Final Major Project - Unit 13
Candidate Declaration - I confirm that the attached portfolio is all my own work* and does not include any work completed by anyone other than myself.
Task 1 - Project Proposal/ Analysis
The first important thing to consider when making a short film is to keep the short film length to 5 to 10 minutes, the reason for this is when putting short film into events they prefer that length plus it keeps the audiences attention up the entire screening. Another thing to consider is a good soundscape, the reason for this one would be if its not consistent on what's happening on screen so it wouldn't be immersive so it ruins the feel of the scene for the viewers, for example background sounds aka Foley is important, without it can feel lifeless when you watch it. Lastly a good script. the reason for this is if the idea isn't a good one no one watching isn't going to be bothered finishing it and if you dont like the idea yourself then the quality of the finished product will diminish indefinitely.
Lastly when it comes to writing scripts write it to at least 6 pages or more when making short films since a single page of a script is 1 minute of screen time.
Task 2 - Research
BIG EARS - The camera worked was really good and the acting was really put together.
Long Sleeves - Probably the worst out of the bunch of shorts films since it had of things it did wrong compared to the others, for example the Foley for kitchen scene was only for the brother so it didn't truly feel like it was a kitchen, another thing would be that one actor said like one line throughout it and it didn't feel like they had a purpose in the short film and the lighting was off at times.
One Minute time machine - the comedy fell flat sometimes but I liked the concept behind it and I liked the a semi plot twist, the sound was okay which is fine due it being 13 years old. Another thing would be that I didn't like the intro since it didn't feel like it needed one in my own opinion, one thing I can take from this short film is the concept of time related stories and integrate it into my own.
The Cook - The Foley was really put together and camera work was nice, if i had to say a problem with this one it would be that I didn't get the restaurant bit where he gives it to himself and the smoke transition was a tiny bit jarring.
The Boiling Point Short Film - My favourite part of this film was how it really encapsulated the chaotic nature of a restaurant kitchen. The way it did this was making the dialogue feel fast paced and everyone being on the move that the camera has to be free hand was a nice touch, another thing that interested me while watching it was that it was done in one continuous take so everyone in view of the camera had to remember the script and all the extras had to be doing something. One thing that I felt that needed more time on was the main characters addiction problem where its shown later on that he has a substance abuse and collapses a moment later, but the nature of the short film it held back that plot point but it does have a full feature film length of it now, so it can go fully into that part of the story. My favourite shot of this short film would be the final shot where the main character collapses from his addiction and we see this through a door window in which has its own meaning in itself.
Dirt ASH Meat - The Acting of the brother was over the top for some scenes but the premise was really good where its based on a actual event in 2001 called the Foot and Mouth Outbreak, my favourite shot out of the short film has to be shot of them driving away and the implied charred animal in the foreground, if I can take anything from this short film it would be to tell the actors to not overdo it sometimes. My favourite shot they did in this short film would be when the sister is walking towards the barn at night to get rid of the sheep where the camera tracks her as she walks towards the door.
G Flat - The Story went up and down in terms where I expected it to go and the shot of the camera circling the actors wasn't for me. If I can take anything from this short film it would dont overdo the same shot since it can become reputative quick.
AfterSun - The First ever film to get watched as group in class, there were some scenes that I didn't enjoy as much for example there was a scene where its just the main character folding t shirts into her bag for a minute and half with almost no sound, but some shots I liked also like where you can see the camera recording through the TV as its happening. it was a okay film with some hidden meanings throughout the show so I thought it was okay to say the least. If I could take something from this film it would be to be creative with the shots if you can, since it will look nicer if you do it correctly.
Task 3 - Planning
Below I have Included all of the necessary paperwork needed for FMP including but not limited to the following, All drafts of the FMP script, the storyboard, the shot list, the mood board and more. I will add more into the Google Drive as I go along if its needed.
Task 4 - Production
Here is the link to the finished product:
I will also upload some BTS photos on here too.
I will also include the poster we made for the film and some potential runners up if we make that many.
Task 5 - Evaluation
As the last project of the course nears its end when I look back on what we did in the beginning and all the way till the end I think we overall did okay, for starters the idea process for the idea me and Holly were bouncing ideas for what we were going to do for example, Holly had a story about a being stuck on a plane as a drama action short film, we couldn't do that one due us being too reliant on the Aviation room in college too much so we had too scrap it but the idea being stuck somewhere and the loose inspiration of a short film I watched at the time called One minute time machine turned into the main FMP idea. The Script of this idea went through many drafts but due it being only 6 pages and visual based so it was any easy fix overall the hardest part was fleshing out the concept into a actual script especially when its the first time making a script so there a lot of things I didn't know about but the website Writers duet helped out with this.
The Pre Production part of this went without a hitch I would say, since we organised it all numerically so you know what came first, I added the treatment with a semi character breakdown and a synopsis of the short film in it too plus the project proposal so its all there if needed. The Filming was a bit rough at the end due to scheduling, it could being worst overall but there was some tiny bumps in which I talk about in my Production diary and since this is my first time in a director position where I am the one telling people to go it was a weird at first but once you get the hang of it and what to think on set and also what to say. Its fine as long as you keep up the pace with the actors and communicate with the crew about upcoming shots and opinions about how's its coming along.
With Post Production I feel like I side-lined the most of it which is partly my fault since i should of took more of initiative helping out with it since it was mostly Hollie while I was getting the Foley sound bytes online, so if I did this all over again that's what I would do differently. Another thing I will do differently in a upcoming project is to work on that Script idea a bit more plot wise, since the idea we have now makes sense but could be hard to do in production if that makes sense, so when writing the script for things I will consider if it can be done with a crew, but if its just for fun and its a feature length I can just go with the flow of it like some others have in the class. When the Film Festival arrived to showcase all the films that were made in the project, I did my bit in helping out in terms of Posters being made, look at the Posters subheading if you are interested in what they look like and I took multiple screen shots of the behind the scenes of the film to increase the marketing for the event. If you are curious what they look like you can view them at the subheading Task 4 Production, overall the event was nice we all got to show our work and everyone who came to see them had a nice time.
One Last thing I would like to achieve in a future project would be to be more descriptive in blogger like work since sometimes I miss word counts due to struggling to format my own thoughts and to write what happened into long enough words and to also make it make sense, so I should always look over it after, just to make sure what I wrote makes sense and they are actual sentences and also if it can in general work on my editing skills since it needs a polish since they are still are early stages since I dont provide myself the chances to really know the software in a way.
If I went back to redo a scene it would be the outdoor scene with Connor and Elliott, the one where Connor pushes him out of the way and Elliott says his final line of the film. The reason why I want to redo the shot is that due to winds and the mic being on Connor the whole time and Elliott's line wasn't heard, and we were unable to fix it in the edit so we had to ignore it. A way we could of done it if we looked back on the shot was have a wireless mic on Elliott also so his line was heard.
I think overall in terms of the entirety of the course I think I enjoyed myself in a way, it expanded my knowledge in film and it has given me a somewhat better idea on what to next and it also gave me an opportunity to make a film from scratch in which I would of never have done if I didn't try this course, in which it has gave me some insight on how the cameras work and how to make a script, so overall it has been a valuable experience for me in a way.
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