Evaluation

As I have now finished the film, I would like to evaulate the film and the project as a whole.

The Intial Idea and Pre-Production:

The basic idea of this project was representing political ideologies as characters, whilst drawing visual inspiration from the "Before I Forget" music video from Slipknot. This idea originally came out of a number of influences, for example the game Bioshock, but mostly it came from the ideas that came out of my context lessons on representation. I decided that I would use the ideas I explored in my context essay as the basis of this film project, which is why they share the same blog and research.

I wrote a script, based on these ideas, it featured four characters each representing a political ideology, I was happy with it but as the time to start filming approached I began to realise that the script was a little too ambitious and ultimately could do with a second draft. Whilst trying to think of how to streamline the script, the idea of filming from a first person perpective of a secondary character could put a unique twist on the film whilst also simplifing the production process. After writing a second draft I was far happier with the script and felt that I could confidently begin the production process.

The Production Process:

Originally I wanted to employ professional actors for my film, but while planning filming I soon decided against it. Despite knowing that the quality of the film may suffer, I decided that due to time constraints and the last minute nature of the project that it was better to focus on other, more important matters like location and equipment. Ulitmately it would have been nice to use professional actors but I really don't think the film suffers much at all from using non-professional actors.

For this project I really wanted make sure that everything was organised properly so that nothing went wrong. I made sure that everything that I needed was on hand and working and that everyone was avaliable for filming, and that we had a lot of time to spare, just in case any significant problems occured. I feel it is this careful approach that helped this project run so much smoother than previous ones who's results were effected by problems that could have easily been solved with careful preparetion.

Filming itself ran smoothly, no significant problems came up and any that did were easily solved. I also feel that the clam, collaborative and open enviroment helped make the film really improve, I think that being willing to hear someone else's suggestions and ideas are key to making and good film.

Post-Production:

In the edit the film really came into it's own. due to how smoothly the production stage went, I had more than enough time to edit and so was free to experiment more, which helped make the film improve more so. Again I welcomed the input of others and listened to their ideas.

One unplanned experiment that really paid off was the addition of atmosphere music and sound effects to the film, the music really added a whole new feel and mood to the footage and the sound effects helped make the film feel far more real.

After some feedback from Dan, I re-recorded some of the dialogue, some was much better re-recorded and some was better in the orginal footage. Being able to re-record dialogue was yet another benefit of having a lot of time to edit and also because of the de-focused visual style, lip-syncing dialogue wasn't a problem.

Thoughts on the Film:

I am very pleased with this film, I really feel that this is a big step up from previous films and the first film that I can show with pride as an example of my work. I feel that I have represented the ideas and beliefs of these ideologies well.  I am pleased with the little references and attention to detail that went into the film. It's turned out far more brutal than I orginally intented, which I am also pleased.

Upon reflection there are a  few things that could have been improved, for example professional actors may have been an improvement but honestly I don't really miss them when reveiwing the film. Ulitmately I am very pleased with this film and am eager to use similar techniques in future films, I feel it has more than achieved the goals I hoped to achieve.

Presentation:

The Presentation went well, feedback was mostly positive. There wasn't much that people thought   that would improve the film. Dan and Andy had some suggestions, the main one being possibly adding echo or reverberation would help make the dialogue fit more and add to the strange atmosphere. But overall I was very please with people's feedback.         

Sometimes filmmaking can be pleasant...

In regard to my film project, filming went surprisingly well, we didn't really encounter any huge problems. There was a small issue regarding colour noise but after some investigation and changing settings it didn't prove too much of a problem. Overall filming went quickly and efficiently, which provided alot of time for editing.

Editing went well, because I had a lot of time to edit I was able to experiment with the film a lot more which I feel helped improve the film. There were a few un-planned alterations that resulted from post-production experimentation, but the main one I feel was the addition of atmospheric music, which I stubbled across while searching from appropriate sound effects. After adding them to the film, I feel  it improved the film greatly and added a strange and apropreate atmosphere.

After the initial edit was finished I showed Dan, he gave some pointers and advise, the main one about possibly re-recording some of the sound. I thought this was a good suggestion and re-recorded some oif the dialogue. Some was useful and some was better on the orginal footage.

I did encounter the problem of wanting to over edit the film, of feeling the need to improve it when it doesn't really need it, however after some feedback and some time away from the film I feel that this is certainly something I can be proud of.

I did however encounter some problems with exporting which I will try to resolve, I may talk to Stu about it but hopefully I won't need to.

Of ambition and second-drafts...

I'm sorry for not posting in a while, I've been preoccupied with writing, filming and editing so much so that this blog slipped my mind. With this in mind I think summing up what I have been up to and what has happened with the film project is in order.

As I have stated previously in the blog, I am using this as the research for two projects, my context essay and my film project. Because both are on the same subject, one leading into the other, I saw no reason to make two identical blogs on the same subject.

I have written and completed and handed in the essay, and am rather pleased with it. Following this I wrote the script for the film project, based on the conclusions I came to in the essay, in regard to how to represent my chosen political ideologies. It followed to story of four characters, each representing one of the ideologies and explores how each of them thinks, acts and interact with one another.

Although I was happy with the script I felt it was a little too ambitious and over all could do with a second draft. I was at this time that during a conversation with my friend Isaac that the idea of presenting the film from the perspective of the Librarian character a rose. Presenting the film from the perspective of a character who is slipping in and out of consciousness not only fitted in with the visual style that I wanted to use but also created a unique take on the story and ultimately a very interesting film, in my opinion. I wrote a second draft that was shorter, streamlined and presented form the first perspective and prepared for filming. Upon reflection I am certain that the film is much better since the second draft.