Evaluation (2)

PRODUCTION
REFLECTION – MY
EXPERIENCE

As a whole, I really enjoyed my experience with making my production work. There were a lot of positive elements and a lot of negatives, but I enjoyed the experience
and learned a lot of new techniques in filmmaking, planning and productivity. During the first few weeks of production, I was confident with my project as I had
developed a stable plan of when I was going to shoot my film, what scenes I was going to shoot on specific weeks and where I was going to shoot it. However, I feel
like the main faults with my production work come from poor time management, as well as overestimating my capabilities, visions and ideas. Though I had planned to
work around COVID restrictions, I still feel like I dug myself into a hole that was hard to get out of by planning scenes that would require the setup and management
of more than two people. For example, the first scene I filmed, scene 2, was easily the most difficult and frustrating scene to film due to many technical and theoretical
problems that I had considered in planning but didn’t fully prepare for when it came to the filming day. This ended up leading to 3 reshoot days for this one scene,
which also took up a lot of time that could've been spent working on other scenes and preparing for what to do next, while instead I feel like a lot of that time was
wasted on trying to perfect one scene as much as I could and filming a lot of things that didn’t even end up being used in the final cut. This experience of spending
weeks on reshoots has taught me that it's much better to focus on the project as a whole rather than minor individual parts of it, as in the end it can affect time and
effort put into the project as a whole, and also waists a lot of time that could be spent refining the entire project and getting things done a lot quicker. Minus this
negative, my experience with filming all other four scenes for the film was overall very positive. I made sure that I wouldn't make the same mistakes I did with the first
scene I filmed and also made sure to change / alter some of the scenes to make sure I could manage a little easier under COVID restrictions and made sure filming
wouldn’t cause too much stress for all those involved. This in the end left a lot of the scenes being shorter or different from how they were originally envisioned or
planned in the script, but given that I was making a short film, this didn’t matter too much in the long run and likely improved the pacing of the film, as some of the
scenes planned were going to be a lot longer than others. Filming itself was actually very fun for everyone involved. There were a lot of outtakes and bloopers we
collected when filming, as well as a little behind the scenes footage for some of the scenes. This made long and stressful shooting days more tolerable for everyone
involved and lightened the mood between takes, so overall people had a fun time during the filming process. The editing process of my film was an experience quite
new to me. While I have had a lot of experience editing in the past, I've never delt with a project this big before. Overall, I'd describe the editing process as quite
stressful, especially sound editing. There were times where I would spend all hours of the day editing one part of a scene and trying to make the sound design sound
natural. As far as cutting the scenes, I didn’t really have too much of a problem, but since sound design played a big role in my film, that’s where a lot of my focus
went. Finding and creating the right sound effects to fit certain scenes was often a tedious and frustrating process, as a lot of the time I couldn’t get the sound to feel
natural and had struggles figuring out the right pitch of certain sound effects to ensure they had the right kind of impact. Sound design took up the majority of my
editing and was what I spent the most time doing throughout most of my entire project. Though the process was tough, I did learn a lot about how to make it work
properly which I was happy about.

MY LIKES AND DISLIKES WITH MY FILM AS A WHOLE
 There are a lot of things that I like and dislike about my product as a whole. For my first ever short film, there are a lot of things I'm
very happy and proud of, and I'm happy that I was able to implement all of my knowledge of filmmaking into this product. Making
this product was incredibly difficult for me, the main difficulty being that I wasn’t operating the camera half of the time given that I
didn’t have a lot of people to work with and had to act in the film. If it weren't for COVID, it's very likely that I would've given my
character role to someone else so I could spend more time actually directing and being behind the camera, as that is my favourite
aspect of filmmaking and what I am most interested in. I am happy with the direction of the film, and I think that my sister, the camera
operator, did a good job at listening to what I wanted for each scene and was able to capture what I had visioned in my mind for how
specific shots were going to look. Trying to direct someone else and conveying my thoughts and ideas to them wasn’t easy, and it
would often take a few tries to get the shots the way I wanted them which is what I more or less expected to happen before shooting
the film. My favourite aspect of the entire film was actually the directing. There are a lot of creative shots in the film that I am very
proud of. Even with scenes where the directing could've been very basic, I wanted to try and make sure to keep it creative and
interesting rather than having the same feel throughout the entire film. I also think the cinematography compliments the directing. I
was very happy with the colours, lighting and visuals throughout the film, especially towards the last two scenes. I think the colour
choices compliment the tone and add to the grungy horror feel I was going for. Another aspect of the film I was happy with was the
sound design. Watching the film and hearing the sound editing and mixing all come together made me feel immersed in what was
happening on the screen. Sound design was the most difficult process of editing my product, so hearing it all come together and work
really well made me feel very happy and proud. Amongst the positives, there are a few negatives I have with my product. My biggest
dislike is the narrative that the film runs with. I think it can be quite confusing at times, and from the response I've currently got from
people who have seen it, they felt that points didn’t come across clear enough in the film, which I agree with. Rewatching the film I
can understand where some people might find it confusing and not fully understanding the story, which is mainly down to poor plot
planning as well as having scenes cut from the original script that would've helped fill in these gaps for the audience a lot more. Due
to time and limited people to work with, these scenes were unfortunately scrapped which did have an effect on the story aspect of the
film. Because of this I felt I had to cram everything down to make it shorter but still understandable with a decent plot line that made
sense. I also think the meaning and main point of the film wasn’t conveyed well enough, the main point of the film being greed and
what it does to people. Other dislikes come down to my performance of the main character. While I don’t think I did a terrible job, I
definitely think I could've done a lot better especially towards the end of the film as that’s where I think my acting starts to dry out
compared to the other scenes.

PROBLEMS DURING PRODUCTION AND HOW I APPROACHED THEM
 Surprisingly, there wasn’t as many problems during production that I thought there would be. As far as theoretical and
technical problems, a lot of the issues there stemmed from weather issues and shooting at night. There were several times
throughout production where we had to cancel shooting a scene mid shoot due to rain because I didn’t want to risk
breaking my camera or any of the other equipment. Dealing with a lot of different lighting setups, there was usually a lot of
wires and cables around the sets. Given that we were shooting under low light there was a high chance that someone could
trip which did actually happen once, but luckily didn’t cause any severe injuries or damage to any of the equipment. We
made sure to be extra careful after that particular incident and also made sure to shoot a little earlier in the night where
there would still be a small amount of light, so it wasn’t completely pitch dark. This did make shooting night scenes a lot
easier as we were much more aware of everything around us and luckily didn’t have any more incidents after making that
decision. As far as theoretical problems, my biggest problem during production was how limited I was when it came to
filming. For most scenes I only had one other person helping me and sometimes I would have to try and film an entire scene
by myself, which is what I had to do with the first scene in the film. Being so limited was extremely difficult and I had to try
and plan things in a way where it would be made easy for everyone involved, for example changing a lot of the planned
shooting locations and cutting down scenes so it would be easier to make with only two people involved. I also had to limit
the characters for the script. Originally I had planned for my friend to play the role of 'Charlie', with a scene that would've
involved him appearing on screen but because of time and the fact that he lived really far away and also the fact that I
wanted to shoot this scene at night which made things more complicated, I decided to scrap the scene altogether and
replace it with the 'Giving In' scene, now seen in the final version of the film. Overall, while there werent too many critical
problems during my production I feel like I did a good job in handling the problems I did go through which I give credit to
good problem solving / planning in my pre-production, as that gave me an idea on what kinds of problems I might face
when making my film and the best ways to tackle the problems if I ever ran into them, which I did a few times.

BEFORE & AFTER COLOUR CORRECTION SHOTS

COLOUR CORRECTION PROCESS
The colour correcting process was one of the most enjoyable parts of editing for me as
it gave me a chance to experiment with so many different colour schemes and allow me
to look back through my research to help gather inspiration about how to use colour in
film effectively and looking back at how I researched into how colour can convey things
such as mood, emotion and atmosphere in order to help build a scene. Before getting to
the editing process, I knew that I didn’t want to go too overboard with the colour
correcting on my scenes, especially to the point where the colours wouldn’t look natural
enough, or were too strong, vibrant and saturated to the point of looking too obnoxious.
I wanted to make sure that all of my scenes had a realistic yet visually appealing look to
them, which is why a lot of the colouring seen in the slides above have only been subtly
adjusted and altered. A lot of the footage I felt needed a slight boost in saturation, as
well as a play around with the colour wheel in Sony Vegas to try and bring in a few more
different colours to try and make some of the shots and scenes stand out more and look
more visually beautiful. The scene in the film that required the most attention when it
came to colour was The Bathroom aka scene 4. Given that we were filming in a bathroom,
I felt that I had more of a creative choice when it came to colour correcting, unlike
shooting outdoors where the colour pallet was very strict in order to keep things looking
natural. I knew before filming that I wanted to give the entire scene a yellowish tone, as in
my research I had looked at how colour can reflect emotion, which is what I wanted to do
for this scene. The main emotional theme throughout the scene is fear and cowardness.
The colour yellow is often associated with these two emotions, which is why I decided to
choose yellow as the primary colour for that scene.

SOUND DESIGN PROCESS
For me personally, the hardest and most complex part about editing my
film was the sound design process. Some scenes were easier than others
to sound edit. Scenes such as 'The Bathroom' required a lot of different
sound effects and music mixing, which made it a very complicated and
long process in order to make sure that everything sounded smooth and
natural. A lot of the time I would replace the default audio that my
camera picked up when filming with different and more enhanced sound
effects as I didn’t like the quality of the default audio very much. Scenes
such as 'The Phone Call' took a lot of trial and error in order to try and
get it right. I wasn’t a big fan of the voice audio that my camera had
picked up and decided to try and dub over the audio using a somewhat
better microphone. Dubbing the voice was incredibly difficult, as I had to
make sure that I kept in sync with the video. In the end, I wasn’t very
happy with the dubbing, and the voice quality was still quite poor. I had
played around with the audio settings on both Sony Vegas and Audacity
but could never seem to adjust the audio to how I wanted it to sound. In
the end I decided to scrap the dubbing and use the raw footage audio
which I wasn’t very happy with, but it was the best I could do without a
professional microphone. While the overall sound editing process was
difficult and very challenging, it did help me with my experience of using
sound partnered with video editing and how to use sound effectively to
have an emotional and reactive impact on the audience.

AUDIO & VIDEO TRACKS FOR EACH SCENE
Scene 1 – The Phone Call
Scene 2 – Giving In

Scene 3 – The Thing
Scene 4 – The Bathroom

Scene 5 – Alone

SERPENT –
OFFICIAL
MOVIE
POSTERS

MOVIE POSTER 1 – PROGRESS SHOTS

MOVIE POSTER 1 – DISCUSSION & INSPIRATION
During the making of my first poster, I was often thinking back to my research and the ideas I had come up with
for how I was going to plan out and set up my posters. I mentioned in my research as well as planning that I
wanted to avoid creating something 'stereotypical' or 'cliched' that’s often seen in the horror genre and I wanted
to create something that looked aesthetically pleasing but also different, unusual and unique looking. I talked
about retro styled posters in my research and how I wanted to utilise those retro styles when making my posters,
which is what I did for this poster.
I had also gotten some inspiration from existing
movie posters, such as the poster for 'Raw'
(2016) and 'The Silence of the Lambs (1991).
However, I wanted to make sure that my poster
looked unique and not too similar to the
inspiration which I think I succeeded at. The
colours chosen for the poster also reflect the
theme and tones set up throughout my film.
During what I consider to be the main scene of
my film, 'The Bathroom' scene, there is a strong
presence of yellow to highlight the theme of
cowardness and fear. Given this was one of the
main scenes and themes of the film, I thought it
would make sense to reflect this in at least one
of the posters, which is why I chose yellow as
the primary colour for this poster. Overall, I'm
very happy with how this poster turned out and
believe it really stands out and has an
interesting & eye-catching design that feels very
unique.

MOVIE POSTER 2 – PROGRESS SHOTS

MOVIE POSTER 2 – DISCUSSION & INSPIRATION
For my second poster, I wanted to try and make something that would be a lot different in style than my first
poster, whilst still sticking with a minimalistic design. I also wanted this poster to strike a lot of fear into my
audience. While I like my first poster, it doesn’t highlight a lot of the horror elements of my film, so for this poster I
wanted to try and capture that horror and did so by using a production still of the main antagonist of my film. I
wanted to make sure the image stood out and was the main focus point of the entire poster, which is why I left a
large ominous black background surrounding him.
For this poster, I looked into teaser poster
concepts and the two that specifically caught
my eye was the teaser posters for both 'It
Comes at Night' (2017) and 'Alien Covenant'
(2017). When looking at both these posters its
clear to see the different elements and
inspiration taken that was then implemented
into my own work. I love that both of these
posters have such simplistic designs yet are
terrifying in their own right, which is exactly
what I wanted to do with my poster. In order to
make my poster seem more like an official
teaser, I added a hashtag towards the bottom
which is a common trait with a lot of movie
posters to help spread the marketing across the
web. I wanted to go for a very official look with
this poster which is why I decided to add the
hashtag, along with the 'R rating' certificate in
the bottom left corner and the custom company
logo in the bottom right.

PLANNING AND
RESEARCH EVALUATION

PRE-PRODUCTION / PLANNING EVALUATION
 I wanted to make sure that my planning was as detailed as possible, looking into multiple different planning aspects such as potential
problems and solutions, the script for the film, shot planning and stylistic planning, some planning for my posters, storyboarding etc. I
knew that my planning had to be as detailed as possible and try to cover all the multiple different aspects and creative choices that
would factor into making my film and I was aware that while these ideas may change, I would still have something to build from rather
than having no good or helpful planning at all. Planning for problem solving definitely helped during the production of my film and
helped me become more aware of the potential risks and barriers I may come across, especially when filming under low light
conditions and filming outdoors. I knew it was likely that I would run into a few problems I had listed in my planning which did
happen often during production, but I was a lot more prepared in how I would approach these problems and how I would try to
overcome them. Planning out the script and storyboards as well as some visual and aesthetic choices helped build the image of my
film easier in my head which also made the production a lot easier. My storyboards helped me plan out where I was going to shoot
my scenes, estimated number of shots for the scene and the camera angles I was going to use when filming. This meant I wasn’t
going blind into filming and already had ideas setup for how I was going to approach making my film. While a lot of these ideas did
change in the final product, my visual planning did act as a foundation that I could build from and help me progress and make better
choices when filming. Overall, I feel that my planning greatly benefited my production work and gave me a clearer understanding of
how I was going to create my project. There were elements of my planning that did change during production. For example, I decided
to change some of the filming locations as I felt that the locations in the final product made filming a lot easier for me, as well as
taking out locations and scenes completely due to lack of time and people to help me film. My timetable helped give me a rough idea
of what I was going to film and when, though my schedule didn’t strictly stick to the timetable most of the time and I found myself
filming on days that I hadn't planned to film. This was due to not having people to help me film for those days or the delays in props
being ordered etc. Which did result in loss of time, but I felt I was still able to overcome that time loss.

HOW MY EXPERIMENTS HELPED WITH MY PRODUCTION
 My experiments benefited me a lot when it came to my production, particularly my video experiment as
well as my lighting experiments. We filmed one scene in my film, the bathroom scene, in the same room
where my experiment took place which benefited me for multiple reasons. For one, I was familiar with
filming in that specific location, so I knew what to expect when it came to the amount of space we would
have as well as how the lighting would look for the scene. I also knew that it would be a difficult area to
film in because of the lack of space, which is why I took a lot of inspiration from my experiment and even
incorporated a lot of the same shots into the scene as I was already aware of which camera angles and
shooting styles would work best for the setting. My lighting experiments gave me a good idea on how
to light the main subject and how to use light efficiently depending on the scene, for example how
would I use lights to create a dark scene but use just enough light so it wouldn’t be too dark. For the
ending scene of my film, I wanted to give the impression that the house was completely dark, and the
only thing lighting it was the natural moon light. When setting up the scene, I made sure to position my
lights in a way where they would only partly fill up a room and in post-production turned down the
brightness slightly so that the light looked more natural, giving the impression that it was coming from
outside rather than an indoor light. Being prepared and knowing how I should be lighting my scenes
gave me a lot more time to focus on the scene itself, rather than wasting time trying to find the right
way to set up the lighting during shooting days. Overall, I'm very glad about how my experiments
helped me during production as they made me feel a lot more prepared and ready to film on the days
we had planned to film and shoot specific scenes.

RESEARCH EVALUATION
 Research was perhaps the most exciting part of pre-production work as I was able to look into themes that I was interested in and
looking into how I could potentially link and take inspiration from existing products to apply to my own work. The research process
was very enjoyable. It was interesting looking and researching different existing short horror films and be able to write what I liked
and disliked about them and how I was going to use this to my advantage when creating my product. Looking into other elements
such as colour in film and how colour can be linked to different emotions and meanings was very interesting how I later translated this
into my final product. A lot of these themes researched are highlighted in my product through visuals and stylistic choices. My
research into sound design helped me understand the importance of good sound and the impact it can have on a film. Before looking
into it, sound design was something that didn’t interest me too much when it came to filmmaking however my thoughts and opinions
about this have changed since research and sound design became a massive factor of my film. I feel like researching for sound design
also helped prepare me for the process when it came to editing my product and made me aware of all the different approaches and
things I have to keep in mind when editing, for example mixing both the music and sound effects so the audio sounds smooth and it
all blends together. I also looked into different existing movie posters to gather inspiration and ideas as to how I will create my
posters. Looking at different posters helped build an idea for how I wanted my posters to look and what styles I wanted to use. I
mentioned in my research that I wanted my posters to look unique as well as having a retro look which I think I accomplished within
my work. My research also gave me the opportunity to look into my potential target audience, which helped me further understand
the appropriate age and gender demographic for a product like my own. Looking into this further helped back up my target audience
choices as I was able to show why I felt these target demographics were appropriate and how I think it would benefit my product
when targeting this audience. I'm very happy with my research as I was able to implement a lot of what I learnt into my film and
posters and I think that comes across very clear when looking at my final product as a whole, including making references and
connections when planning my production and evaluating my final pieces.

BENEFITS TO RESEARCH AND HOW IT IMPACTED MY PRODUCT
 Above everything else, I believe that research impacted my product the most in a positive way. Almost
every element of my research was used / reflected in my final piece and I feel that this helped me create
a more detailed and interesting product. Many aspects of my research, such as looking into colour and
how it can symbolise meaning, sound design and how effective it can be, the impact of unique editing
and the different techniques to use etc. were all massive factors into how I built my final piece. Without
this research I believe that my product would've felt subpar and I would've found myself sticking to a
very traditional filmmaking format which could've resulted in my product lacking creativity and would've
made it feel very bland, which was something I wanted to make sure to try and avoid. With the theme of
my film, I wanted to try to attach meaning to different creative elements such as colour. A lot of the
colour in my film reflects the emotions of the character on the screen which was something I looked into
with my research. I also tried to help convey emotion and tension through camerawork / angels to give
the film more of an authentic feel which was something else I researched during pre-production, as well
as to try and avoid sticking with the same shooting style throughout the film to help give it more
character and variety. I feel that little details like this give my product more layers of detail and make it
feel less two dimensional. My research as a whole impacted my product in a way where without it my
film would've lacked creativity and I probably would've stuck to a very traditional and uninteresting
format when making my film. I like that different aspects of my film hold meaning, and nothing was
done by accident or done for no reason and a lot of that is because of the content I researched and how
I reflected it into my final product.

DIRECTORS
COMMENTARY
DIRECTORSCOM - YOUTUBE

BLOOPER /
OUTTAKE REEL
HTTPS://YOUTU.BE/BKHAUWARJ9C

SCENE 1 EVALUATION -
'THE PHONE CALL'

SCENE 1 EVALUATION - 'THE PHONE CALL'
 The first scene of the film came down to around one minute and thirty seconds, which was around the time I was
aiming for. During the planning for this scene and the version written in the script, I had planned to have a one-on-
one conversation on the phone featuring myself playing the role of ‘Daniel’ and my friend Jack Wheatly playing
‘Charlie.’ When filming this scene there was a lot to consider. For example, how many takes and angles we would film,
what style of camerawork would be chosen and how the lighting would be set up. The aim of the scene was to set up
a vague idea of the character of Daniel and for the audience to understand the theme of the film and which direction
it would be taken in. Throughout the scene, there are subtle hints that set up future scenes. For example, the second
shot in the scene shows a pile of cash laid on a table. While it's never explicitly stated why the cash is there, later in
the scene, Daniel mentions how he has ‘300’ to provide for Charlie if he were to help him, which we later find out is
money used to bribe Charlie into selling Daniel drugs. One of my aims for this scene was to set the tone for the entire
film. The scene is very low lit, the camera movement is slow and steady, and the background track / sound effects set
quite an unpleasant tone, making it easy to distinguish that the film isn't going to have a very pleasant or positive
theme. As for the runtime, given that I was making a short film I knew that the scene shouldn't be too long. In the
script, the dialogue went on for a little longer, but I wanted to make sure the scene didn’t drag or feel too long, as I
also think that could've made the scene quite boring for audiences to sit through. As for script changes, originally it
was planned that Charlie's voice could also be heard in the phone call along with Daniels, however I felt that
removing this made the scene a lot more ambiguous, and I liked the idea that the audience had to speculate what
Daniel and Charlie were talking about.

SCENE 1 EVALUATION – PRODUCTION STILLS

SCENE 1 EVALUATION - 'THE PHONE CALL' - BEHIND THE SCENES
 This scene was the second to last scene I filmed for my film. One reason why it was filmed so late is because I had to
wait for a day where I would be home alone without distraction to film it. Given this was a dialogue scene, I wanted to
make sure I was as concentrated as much as possible with no distractions. Luckily, I was able to work from home this
day thanks to my tutor for giving me permission. I filmed the scene midday around 2pm and had planned to be
shooting for around 30 minutes. Surprisingly, the scene took only around 15 minutes to film and the filming had gone
a lot smoother than I thought it would. As I was home alone, I didn’t have anyone to hold the camera or help me set
up the scene. Luckily, I was already planning to use a stationed camera for the scene as I thought it fit the style of the
scene more than handheld camera movement. This was also the first scene in the film where I used manual focus for
filming the scene. Given the fact that the camera was still and there wouldn’t be a lot of movement in the scene, I
thought it would be best to switch to manual to avoid the camera blinking in and out of focus, which often happened
under low light scenes. It took a while to set up the focus given that I didn’t have a subject to take my place when
setting up the camera settings, so there was a lot of backwards and fourth tweaking and changing the settings to
make sure the shot looked as crisp and clear as possible. The shots were both filmed in one take. At the beginning of
the scene there is a more wide-angled view of Daniel which only appears in the scene for a few seconds though I had
originally filmed the full scene in that take, but instead decided to use the close-up take for most of the scene as the
audience had a better ability of reading the emotions on Daniels' face, and I thought it worked best to have the scene
flowing rather than constantly cutting back and forth between the 2 different takes which I thought would've been
unnecessary and annoying for my audience.

SCENE 1 EVALUATION - 'THE PHONE CALL' - POSITIVES
For the first scene of the film, I was nervous about filming, mainly because this was the only scene in the film that featured a decent
amount of dialogue. I also had no experience in shooting dialogue scenes and was worried that the scene would sound and look
convincing or not. Luckily, I was overall happy with the outcome of the scene. This was the only scene in the film that I had to film on my
own, which is why the camerawork is mainly stationed so overall, though it was difficult to film, I am happy with the final result.
 My favourite aspect of the scene is how it looks visually. Overall, I think the lighting and colour pallet works well together and gives off
a warm yet natural feel, which also helps because this is the only scene in the film that is supposed to feel stable and secure before
the horror elements are introduced as the film goes on.
 I was also happy with how sharp and clean the scene looked. Luckily, I didn’t have any focusing issues as I was working with manual
focus. Overall, the performance of my camera was a huge positive towards the scene and not only to this scene but the entire film.
 Looking back at this scene, I am also happy with my own performance given. As someone who has never acted before I believe I did a
decent job in selling the scene and didn’t give an overacting or unconvincing performance. I feel I was able to deliver the point of the
scene clearly to the audience and am overall pleased with how I acted in the scene.
 Another element of this scene that I am happy with was the editing. I hadn't really planned how I would edit this scene as I feel like
there's a lot of ways to go about editing a dialogue scene. Originally, I wanted to have cuts throughout the scene showing different
key elements to the story such as the money and lighter etc. but I found that it was better to just let the scene play out and subtly add
these details in.
 I am also happy with how I implemented background audio in this scene. I feel like this scene didn’t require a score after adding the
background track as it makes the scene feel even more ominous and realistic which was what I was going for.

SCENE 1 EVALUATION - 'THE PHONE CALL' - NEGATIVES
Overall, there wasn’t many negative elements of this scene that I could list. Unexpectedly, it was the easiest and quickest scene in the film
to make with very few technical problems and I'm proud of the final result. There are things that I would've liked to have changed
regarding audio and sound design but as far as visuals and performance there isn't too many problems I have with the scene.
 The main thing I don’t really like about this scene was the audio / voice quality of the scene. Given that I didn’t have a proper
microphone to set up to my camera, the audio quality isn't very good and sounds quite amateurish as I had to use the external mic
within the camera. After filming, I put the audio through Audacity and tried to edit it and make it sound better through Sony Vegas.
While this did improve the quality of the voice audio, I still feel like it could've been better, and it wasn’t as clear and professional as I
wanted it to sound.
 When looking back at the scene, one thing I think I could've improved upon / done differently was the filming location of the scene.
Originally, I had planned to film in a much bigger room with better sound acoustics which overall would've made the quality a lot
better, but due to COVID restrictions and other issues I was unable to film in this location. This area would've also provided a lot more
interesting lighting and different light sources. While I'm happy with the lighting in the version that I have, I feel like it could've been a
lot more interesting and creative.
 Another minor change that I would've liked to go back and fix was trying to stick to the dialogue I had written in my script. While both
are still very similar, the version in my final product was highly improvised due to the lack of memorising and general pressure of
performing and talking in front of the camera. I feel like memorising and sticking to the script would've been a lot more
professional and also given a taster of what real world performance would be like when starring in a film or screenplay.

SCENE 1 EVALUATION - 'THE PHONE CALL' - PROBLEMS
 COVID IMPACTS: Compared to other scenes in my film, COVID restrictions didn’t impact this scene too badly.
Originally, I planned to film the scene in a completely different location with better lighting and sound proofing /
acoustics. The fact that I was unable to access this location meant I had to film at home in my bedroom, which still
worked fine as an interesting location, though I feel my first location would've worked better.
 TECHNICAL PROBLEMS: Unlike other scenes, thankfully there wasn’t too many technical problems I ran into when
filming for this scene. I never once had a problem with equipment not working properly or any equipment being
broken / damaged in the filming process. The main problem I had regarding technical issues was having to manually
control and manage everything myself, as I was the only person working on the scene. It was a pain and a struggle to
set up the equipment and constantly having to make sure the camera was in focus whilst also being in front of the
camera trying to act for the scene.
 THEORETICAL PROBLEMS: Similarly with my technical problems, the main problem here was that I didn’t have
anyone to help me film the scene and had to manage everything myself. I was constantly having to move back and
forth making sure the framing was right, the camera settings were appropriate and the camera itself was in focus, as
well as making sure the lighting and actual filming location looked good for filming. I feel like if I had extra people
helping me film the scene it would've ended up looking completely different, perhaps looking a lot better and more
immersive as I would've been able to spend more time focusing on my acting performance rather than worrying
about all of the equipment working or not.

'GIVING IN'

SCENE 2 EVALUATION - 'GIVING IN'
 This scene had multiple different variations and was the most difficult scene in the film to make. Ironically, this was
also the scene I spent the most time on even though it's only a short scene and one of the simpler looking scenes in
the film. Despite this, the scene is still very important to the context of the film, as this is the scene where we see
Daniel make a fatal mistake that will eventually cost him his life. This is also the scene that sets up the morality lesson
and the theme of the whole film being about greed and becoming consumed by addiction and how it will ruin your
life, so I knew it was important to get this scene right as it sets up the narrative for the rest of the film. As I mentioned
earlier, there were different cuts and versions of this scene filmed in completely different locations from the one that
appears in the final cut. There were a lot of reasons why these cuts were discarded which I will go into further detail
about in the next slide. We filmed the scene relatively late at night but not too late so they sky was still quite bright
which was something I wanted to make sure we would get in the scene. The scene doesn’t have a whole lot of editing
compared to other scenes. There isn't a music track in this scene mainly because I wanted the main focus to be on the
sound effects, like the eerie sound of the fluorescent ceiling lamps buzzing and the cold wind blowing against the
windows. I didn’t really think a score would fit the scene too much and I didn’t want to make it feel too dramatic or
over the top which is why I didn’t make one for this scene. Personally, I think the scene works fine without a score and
makes the atmosphere all the more ominous and suspenseful. Overall despite being a difficult scene to film and with
the amount of time it took to make, I'm happy with the final result, though there are elements of it that I would
definitely change, I'm still happy with the final outcome and I think it works well in the film and helps tie it all together
and adds structure.

SCENE 2 EVALUATION - 'GIVING IN' - BEHIND THE SCENES
 A lot went into making this particular scene. Originally, we had filmed an alternate version of the scene during the first
week of production. The setting of the scene was completely different and the scene also played out a little different.
We first filmed outdoor around the back of a house but ran into a lot of technical problems, such as dim lighting even
with equipment, a piece of equipment being damaged by the weather, and other camera problems such as
completely out of focus shots and the footage glitching when processing. After all of these faults we decided to
reshoot the next week and ran into a problem where I had mistakenly changed the settings on my camera the day
prior, and upon looking at the footage we collected from the reshoot it had an incredibly low frame rate, was
overexposed and very grainy. After this, I decided to try and reshoot the scene on my own and took out the camera
equipment to set up and film using stationed shots throughout the scene. Filming on my own during the night was
incredibly difficult, and with the low vision and small camera screen I could only hope that the footage was good once
I processed it to my computer. Overall, the experience was very difficult and frustrating. Working outside in the cold
at night was uncomfortable for everyone involved. After my 2nd reshoot, I decided that I would try one last time to
film the scene on my own and actually got some decent footage, but even with all the footage I had it wasn’t enough
to form the scene, and in the end it came off looking very unprofessional, too dark and overall just not how I planned
it in my head. After all of these failures I decided I needed to change the scene and we instead located the scene
inside of a garage where the exact same concept would play out, just in a better, brighter and more controlled area to
work in. After finally filming and finishing the scene I was relieved to finally be able to move on, and I made sure to try
not to make the same mistakes with the next scenes.

SCENE 2 EVALUATION - 'GIVING IN' - POSITIVES
While the process of making this scene was incredibly difficult and stressful, there are a lot of things I still like about it, and I'm glad I
decided to change my idea from what I originally had planned as I feel this location and setting looks and feels a lot more appropriate to
where I originally planned to film which was around side the back of a house. I also think this scene really ties the entire film together and
helps give it more of a narrative structure. Overall, I think this scene holds up well when looking at the film as a whole and I am happy
with the final version of the scene.
 My favourite element of this scene is some of the creative shots we managed to get. The garage we filmed in was very plain, and I
wanted to try and include some visually appealing shots in the scene rather than constant close ups and tracking shots. My favourite
shots include the ceiling light as well as the hanging tennis ball with my character roaming around out of focus in the background as I
think they make the whole scene more visually appealing and more interesting and enjoyable to watch rather than having the same
style of camerawork consistently.
 I also like how the scene looked regarding colour and lighting. This scene is the only scene in the film I decided not to colour correct,
as I thought the white lights looked really good in the scene. I played around with the white balance as well as brightness and contrast
and I'm happy with the overall clean looking result and I definitely think this scene stands out because of it. I also didn’t want to make
the colours look too unnatural or unrealistic which is another reason why I decided to leave the colours and the lighting as they were.
 Another element of this scene that I personally really liked was the sound design. Compared to other scenes, the sound
design process in this scene wasn’t too difficult, and I decided to keep a lot of the natural sounds from the raw footage in the scene,
rather than cutting them out and replacing them, as I thought they sounded perfect and didn’t need altering or replacing. I feel like
not giving the scene a score also makes it feel a lot more immersive and realistic, which is the style I was going for when planning out
and making this scene.

SCENE 2 EVALUATION - 'GIVING IN' - NEGATIVES
There are a few problems I have with this scene that I wish I would've changed or done differently when it came to filming. Overall, I do
like the scene when it comes to fitting into the film as a whole however when it comes to creative choices as well as the way in which I
filmed the scene with camera movement etc. I definitely think I could've improved upon and done a lot better.
 My main issue with this scene is the pacing. I do think that the scene feels a little too rushed and could've gone on for a longer
runtime. The fact that it doesn’t last too long can also make it more difficult for the audience to understand what is going on and the
meaning of the scene and how it fits into the film can easily be overlooked because of this. This was due to the lack of time we had
when filming this scene but I do feel like if I had planned to make this scene over the course of a few days it could've been very
different from the final version and a lot better.
 I wasn’t really a big fan of my filmmaking choices regarding camera movement, set-up and positioning in this scene. While there are
some nice shots that I am happy with such as the out of focus background shots, originally I had planned to go for a more stable and
controlled camera look rather than having most of the scene hand-held. Due to time issues, I didn’t set up the tri-pod or the camera
stabiliser because the whole scene had to be filmed relatively quickly, so we decided to film the entire scene hand-held to try to save
as much time as possible.
 Due to the scene being fast paced, I think it makes it a lot harder for the point and purpose of the scene to be conveyed to the
audience, and some audience members might find themselves confused and not fully understanding what is happening. There were
some longer shots that were cut from the scene that did help improve the pacing, but ultimately were cut as I couldn't find an
appropriate place to fit them into the scene and a lot of these shots ruined the continuity of the characters movement and body
language from the previous shots, so in the end I thought it would've been best to cut them from the scene completely, which
did affect the overall pacing quite dramatically unfortunately.

SCENE 2 EVALUATION - 'GIVING IN' - PROBLEMS
 COVID IMPACTS: COVID had quite a big impact on the final result of this scene. Before I had started filming I had
planned for it to feature a completely new character & actor to star in the scene, but due to lockdown restrictions we
were very limited as to who could help film with us. This scene was filmed during mid-March, where restrictions were
still quite strict, which is why I had to find a way to re-write the scene to star only myself and someone to help me
film, which drastically changed my vision of how I wanted this scene to play out.
 TECHNICAL PROBLEMS: We ran into a lot of technical problems when filming this scene, more so than the other
scenes. One of the biggest problems we ran into when filming the scrapped version of this scene was problems with
camera focus and lighting the scene properly. While my camera performs well under very low light, it does have a
problem with blinking in and out of focus, which is one reason we decided to change the location of the scene to the
well-lit garage seen in the final version. We also had problems with equipment getting wet when filming outside
which was a risk but I felt determined to try and get the scene finished, as I had been working on it for a long time.
 THEORETICAL PROBLEMS: As mentioned before, filming this scene with only one other person was the biggest
challenge and resulted in a lot of slow filming days and a lot of set-backs due to the fact there were less people to
help. The fact that it was also shot quite late at night meant that we couldn't be out filming for too long due to
people getting too tired or having busy days the next day, so shooting days where we would film this scene were
made quite short as a result of this.

'THE THING'

SCENE 3 EVALUATION - 'THE THING'
 We filmed scene 3 aka 'The Thing' quite later on after filming scene 1, 2 & 4. This was the first scene in the film that
required the first prop I ordered, being the main antagonist's mask and also required an extra actor to play the role of
the antagonist. This like the previous scene also had to be filmed quite late at night which meant we didn’t have a lot
of time to film and had to film some of it over a series of different days due to time issues. I had multiple different
thoughts about how I wanted this scene to play out. Unfortunately, during the filming days we had problems with the
weather, which meant we didn’t have a lot of time to shoot. Because I didn’t get a whole lot of footage for this scene I
had to try and find a way to work around this problem and came up with an editing technique that would help fill in
the gaps for missing shots. For the editing I used quick cuts throughout the scene, to give the impression that time
was going by quickly throughout the scene. I feel that this also helped convey the sickness / nauseating feeling the
main character was feeling during this scene, along with the wavey hand-held camera movement as the character is
starting to feel dizzy and sick. I also felt that I didn’t have enough footage for the scene where we introduce the main
antagonist for the first time so I decided to implement the footage as a jump scare that didn’t linger on the screen for
too long. I wanted to make sure to keep the ambiguity feeling throughout the film and when we cut to the POV shot I
made the footage very dark and distorted as a way for the audience to understand how the main character is feeling
and what he is seeing, which I believe makes the scenario all the more horrific when we are seeing it being played out
as if we are the character. I also wanted to make sure the audience didn’t see too much of the antagonist as I wanted
to leave the big, up-close reveal for the ending of the film, and I feel like I conveyed the ambiguity really well in the
scene and didn’t give away too much.

SCENE 3 EVALUATION - 'THE THING' - BEHIND THE SCENES
 The making of this scene was one of the most fun scenes to make in the entire film. This was the first scene in the film
where our main antagonist was introduced, which meant we were finally able to apply the costume and make-up to
the actor. There was a lot to consider when filming this scene, for one there was a lot of fake blood being used, so we
had to be careful not to make too much of a mess or perhaps stain our clothes or any of the equipment. Seeing the
main antagonist that I had envisioned in my head finally being brought to life on the filming day was very exciting for
me and I was very happy with how the make-up and special effects looked behind the camera. The prop used for the
main antagonist's disturbing face was only a cheap and flimsy Halloween mask, but after I added some fake blood
and water to make the mask look damper and more reflective, as well as pairing that with the low light in which we
were filming made the final result looked very convincing and effective, and I was super happy with how it all turned
out. When filming for this scene I also felt I had to plan ahead for the final scene in my film. As the actor was already
in make-up, I thought it would be best to also get some shots that would be used in the final scene of my film. I didn’t
want to risk any continuity errors and setting up the make-up and outfit for the actor did take quite a lot of time and
given we were working at night, we didn’t have too much time to work with, so I thought it would be best to try and
get as much footage and production stills with the outfit as possible, as well as planning ahead for the final scene by
filming a little extra that I did end up using in the final version of the scene. Seeing how effective the outfit and special
effects looked behind the camera filled me with a lot of motivation and excitement for filming the future scenes and
also gave crew members a boost of motivation as they felt the same way after seeing the character brought to life
and how good it looked.

SCENE 3 EVALUATION - 'THE THING' - POSITIVES
This scene is one of my personal favourites in the film and I am very proud of it. I feel like with this scene I was able to utilise some
interesting editing techniques as well as try to incorporate interesting sound design and also start to bring in the horror visuals as well as
the excitement added with the audience being able to see the main antagonist for the first time. This scene really gave me a lot to work
with and a lot of ways to apply my skills in filmmaking and editing, and I think the final version of this scene really stands out and I
personally am very happy with the final result.
 One of my favourite elements of this scene was the camerawork. As I was the director of the film, I had to try and convey my thoughts
and ideas to my camera operator as to how I wanted this scene to be shot. The slow wavey camera movement is supposed to signify
how the main character is feeling at that point in the scene. I feel like my camera operator did a really good job in helping sell the
'nauseating and sickness' feeling of the entire scene and I tried my best to convey this through my acting performance too which I feel
both work well together.
 I'm very happy with how I introduced the antagonist in this scene and the suspense leading up to it. There was a lot of thought as to
how I would introduce him into the film and the right ways to go about it. I am happy with the slow build up that gives the impression
to the audience that something horrific is coming as they are left in a state of confusion much like the main character wondering what
is going to happen next, making them want to watch more right before we get the first jump scare in the film, so the audiences
curiosity is peaked right before the reveal.
 Another aspect of this scene that I'm happy with is the sound design, music and audio mixing. This was the first scene in the film
where I felt like I could have more creativity with the sound effects and design. I'm personally a fan of how the audio adjusts when the
camera switches to the main characters point of view which gives the audience more immersion with the scene and makes them feel
more personally connected with it as well as the main character. I also think the foley work sounded very convincing and natural,
making the scene feel more convincing & realistic.

SCENE 3 EVALUATION - 'THE THING' - NEGATIVES
As mentioned before there were a lot of technical and theoretical problems when creating this scene which resulted in a lot of ideas being
changed which overall resulted in the scene being different from how I originally planned it. Naturally, this left me feeling disappointed
with some aspects of the scene as there were other ideas I had that I wanted to use for it. While I still really like the scene, there are a few
negatives points that I have with it that I would change if I had to recreate the scene however unlike other scenes, this is probably the only
one where I don’t have too many negative points to list as it is my favourite scene in the film and I am still very proud of the final result
and how it was edited / presented.
 My biggest negative with this scene is the pacing issue. I think the scene feels too abrupt and there isn't enough suspense or tension
to build it up. The fact that the scene occurs too quickly can be confusing for the audience and it may take them a while to fully
understand the point and purpose of the scene which can take them out of the overall immersion of the film, which also could take
away the scare factor of the scene. The main reason why the scene is paced very quick is to make up for the lack of footage and shots
I wanted that I didn’t have time to collect, so I had to edit in quick cuts to give the impression that time was moving by quickly and to
also add to the nauseating feeling of the whole scene.
 Another minor negative I have with this scene is the low lighting issue in a lot of the shots through the second half of the scene. While
I don’t think the scene or these shots are too dark, because of the weather problems we were very restricted with lighting and could
only use certain waterproof lights and didn’t want to risk breaking any expensive equipment or setting up the equipment only for it to
rain again. I think there are parts of this scene that look a little too dark so it can be hard to convey emotion and facial expressions to
the audience. There were some shots in the scene that were too dark so I had to boost up the brightness and levels in post-
production which I think a lot of my audience will be able to recognise and notice, as I think it's easy to tell which shots were affected
by this as they stand out more amongst the rest.

SCENE 3 EVALUATION - 'THE THING' - PROBLEMS
 COVID IMPACTS: Being one of the only scenes in the film to take place outside there were a lot of considerations
as to where I wanted to film this during planning. Due to COVID rules and restrictions I knew that this scene wouldn't
be affected as much as my other scenes so there wasn’t too much of a worry. I still had to be aware of how many
people were going to help me film however, and I did plan on having another friend help work with me on this scene
but due to lockdown restrictions for entering people's homes and the fact that he lived very far away meant I had to
scrap that idea and film with only 2 people.
 TECHNICAL PROBLEMS: We didn’t run into too many technical problems when filming this scene luckily. Even when
filming while it was raining we made sure to keep the camera covered to ensure we didn’t damage it and we also
made sure the environment we were working in was safe for everyone involved as there were a lot of cables and wires
involved with setting up the lights for the scene which was important with an actor wearing a full-face mask in the low
light conditions.
 THEORETICAL PROBLEMS: This was the first scene in the film in which we had another actor for the shoot to play
the role of the antagonist. Unfortunately, due to time reasons, we didn’t have a lot of time to film so had to try and
film things as quick as possible, which resulted in not a lot of footage of the antagonist, and some shots that I wanted
to get that I missed out on. Over the three nights we filmed the weather wasn’t very good. Towards the end of the
scene the rain starts to pick up and some nights we couldn’t film at all as it was too heavy and we didn’t want to
risk breaking equipment. If it wasn’t for weather problems, I think that I would've been able to collect a lot more
footage than what I had in the final product.

'THE BATHROOM'

SCENE 4 EVALUATION - 'THE BATHROOM'
 Scene 4 aka 'The Bathroom' was the longest and biggest scene in the film to make. This scene for me really felt like
the most important scene in the entire film as this is where the horror element really starts to kick off and elevate the
entire film. I knew that filming this scene would probably take a lot of time so I wanted to make sure that everything
would run smoothly and also make sure that my crew were comfortable working in the environment they were in and
working for long periods of time. The scene in total took around 2 hours to film and we were in the bathroom for a
while getting multiple different shots and takes that would only last around 2 seconds. I wanted to make sure I had as
much footage as possible to work with to save myself from going back and filming reshoots as well as the fact that I
wanted to make sure I had as much to work with in terms of creative choices. A lot of the shots seen in the scene
were filmed 2 to 3 times in different angles so I had a lot of footage to work with and incase I didn’t like the look or
feel of one shot, I could replace it with an alternate version. Filming in the bathroom was a bit of a challenge given
that there wasn’t a lot of space to work with, so we had to try and find ways to squeeze into awkward positions to get
the shots I wanted. Even with all the footage we gathered, I did still have to go back a few days after shooting to get
some little extra shots that I needed for the scene. These shots were mainly 'filler' shots that I would use to help drag
out another shot or to help structure the scene a little more. Without some of these extra shots it would've been quite
hard to communicate with the audience what was going on during the scene which is why I went back to film them.
Overall, I'm very happy with the outcome and it remains one of my favourite scenes in my film. Despite it being a
challenge to film I really think the effort paid off in the long run and the scene holds up really well in the film as a
whole.

SCENE 4 EVALUATION - 'THE BATHROOM' - BEHIND THE SCENES
 Despite this scene being an overall challenge to film and edit, we had a lot of fun in the making of it. During filming I
managed to collect a lot of blooper footage and outtakes in between filming. As there was a lot of us crammed into a
small room there wasn’t a lot of space to work with and the crew had to make sure their shadows didn’t appear on
the walls, along with their reflections in the mirror and other reflective objects. As mentioned before we were filming
for around 2 hours which meant we had to take breaks in between filming. This time to think and evaluate gave me a
lot of space to think about extra shots I wanted to film and different ways I could improve the scene. During the
breaks I would be planning out in my head what I wanted to film next and also coming up with new ideas that I
thought would work well. Luckily with this scene I didn’t have to focus / worry if the camera equipment was working
or not as I had a team of people making sure that all the equipment was operational and working properly to fit the
scene. This gave me a lot of time and headspace to focus on my performance and what to do in specific shots to try
and sell the performance to my audience. When filming this scene we only had one light source which usually
would've made filming very difficult, but this light lit up the room perfectly and made the room feel dark, but not too
dark so that nothing was visible. Personally, I thought it was the perfect horror look with the dim fluorescent singular
bathroom light and it really had an impact on the visual quality of the scene. It also wasn’t too dark in that people had
a hard time being able to see inside of the bathroom. Luckily, we never ran into any health and safety issues even
when filming in a small compact room under low light. All of the filming went really smoothly and really well, and
after filming I was happy to look back on the footage to see what we had collected, and the majority of what we
filmed did end up being used in the scene.

SCENE 4 EVALUATION - 'THE BATHROOM' - POSITIVES
Overall, the scene went really well and went as planned for how I visioned it in my head. I knew before going into filming this scene that it
would probably be one of the most complex and difficult scenes to film so I expected a lot of different problems to occur, but thankfully
during the making of this scene we rarely ran into any kinds of problems at all, minus having to reshoot some shots and extras.
 One aspect of this scene that I'm very happy with is how it looks visually. There was a lot of thought into how I would colour grade the
scene and how I wanted it to look as a whole. I looked back on my research remembering that I talked about how I wanted aspects of
my film such as colour to carry meaning rather than being random. In my research I looked into how colour reflects emotion, which is
why I decided to settle on a yellowish tone for the whole scene. In the scene, the character is supposed to be feeling scared and
confined. The colour yellow is often associated with fear or acting cowardly, which is why I decided to colour the scene this way to
reflect on the characters emotions.
 I'm very happy with a lot of the shots we got in this scene. As I was acting in the scene, I had to try my best at directing the camera
operator, trying to highlight my views and ideas of how I wanted a specific shot to look, which was quite difficult to do, but I feel like
my sister being behind the camera did a good job at listening to my ideas and got some really good-looking shots such as the close-
up of the lighter flame, the reflective mirror shots, point of view shots and the tracking shots.
 Another aspect of this scene that I am very happy with was the sound design. During the editing process, I found the sound design
element of this scene quite difficult in trying to make everything sound natural. While there are elements that I'm not so happy with,
one of the main things I am happy with was the score, which was made by using existing non-copyright horror sound effects and
soundtracks but edited and altered so they would fit the style of my scene more. One of the scores in the scene (the first score) was
simply made up of a few sound effects with the tempo and pitch altered to give off more of a sinister and musical like tone, which in
the end I thought fit the style of the scene perfectly.

SCENE 4 EVALUATION - 'THE BATHROOM' - NEGATIVES
Surprisingly for the biggest scene in my film, there wasn’t too many problems I had to deal with during the making of it. While it didn’t
come out exactly how I planned it in my head, and it was originally going to be a much shorter scene, the final product is still very similar
to how I had planned it and not much has changed from the planning, apart from a few excluded shots.
 My biggest issue with this scene would be the camera work. While I'm happy with the scene and I don’t think the camerawork was
bad, I still think it could've been a lot better. For planning, we were going to use the camera stabiliser for this scene, but didn’t end up
using it for a few reasons, the main reason being that the room was really small, and it would be hard to maneuver with in such a
small place. We also couldn’t get a lot of the shots I wanted because the stabliliser would get in the way or not allow the camera to fit
in the angle I wanted it to, so in the end we decided to film the scene hand heled, which left the footage looking a little choppy /
shaky at times and not as smooth as it could've been.
 Another element of the scene that I'm not too happy with is the pacing. Originally, I wanted the scene to last a little bit longer to have
the suspense element drawn out more, as I feel that in the film its very abrupt and happens too quickly.
 Another minor problem I have with the scene is that some of the footage blinks in and out of focus. This was mainly due to the fact
that we were shooting in low light so the camera had trouble picking up things to focus on, however I think that if I framed and
angled the camera a little different I could've avoided this and would've had much smoother and more professional looking footage.
While the focus blinking isn't too bad, I think that it can be quite distracting and annoying for the audience at times in the scene.
 The last problem I have with the scene is my acting. Personally, I think I could've done a little better which would've helped sell
the performance to my audience a little more. While I don’t think my acting was terrible, I definitely think there's a lot of room for
improvement, especially for this scene as the acting is a really important factor of the whole film.

SCENE 4 EVALUATION - 'THE BATHROOM' - PROBLEMS
 COVID IMPACTS: COVID wasn’t too much of an interference when filming this scene. Since before starting the
FMP I had this scene planned out in my head and wanted to try and implement it into my project somehow. I knew
when planning for my project that I had to try and work around COVID restrictions, but this scene wasn’t too much of
a worry given that it was filmed at home indoors with only one other person, so thankfully COVID didn’t really affect
this scene.
 TECHNICAL PROBLEMS: Luckily when filming we didn’t run into too many problems. The main problem we ran into
were problems with the camera losing focus (blinking in and out of focus) every now and then when we were filming
under low light which I mentioned in the negatives, as well as the battery life being poor on my camera.
Unfortunately, my camera has a very short battery life which meant we were on the clock with filming and had to
make sure we had gotten enough footage just in case the camera did end up running out of battery.
 THEORETICAL PROBLEMS: The biggest issue when filming this scene was the fact that I only had one other person
to help me film. The fact we were filming for nearly 2 hours meant that this person was behind the camera for all of
this time, and I didn’t have anyone to stand in and take over after working for long periods of time. To make up for
this we did take regular breaks to get food and drinks, but it would've been a lot easier to work with multiple people
so someone could step in to film if someone else got too tired or needed to leave for whatever reasons.

SCENE 5 EVALUATION - 'ALONE'
 For the final scene of the film, I wanted to make sure that I ended on a terrifying note. I knew that all of the suspense
that had built up throughout the film needed to be released in this scene and I wanted to make sure that the finale
would be satisfactory for my audience. Much like the other scenes, I wanted to make sure there was a slow burn up
before the climax of the scene in order to try and create as much tension and suspense as possible, leaving the
audience on the edge of their seats and wanting to know what will happen next. Personally, I am very happy with how
the scene turned out and I'm happy with the way it was put together and how much tension was built up throughout
it. I think it was a good end to my film and an interesting pay off for what had been building up since the beginning
of the film and I also think a lot of audience members will find it very surprising and unexpecting, which was one
thing I tried to aim for when writing the ending. There were things that I planned for this scene that we didn't end up
shooting and a lot of elements of the script were cut for time reasons and other complications. Originally I wanted my
friend playing the character of Charlie to show up in the final version of the scene towards the end but couldn't figure
out the best time to film with him during late hours. This scene was also the last to be filmed and close to the
production deadline so I felt it was best to cut out parts of the scene that would be too difficult or time consuming to
film as I wanted to make sure I wasn’t rushing any of my work or missing any deadlines. Overall, I think that this scene
was a satisfying conclusion to my film. At this point in production, I was very tired and burned out with filming so my
motivation wasn't the best it could've been which I think resulted in a scene that could've been a lot better in multiple
ways, but I'm still very happy with the final version of the scene and I think it’s a fitting and also an appropriately
fitting horrific conclusion to my FMP film.

SCENE 5 EVALUATION - 'ALONE' - BEHIND THE SCENES
 'Alone' was the final scene of the film to make and was also the longest scene to film. Given that there was a lot of
footage required for this scene and also other elements such as make-up effects and an empty house to work in, we
had to film this scene across several days, filming one half in one day and the other half in another. We filmed the
second half of the scene first which included the death scene. I wanted to make sure to get the scenes that involved a
lot of fake blood and make-up out of the way first as I knew they would be the most challenging to film. I also wanted
to make sure that I shot as much as possible once we had the make-up and blood applied to the actors to try and
avoid having to film reshoots and having to replicate the same continuity, which I knew would be a difficult process.
Luckily, I had gathered more than enough footage so reshooting the make-up involved scenes wasn't an issue when
making this scene. At this point into filming, given it was the final scene to be filmed, everyone involved was very tired
and we also filmed the scene quite late at night, so we tried to get things filmed as fast as possible. Even though we
didn’t have a lot of motivation to film, we still tried our best and tried to get some nice shots that I was happy with.
There was a lot of extra footage and shots that I didn’t end up using in the final version, mainly because I couldn’t find
an appropriate was to implement them into the scene and I also wanted to make sure the scene didn’t drag out for
too long. I felt it was best that all of the scenes in the film have a similar runtime for pacing reasons. After everything
was filmed I started to edit the scene the next day and found that there were a few shots that I needed that I didn’t
collect the day before, so I did have to do a small reshoot that night to collect a few extra shots that I needed which
didn’t take up too much time, though it did mean I wasn’t able to finish editing the scene on the day I had planned
which resulted in some time loss.

SCENE 5 EVALUATION - 'ALONE' - POSITIVES
The last scene is one of my favourites in the film. I love the tension and suspense built up for the final moment in the scene. I tried to
build as much tension as possible, leaving the audience wanting to know what's going to happen next and what happens to the main
character. I'm also really happy with the audio and visuals in this scene as I think it has some of the strongest and most impactful sound
design and cinematography in the film.
 By far my favourite element of this scene is the sound design. The sound design process of this scene was quite complex as there was
a lot of different layers to it. Even with music in the scene, I thought it was best to still try and make it as realistic as possible by adding
footsteps, wood creeks and house noises into the sound mix, and I think it all blended together very well. I love how the music
changes throughout the scene it add to the feeling of danger and dread. The music in this scene is very much like a guidance as to
how the character is feeling as well as what the audience should be thinking & feeling. I think the sound design in this scene really
helps elevate the horror to a whole new level.
 Another element of this scene that I really liked was the cinematography. There are some shots throughout the scene that I am really
proud of, like the opening lighter shot as well as the stairway shot. I think the colours really give off the feeling of uncomfort and are
colours we don’t really associate with home, giving the scene a more cold and isolating feeling as if the character is in a place almost
unfamiliar to him. I think the colour choices matched with the lighting really help to sell the horror aesthetic and make the film feel
more gritty, dark and disturbing.
 I am really happy with the reveal of the main antagonist in this scene and love everything about how it looks. I made sure not to give
too much away regarding long take close ups and constant shots of the antagonist to leave a level of ambiguity and suspense. I think
the make-up effects partnered with the cinematography leave a very chilling and disturbing image and I'm extremely happy with
how it looked in the final product, and I definitely think the image of the antagonist is one of the biggest selling points / pieces of
iconography for the film.

SCENE 5 EVALUATION - 'ALONE' - NEGATIVES
As mentioned previously in my behind the scenes slide we filmed this scene very late when everyone helping was very tired, so naturally
this stemmed with a few negative points I have with the scene. I think without the lack of motivation we would've been able to produce a
scene with slightly more quality, as I think our lack of motivation really shows in this scene compared to all of the other scenes in the film
which is something I'm not very proud of and would've preferred to choose another day to film the scene, however due to timing reasons
I thought it would be best not to do that.
 I'd say the biggest negative with this scene was my acting. Given that I was very tired and had to rush, I feel like I didn’t give the best
performance that I know I could've given and I think it really shows in the scene. The lack of fear shown on the protagonist's face
doesn’t give the scene the impact it needs in order to fully deliver the fear. If I had to reshoot the scene, I would definitely put a lot
more effort in in terms of my performance and how I show emotions when under specific situations with my character to help fully sell
the scene as much as possible.
 Another aspect of the scene that I'm not too happy with was the very ending scene, the death scene. This was mainly due to no
experience with special effects so we had to shoot it in a way that looked very cheap and unconvincing as I couldn’t really think of any
other way to shoot it. The blood on the hands trick was very simple and while I'm glad about how the shots look, I think I could've
been a bit more creative with it and maybe experimented with special effects in my production experiments to prepare me for this
scene.
 While there were a lot of shots in this scene that I was very happy with, there were also a lot of shots that I didn’t like at all and I felt
that they were very lazy and could've been a lot better, for example, the wandering down the hall's shots were something that I wasn’t
really happy with as I had envisioned them more creatively in my planning and in my mind. Because we had to work quick due to the
camera battery issue, it didn’t give me enough time to properly think about the shots I wanted to get so we did have to rush a lot of it
and get as many rushed shots as we could.

SCENE 5 EVALUATION - 'ALONE' - PROBLEMS
 COVID IMPACTS: Originally I had planned in the first version of the script that another character would appear in this
scene played by one of my friends but because of lockdown restrictions and the fact that he lived very far away meant
that I had to cut it out of the script. Without these restrictions this scene probably would've played out a lot longer
and also would've introduced the audience to another character but unfortunately that wasn’t the case due to COVID.
 TECHNICAL PROBLEMS: There weren't an awful lot of technical problems with this scene besides the fact that before
filming I had been charging my camera, however it didn’t charge properly which meant the battery was low so we did
have to be quick when filming the scene as my camera does die very quickly when low on battery. This made it so I
didn’t have a lot of time to think about the shots I wanted to collect first and how I wanted to go about capturing
them, as I had to be quick.
 THEORETICAL PROBLEMS: As mentioned before, this was the final scene to film. During the time of shooting this
scene, everyone involved was very tired and it was quite late at night, resulting in us trying to get the scene filmed as
fast as possible, that and the dying camera battery. I think looking at my performance in this scene it is clear to tell
that I was feeling very tired and I wasn’t giving it my all. I think that If I would've shot this on a different day where
everyone was feeling a lot more motivated I could've added a lot more to the scene not only with my performance,
but with other things too like collecting some extra footage and trying to be more creative and interesting with
the way I set up a lot of my shots.

SECONDARY AUDIENCE FEEDBACK
 Showing: Family
Age Range: 16-40+ (M&F)
To gather my secondary audience feedback, I sat my family down to watch the film while I took notes on their comments and
feedback to find out their likes and dislikes about the film and what they think could've been done better. My family very much fit the
profile for my targeted secondary audience so I thought they would be a perfect group to gather feedback from once my film was
finished. Looking at my notes, here is the feedback that I received on what they thought of my product:
"I really liked the film, the best part about the whole thing was the music and sound, my one complaint would be the acting towards
the end. I don’t think it was very convincing and looked very bland." - Dad
"It was brilliant and scary. I was a little confused with the story and what was meant to be happening at some points, but the way it
looked was really impressive and there were moments where the video looked like a real professional film." - Mum
"The film was actually scary and got to me towards the end, the sound effects were really realistic and made you feel more immersed
in the film and what was happening. I think the ending scene could've been a bit longer though and you could've had more lines in
the film." - Sister
"For your first film I thought it was really good and I like what you did with my character (the antagonist) in the film, you made my
character look really horiffic and I think my favourite part of the film was the horror parts, they were done really well." - Brother

PRIMARY AUDIENCE FEEDBACK
 Georgina W (F) Age: 18 – Fan of the Horror Genre
Q: What did you think after first seeing my film?
A: "I was very impressed. For someone's first film I thought it was very well done and professionally made. The visuals throughout
the film were very aesthetically pleasing and everything felt like it fit the theme of the genre. I thought the narrative and the story
being told was very interesting, though wasn’t focused on as much as I think it should've been."
Q: Can you tell me in detail, what was your favourite element of the film?
A: "My favourite element had to be the cinematography. There was rarely a shot in the film that didn’t look good. The overall
visual quality matched with the vibrant colours and all of the horror elements made the film look morbidly beautiful. I'd say the
scene in which these factors shine would be towards the end. I love the use of the green dimly lit hallways as the character is
roaming the house, it has the perfect horror feel to it and adds so much to the atmosphere."
Q: Was there anything you didn’t like about the film? Anything you think that I could improve upon?
A: "I'd say my biggest complaint was the narrative. While the story itself was interesting and engaging, I feel like it could've been
touched upon more throughout the film. The story felt very ambiguous, like I was having to guess what was happening
throughout the film. I like ambiguity in stories however I think it was a little overdone in this film."

 James S (M) Age: 18 – Fan of the Horror Genre
A: "I enjoyed watching it. I thought for a short film it was very well made and was able to tell a decent story in the small runtime
which I actually quite enjoyed watching and would definitely watch it again."
A: "My favourite element was the cinematography. The colours just stood out really well and the whole film was nice to look at. All
of the aesthetical choices made for the film fit the genre and the theme. Nothing about the cinematography felt low quality,
rushed or out of place. Id confidently say it was the best part of the whole film and was just very impressive for a short film.
A: "I thought the acting could've been better, and I think it wouldve been nicer to have some more dialouge throughout the film. I
think it’s a shame that there's only a small amount of dialouge in the opening scene. I wouldve liked to have seen more in
different scenes of the film to make it feel like more of a film rather than a silent film."

 Kieran MK (M) Age: 18 – Fan of the Horror Genre
A: "I really enjoyed it. I thought it was very interesting and I was left wanting to know more. There was a lot of things about the
way the film was made that stood out to me, for example I thought a lot of the shots in the film looked really well done as well as
the colour choices in the different scenes. Every scene felt new regarding how it looked and felt, which is a big positive for me."
A: "I think my favourite element was the actual directing of the film. I really did like how it was filmed and the shots that were in
there. When I was watching the film, the directing was what stood out to me the most and I thought it was very creative."
A: "Personally, the thing I disliked about the film the most was the acting. There were a lot of times throughout the film where the
acting didn’t look or feel very convincing. I think the best way to help scare the audience is making sure the acting is as good as
possible as it can help them engage more with the film and have more of an emotional impact on them. I liked almost everything
else about the film, but the acting would be the main complaint for me, other than that I really enjoyed it."

AUDIENCE FEEDBACK THOUGHTS & ANALYSIS
 Overall, I'm happy with my audience feedback. A lot of my audience's likes and dislikes are similar to my own
when I look at my product as a whole. Looking into the feedback I've been given, a lot of it I very much agree
with. For example, a common negative complaint about my product was the structure of my narrative and how
ambiguous the story felt, which I agree with. One of my personal negatives with my product was how
ambiguous I left the story. I felt that my audience would have a hard time fully understanding what was going
on which has proven to be true thanks to my feedback and is something I need to work on whenever
approaching future projects. Looking through my feedback, I'm very happy that people liked the
cinematography aspect of the film, as this is also my personal favourite element of the entire product. I knew
before filming that I wanted my film to look good and to try and look as professional as possible, which is
where a lot of my attention went when planning and researching my product, which could be one reason why I
lacked on the narrative element, because I didn’t devote enough time to it as I should have. When editing
my product, a lot of thought went behind how I would colour a scene, as well as lighting scenes when filming,
so I'm very glad about the positive audience feedback for the cinematography. I was also happy to see no
negative complaints on the sound design. Sound design was the most complex part of editing my film, and I
put a lot of time and effort into it, so I'm happy that my audience enjoyed that element of the film, as its also
another one of my personal favourite things about the film. In conclusion, I'm very happy with my audience
feedback and got feedback that I more or less expected from fans and non-fans of the genre. I'm glad I was
able to create a product that I had fun making and for a lot of people to enjoy.

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