1. Lucy Pratt 13u 11/03/19
Unit 16, 11 and 17 Evaluation
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I feel Ihave successfullycreatedashortfilmthatwill engage the targetaudience despitethe upsand
downsof the process. My initial aimformyfilmwasto targetaudiencesof youngpeople/students
whowouldrelate,notonlytothe naturalisticlocationsandsituations
but alsothe thoughtsand feelingsof the maincharacterof Sam. I feel
I have achievedmyintentionsasthe shotshelpmove furtherinto
Sam’sheadas the filmprogressesandthe factthatit takesthe
majorityof the filmtostart gettingintothe mainreasonfor the film
(the anxiousthoughts) showsthatitisnot made for entertainment.If
I was makingitfor entertainmentIwouldhave startedwiththe bigger
parts,such as the voice overthoughtsinorder todraw in the
audience sonotdoingthisshowsthat myaim isnot to make people
watch because itisenjoyable buttogetthe awarenessandthe
understandingof mental healthstrugglestoa wideraudience.Makingthe endhave the
‘motivational’musicshowsthe progressandthe new foundhope of
the character but the costume still onlyshowingasmall amountof
white (connotinghope) showsthatshe isnot“fixed”inaday. This
realisticsituationhelpsthe audience understandthatnothinglike this
isgoingto be “fixed”afterone small bitof help.Lotsof mediasow the
before andafterof thingslike thisbutI didn’twantto show the
struggle andthenthe perfectendingasitcan be misleadingandmay
give mymaintargetedaudience lesshope insteadof more.Iwanted
thisfilmtotarget sufferersandtheirfriendsandfamilytohelpthem
see the effectspoormental healthcanhave onday to daylife.Ifeel
that showingthe perfectending,wherethe characteriscompletely
better,mayhave made any sufferersinthe audience feel asthoughitisunrealistic,thatitwill never
happen,andtherefore givingthemlesshope thanbefore.Asoppose tomyintentions,Idofeel I
couldhave made more of the strugglesforthe character of Sam as she makesthe firstbig stepof
talkingtosomeone.Thisisa huge stepinanyone’slife togetthemselvesbackontrack and I feel I
didn’temphasisedthisenough.If Iwas to make thisfilmagain,I thinkthatI wouldtake more time
on makingthe ‘voice overday’longerandalsothe build-uptothisbigstep.Iuseda heartbeatsound
effecttotry and reflectthe upsanddownsbut I couldhave alsothoughtaboutanothervoice overor
more walkingshots/shotsinJane’sroombefore speaking.
Short of the Week
I thinkthat myfilmfitsthe guidelinesfor‘Shortof the Week’due tothe fact thatit first of all want
the filmstohave the necessaryrights(music,footage) whichIhave,asI took myown footage and
usedRoyaltyfree,copyrightfree musicandsoundeffectsthroughoutmyfilm.Ialso made myfilmto
‘breaknewground’.My
ideaof havingmy film
showwhatis goingon in
the headof someone
sufferingmentalhealth
problemsissomething
that isnot reallytouched
on inthisway,in the
media.We are aware of these mental healthissuesbutwe are nevershowedwhatitislike tohave
these issues.That’swhyIfeel thatpeople withthese problemsmayfindthe filmemotionalorat
leasthave a connectiontoitdue tothe realismitbrings.Igave thisscriptto a familymemberto
Snip 1 https://www.shortoftheweek.com/submit/
2. Lucy Pratt 13u 11/03/19
Unit 16, 11 and 17 Evaluation
2 | P a g e
readand she toldme that ithad brought‘tearsto her eye’.Thisshows thatmyintentionshave been
successful asitshowsthat itis effectingpeoplethatknow of othersthatfeel thiswayandthat them,
afterreading/ watchingmyfilmcanhave a betterunderstandingandinsightintotheirdayto day
thoughtsandfeelings. Tomake myfilmevenmore effective thanitisnow I thinkIcouldhave gotten
the character to interactwithothercharacters of differentstatus.Forexample,Samcouldspeaktoa
teacherwiththe voice overinterruptingherspeechasherthoughtswould naturallywhensuffering
withanxiety.This,alongwiththe charactersof Student1,Student2 and Student3 wouldnothave
workeddue tomy limitationsduringthe productionprocess.Ihadno time to bothfindactors and
arrange a date and timesthatgave us enoughtime tofilm.Thiswasa huge setback, until Irealised
that depression,of whichthe characterof Sam has, makesthe suffererfeel isolatedandalone,
whichwouldmake sense if myfilmonlyhadthe one characteras you can hearpeople inthe
backgroundbutall youcan see isSam, on herown,withherthoughts.
Quality
My favourite exampleof myshotsflowingwell togetherandingoodqualitywouldbe shots3and 4
or shot 25 take 1 and 2. Shots3 and 4 are in the bathroominthe openingsequence andIfeel the
qualityof these shotare to a highstandard withthe lightinghelpingwiththis.The ‘crossdissolve’
transitionIusedbetweenthese shotsworkswell asthe actor,myself,isalmostinthe same position
inboth shots,therefore nottakingawayfromthe fact theyare meantto be happeningone afterthe
otherwitha short time pastbetweenthem. On
the otherhand,shot 38, a pointof view shotin
the study,couldhave beenbetter.The focusis
not goodenoughwhichisevidentbutthe penI
am holding,especiallywheninmotion. Ialso
forgotto turn on myphone withthe time and
dailylockscreenchange to helpwiththe
symbolismof the colourswithinmyfilm. In
contrast,shot 25 isin twoparts and depicts the
character of Sam on the in filmTuesday
walkingupto,openingandlockingherfront
door.This shotisin goodfocusand the cut
betweenthemistimedwell.
The soundlevelswithinmyfilmwere atsome pointsdifficult. Firstof all,Idecidedtostartby
puttingthe audio fromthe footage andthe musictogetherbefore addinginmore soundsbitbybit.I
addedambientchattingasif in a classroom, a school bell of whichItimedwell tothe movementsI
make inthe footage aswell asothersoundsI tookfrom otherpiecesof footage Itook.Tinsinclude
chairsbeingmovedaround,hittingthe table legsandpapersmoving.Aftershot30 I feltlike Ineed
to showSam packingawayand leavingthe classroom, Itookthe footage frombefore and reversed
it.I thenusedthe soundof the
classroomdoorfrom the same shotas
a natural cut off pointforthe ambient
classroomchatter.
The voice oversfor myfilmwere very
different.Irecordedthemand
inputtedthembutthenrealisedthey
neededtobe altered.IusedAdobe
Auditiontonormalise andworkwith
3. Lucy Pratt 13u 11/03/19
Unit 16, 11 and 17 Evaluation
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the volume until the voice oversfitbetterwiththe volume levelsof the filmasjustturningthemup
withoutalteringwasnotloudenough.Thispresentedproblems.Ihadn’trealisedthatthere wasa
loudtickingclockinthe backgroundof myrecordingsandfor some unknownreasonI had also
pickedupstatic insome,notall,of my recordings.Idecidedtotake outthe audioentirelyduringthe
sectionswhere there wasnospeechtotry andminimize the impactof the clock,Ifeel this could
have beenbetterwithmore time torecord,I couldhave re-recordedinadifferent‘quiet’location.
In termsof mis-en-scene,Ifeel Ihave reallycapturedthe
genre andthe style Isetout to do.I took whatI had on had
to fill upthe space in the shotsto make it seemlike the
character of Sam was not the onlyone inthe room. A
subtle exampleof thiswouldbe inshots12 and 22 inthe
locationof classroom1. I usedmy bag as a wayof makingit
seemasthoughother people were sittingthere. The bagis
onlypartiallyinframe butitjusthelpsto make the room
lookfuller,which,forshot12, contraststhe previousshot,
shot11, in the studywhere all the chairsare shown,empty.
My small changesincostume fromeachinfilmdayworked
well, notjustfroman editingstandpoint,butalsobecause
it helpsdifferentiate the differentdayswithinthe filmand
how Sam isslowlygoing downhill connotedbythe gradual
reducingof white inhercostume.
Strengths and Weaknesses
Time can be both a strengthand a weaknessforme duringthiswhole process,acrossall three units.
I am verygoodat managingtime,asI workedongettingmypre-productiondone asaprioritybefore
othersubjects(BtecProductionArts) startedincreasingthe house afterschool andthe commitment
needed.However,duringandafterthisbusytime Iwas constantlytryingtofindactors and delaying
filmingdue tothis.Itwas notuntil the suggestionfromafamilymemberhelpedme come upwith
the isolated,alone,one actorfilmideawhichreallyhelped.Time hasbeenagainstme whenmaking
thisfilmsoI decidedtotake a whole dayout of my studyleave weektofilmandanotherdayanda
half sortingandeditingthe footage.Ifeel that
thiscommitmenthasallowedme tostayon top
of the amountof work I needtodo as well as
helpingme tomake the filmasgood as I can. My
filmcouldhoweverbe improvedbyre-recording
my voice overs.Ifeel thatthe voice oversare
too muffledandcouldbe better.Thiswould
therefore improvethe qualityof the audio
withinthatsequence inthe film.Thinkingback,I
thinkI couldhave improveditbetterbutusing
the volume.Icouldhave made the volume higherwheninthe pointof view shotsandthe overthe
shouldershotsandslightlyquieterwhenfurtherawayinthe midshots. Thiswouldhave helped
enhance the ideathatthe voice oversare the charactersthoughtsin herhead.Opposingthis,Ifeel
my use of transitionsreallyhelpsstrengthenthe themeof anxiety.Idecidedtouse ‘fade to black’
and ‘crossdissolve’asmytwomainvideotransitions.However,Idecidednottouse themduringthe
infilmThursdayuntil the endof the Jane’sroomsequence asthe cuts betweenthe footagehelps
enhance heranxietyandstressthatisbeingportrayedbythe voice overs.
4. Lucy Pratt 13u 11/03/19
Unit 16, 11 and 17 Evaluation
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Process
Throughoutthe full processIhave learnthow much workand dedicationittakestomake a film.I
knewittooka lotof commitmentanddedicationbutnow Ihave done it myself Ican appreciate the
professionalsandthe stresstheygothrough.I made a short,justover 10 minute,filmnotafull
lengthfeature butithasallowedme toexperience the full processata much smallerscale whichI
feel isbeneficialasithas helpedme see whichpartsof the processI love the mostandwhichI want
to continue doing.NexttimeIfilmsomething,IthinkthatIwill tryand organisedactorsbefore
finalisingthe script/runningorder. NexttimeIedit,Iwill thinkmore aboutthe audioandif addinga
voice over,Ifeel thatI will re-writeitwhilewatchingthe footage sothatitfitsbetterwithwhatison
the screen.I will alsowanttostart the editingprocesswhilestill inproductionsothatI have time to
re-shootand/or re-write/addtothe script.Overall,Ilovedthisprocess,eventhe problemsolving
and findingalternativeideasasthe insightintoprofessional workplace scenarios,thishasgivenme
will hopefullybenefitme inthe future.
