Drama: Reflective Evaluation and Final Cuts

Watching our film in the presentation highlighted a few factors that I personally would change and what I was and wasn’t happy about during the pre-production and production. The film itself is not what we initially intended to produce; due to a lack of scheduling and unavailability of actresses, the film had to be changed dramatically. The original idea was for the main protagonist, Emily, to have lost her hearing, see the doctor several times and meet the deaf girl Sam. With the complications that occurred, the film had to be stripped to the basic backbone of the narrative, which in my opinion worked in the final edit but was not what we had originally wanted to do.

The strengths of our film is that we managed to show the use of emotion via visual aspects; with sharp focus, shallow depth of field, accurate and visually pleasing locations we managed to highlight the emotions of the main protagonist with clean professional style footage. I feel this helps hold the interest of the audience by being visually pleasing to control the audience perspective of what we want to show, the emotion.

The weaknesses I feel that is present in this film is the lack of a strong flowing narrative. Although each shot and scene reveals key information, the film tends to jump through time without really flowing or connecting these factors to the point it gets a little confusing. As well as some key factors was not shown such as how Emily met Sam.

The group came up with several strong narratives for this project but we decided to go with Ellie’s idea of a young girl that suddenly loses her hearing and is left completely deaf and how he copes with it. We felt this was a strong and interesting idea. We started working on the paperwork dividing the pre-production work between us fairly based on who had what role in the group.

When we first started filming for the 2 minute only half the production work was done as the member of our team that was the producer was meant to have our schedules for filming sorted but it wasn’t. The rest of us took the initiative to contact and work with the actresses ourselves. This resulting in a rushed production for the two minute but that resulted in a strong film although the producer did not show up for the shoot.

We then moved on to do the 5-10 minute film and found out the same situation had occurred with the producer not provided the work they was meant to. When we contacted the actresses for their schedule we found out that they had no clue about the days we was meant to film and had to back out due to them having their own deadlines. We were forced to act in our own due to of the lack of scheduling and communication. We had to rewrite the narrative for this film as we did not have the time, actors/actresses or locations to create the original narrative. Instead we had to strip the narrative to its bare fundamentals, which turned out to be a collection of scenes with key points that in my personal opinion did not flow as good as it could have done. With less than half a week to film and edit myself, Ellie and Brendan worked extremely hard long days to film and edit the production with a disturbing amount of lack of sleep. This resulted in me having shakes due to lack of energy. I am proud of the final edit although I am also disheartened that it wasn’t what we initially strived to achieve.

As the producer was also our sound editor we trusted them to get the work done and they didn’t show up for any shooting apart from one night which was scrapped due to her private schedule. Sadly with little effort and excuses they did little work and Brendan had to deal with the problem himself.  We managed to get the film edited in time but had issues with the export, which left us exporting in the presentation and was forced to present last.

This project has allowed me to work under extreme pressure in terms of reasonability and time management by myself and within my team. I feel that I have improved my skills to work in a team as well as my putting into practice my editing and cinematography skills to produce a clean, professional looking film.  I believe this has help my employability as it has provided me with a visually strong film to add to my portfolio and is evidence of everything going wrong every step of the way through production yet with hard work and dedication from amazing team members you can create something really good.

Final Cuts

Aid. (2 Minute Short)



Aid. (2 Minute Short) from Liam Atkinson on Vimeo.


Aid. (5-10 Minute Short)


Aid. (5-10 Minute Short) from Eleanor Hague on Vimeo.

Drama: Aid. - Pre-Production and Post-Production Documents

Pre-Production (2 Minute Short)

• Treatment
  Myself and Ellie co-wrote the treatment for the 2 Minute Short.
• Outline
  Myself and Ellie wrote the outline together for this 2 Minute short based off the treatment.
• Notes on Style
  Me and Ellie co-wrote the notes and ideas of the cinematography and editing style as well as notes on the style of the sound in collaboration with Brendan.

Pre-Production (5-10 Minute Short)

• Treatment
  Ellie wrote the majority of the treatment for the 5-10 Minute Short and I write the last section titled 'Analysis of Approach'.
• Aid. - Script
  Myself, Ellie and Brendan co-wrote the script for the 5-10 Minute short film 'Aid.'.
• Notes on Style
  Me and Ellie co-wrote the notes and ideas of the cinematography and editing style as well as notes on the style of the sound in collaboration with Brendan.

Production and Post-Production

Production Props

• Doctor's Letter - Prop

Technical Details

• Production and Post-Production Equipment List for the 2 Minute Short 
  After discussing the equipment needed for this production, I made a list of the equipment needed for the shoot. I booked out the camera and lighting equipment and Brendan booked out the sound equipment.
• Production and Post-Production Equipment List for the 5-10 Minute Short
  After discussing the equipment needed for this production, I made a list of the equipment needed for the shoot. I booked out the camera and lighting equipment and Brendan booked out the sound equipment.

Drama: Text Analysis - Directing: Film Techniques and Aesthetics (Book)

I am using ‘Directing: Film Techniques and Aesthetic’ written by Michael Rabiger and Mick Hurbis-Cherrier, to analyse for preparation for our short film because the chapter on Post production could greatly benefit me as an editor.  This book explains the different roles in the post production team and what each one does. 

“Postproduction is the phase in which the sound and picture gathered in production are transformed into the film seen by the audience.” (Hurbis-Cherrier & Rabiger, 2013, p. 417)

As an editor I will work with the director to construct a director’s cut of a film by building the film from raw footage shot during the production stage. The book talks about how a ‘good editor is patient, highly organized, willing to experiment endlessly...’  (Hurbis-Cherrier & Rabiger, 2013, p. 418) and to be diplomatic when it comes to getting his or hers way in the editing process. The problem that most editors face is trying to edit the footage to match what the screenplay and the director wants but can struggle to achieve this goal if the raw footage itself doesn’t support the events in the screenplay itself. This is when an editor must use his or hers best judgement to edit the film to the best of their abilities to get the film as close as they can to the desired cut.

The book also states ‘Editors can be private and uncommunicative while at work, obsessed with detail, and unable to leave well enough alone. The film industry saying, “Never trust an editor with a tan,” implies that good editors seldom leave their work.’ (Hurbis-Cherrier & Rabiger, 2013, p. 418) This means that a good editor will not leave his or hers work till the film in finished to perfection / the directors choice. Editors are obsessed with the fine details of the edit and will be so into their work they will end up cutting off the outside work till the film is done. On one hand this shows dedication and focus in working style, which I find I do myself. Although good communication is needed between the editor and the director to achieve the look, temp and structure that is desired for the film.

The communication between directors and editors is so important that good editors will get preferred by directors and will accompany them from film to film. Between these two roles will come forth a unique style to a film that will burn their essence in to the audiences mind. For example, Tim Burton and Christopher John  Lebenzon work together on almost every film together and has a strong working relationship. Sometimes during smaller productions, roles have to be doubled up and having to not only direct the production but to also edit during the post-production stage when you are worn out and even depressed after the grilling hour and effort of shooting the film can be very stressful.

This book has a lot of information that I find personally interesting about the role of editor and even several roles in the pre-production and post-production roles. This book will help me via my next projects as it will help me to clearly understand the roles on the teams and what is needed to become a great worker within these roles no matter the production I am working on.

Bibliography

• Hurbis-Cherrier, M., & Rabiger, M. (2013). Directing: Film Techniques and Aesthetics. Taylor and Francis.

Drama: Film Analysis - Feature and Short Film

Feature Film - Hush (2016)

‘Hush’ (2016) directed by Mike Flanagan, is a Horror/Thriller feature film about a deaf writer that lives in a small house in the woods to live a quite life and possibly write her next book. Late one night a masked killer finds his way to her house and she must survive by fighting him in silence. I personally feel that this film is must watch for 2016 as it has some great aspects which current and future filmmakers can learn from. For example, the soundscape used for this film is unique as it uses the aspect of deafness to make an interesting perspective of the main protagonist (Maddie, played by Kate Siegel). It feels like there is an extra layer to the sound of this film; obviously as filmmaker we want super crisp clean sound for our films but ‘Hush’ as this deeper world of sound, which highlights every factor of the mise-en-scene. This seems clever when placed next to the sound design used for the main protagonist’s perspective as everything seems muffled with a low-pass filter to create nothing but bass tones with a deep humming noise.

This noise in my opinion, creates this effect on my ears that in my mind makes me feel like I am in a bubble that is blocking the sounds around me. It feels like I can feel the vibrations of the sounds that my mind is trying to decode but I am not actually hearing it. This is an interesting effect that adds real sense of perspective that will integrate the audience in to the story on a much deeper level.

The use of the voice in her head gives a good way for us to not only hear the main protagonist but to help build her character profile and get a sense of her mind set. The many voices overlapping in her mind could represent the struggles she faces with sound and how she was able to hear before (hence the voice sounding like her mother) and how she now lives in a world of pure silence. This helps her further on in the film when she faces the masked killer but helping her figure out the best course of action to take; we see each possible scenarios which she conjures up in her of what might happen.

I feel this film has inspired me greatly for my own projects; the soundscape creates another level of storytelling which I feel is needed in a narrative that involves the main protagonist to be a hearing disability. I will definitely try to recreate these effects in my own work as well as adding my own twist on them. I also like the use of colour grading in ‘Hush’; the use of blue, orange and green in cold flat tones really created a natural soft look to the footage but still keeping the mood and narrative of the film in the essence of the colour tones. I will like to create the same effect within my own work.

Short Film - This Is Normal (2013)

‘This Is Normal’ (2013) directed by Justin Giddings and Ryan Welsh is a 20 minute short drama based on a young woman named Gwen (Ryann Turner). Gwen is deaf and has decided to have a medical procedure called ‘Cochlear Regeneration’ to regain her hearing. This short film follows Gwen’s journey from deafness to medical procedure to hearing again. The film also highlights the strain and benefits of her relationships with friends, family and her partner before, during and after the procedure. She then has to come to terms with the result as it isn’t what she was expecting and how she gets to hear her sister sing for the first time in her life. We see how people can be ignorant with the understanding of being deaf via her mother and an interesting twist with how her boyfriend feels about her getting the procedure. He himself is deaf and we learn he went to a deaf school, when Gwen went to a normal school. This creates a strain on their relationship as she feels along as she hasn’t had the right support with her deafness when he grew up in a school that is built around supporting him. He feels angry and cheated that she went behind his back to get tested and feels like she is leaving him behind by getting the procedure. This is interesting as we see someone with the same disability feel negative about someone he loves improving her life for the better as he feels that they are normal and do not need changing.

This film uses some good techniques to get the audience emotionally involved in the narrative and the main protagonist’s (Gwen) feelings. With heavy use of American Sign Language (ASL) at the beginning of the film, this is shown with subtitles to allow the audience to be involved in the conversations of the deaf characters. Also unique use of blurring words in the subtitles in the language the main protagonist is reading herself shows an interesting perspective. As the main protagonist is deaf and uses hearing aids to amplify her hearing ability as well as using the skill of lip reading, the blurring Subtitles on key words help us understand and learn with the main protagonist herself. As she is guessing what words mean and what is being said, we as the audience feel the same as we cannot see the word but assume due to the context what it is.

This film influenced my ideas as I love the use of subtitles within this film via speed, delivery and event the use of font to create emotion via the subtitles. Also, the way the narrative progresses is very soft and fluent with time jumps. This creates a nice flow for the audience to process the aspects and techniques used to communicate the emotions and situations. This film has a narrative relating to the narrative of our own film and will be the key inspiration to our final product as it shows a real and truthful perspective on this situation.

Bibliography

• Flanagan, M. (Director). (2016). Hush [Motion Picture].

• Giddings, J., & Welsh, R. (Directors). (2013). This Is Normal [Motion Picture].

Drama Evaluation and Final Cut

Evaluation (Drama)

Before this module, I have worked on several of my own films but with a small production crew of two to three people. I knew how to frame a shot and how to use editors but this project put all my knowledge to the test. Working in a group of seven with specific roles was a good experience for me to work with a large group of people on the same projects. Delegating work depended on key roles, which helped me focus on my role and to get the best performance from myself, my crew and actors. This module gave me the chance to try directing, which I found difficult. During the middle of this production, me and phil decided that because he wrote the script and I have more knowledge on editing that we would divide the roles of director and editor between us when needed. Phil would brief the actors and I would direct them on their performance, in regards to editing I would focus my time on colour correction, colour grading, re-framing and visual effects for titles and credits. This make workflow twice as fast and effective on set and in post. The first shoot on 13th April 2016 went well and we got some good shots. We edited the footage and after we created a rough cut and got feedback from our lecture, we did not get positive feedback so we discussed re-shooting. This disheartened the group but also gave us the mindset to make this film to the best of our abilities. We filmed the missing scenes on 27th April 2016 and we got some really good shots and performances from the actors and actresses. We then became ahead of schedule so we decided to redress the room and re-shoot the first two scenes we shot with better set design and lighting. After we got the footage in post, it was clear that re-shooting was the best idea we could have done as the footage came out perfect compared to the first shoot. The film was a challenged to edit as we filmed the entire film and finished the basic structure and colour correction and colour grade in less than 16 hours. After Phil finished the final rough cut, Brody got to work on the sound design that included clean dialogue, background noise, sound effects and music which really blend all the elements of the film together and gave a professional feel to the film. The film does have a few minor audio hiccups and the colour grade doesn't fully match in places due to the camera not being white balanced accurately in some shots, but overall the film came out better then we expected. Everyone worked extremely well together, the actors and actresses was amazing and done exactly what we wanted and this created a fast and smooth workflow. As stressful as this task has been, I have really enjoyed myself and I am extremely proud to what I would say is our best work yet.

Evaluation (Creative Development Project Realisation Module)

At the beginning of this module I had a basic understanding of Documentary and Drama film, but minuscule knowledge of experimental film. With Experimental film task I have learnt what a sound-scape is and the many approaches available for experimental film. I feel that the idea of mental health and the mental space of people with mental health was a very good subject to base the experimental on. I also feel that the technical approaches to my film was initially a good idea, although I feel that the execution of the technical approaches was slightly off the mark and decreased the quality of the overall product. This is also applied to the sound-scape for the film and has taught me to test ideas and research intensely before starting the main production.

In regards to the documentary task of this module, I feel I have learnt how to frame and light an interview accurately to create a well lit and composed mid shot. I also have learnt how to structure a documentary in terms of its narrative arch and how to deal with contributors on and off camera to a professional standard which will stay with me for the rest of my career. This task has also shown me the important to pay attention to sound; this is referring to the external non-synced sound and the backup of internal synced camera sound. The most important thing I have learnt from this task is to work with my group as professionally and fairly by sticking to roles and delegating the work accordingly to the roles of the crew. I have also personally learnt to take a step back and let my group grow via peer and self development on learning new skills.

For the final task, the drama, I have learnt the importance of time management. With an extremely short period of time to write, shoot and edit this production, I now know the impact team work, time management and dedication has on a production. We struggled to get actors at first but through expanding our connections to external casting agencies, we managed to find two actors that have been extremely flexible with the minimal time to shoot. This also creates further connections via word of mouth to other actors and actresses and has produced contacts for future projects. This project has been the biggest project of the module and year but the scale of the crew and sourcing external actors, alongside external locations separate to the university. I have also learnt to work with my group on a bigger scale; as my role was director, I had to co-ordinate the cast and crew through every shot and every line for the film to get the best shots and performance for the production. I found this particularly hard as I have never directed to this scale before, let alone properly. I now feel confident that I direct future projects with a wider understanding of the role and how it interacts with the other roles of the production team.

The Final Cut - The Stage [Short Drama]


The Stage [Short Drama] from Liam Atkinson on Vimeo.

Feedback Reflection and Progress Update

Feedback Reflection

After our one to one meeting with our lecture in regards to the rough cut for our drama. We found that the background for the shots was to plain and needed better set design to create a realistic set for the mise-en-scene. This also counts for the lighting; the lighting differs from shot to shot and even though this problem is correctable in post, re-shooting would be a better solution in regards to the other problems.The actor and actress's performance was slightly stiff and very theatre styled. 


The conclusion to this one to one was to re-shoot these scenes with better set design, lighting and a more colourful performance from the actors.

Progress Update

After a group discussion, we decided to film the remaining scenes to finish the drama. We plan to shoot on 27th April 2016 at Francesca's house. We also plan to record the film non-sync and Brody will design ambient sound, sound effects, sound transitions and music to fit the scene and give the film a level of depth and emotion. If we become a head of schedule we will re-shoot scenes 2 and 4 with better lighting, set design and a better performance from actors and actresses.

Drama Progress Update / Planning Documentation

Drama Progress

On 13th April 2016, our production crew filmed scenes 2 and 4 at our first location (Francesca's House) and partly filmed scenes 1 and 5 for the theatre shots at the Marvin Theatre. The shoot took around 6 hours starting at 10:30 am  and finishing around 4:30 pm. Here are some photos from behind the scenes.

Current Footage

After filming on the 13th April, we create a rough cut of the footage to show in our progress one to one meeting with out lecturer. The rough cut was a simple edit to show the order of the footage. The rough cut for this drama can be seen below.


The Stage Rough Cut from Phillip Cullen on Vimeo.

I also created a quick mock-up of the Letterbox Framing (Ratio 1.85:1), Colour Correction and Colour Grade. This is an example edit for the potential post-production factors for the final edit. This example can be seen below.


The Stages [CC & Frame TEST] from Liam Atkinson on Vimeo.

Production Documentation

(Each document was delegate to the crew member in the relevant production role.)

• Casting Pro-forma - Liam/Phil
• Shooting Schedual (13/04/16) - Joe
• Crew & Cast Contact List - Joe
• Location Release Form (Marvin Theatre) - Joe
• Performers Release Form (Ethan) - Joe
• Performers Release Form (Dr.Yates) - Joe
• Shot List - Dave
• Sound List - Josh
• Equipment list - Liam
• Scene Blocking - Scene 2 & 4 (Therapy Room Location) - Liam
• Script - Phil