Evaluation

The short film production was a long, difficult process within my group and resulted in individual work in the final stages of production. This seemed to work for the best as me and my partner were able to show our skills within editing. The final product is completely different from the original idea, as there were a lot of complications in making the original idea. However I felt that the final idea had the opportunity to work better to the conventions of short film in terms of narrative and possibly structure. The target audience was originally a teen audience, but due to the themes present I felt that raising the target to young adults (18+) would be more appropriate, as i felt that this audience would find it easier to understand the themes and interpret them better because of the understanding.

For my final product I decided to call it ‘The Edge’, I chose this as it was short, simple but could have multiple meanings therefore not giving away what the film was about instantly. There weren’t a variety of shots used within such as better ECU/CU.  The lack of shot variety in the film slightly works, however as the majority of the story is told through an interview style mid shot. If there was more time to develop this idea then it may have possibly come out better. However I felt the outcome was mediocre based the time scale available. I didn’t use many effects in the film as I felt too many effects would over complicate it and take away from the actual point of the film, also excessive effects wouldn’t be needed anyway.

I felt that my colour correcting and sound levels could have definitely been worked on. The ‘interview’ shots would have been better if they were white-washed/brighter to help represent the institutional look that was trying to be creating, this however could have be better resolved during filming as we could have planned better lighting options.  I think now that the music used wasn’t needed and could have been replaced with a voiceover or used shorter shots which didn’t need music to accompany it.

The jump cuts used in the interview sections help to make it more aesthetically pleasing and less basic. The jump cuts could have been positioned better throughout the film and edited so that speech wasn’t interrupted or missing.    

I wanted to have better titles for my opening, but due to time and difficulty I had to settle for something which may not have looked as good as it could of. There also could have been some type of end titles to make the film not end so suddenly, but I feel the closing dialogue ends the film effectively to some extent.

Also I feel that I learnt not to be apart of my own film as an actor, because it was harder for me to sit down and edit myself due to the sheer embarrassment. It definitely is easier to direct someone else and not be an actor, and therefore focusing on one role and having to switch between two.

My short film on a whole was a decent last minute attempt and had features about it such as narrative and structure which would hopefully maintain the audience’s attention and tell a story in a short period of time. The genre of the film however could have been clearer, but specifying a genre is not always necessary. However I think in this case it may have been needed as I often found some parts quite funny when it probably shouldn’t have been due to the theme/narrative of the film.  

The influences behind my idea and structure of the film came from a short film I had previously research called ‘Fade to black’ by Gary Martin. ‘Fade to black’ is simply a woman talking about her ex-partner who broke up with her for another woman via video diary, but the darker underlying story is revealed throughout the film making it more complex than what it initially seems to be. This gave me the idea to develop this idea and make it my own, but still use the same underlying theme of relationships, betrayal, mental instability that comes with obsessions and the consequences of our actions. I also wanted to use only one character like in ‘fade to black’ as it’s easier for the audience to focus on a single character, therefore your able to tell/develop a story better as there aren’t multiple characters you need to introduce in a short space of time. I think I also took some influences from music videos more specifically Limp Bizkit- Behind blue eye which was the soundtrack video for the movie ‘Gothika’. The film and music video were based around the idea of being trapped in a mental institute and in some ways being in battle with yourself, which I tried to reflect in my own work. With both influences from other films and music videos I feel that I was able to generate my own idea successfully.