of my ability. The poster was created by myself with the help of Jake Haynes. I made the background blurred out above and below my character to demonstrate the isolation and loneliness that he feels. The poster itself did not run with the tone theme that is in my films because I decided that it would give too much away about my film, having it heavily saturated instead gave it that mysterious feeling that I wanted to illustrate. The Audio Trailer was the most annoying part for me as when I recorded and uploaded it to my homepage only to find that it was thirty seconds too long so I had to cut it down. This was initially a problem as I could not edit it so that it still made sense, but after lots of cropping and re-recording I finally got it to sound how I wanted. The actual film trailer was really quite simple and enjoyable to make as all I needed to do was take three clips from my film and add a different track over the top. I silenced all sounds except the sound track to give it a more miserable and depressing atmosphere. I was really happy with the trailer as it turned out exactly as I had hoped. The short film itself could not have been anymore perfect in my eyes. I captured exactly the vibe and atmosphere it gives off that I had hoped for. The camera angles were all so similar to my mental image of how I wanted the film to be, I think that the tint that I used was even better than I had planned as initially in my pre-production it was supposed to be a grainy black and white; the blue saturated that I used was far superior in conveying a sad atmosphere to the original idea. I took the blue tint idea from my questionnaire feedback (credit to Karen Teague), I didn't know that blue was a sad colour and it therefore illustrated the feeling perfectly. At the end of the film the music stops suddenly without a fade out which looks like i've edited it badly, but the song ends as my film ends and it continues to naturally fade. I did not give it the full fade on purpose because the "In Memory of" screen comes on and I wanted it to be silent and abrupt in its end. I also didn't sync the music to be perfectly in time to the scene changes because I wanted it to not look like it was sticking to a certain pattern like a music video. The video is meant to be a bit abstract and out of place, hence the music not being synced.

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How did you maintain professionalism throughout this project

Maintaining professionalism was quite a difficult aspect of my film due to it being so personal and heart wrenching to watch while editing and filming. I did make myself very close to going under again which was very scary as I struggled to beat my depression. I had to do the editing at different points to make it as good as I could. I tried my hardest not to show how much making this film made me struggle as I wanted to create a masterpiece. I think that I managed to keep to my schedule pretty well to a good professional level which I am glad about as I was worried that I would not leave myself enough time for editing and filming but in reality filming and editing took about half the time that I first planned for. I tried to give my website a good professional look and I am quite happy with the end result as it is easy to navigate, and control. I also noticed that some of my peers don't use the correct grammar when typing, i.e. capitals and punctuation which I think does not make the website look all that professional.

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Strengths and weakness of all 4 productions- Give Examples

—Personally I think that my poster could have had a little more saturation and the font be the same as the title to my short ilm and trailer (American Typewriter) which could have looked better as all font would then be the same but I really liked the chalk font that I did end up using as it gave a more childish effect to emphasis that my film had a sort of distant childish theme. I did on the other hand really like the picture that I used as it was really good at portraying how I feel and how defensive grief made me. I think that the Audio Trailer could have been slightly improved as it was a bit random and didn't make much sense, this was primarily due to with the fact that I had to cut half of my planned script out. I should have tested that my desired audio script would fit the time I had not as an after thought. I did really like the voiceover effect that I used which added to the professional look of my Audio Trailer as the hollywood editors always have a deep voiced voiceover actor.

The only weakness that I could depict from my Film Trailer is the fact that I didn't use any different footage for it, I used that same footage as in my short film which could be seen as being lazy but I just thought at the time that it worked really well. I really thought that a massive strength of my trailer was that there was absolutely no audio apart from the track which gave it a very depressing yet melancholy feeling which is as Ive previously mentioned exactly what I was looking for, if not better. I do think that I maybe could have added some text to explain the trailer but I like the mysterious vibe it gives off and an element of secrecy that will make the audience want to watch on. The short film itself I don't think has many weaknesses as all criticisms that people could point out, as Ive explained are intentional to give my short film the full sad and depressing effect that I want to create. I think that the biggest strength of my short film is how the music builds up at exactly the right point of my film so that it is almost impossible not to at least have a tear start to form in your eye. The music is most climactic when the camera zooms in on my Grandma sitting on a rock, it is at this point that the audience would figure out if not already that she is gone and the focus of the film is how badly it has hurt me and made me feel.

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If you were to redo this all again what would you do differently and why?

If I were to completely redo my short film I think I would really struggle to find another way of revoking the kind of emotions that my short film has been able to do. The only thing that I would change if I were to redo it is the amount of time I spent on the pre-production and research because even though I have managed to complete my project to a really good standard in before the deadline I still think that I could have spent less time than I did on these parts because when I did actually do all the pre-production it took me about three days of really dedicated hard work to get it all done. I spent about a week messing around with my friends when I could have made my life easier and more relaxed by getting it done quicker and more efficiently. I am very lucky with that fact that I did manage to get it done in time but I was under more pressure than I needed to be.

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Conclusion

To conclude my evaluation of my work, I think that I have done very well all around and have thoroughly enjoyed creating such a successful film fulfilling  its potential and purpose in being an effective depressing and sad film with the full intention of making the audience feel how I ave felt for so long.