Evaluation
The whole year I’ve been extremely nervous thinking about this brief as I knew it was coming the whole time. I made this big idea in my head that it was going to be the big one that everything has built up to. In the end I think I worked myself up to much because yes I was extremely worried at the start when I had so many ideas I didn’t know which to choose from but then I realised if I managed my time well and planned every single thing out it would turn out really well because I knew exactly what I wanted to achieve and how i was going to achieve it. When I got this idea at about 4 in the morning I honestly thought it was just an idea I wouldn’t do because I didn’t think I could. I just thought how am I gonna get someone to act in it? I don’t know how to sound design? How is it going to end? But then everything just all aligned and I found answers to these questions soon enough.
I knew since the start of the year I wanted to make a more thoughtful piece that would envoke emotion and I think I have achieved this with this project as well as raising awareness for men’s suicide which has always been a thing I’ve noticed noone talks about. I didn’t know how common it was in men under 45 until someone told me a couple years ago and I was shocked to hear it was one of the primary killers in men.
I’m really happy with how it turned out although there are a few things I would tweak that noone else would notice. What I like about this short film is the sound design, I’m happy with how the visuals match the sound like when it switches to a shot of the sink and the colours are darker the sound kind of becomes more reverbed like you’re in a small room. I also like the colour grade and how it gradually gets colder and weaker as the film goes on. I’m also really happy with the actor to be honest I think I cast him well but also he did a great job pulling off the emotions through small movements that I wouldn’t have thought to do. I like the lighting and camera positioning in a lot of the shots like the bathroom and kitchen scenes. I really like how in the bathroom scene the edges are kind of out of focus which gives a cool effect. I also think some of the transitions are decent like the end where the car or bus comes across the screen quickly to cut to black and the end words I like as well how they appear and then all disappear like the man in the film.
I’ve learnt a lot of new skills during this process primarily based on the production itself as well as post production. I’ve never had to film other actors before and so this was all new to me trying to make sure the actor and actresses are happy and know what they are doing. My main point was to try and get as many takes as possible so I had a lot of choice later on in the editing section. I’ve learnt more about pre production as well as I really had to think ahead about how I wanted the day to go and what needed to be done. I also had to make sure the camera was ready and charged the night before. One skill I learnt was how to book camera equipment out of media loans which will be helpful for the future. Another skill I learnt was how to sound design using Audition. I found this really difficult but I’ve picked up a new software now and it’s great the things you can do with it. Cinematography is another skill I feel I’ve developed because every shot I knew how I wanted to shoot it so that it could be edited in post. I’ve also learnt a bit more about the Davinci Resolve software so I feel more confident using that in the future.
There are a few things I thing this film could improve on to make it even better. One thing I’d change is maybe for the office scenes shoot in an actual office and maybe sample real sounds from an office so I didn’t have to find them online and they fit the scene more. Another problem I have is a problem with the warp stabiliser at one part in the film when he wakes up, the pillow kind of distorts but you can’t really tell because he moves his head so it isn’t too bad. Another thing I kind of have a problem with is the fact that it is a bit student-y because of the locations and just how some things were shot. I was trying so hard to make it not like a student film though.
There was a few challenges I faced during this. One thing is that on the shooting day I found I got so nervous at telling people what to do and I felt so underprepared even though the actors somehow knew what I was trying to say sometimes they’d just be like what do you want me to do? and I wouldn’t know how to say it more simple. I think I realised I don’t really like being a director because I’d tell people to do things and in my head I would know how it would look but when they did it it wouldn’t look right so I didn’t know how to word things. I think I need to improve on that. Another challenge was on the day the battery kept running out and right at the end of the day the SD card was full right as I was shooting the last bus scene. Luckily I just got it but that worried me. Another problem was the night before shooting I thought I couldn’t import videos from the camera so I was really stressed out but I emailed Geraint and he helped. I also found that the sound design was really hard to do, a lot harder than I thought so this took up a lot of time.
I think overall because I managed my time quite well and got the shots done on the day and didn’t have to do any retakes apart from one bus scene, it turned out really well. I think in the end I did meet my aim because I really did develop my film making skills and enjoyed doing it along the way. It was actually so fun to do this project as much anxiety it caused me, it didn’t matter I really love editing I’ve come to realise and I want to learn more techniques to help improve it. A big thing for me is transitions, I want to find better ways to transition between scenes. I don’t like using the transitions built into premiere I want to learn how to do more in camera transitions. I also think I achieved my aim because I made visuals to a piece of music that I think needed visuals to support the storyline. I also improved my colour grading skills because this really pushed that boundary for me. So overall I’m happy with the final film and I’m really glad it focuses on a good cause of raising awareness.