Creation of a Short Film : A Very Very Rough Cut...

So in order to gain some feedback from my peers I have created an extremely rough cut of my film. This is without the end credits or the music but by showing my class, I shall be able to gain feedback and adjust any changes to the actual shots before incorporating music. 

 

 

My class friends, viewed my rough cut on the projector and filled out audience research sheets, where they could not only give me feedback but also an estimated level at the moment and score, here is a table which I have created of the feedback :

 

	Mark	Level	Positives	Negatives
1	24 out of 40	Level Three (24-31)	I liked the snow and think it really set the scene and added an extra element to the film This is an original plot and I really liked it	The tags were a little bit unreadable
2	27 out of 40	Level Three (24-31)	Variety of shots is great Acting and plotline is seamless, very believable and realistic Bench shot from behind is framed very well Love the concept of the film
3	30 out of 40	Level Three (24-31)	I liked that you set it in London The concept was effective and unusual	Couldn’t read the label at the beginning A bit of wind noise
4	30 out of 40	Level Three (24-31)	The locations are great, the business of the city works well with the them and creates some great visuals I love the concept	Sounds needs some work but with music shall be much better
5	27 out of 40	Level Three (24-31)	A nice concept Nice variety of shots and angles A and promising start	Idea was a little bit confusing Thank about colour correcting some of the shots
6	28 out of 40	Level Three (24-31)	Great ideas loved it	Sometimes bit unrealistic footwear in the weather conditions Sound of wind needs addressing Maybe a different ending as a bit of an unnecessary shot
7	31 out of 40	Level Three (24-31)	Good and effective titling I like the variety of shots and angles Clear concept and idea Love the locations Love ending of holding hands
8	33 out of 40	Level Four (32-40)	Great variety of shots Such an individual and creative idea Really engaging, especially with character and narrative structure Great and interesting locations
9	32 out of 40	Level Four (32-40)	Good framing Liked the idea was very realistic	Lack of narrative sometimes a bit mixed and bit uninteresting
Average	29.11 out of 40	Level Three (24-31)

 

The Summaries Of My Film

 

After we had done a "big but not quite as big as the final cut" screening of our short films, we completed a small task in order to gain an understanding of how out potential audience understood our short film, as after all for example if I had created a horror film and my audience summarised it as a romantic comedy I would have to seriously analyse my footage in order to think of ways in which I could quickly add or change my film to ensuring that the correct message in conveyed to the audience. I must admit I was a little nervous about this task, as I feel that purposefully I have created a rather though provoking film, that means that it is open to different interpretations from the audience however was also interested to see what understanding they would have gained from my film and was pleasantly surprised that all the one sentence summaries were similar and all matched my own summary of my film (a yippee and a big sigh of relief from me as a director followed this!). I have written below the summaries which I received, in order to help you make your own summary of my short film :

Summary One : A girl on a journey through finding notes in shoes. She experiences other peoples walks of life when she finds another pair of shoes

Summary Two : Considers how a person is reflected by the shoes they wear - where they belong and the quality and stage of their life

Summary Three : About a journey of a woman and the path of her life and the shoes that she wears accordingly

Summary Four : Was about how different shoes affect different lives

Summary Five : A girl who finds shoes around her normal day and through that finds love

Summary Six : Film was about being in someone elses shoes and seeing the world this way

Summary Seven : Alice's film is about the journey of a woman and how the shoes she wears change in the day foreshadowing different settings and locations

Summary Eight : Misses her train and goes on an adventure collecting shoes along the way

Summary Nine : Following a girl around London where a male keep appearing and leaving shoes for her

Creation of a Short Film : Editing : After Effects...

My film is starting to come together (at long last!), and with my music in the good hands of Alex to compose for me I have decided to start focusing on my title sequence. I decided that as I feel that last year I was able to create a successful and professional looking title sequence on After Effects I would use the same programme for my A2 project (also making sure that all the hard work James put into teaching us about the programme did not go to waste!), and in turn export them to premier pro over layering my title onto my first shot and putting the main credits at the end of my film. Similar to how I have reviewed examples of others short films in order to develop an idea of what elements come together to create a successful short film, I also review these examples in order to gain an idea of what to include in my credits, below is an example of one film called 'Munro' and all the different titles that are included within this film.



Start : BBC film network and Scottish film present. In association with lighthouse arts and training. A cask production
One Minute Into Film : Munro
End : Written and directed by. Produced by. Actors. Director of photography. Sound recordists. Casting director. 1st assistant director. Location manager. Production designer. Art director. Costume designer. Make-up designer. Focus puller. Camera loader. Gaffer. Continuity. Production manager. 3rd assistant director. Assistant director. Boom up. Ward rope assistant. Trainee. Art dept assistant. Editor. Original music composed by. Stills. Camera and lighting equipment. Film stock. Film processing. Offline edit. Titles and artwork. Post production. Colourist. Online editor. Sound dubbing studio. Dialogue editor. Fx editor. Re-recording mixer. Executive producer. Filmed on location at. Accommodation. Special thanks to

I have decided that by drawing on my research, to follow the convention of many of the short films that are published on the BBC film networks of just having the title of the production company rather than an ident, also due to my times I have gained enough footage to not need to create a long ident to make it up to five minutes. Below is an image of the creation of this on 'After Effects' :

I am also going to have my title at the start of the film, and similar to 'Munro' I am going to overlay it on top of one of my shots. I am also going to have the end credits instead of having titles throughout my short film, as I feel that this will ensure that my piece is seen as a short film rather than an opening to a feature length film.

Creation of a Short Film : Editing : Premier-Pro...

So now after at long last we have finally returned from our what I call out 'snow holiday' I can finally start the long and I'm sure going to be at times tedious jobs at editing my footage together in order to create a film to a degree which I am happy with. Similar to my AS piece I used the programme 'Premier Pro' for my main piece of editing, this I feel was a better programme to use than windows media which I have on my home computer as although meant I was only able to edit at school, it is a more technical editing software and allowed me to edit with using a variety of lawyer which is crucial to being able to add non-digentic music alongside my digentic sound and titles over my initial footage.

Looking back on my AS piece I feel that I incorporated the cross-dissolve effect to much, therefore I was very careful to ensure that I limited the amounts of special effects I used between cuts. I decided to use a dissolve to black between the street walking scene and the tube scene, as this is a completely contrasting location, however between the tube and the park scene and the park and bridge scene I incorporated the cross-dissolve effect as I wanted to create a more dream like feel, also by involving this transition the footage was slowed down which matched the protagonist characters life being slowed down and her eyes opened to new experiences. With my film however I made the choice not to manipulate the footage drastically (example = changing the lighting or colour)  as I wanted to create a natural and realistic feel, although following a fictional character I wanted it to feel as if the audience was following a real woman's life. Below is a video of my initial stage of editing, whereby I had put my shots together, cut them at an appropriate place in order to ensure that unless deliberate the shots are not much longer than three seconds long and created a rough order for my film.

Creation of a Short Film : Getting Ready To Edit...

So after my very adventurous weekend of filming (please see below post for a bedtime watch of  'The adventures of a video camera'!), I am very pleased to say that I have all my footage and now is just the long and hopefully only slightly stressful job of editing it all together to hopefully come out with my short film 'Moments'. Although the downfall of snow, has prevented me from starting my editing (although I am not going to complain at having a few very fun snow days), I am planning on having a day tomorrow where quite possible I shall feel glued to my chair as I face a full day of media, media, media. In preparation for my editing I have been researching existing short films on the 'BBC Film Networks' and 'Virgin Media Shorts' in order to see what the layout is for short films, what is the common point for the title, whether there is any title sequences or whether it is just credits at the end, and whether there is a production logo at the start.

PRODUCTION INDENT

Similar to when we created the two minute opening of a feature length film for our AS production, whereby we had to create a indent for our production company for the start of the film through my research I have seen that the films distributed on BBC Short Film Networks include their own production indents, in the short film 'Two and Two' (shown in the image) rather than using an indent picture, the company name is just written however by including a slate board like back ground, and a handwriting style font this adds to the school theme and has inspired me that an image can be created without actually using pictures. I am unsure whether I shall create a new production indent for my company 'Seaside Productions' or incorporate the indent which I created last year which I feel was one of my strongest pieces I created last year as one says the possibilities are endless however here is my past logo just as a reminder!

THE TITLE

Unlike many of our two minute openings whereby our title was incorporated towards the end of the sequence, for many short films I have researched such as 'Two and Two' the title in incorporated at the the very start of the film this is a convention that I am planning on incorporating in my short film, I am also looking into how on after effects I can create the title sequence whereby it looks as if a pen is writing the title. However through further research on 'Virgin Media Shorts', I came across the short film 'Time' which goes again convention, by incorporating the title at the end of the film, this ensures that tension is built and the title is incorporate as a climax to the film which I particularly thought was very effective.

END CREDITS 

For a feature length film the main title sequence is incorporated throughout the opening, such as for Juno in the first two minutes the title sequence involves the actors, casting by, costume designer, music and songs, supervisors co-producers, editors, production designer, director of photography, produced by, written by and directed by. However for the short films which I researched I learnt that it is the end credits where these key names are introduced. therefore through the use of After Effects I shall create the sequence at the end of my piece, I feel that this will ensure that the audience know that my piece is a short film rather than an opening to a feature length film.

Creation of a Short Film : The Title...

One aspect of the film I have found hard is trying to create a title for my short, this was mostly because my film I feel incorporates a number of different elements which I could draw upon for my title. Therefore in order to create my title I have also researched the actual function of a film title, the prime function obviously is to identify the film, without this initial identification the film would be unable to be promoted, therefore it should be easily remembered and catching. However also the title had a function of guiding how the audience interpretates the film either by stressing on a specific point of view or by giving an specific aspect of the film. Originally I had the idea of 'Life Captured' or 'Capturing Moments' however as my idea has developed and progressed to focusing on one protagonist character rather than a number of non-fictional characters, I feel that these titles are not so relevant or employ the correct interpretation I want to be given to the audience of my film. However as my film is after all created for my audience I plan to put forward my few film title ideas to my fellow class mates, in order to get there opinion on which title I should employ.

The main two ideas I shall put forward for my film title is 'Lables' and 'Moments'. The reason why I chose the title 'Labels, is firstly that we are all expected to fill the shoes of the label of which we have acquired from society, however by breaking the boundaries my protagonists characters eyes were open up to the true reality of London, and how there is life behind the business sector of the big city. The definition which I found of the term 'Label' is :
la-bel
1. Noun : A small piece of paper, fabric, plastic or similar material attached to an object and giving information about it
2. Verb : Attach a label to someone
My second idea was 'Moments' the reason why I chose this title, is how many of us live our lives in motion, we take the small moments for granted and living life for every week rather than for every moment. My protagonist characters eyes are open to these small moments of bliss within London, all the moments that many who live and work in the big city take for granted. The definition which I found for the term 'Moment' is :
mo-ment
1. A very brief period of time
2. An exact point in time
3. A particular period of importance, influence or significance in a series of developments

Creation of a Short Film : The Big Filming Weekend : London Here I Come...

It is very typical that snow comes at the precisely wrong moment for me, first two exams to battle the elements in order to attend but off course most important (maybe not tell my other teachers that!) my big filming weekend that I had planned in London. Luckily having checked the weather forecast that snow was going to fall at lunchtime today (and not wanting to have the issue that we all faced on Tuesday of getting stranded) I set off earlier than planned and the trains ran very smoothly (so if a website says 25 minute delay don't lose faith its not always true!). So I am now safe and sound in London ready for my next two days of plenty of filming, seeing the sites and off course a lovely catch up with my brother! I am going to create a video afterwards of my reflections of the days filming, what I did, what issues occurred and overall how I felt it went!

 

Below I have created a photo collage (not only showing another element of media skills but also getting in some needed practice for creating an effective layout of images which is a crucial skill for my ancillary task) demonstrating the weekend of filming in visual context from the costumes my actors wore, to the props needed on the shoot, to the labels and signs and finally to the flat scene where we ate alot of bran flakes, all in all a great weekend full of lots of laughs, lots of cup of teas and lots of snow!

 



Creation of a Short Film : Characters Costumes...

As my film is a silent film, alongside the music the visual elements are of great importance and one element of the mise-en-scene which is the costumes is one of those visual aspects that I put great thought into. Below are my two main characters in the costumes of which I chose for their characters to wear, as within my film the time scale is just a single day I did not have to use a range of costumes which made it a littler more easier and meant I could put more time into choosing these pacific outfits. Below is a break down of the costumes of which I chose :

Jenny Harper's Costume

Black floral dress. Black waistband. Black cardie. Black opaque tights. 



This is the outfit I chose for the character of Jenny played by Hannah. Jenny herself at the start of the film, is living a typical day to day life of which consits of 9 to 5 office job within the heart of London. I therefore needed to have a costume that demonstrated this role, however during the film she discovers shoes different shoes which open her eyes to a new way of living, and makes her reflect on her own happiness so I also needed an outfit that was adaptable and would also look right with a variety of different shoes. I chose the floral dress, it is one that my actress Hannah actually wears for work of which she works within an office environment, and put it together with black opaque tights and a black cardie overall I feel creating the visual image of a working female, yet by using the floral dress also demonstrates to the audience that the character also has a more softer and delicate side to her personality. Within my film one of the most important objects for her costume is the shoes which she comes across and wears. To start with I chose navy high heels, highlighting the business woman my second shoes which I used for the park location were light brown vintage brogues and the third pair of shoes which was used for the bridge location was plain flat black pumps.

Liam Wood's Costume

Dark navy chinos. Navy coat. Orange scarf

 

This outfit I chose for the character of Liam played by Edward. Liam is the mysterious male, that provokes questions arising within the audiences mind as to whether he is the one leaving the shoes, whether him and Jenny know each other, what the relationship between the two are. I decided to use navy as the main base colour, and by adding the orange scarf added a splash of colour and individuality to the character. By using navy as well it is not the same as the main colour scheme of black and white for the character of Jenny, however there is an element of foreshadowing as it the use of navy ties the male character to the female character through the use of her first navy shoes.