Evaluation

Evaluation
Name: Oliver Guy

Student Number: B3010203
2 minute film: https://vimeo.com/112064211
10 minute film: https://vimeo.com/114873988

SpaceBoy 10 minute film

Overall I’m extremely happy with the final outcome of the final film. This was one of the first films that I was more then happy to show. Although we encounter problems on the way I’m very proud of every aspect of the film and I think it shows how much work we put into the production.  The module has taught me a lot, from how to structure a short film, how to develop a character but also how it feels to be on the other side of the camera in the acting/directing workshop we did. It was great to see how Kirean initial idea has developed and turned into this very beautiful and emotion short film.  

There are many strengths in our film but possible the most important has to be the narrative.  When Kirean first pitched the idea in our character development seminar, I knew immediately that’s the film I wanted to be apart of. At first it was just idea about a boy who wants to go into space to be reunited with he’s dead dad, that idea was so powerful and knew it could be turned into a brilliant short film.  When we first got into our production groups everyone pitched an idea, at first we didn’t chose to go with Kirean idea as we thought the logistics of getting a child actor would be too complicated. After Ellie found a child actor we really started to develop the narrative.  The plot its self is quite simple, there is only three characters and the film is quite easy to follow.  We wanted the audience to go on a journey with Dylan, from the excitement to him building his suit and playing on the equipment, to realisation that he might not see his dead again.  We chose to have the inciting incident at the end of the film so the audience go on the same journey as Dylan. If we showed the film in chorological order it would tell a totally different film.

Credit has go to Louie who played the role of Dylan, with out him the film wouldn’t have been possible. He performance was great and really understood the character. He had acting experience on a stage but not in front of a camera, he took direction really well and weren't afraid to ask questions. Beth did a great job as the director and gave him clear instructions on how to improve his performance. There where a couple of times that he looked into the camera and we had to redo the shot but it wasn’t a problem when it came to the edit as we more then enough footage to get round the problem problem.  Louie was the strongest act but we can’t fault Haley who stepped in last minute after our other actor couldn’t make the shoot. Ellie did a great job finding another actor so quickly this was a very stressful time when shooting as we almost had to cancel the shoot.   Haley only had an hour or so to get to grip with the scrip I thought she did a great job. On shoot I felt like the chemistry wasn’t really they’re between Hayley and Louie and it came across a little bit in the final scene but overall all I’m very happy with the performance of our actors.

Another big strength in our film is the cinematography (Kirean) I think the first half of the film looks really good, the two-minute film especially. The first part of the film uses lots of close ups so we cant really see what Dylan building until the suit on. Its very enjoyable to watch and the use of static and dolly shots make the film cinematically appealing. The contrast of colour is brilliant we have a nice warm tone at the start of the film when everything seems to be exciting and happy, however when we at the amphitheatre this warm colour and feeling slowly drains away as Dylan slowly realise. I think we where a bit unlucky with our second day of shooting and some of the shots could have look a lot nicer if it wasn’t for the weather.

The process of making the film had lots of stages.  We first sorted out narrative, how it was going to flow and how the character was going to develop. We then sorted out job roles. Beth the director, Kirean the cinematographer, Valarie the editor, Ellie the producer, Hannah the art director and finally I were sound designer and recordist. The idea wasn’t finalised until we had the main actor sorted, the director wrote the scrip, when everything was finalised shooting days would be arranged. The two-minute film was shot on one Friday and the 10-minute film was shot over two more days. After everything was shot we then went into postproduction where the footage was edited and then passed to me for sound design.

As my role of sound recordist and designer, I played a key part in all stages of the film making process. My role involved booking sound equipment, recording the sound on the shoot days, recording Foley sounds if needed, syncing dialogue and then final working on the sound design.  The sound recording was pretty straightforward but when it came to the sound design I felt like I was relining a lot on the editor, if she was late with her edit that had an impact on the amount of time I had to complete my section.  At first it wasn’t too bad but as we got closer to our deadline and we had deadlines for other projects the edit got pushed back meaning I only had a couple of days to complete the sound design.  This has been a common issue on a lot of projects I’ve worked on, and people don’t realise the time it takes. Beth and I worked really well together I thought and she gave me a lot of freedom when it came to the sound design, we both contributed with ideas about how we wanted the final piece to sound, but she let me have creative control which was great. When doing the sound design I began by finding and labelling the sounds before adding them to the timeline. I focused on the synch sounds first before moving on to the Foley sounds. I also created a two midi compositions for the film, these really help to create a space atmosphere I wanted. I’m really happy with the sound design considering the amount of time I had. Along with the sound contribution, I also helped on set getting room ready for shooting and setting up the lighting equipment, I also contributed to the idea, and got permission from Pocket Satellite to use they song in our film. As soon as we decided job roles I contacted them immediately as I knew they style of music would really complement our film.

There are a couple of aspects of the film that could have been better. The main weaknesses of the film are the shots at the amphitheatre, when we got there it was too dark to shoot and the lights we had booked out from stalls where having no real affect. Looking back I wish we spilt the shoot day into four days instead of the three, or we just managed our time a little better.  I’m not saying I dislike the shots I just think if we had more time that would have been one scene I would have like to refilm. There are also a couple of aspects I would like to change regarding the sound design. The part of the film where Dylan is in the space dome (the last scene in the park)  I think the sound design is quite messy, I love the way all the sounds are suddenly bought back in after the slide, but when he starts moving around the done, the sound gets lost and becomes messy. I wish I took a couple of the button sounds out or lowered them in the mix. I also think the mixing needs a little bit of work, apart from those couple of improvements I’m very happy with the final film.

Our approach to group work mainly involved use meeting up to discuss pre production, developing the idea and any big decision we had to make like location or which actor we wanted we made as a group. On the first two shoots everyone turned up and played a part even if that was just helping to set up equipment or help to carry it. When it came to post production we mainly kept to our job roles.

They’re where a couple of occasion where I feel like a couple of members of our group didn’t really pull their weight or contribute in meeting. On the last shoot day only three of us turned up which was a very annoying, one of our actors pulled so we where all stressed, Ellie couldn’t make the shoot but told us weeks in advance and she was the only who found the replacement actor. To my understanding the others didn’t have any excuse for not turning up. This looks really unprofessional, I understand that it was the final shoot, one had already completed her job role and the other job role doesn’t start until after the shoot. It would have just been nice to have more people on set to help move equipment or have input to filming. Apart from this one day I think we all worked well as a team.

The process has taught me a lot about filming making. The first being that not everything will go to plan, there will always be hiccups when making film and it’s the way you deal them hiccups that make the difference. When the actor pulled out hours before our shoot, we could have just accepted our fate and cancelled the rest of the shoot day but we persevered and we eventually found a replacement. I did everything I could have possible done, we all did and we found good actor to fill the role. When shooting we had a lot of problem with microphones, which messed up a lot of the recording in the two minute film, however I went out of my way to re record these sounds. 

Overall I’m very happy with how the team work together, we put a 100% into every aspect of the film, both in the pre production post production, from planning right through to editing and final presentation. As a group we didn’t stop working until the day of presentation, we did the correction literally an our before we was supposed to hand so everyone could have an input, I think you can see the amount of work we all put in from the quality of our final film.  Personally I have really liked working with this group of people, in pre production we all contributed to idea, but when it came to the postproduction I was given creative control. I showed the group the quality of my work in the two minute film, that gave them confidence to just to leave me to crack on with the 10 minute edit. I have to admit it was very last minute and there are a couple of areas of my work that could have been improved but considering the time frame I had to work with I’m over the moon with what I’ve produced.   Apart from that one day where members didn’t turn up to the shoot, I  think the group has worked very well together and I hope the rest of them are as proud of me at the film we have produced.