Rationale
This year I have covered 12 units of work which I think has prepared me in many ways for the future, for example, meeting deadlines and setting goals for myself. Throughout the year I have improved massively with my practical skills, using sound equipment has become a lot easier and more enjoyable since I first started this course, I used to struggle when having to record my own sound but I have now been taught properly and can use a Zoom sound recorder quite well. I've also found a better understanding in the workings of a camera, I can now change the Aperture and ISO to the correct levels so that the lighting of my shot will be good.
Last year me and my class were using Final Cut Pro to edit our short films and other pieces of work, this year we got the chance to use Premier Pro, I really enjoy this editing software, it's simple and easy to use but is it a very high standard, I got used to using Premier Pro really quickly and my editing skills improved swiftly.
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One of our units we had to watch a few films and write essays on them, this really taught me to pay attention to films deeper than just the narrative, for this I really had to look into why certain things were happening, shot types, colors, sound and costumes, I also had to compare a few films based on their remakes, I had to explain the differences, improvements, problems, also taking the time the film was made into consideration. This unit also helped me in the aspect of using the correct language when constructing an essay about film.
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Project Concept
For this unit I will be creating my own original short film with a running time of 5-8 minutes long, I will be making a poster in Photoshop to advertise my film. I will be doing primary research to find out what my audience wants in my film and secondary research to help me come up with a solid idea, I will then also create a shot list, storyboard, risk assessment, location report and a formatted Script once I have decided on the film I would like to make. I will create a weekly log book to record when me and my team are having meets and when we're on set shooting the film.
I may have to have a small budget for costumes and film props I will include the money I have spent on this film in my Pre-production, once I have decided on an idea I will start to film, after this process is over I will edit my footage in Adobe Premier Pro to put it all together so that my film starts to come to life, I will try and edit my film to a high standard doing any color correction that is necessary.
Finally I will showcase my short film in college and gain feedback from my viewers, I will also show my film to my friends and family who live in Wales and gain feedback from them too, using the feedback I have retrieved I will evaluate my work.
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Evaluation
For my evaluation of this project I will do written and audio reflections each time I work on my project, As I will be working with others I will comment on how well we worked as a team, If working with others made an impact in a positive or negative way and what I can do to minimise disruption in my own progress. After I have showcased my film I will hold a Q&A and gain some feedback from my audience, I will then reflect on how things that need improving or things that I think I did well.
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Project Action Plan Timetable.
I have 8 weeks to shoot and complete my short film, over the 8 weeks I will complete different tasks in order to complete this project at a high standard, having an action plan timetable will also help me to evaluate my work when I get to that point.
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Week 1 - This week I will carry out my Primary research, for example, I will be finding out what my audience wants out of my film, finding out their interests, do they want a horror, action, thriller or a romance film. Getting Feedback from the audience will give me a better understanding in how to make a film everyone wants to watch.I will also do research for my film poster by looking at other posters relating to the genre that I would like to do, this will help me come up with my own idea for a film poster.
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Week 2 - This week I will carry out my secondary research, I will watch films for some inspiration. I will take screenshots of scenes and analyse them, to see if there is anything I can take away for inspiration for my own film for example, style, acting, costumes, locations and narrative, I will also look at real life examples of people and locations to come up with my own idea of what my character will look like and where my film will be set.
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Week 3 - This week I will be doing planning for my short film, I will also be looking deeper into my film research and complete my film poster. I will be choosing my location of my film and also coming up with what I want my character to look like. This week I will also be looking into sound, what my audience will hear, what music will be in my film, sound effects, I will be creating my own music and foley sound if needed. I will be thinking about the use of lighting in my film, natural lighting or not.
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Week 4 - This week I will do my Pre-production for my short film, for example, shotlist, story board, location report, risk assessment and my film budget.
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Week 5 & 6 - These two weeks I will be shooting my short film on set.
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Week 7 - This week I will edit my short film on Adobe Premier Pro.
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Week 8 - This is my final week and I will be Showcasing my short film and also evaluating it after I hold a Q&A with my audience so that I can retrieve some feedback.
Completed - May 6th
Bibliography
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Website
DELIVERANCE - TRAILER
In-text: ("Deliverance - Trailer")
Your Bibliography: "Deliverance - Trailer". YouTube. N.p., 1972. Web. 28 Apr. 2017.
Copy and paste bibliography citation Copy and paste in-text citation Check for grammar
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Website
THE REVENANT | OFFICIAL TRAILER [HD] | 20TH CENTURY FOX
In-text: ("The Revenant | Official Trailer [HD] | 20Th Century FOX")
Your Bibliography: "The Revenant | Official Trailer [HD] | 20Th Century FOX". YouTube. N.p., 2015. Web. 28 Apr. 2017.
Copy and paste bibliography citation Copy and paste in-text citation Check for grammar
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Website
THE TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE - ORIGINAL TRAILER 1974
In-text: ("The Texas Chainsaw Massacre - Original Trailer 1974")
Your Bibliography: "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre - Original Trailer 1974". YouTube. N.p., 1974. Web. 28 Apr. 2017.
Copy and paste bibliography citation Copy and paste in-text citation Check for grammar
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THE SHINING
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In-text: (The Shining)
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Your Bibliography: The Shining. Colorado: Warner Bros., 1980. DVD.
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Copy and paste bibliography citation Copy and paste in-text citation Check for grammar
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LONE SURVIVOR OFFICIAL TRAILER #1 (2013) - MARK WAHLBERG MOVIE HD
In-text: ("Lone Survivor Official Trailer #1 (2013) - Mark Wahlberg Movie HD")
Your Bibliography: "Lone Survivor Official Trailer #1 (2013) - Mark Wahlberg Movie HD". YouTube. N.p., 2013. Web. 3 May 2017.
Copy and paste bibliography citation Copy and paste in-text citation Check for grammar
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THE LORD OF THE RINGS: THE RETURN OF THE KING OFFICIAL TRAILER #1 - (2003) HD
In-text: ("The Lord Of The Rings: The Return Of The King Official Trailer #1 - (2003) HD")
Your Bibliography: "The Lord Of The Rings: The Return Of The King Official Trailer #1 - (2003) HD". YouTube. N.p., 2003. Web. 16 May 2017.
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OF MICE AND MEN (1992 FILM)
In-text: ("Of Mice And Men (1992 Film)")
Your Bibliography: "Of Mice And Men (1992 Film)". En.wikipedia.org. N.p., 1992. Web. 25 May 2017.
Target Audience
Primary Audience
My primary target audience is Men aged 15 to 25, men are the main audience as my film is about the relationship between two brothers. Stereotypically men seem to like Horror/Thriller films more than females hence why my main target audience is a male majority.
I decided to start the age bracket at 15 because teenagers in school at this age are sometimes studying 'Of Mice and Men' and due to my film being inspired by "Of Mice and Men' I thought it would be eligible for them to me interested in viewing my film.
I also thought that men ages 20 to 25 stereotypically are more interested in the horror/thriller genre and seem to enjoy violence in films more than other ages.
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Secondary Audience
My secondary audience is men aged 50 to 60 the reason for this is because when they were younger horror films were at the top of their game and attracted big audiences, for example, ' Texas Chainsaw Massacre', this film released in 1974 and is a classic still to this day. This could attract them into watching my film as it could make them reminisce about when they were younger watching horror films with all their friends, this way my film could give them a sense of nostalgia.
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I think that both my audiences would stereotypically enjoy my film because it will cover all of the elements they consume.
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Social Demographic Table
According to the social demographic table my main target audience fits into category 'D' and C1/C2 as most people in this age group are either students or full time employed.
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My secondary target audience would either fit into category B or E as at this age people can be retired but could still be working at a high standard.
To advertise and promote my film for my primary target audience I will release my film on Youtube this Is a good way to attract the audience I am looking for, I could also use Vimeo which is a similar platform to Youtube which would also help me to reach the audience I am looking for.
My secondary audience is older and less involved with platforms such as Youtube and Vimeo, for this matter I will create a poster advertising my film, I could post it on Facebook, this way multiple audiences can see my film being advertised which would help me gather a bigger audience.
I could also print physical versions of my poster and put them up in places where I think that my target audience will be able to see them. I could also place my poster in various magazines that my target audience could be reading, for example, I could use the Top Gear magazine as the people who tend to be interested in top gear are males aged 15 to 25, this magazine could even reach into my secondary audience (50-60) as he enjoys Top Gear.
Completed - May 7th
Primary Research
For my primary research I created a Facebook page so that I could create a small audience on this page I could post updates about my film, I could also ask questions to see what my fans think what should be in my film, what they would like to see.
I posted a survey on the page so that I could gather some suggestions and answers from my audience.
All of these answers really helped me in knowing what my audience want out of my film, they all also helped me create the character that they would like to see star in my film, I feel like Facebook as been a really successful way of gathering an audience, I think that because of the amount of people that use this platform of social media it is easier to get your word across, as soon as I started to share my page I started to gather followers/an audience in very quick succession.
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I also created an Instagram page for my short film, so that I could gather information on there too, this way I can bring in a bigger audience as i'm using two different platforms of social media, Unfortunately i've been struggling to get responses on Instagram
Completed - May 8th
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Idea + Research
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Synopsis
My Idea for my film is a tale about two rural, southern American 'hillbilly' brothers with a very extraordinary relationship packed with suspense, using the surroundings as best as I can to create a southern American feeling much like Georgia I want my audience to feel uncomfortable but excited throughout the film. My film genre will be Thriller/Horror and will be aimed at people from ages 15 to 25, I don't think it would be suitable for anyone younger than 15.
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Secondary Research
Deliverance (1972)
I really love the setting of this film, the forestry and naturalness of this film is lovely and I want to include this into my film too, my location is a very important part of my film and I would like to make it as close as possible to a Southern American, Georgia environment.
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I really like all the greens and browns in this film, it seems as if they've really thought about the colors of the actors outfits and the surroundings they merge together and create a sense of 'home' for the characters involved in this shot as they blend into the forest around them.
This film uses a lot of natural lighting throughout which I find very satisfying to see when watching a film, I will use this in my film, I want to use as much natural lighting as possible to give my film a raw and fresh feeling, the shadows of the tree's can also give my film a gritty when combined with all the greens and browns the forestry supplies me with.
The Revenant
The Revenant is one of my most favourite film's in terms of lighting and cinematography, I also really like the setting of this film, the forests and natural landscapes combined with the great camera work makes this film really come to life. I'm using this film in my research for my short film because I really like the idea of using the environment as a major factor in my short film.
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The setting of this fits perfectly for my idea, for example, The accents of the characters put the location of the film on the map, the southern american accent really hits you as soon as the first line is spoken, as my film is going to be set in the south I want to make sure that the accents of my characters are believable.
I love the use of the rural forestry in this film, I want to set my film in forestry similar to this so I can really bring out the South American countryside. South American countryside has a unique feeling to it, the tall skinny and evergreen tree's.
Another reason why I chose this film is that I love it's character creation, the director has done really well in creating a character for his film, I really want to make sure my characters look good and realistic, for example, I want my characters to gradually change according to their environments conditions.
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Lone Survivor
I chose this film just because of the weapon that the American soldiers use throughout the film, The SR-25 is a commonly used weapon throughout the US military, One of my actors is able to provide a replica airsoft version of this rifle that I will be able to use as a prop, This could leave a small back story about my character, maybe be was in the military?
This film is also set in the foothills of Afghanistan which is the similar terrain to the idea that I have in mind, another thing I like about this film is the cinematography, the lighting and shot types are all really nice to look at throughout the movie.
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The Shining
I chose The Shining for my research because of the main character, I really love how Jack Nicholson plays this character, he really makes you feel scared and uncomfortable when you see this sinister performance by him.
This character really inspires me into creating my own, I really would love it if I could make a character that would be effective similar to the one Jack Nicholson portrays here.
Another thing I love is the way that Jack Nicholson looks in this film, his outfit, his straggly hair and the way he simply moves around is really effective in making the audience feel tense and scared.
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The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (Original)
Texas Chainsaw Massacre is another film where I am really fond of the main character, in this case, Leather Face. This sinister villain wears the face of his victims after killing them, hence why he's called 'Leather Face'. but that doesn't really link to what I want in my film, the reason I have chosen this film to be in my research is because of the location, and how 'Leather Face' is actually a man who has mental problems, child mind like in a way, I find this really sinister when put into a thriller or horror film, having an actor who us mentally ill can be really uncomfortable for the audience, which adds suspense when in a thriller/horror film.
The Lord Of The Rings
The lord of the rings up there with my favorite trilogy of films always influences me in some way, in this case, Gollum. Gollum is one of the main characters in Lord of the rings and one of my favorite, I have the idea of one of my characters being similar to him, for example, his movement and mannerism.
The way he moves is almost monkey like, using his legs and feet to move across the floor, almost crawling, I also like his unkept hair and his rags. My character could be captured in some way and left dressed similar to Gollum.
Completed -May 10th
Acting/Costumes
Acting
Acting
Props
Acting/Costumes/Location/Lighting
Lighting/Location/Colors
Acting/Costumes
Of Mice and Men
Of Mice and Men, one of my most nostalgic films from when I was in school, inspired me a lot to make my own films with my own original characters. Lennie and George, two of my favourite characters to date, I really think these two are the full package of all you need in a film, so many emotions flow into this film from up-most happiness to deep sadness.
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I chose this film because of the relationship between the two main characters, their brotherly relationship really hits you throughout the whole film, but the thing I really wanted to focus on is the characteristics of Lennie (Left). Lenny who has a child-like mind really catches ahold of the audience in this film, I think it would make things really sinister if I considered one of my characters having a child-like mind similar to Lennie's but in my situation the character would be the Antagonist.
Completed - May 12th
Ed Gein
Acting/Set
Ed Gein was an American body snatcher and murderer in the 1950's who used human body parts as decoration around his house, the film Texas Chainsaw Massacre almost based the film on Ed Gein you can definitely see references to Ed Geins crimes when you see inside the leather face's house in the film.
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I chose to research Ed Gein as I think his mentality as a person could be portrayed in one of my characters as I think he is unique, I think using him as an example as one of my characters could really help my actor get into the role quite well as their is a lot to research about him, I think I could have snall references of him in my film, for example, my characters house could be similar.
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Using Google I looked into the definition of a psychopath, I wanted to know how someone can be labeled as a psychopath and why, what makes a psychopath? doing this helps when creating my characters, I want them to be as accurate as possible as I don't want the representation of my characters to be incorrect, as I could call one of them a psychopath and get the characteristics completely wrong which could ruin my film.
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I looked deeper into wikipedia and found out that Psychopathy "is traditionally defined as a personality disorder characterized by persistent antisocial behavior impaired empathy and remorse" I found this really interesting, as when I think of a Psychopath I automatically think of a sadistic violence fueled individual, but knowing that a psychopath also follows these traits fives me a better thought of the type of character I would like to create.
Completed - May 13th
Props
Hunting Knife
Cost - Free - Already owned by Actor.
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Dungarees
Cost - 45 GBP
Ebay
Sr-25 Rifle Replica
Cost - Free - Already Owned by Actor.
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Mysterious Meat
Cost - 3.45 GBP x 2
Tescos
Bucket
Cost - 12.99 GBP
Ebay
Fake Blood
3.69 GBP
Ebay
TOTAL COST - 68.58 GBP
Scripts
Story Board
Character Creation
Character 1 - Billy
Actor profile;
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Name - Olly Herschel
Age - 19
Height - 6ft 2
Personality - Easygoing, Alpha Male, hard worker.
From - Wales, Aberystwyth.
Intrest's - Motorbikes, Football, Outdoors.
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Billy is the dominant character and "the bad guy" In my film, stronger, in charge but maybe not the smartest.
Billy has the characteristics/mind of a child, I want the audience to see how he struggles to show his emotions properly, he usually turns to aggression when something doesn't go his way, especially when it's a family situation..
I was able to find a few things that my character could wear, I also bought some denim dungarees. I then met up with my chosen actor and took some photos of him in character, this way I could properly visualise how he would look In the film
I do really like what I came up with for billy's outfit, I think that the colours really come out nice on camera when combines with the woods and greenery around him.
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I took these photos with my Nikon D7000 with a 35mm prime lens, I was also lucky to have the perfect weather and lighting which I will hopefully get when I start filming as I want these sorts of colours to deliver on shoot.
Character 2 - Jimmy
Actor profile;
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Name - Declan O'donnell
Age - 20
Height - 5 ft 8
Personality - Easygoing, Kind, funny.
From - Wales, Aberystwyth
Intrest's - Music, Acting, Films.
Jimmy is "the good guy" in my film, the audience will firstly be introduced to Jimmy in a forest where he had been held captive by his brother Billy. Bound to a fallen tree, weak, wet and covered in mud.
Jimmy has been treated like this for a long time and now struggles to communicate properly except for grunts and screeches.
I was able to get my actor into character and take some photos of him again using my Nikon D7000 with a 35mm Prime Lens as I did with my other actor who is playing Billy, again the lighting when I was able to take this photo was perfect, I was really happy with the contrast of his skin and his surroundings the greens and browns from the forestry really collide with my characters white skin. has he been kept here for long? away from the sun? why is he being treated like this?. These are all questions I think my audience will ask to themselves when they first see Jimmy like this.
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I took a lot of inspiration from "The Lord Of The Rings" for this character, Gollum or Smeagol is a character that I have always liked from the first time I saw the film, and I've always wanted to have a film with some sort of reference to him. In "The Lord Of The Rings" Gollum found himself captive by Saruman and his army of orcs where they tortured him and questioned him about the one ring that he used to carry and called "My Precious"
Maybe Jimmy know's something that his brother Billy wants to know? Maybe he's hiding something from Billy?. This way I could tie some links to Gollum.
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Another thing I really liked about Gollum as a character was the way he moved, on all fours almost like a monkey, this could be another way I could link him to Gollum, maybe Jimmy has been tortured so much he cant move properly or he has a deformity so he has to crawl to get around similar to Gollum, this would also add to the horror of the film if he was somehow deformed.
Declan O'donnell reflects on how he prepared for the role of Jimmy and tells us how he felt before going on set.
After filming Declan reflected back on how he felt he had done on executing the role of "Jimmy" and lets us know how he felt about his performance,
Location Report
(Click to view)
Shotlist
(Click to view)
Reflections
My Task, What i'm going to be doing.
Week 1
Week 2
Week 3
Week 4
Week 5
Week 6
Week 7
Week 8 - Film Presentation & Feedback
Evaluation
Poster
I wanted to use the colour red in my title as it represents relation, as my film is about two brothers this works well.
I wanted to use a quote from my film as a tagline as I think that it will make the audience think. "Why you gotta ruin supper" this quote doesn't really give anything away to my audience except that there may be a problem. but with who?
I wanted to make sure I had important props on my poster so that the audience know what they are stepping into, the knife and gun both suggest that there will be violence/action in my film/ Doing this is a good way to attract my target audience.
I also wanted to use shots that will give my audience an idea of the location of the film, the title of my film will also give that away to my audience.
SHORT FILM
Evaluation
Overall i'm happy with my film, I think that I am proud of myself for traveling to West Wales, a whole different country to make my film idea come to life. In this evaluation I will be covering my film from head to toe explaining what I think went well and what didn't. I will be going through all the key elements in my film from lighting, filming, sound, casting to the sound track that I composed myself.
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Lighting
Firstly I am going to speak about lighting. Lighting was a very important element in my film, especially when I am mostly using natural lighting, the only time I did not use natural lighting was during the introduction scene which was mostly filmed indoors. As I did not have any actual lights specifically made for films I had to experiment, I decided not to try and use the three point lighting technique and used lights in the house to give it more of a natural raw feeling to it, this was hard work to achieve the perfect lighting but I think that the effort came off and the shots that I gathered were good and worked well in the final edit of my film.
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I think that my lighting was good, but It was challenging when I wanted to do multiple different shot on the same subject due to the continious change of lighting. This was a problem throughout as a lot of it was open sky so whenever clouds decided they want to pass over the sun I had to wait, similar to 'The Revenant' I was always waiting for the lighting to be perfect before filming this was very time consuming which is a problem as I did not have the time to waste because I only had my actors for a certain amount of time, but most of my shots worked out well in the end.
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Weather was always going to be a risk when shooting on set as Wales is known for its tempermental weather changes, I actually think some of my shots turned out better due to clouds changing formation mid shot as I did really want the enviorment to play a key part in my film. For example, in the first exterior shot of my main character 'Billy", he walks into shot and away from the camera, the further he got away from shot the less light there was, I thought that this really worked nicely and gave this shot an eary feeling to it. (Example below)
Sound
I was very happy with the way the sound of my film came out, the sound of my film was the one thing I was quite worried about as I think it is my weakest element, I've always found it hard to achieve the best sound. To make sure I got quality sound I looked through youtube at videos to give me a better understanding about levels and how to set up an xlr cable, zoom recorder and a boom pole correctly to stop any interferance with the sound when moving around. Luckily I had two friends who came along and helped me with the sound as I was behind the camera througout my film, the only major problem I had with my sound was when I was filming the last scene at my hilltop location, the problem I had to deal with was wind, sometimes I waited for the wind to pass but I didn't have enough time to waste waiting around for the wind to stop interfering this was when I had to switch to foley sound, doing my own foley sound really helped the scene of My film as it was way to windy to record the natural sound on the hill. Apart from the wind my sound capturing was so problem and all ran smoothly ending in a good result.
Development: If I was to do this again I would bring with me a better muffler for my mic to reduce unwanted noise when recording, I will also do a lot more research into sound levels and equipment set ups so that in the end my sound is at a higher quality.
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Soundtrack/Music
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The soundtrack I used was simply recorded using a Zoom recorder and a shotgun mic, I actually was stuck with what music to use for my film and it was really bothering me but I thought to myself it doesn't need to be complicated. I decided to compose my own music using my friends piano, using only three different cords I created a simple melody, using lower notes and higher notes I created two different tracks and used them to show two different moods during my film.
Development: If I was to do this again I would try and find someone who can play an instrument and maybe get them to compose something of higher quality as I think that the music I created got bit repetitive or if I did something similar I would try and use the soundtrack less so that they have a bigger impact on the audience.
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Casting
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Luckily my friends were very willing to help me with my film so having actors wasn't a problem but I was very careful into who I picked out of my friends who were more then happy to act. Even though quite a few of my friends came forward and said they would happily act I only needed two actors, I was very careful in picking my cast as I really wanted two people who would really represent the types of characters I want. I already had one of my friends in mind to play 'Jimmy', Jimmy needed to be small, skinny and nimble and fair haired. I decided to use the same actor who played the main character in my last short film 'Declan O'Donnell', I enjoy working with him as I find we have a good understanding on set, he's a good listener so it's easy to get across what I want from him as an actor.
My other actor 'Olly Herschel' was very interested in a role in my film and I think he was the perfect match to play the role as 'Billy', Billy is a tall, healthy and a strong character who is also fair haired. Billy, almost like a more sinister version of 'Lennie' from 'Of mice and men' has a mind of a child and struggles to show emotion and reason which other people, Billy trying to reason usually ends with a outbursts of rage and violence.
I also think he did really well for his first time properly acting, he played a small part in my last FMP too which I think also prepared him for the role as he saw how I am directing on set. I think that these two actors also work really well together they were both supportive of each other throughout filming the only problem we game across was when we were filming the last scene, everyone was cold and tired after a long day on set in the cold and wet welsh weather. Overall I think my casting was good, I was very pleased into how my actors represented my characters, I think they both matched the role as two brothers they could easily be related when seen next to each other.
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Development: When It comes to casting again in the future I will give people further notice so that they have for time to prepare for a role this will also give me more time to think about who fits into the role of my characters. I would also try and incorporate a script with heavier dialogue for a new challenge.
Cinematography
Good cinematography is very important to me, and I think it was a big factor in my film, I really wanted to capture the raw countryside and gritty relationship between my two character through multiple shot types, I think that good cinematography can have a massive impact on how the narrative is told and how you want the audience feels. In my film I wanted my audience to really feel the awkward tension between the two brothers and from recent feedback I think I captured that quite well. The scenery in my film was also a big thing for me, I really wanted my audience to see how isolated these two characters are surrounded by miles of rural land this all plays into my research on 'The Revenant' I really wanted the same natural feeling that 'The Revenant' has, the way the wild surroundings come into play and effect the way people are. I really wanted the environment to have an impact on my characters as it did in the 'The Revenant'. I think that overall I am happy with the cinematography of my film but I would have liked to get so many more shots, due to the lack of time I had with my actors I was unable to capture all the shots I wanted, I think that I would have liked to have another scene in my film to give a better understanding to my audience about the relationship of the two brothers.
Development: If I was to do this again I would organize my time a lot better so that I am not rushing and missing shots that I want, I think that my lack of organization let me down and was the difference between my film being good rather than very good. I will definitely learn from this and make sure that my next project is organized a lot better.
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The introduction scene was very much a collection of key props and locations I wanted to bring the audience in very quickly, I wanted to use these key things in my film straight away so that they are Identified as important whenever seen.
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I have used plenty of shots with the knife included in my film as it is a sign of power, whom ever holds the knife in my film is the dominant one and I really wanted to establish that from the start of my film with the shot of Billy slamming the knife through the piece of mysterious meat, this shot almost kicks off my film, the title appears over another key thing in my film along with the intense soundtrack.
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This shot is a very important to my film, and is used a few times in different situations. In my film this tree represents safety and life, these two shots are really important to my film, you first time you see this shot (left) at the start of the film after the knife hits the meat, I think those two shots really work well together as one resembles power and danger (as above) and the other resembles life and safety.
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Using different angles I could change the way the tree's branches looked due to their formation, I used this as my advantage, when you first see the tree it almost looks healthy with no-one around (Left) and later on in the film you see it again (right) but this time the tree looks weaker with less branches/leaves after it has ben touched by two characters, the tree is almost used as a good luck charm but slowly gets weaker when being used.
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The tree is an important asset to my film as you will see both characters seem to want to be close to it, it's not fantasy or magic, the tree is more of a psychological feeling of safety to my characters and I think that the shots I used really shows that.
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Plenty of my shots were there to show different things, for example, the two shots below which are two of my favourite shots of my film are there to show power in two different characters, as you can see things have switched around, using low angle shots i am able to project power onto different subjects. I think these two shot really show who are in control and in power.
Location and scenery played a major part in my film, when I found my locations i knew that these four shots needed to happen (Below). I really wanted my film to show how isolated and rural my location was which I think added to the tension of the film especially during the chase scene as it leaves the audience to wonder where the character is going to run to, to escape.
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I used lots of flat straight on long shots as I think these shots really capture how beautiful and rural this location is, I think using all of these shots really helped with the impact it brought upon the audience I had many comments on how beautiful the film was which i'm glad about.
Presenting/Exhibiting my work
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When my film was finally finished I decided to exhibit my work to my college, I then gained feedback from my viewers which I think was very rewarding to hear that people enjoyed by work after all the hard work, I was also very happy to take in some constructive critictism this was important to me as the audiences opinion matters and I want to make them as happy as possible with the film I have provided for them. Taking in constructive criticism will help me in the future when working on more projects as now I know what I should and shouldn't do as a filmmaker, I am still learning and the more I know about my own work the better.
I also posted my film on Facebook and Youtube, I did this because my target audience is heavily based on these sites and I think it is an easy way to reach out to them and provide them with my film. Creating a Facebook page was the most successful out of the two sites, I gathered the majority of my audience from Facebook which was good as Facebook is an easy place to gain feedback on my work.
I was really happy with the responses I received from Facebook, next time I make a short film I will definitely post it on Facebook again as I racked up around 200 views in less than a week which was I was very happy about.
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Development: If I was to do this again I would find other places to place my work, for example, Vimeo. Vimeo is another website similar to Youtube which could help with extra recognition and more feedback on my film. I would also use other websites such as Tumblr and Twitter as they are another two massive sites where a lot of people would be able to view my work.
Short film festival that I can apply.
This is a great place to start.
