PRODUCING SHORT FILMS

EVALUATION

ISAAC SHARP

STAGE 1 – INDIVIDUAL EVALUATIONON THE FOLLOWING SLIDES I UNDERTAKE MY INDIVIDUAL EVALUATION OF MY SHORT FILM AND ITS PRODUCTION

FITNESS FOR PURPOSEFor my short film, I was given complete freedom with the content of my piece, meaning I did not have to work to the requirements of a strict brief. The only requirement was that the film could only make use of a single camera at one time. Instead, I set myself a guideline to work to. All of my previous works have tried to be comedic, with the humour being recognisable as my style, even if they are not of the comedy genre. For my next work, I knew it had to be another comedy piece, with my style of humour throughout. I started the scriptwriting process very early on, with assistance from Amy Jones, giving me a good basis to work with.

I planned for my short film to be viewable for children as well as teenagers, although in order to make the film suitable for a young audience, I would need to reshoot one of the final scenes, where actor Dom Brooks accidentally swore in the take I decided to use.

I researched comedy productions that might be considered similar, such as Nash Edgerton’s “Spider”, and I was able to make my film completely different to all of these works.

STAGE 1 Q1

COMPARED TO ORIGINAL INTENTIONSMy film, Watch Your Step, tells the life story of a spider who was raised from being a baby into a college student, who would eventually get married, before being stepped on by teenagers. I stuck to this idea precisely, and used every single line of dialogue that I had scripted. The scenes were comedic, as I had planned. However, there were a few miscellaneous details that I had to change. I was expecting the film to be a short 4-5 minute piece, but the final version was a whole nine minutes in length.

As mentioned before, Watch Your Step was originally aimed toward a younger audience, specifically 11-15, but the inclusion of a swear word bumps up the target audience somewhat. In the planning stages, I expected the film to use a single piece of music throughout, as a flashback typically does, but I later decided that it required a variety of music tracks for greater effect.

I wanted the film to give messages that some audience members may interpret. An example of a message that people can interpret is “perhaps the life of an insect should be treated in the same way as the life of a human”.

STAGE 1 Q2

EFFECTIVENESS OF TECHNIQUESPerhaps something that drags Watch Your Step down is a lack of effects, or innovative camerawork. Most of the transitions in the finished piece were fade-to-blacks, as I found it fitting for flashbacks, and it helped to transition into a scene with a completely different mood to the last.

The biggest use of special effects was during the shots where Uncouth Youth A crushes spider. Before landing on the spider, the footage and sound would enter slow-motion, delaying the inevitable fate of the spider. Throughout the single shot, the visuals would also become more and more grey, which required me to make use of keyframing. I was satisfied with how this looked and sounded, particularly the sound of the shoe hitting the floor.

The scene where Spider has a phone call with his father also allowed me to learn more about sound editing. I manipulated Father’s speech to sound like it was coming out of a mobile phone, which sounded realistic, even if it made the speech somewhat quiet.

STAGE 1 Q3

TECHNICAL QUALITIESThe camerawork is a weak point of Watch Your Step, as it is very basic. Most shots are stills, and if they are not, there will only be a slight zoom or pan. The reason for this is that most of the film was shot by myself and Amy, with no other crewmembers. As we both act in the film, one of us would have to set up the shot by ourselves, and then move into the frame. This meant that the camera had to stay stationary, and we could not place ourselves perfectly. Occasionally, we would enlist the help of a cameraman such as Kaleem Abdallah or Rowan Thornhill, giving us more freedom in these shots.

I believe that the music choices in Watch Your Step were very appropriate for the scenes using them, particularly “Mother 3 Love Theme” during the romance montage. However, a film’s soundtrack is always more credible if the music was composed for the film itself, so this would be a way to improve.

The sound editing itself was successful, and I learned a lot from it. I was taught how to remove the hissing noise that a lot of shots contain, and reduce wind noise. My film sounded a whole lot more professional once I had removed the hissing and reduced the wind noise, even though this could sometimes affect the sound quality or make tracks quieter.

STAGE 1 Q4

CREATIVE/ARTISTIC QUALITIESIn my personal brief, I intended to make the film humourous through my own personal ways, giving it an auteurist stamp. I believe I have done this well, as my peers laughed at the jokes in the film when they watched it during the edit process. I plan to enquire more about the humour of the film during the audience feedback stage.

The characters and locations were colourful, like I wanted, while the Uncouth Youth characters looked as “chavvy” as I could have hoped. However, I feel there is one scene which sticks out in the middle of the film, where Spider has a phone call with his Father. Due to a lack of footage, I had to include this scene in the form of a single 30-second shot with no cuts. The shot was very dark with little movement, so I feel it drags on for a long time, but all of the dialogue during the scene is important, so I could not think of a way to cut it up. I will also ask my audience what they thought of this shot.

Although the camerawork is on the whole quite weak, I use the camera for comedic effect in one shot of the Uncouth Youths scene. When Uncouth Youth A yells “I’M NOT A SWEETHEART!!”, the camera shoots upwards from below the character’s chin, which my peers and I found particularly amusing.

I believe the story is easy to interpret, although two people have already asked me “is that actually you they stand on?”, meaning the crushing may have been harder to interpret than I imagined.

STAGE 1 Q5

SUMMARYStrengths

*The humour proved effective, and made peers laugh.

*The jokes were spread evenly throughout the film, as was the drama.

*The film uses a large variety of different areas for scenes.

*The voice acting provided for Father was well performed.

*The film gives out messages that are open to interpretation.

Weaknesses

*Camerawork is basic. Filming required a cameraman at all times.

*The ‘Spider Calls Father’ scene show the same shot for too long.

*The film contains a single swear word, while all other scenes use terms such as ‘flipping’ just to avoid swearing.

*The ‘Grandma Calls’ scene has poorer lighting than the rest of the film.

*The music did not consist of original compositions.

STAGE 1 Q6

STAGE 2 – AUDIENCE FEEDBACKI RECEIVED AUDIENCE FEEDBACK ON THE TECHNICAL AND CREATIVE QUALITIES OF MY FILM AND ITS SUITABILITY AS A PRODUCTION

THIS SECTION WILL SUMMARISE AND REFLECT UPON MY FEEDBACK

TECHNICAL FEEDBACK POSITIVEOn the technical side, a lot of my positive feedback was crediting the soundtrack, and the way it was edited in. The feedback says it ‘fits the film well’, ‘help set a mood’, and ‘helps an audience connect with the characters’.

Particular shots also received credit. The establishing shot of York Minster was praised, as it shows an audience that Spider and Anna are marrying each other without having to actually show it. The shot of Uncouth Youth A from underneath his chin was also credited, with two viewers even saying that it was used to show a lack of power in that situation, which I had not considered myself. The spinning shot of Uncouth Youth A’s foot was also positively received.

STAGE 2 Q1

TECHNICAL FEEDBACK NEGATIVEA lot of my negative technical feedback concerned the audio quality of the dialogue. Some parts were called ‘quiet’, while at other parts, ‘the sound of the wind overpowers the voices of the characters’. For one scene where the wind overpowers the dialogue especially strongly, I used subtitles to display the dialogue. Some viewers thought the subtitles were a good idea, while others thought they were insufficient.

While I was surprised to see some positive feedback regarding the variety of shots, there were also some complaints. Some shots were ‘wonky’, and ‘panning on some of the clips would have helped to give the short film a more professional feel to it’. Indeed, I would have used more pans if I had a cameraman at all times.

An interesting piece of feedback told me that the ‘first half flows more smoothly than the second half’. This could mean that the editing or the time progression was too rapid in the second half for that person’s tastes, or the transitions were just weaker.

STAGE 2 Q2

CREATIVE FEEDBACK POSITIVESummarise the positive feedback you received about the Creative qualities of your installation, you should also consider use of space Messages, such as people shouldn’t stand on spiders. In-jokes.

I was pleased to see that audience gathered messages from the film. Many realised the comparison between a spider’s life and a human’s, and how the film questions the difference.

The storyline and script were heavily praised. An audience member told me that they ‘really connected with Spider’, and all viewers admitted to laughing at the dialogue several times in the film, calling it “extremely creative, well written so we understand the message/concept”.

I was also happy to see that some of the viewers enjoyed some of the ‘in-jokes’ in the film, that reference previous projects of mine. The ‘Roundabout Proposal’ scene references “We <3 Roundabouts”, and ‘Take one of my Various Hands’ references “Maoam Pinballs Adverts”, and my peers who had seen these projects appreciated the jokes.

STAGE 2 Q3

CREATIVE FEEDBACK NEGATIVESummarise the negative feedback you received about the Creative qualities of your installation, you should also consider use of space So is that actually you they stepped on?

There was one question that several members of the audience asked me, which surprised me. I was commonly asked “was it actually you that got crushed”? I expected this to be obvious, as the film is a flashback, but even this was not obvious to some, with one person thinking the spider at the end of the film was different to the one at the very beginning. Some people also asked if the spider survived the attack, as it “didn’t look dead at the end”, which I agree with.

I received a comment saying that some of the acting was “over-played”, but I also received a comment that said exactly the opposite, so I am satisfied with the acting in the film.

STAGE 2 Q4

SUITABILITY FOR PURPOSE FEEDBACKWatch Your Step is a comedy film, so seeing everybody laugh at the jokes and enjoy watching the film is enough evidence for me to call it a success as a comedy. Part of why I enjoy making comedy films is because they are so scarce among all of the horror/thriller/drama films that are much more common, and they are a fun challenge to write.

However, the reaction to ‘Grandma Calls’ surprised me greatly. The scene was intended to be serious, as Spider learns that his Father has mysteriously died. Instead of giving off the dramatic feel I expected, every single viewer laughed at the scene, including the shot where Spider collapses at Father’s grave. Although the scene was not written for comedic effect, I’m happy to see an audience interpret it in their own way, and more laughs in a comedy film is surely a good thing.

STAGE 2 Q5

FEEDBACK SUMMARYOne thing I set out to learn from the peer feedback was whether or not the ‘Father Calls’ scene was acceptable, or if it was too boring by being a single shot, though I received surprisingly little criticism about the scene. I was also asked what happened to Mother after she moved away from Spider. I was supposed to explain this during the film, but it totally slipped my mind to film the shot I had planned.

On the whole, my feedback was very positive. I received a fair amount of technical criticism at my own request, but every member of the audience enjoyed watching the film, and greatly praised its message, storyline and humour. Some people enjoyed Watch Your Step so much, they even watched it twice!

STAGE 2 Q6

STAGE 3 – FINAL CONCLUSION

BASED ON YOUR INDIVIDUAL EVALUATION AND THE INSTALLATION/SCREENING FEEDBACK, I ASSESS THE OVERALL SUCCESS OF YOUR PROJECT.

I ALSO SUGGEST ACTIONS FOR FUTURE PROJECTS

CONCLUSIONMaking Watch Your Step was troubling at times. I could only film on specific dates for a few hours at best. I would often be without a cameraman, and would have to set up shots myself, such as ‘Take one of my Various Hands’ and ‘Grandma Calls’. Some shots took far too long to capture due to taking place in a public area, including ‘Corridor Proposal’ and ‘Father Calls’. Having two people carry heavy equipment over long distances, including York City Centre, was draining. There were some shots where I had not visualised how they would look, and I had to plan it on the spot, notably ‘Hey Up Spidey’. And yet, I feel very satisfied with the final product, making it all worthwhile. Of course there are still improvements that could be made to Watch Your Step, but they are not pressing enough to fix now. The audience reaction was even better than I expected, and I look forward to sharing the video with my audience on the Internet.

STAGE 3 Q1

IMPROVEMENTSI feel the main way to improve the film would simply be to have a cameraman to set up all of the shots, instead of having to do it myself. This would let me have a moving camera in many more shots, and a handheld microphone at all times, fixing some of the audio problems that Watch Your Step has.

‘Father Calls’ is without a doubt the weakest scene in the film, in terms of the way it is shot. While the darkness helps set the mood, the complete lack of movement from Spider is boring, and the fact that the camera stays in the same place for over 30 seconds is a real drag. This scene should have used a variety of different angles throughout, or even a single moving camera shot.

In an improved version, I would also have the opportunity to include the explanation for Mother’s absence in the film. She would write to Spider after the death of Father, telling him to stay strong, while also referring to herself as “Black Widow”, as a visual gag.

STAGE 3 Q2

FUTURE ACTION1: Visualise shots before shooting them – my failure to visualise certain shots before filming them left me at a loss of what to do when I needed to be making good use of time, and shots could have been more cleverly filmed with a bit of thought put into them.

2: Try to have a cameraman at all times – having to shoot scenes without a cameraman was a large handicap. With a cameraman around, he could allow for some moving shots and pans, and he could also help by carrying equipment.

3: Obtain all voiceover dialogue as soon as possible – trying to edit a scene containing voiceover dialogue without having the voiceover itself was a large burden on the whole editing process.

4: Avoid filming in crowded places – shots were constantly being interrupted whenever I tried to film inside York College and other public places.

5: Make more use of Foley sound – Watch Your Step used very little, as I felt a flashback sequence did not require it, but it may be more important in future productions.

STAGE 3 Q3