FMP - Evaluation

1. Evaluation

2. Effectiveness Of Research
• The research I did for this project really helped me think about the kind of
film I wanted to create. Creating a survey really helped me to identify the
kind of audience I was going to be producing my film for, I feel without
those results, I would have really struggled to decide on a set genre and
plot, however with my audience giving me the feedback they did on how
they’d like the film to be produced and what I should focus on regarding
mental health, it meant I was able to change my film where needed and add
extra content in so it fit with how my audience expected the film to be
made. My secondary research really helped me get the facts and figures I
needed for the end of the film, giving people that extra bit of knowledge of
mental health they didn’t know before hand. To finish off my research I had
a look at successful short films that was the same genre and style as my
own, to get inspiration and see what I thought were good and bad points of
the film that I could change a little and incorporate into my own film.

3. Methods
• Filming wise I used the basic camera angles: close ups, mid-shots, long
shots, POV’s etc. I felt these angles really made my production what it was, I
specifically chose to do POV shots in certain scenes where I felt it would
really impact the audience, same with all the other camera angles used.
• When editing I used a lot of cross fades, especially in my typography. Some
shots/scenes I had to change to opacity and brightness as my characters
would be very over exposed in some places.
• In order to edit my music I used Adobe Audition, I had to add some echo
effects and drop the audio to a lower pitch so that it doesn’t sound like the
original soundtrack.
• Missed opportunities include having somebody else cover the song and
rearrange the music for me, giving a new sound completely. I also wish I was
able to have more people in my production, just to emphasise how popular
my female character is. Originally she was supposed to have a group of
friends with her that showed how popular she was in comparison to my
male character, however I’m happy with the finished product.

4. Final Concept
• The final concept for my film stayed relatively the same as what I had
originally planned at the start of the project when I crated the story boards.
I originally wanted to have the film set in a college environment, however
changed my mind last minute as I feel the concept I have now provokes
more emotions which is what I wanted with this film. The film itself still
shows the mental health aspect to it exactly how I wanted it to when I first
thought of doing a film that showed mental health; which I’m happy with.
• There are a lot of changes I wish didn’t happen but did in order for the film
to make sense and it be easier to organise production and extras, however I
feel it is roughly close to how I imagined the film to be originally at the start
of the year. I managed to work round the changes made and my film didn’t
change like I thought it would which I’m happy with.

5. Flashback
• I decided to add in a flashback from Aaria’s point of view
(POV) to show that even though one day someone who suffers
from anxiety can appear to be fine and acting normal, the next
they could be struggling much like Daniel in my film. This
scene was shot in the kitchen, this being another way I was
able to incorporate the heart element in my film.

6. Changes To The
Production

7. Character Name Change
• On reflection, I decided to change the main character’s name. Through
speaking to people about my film it was brought to my attention that
many suicide survivors or those close to survivors had semi-colon
tattoos. This moved me so much, I just had to include it somewhere. It
was difficult to know where and how to include this, but I knew it was
so significant it had to be in there. I felt using a semi-colon in the main
character’s name and using that name as the title of my film would have
an impact. People who understand the underlying meaning behind this
punctuation mark would be immediately drawn to the film which would
help with promotion. I also wanted to incorporate the semi-colon in the
content of the film. As the meaning behind the punctation mark
signifies a sentence that is not finished. I felt that adding it to the end of
the suicide note was a raw and obvious display of realisation and the
best possible conclusion I could draw.

8. Character Development
• Daniel started the film off by waking up hungover after having a heavy
drinking session the night before to help with his anxiety. I wanted my
audience to see that this was his way of coping with anxiety on a day to
day basis, however being wary of the fact that I didn’t want this film to
become about alcoholism. I chose to leave empty beer cans scattered
around the room to show the extent of his drinking (these can be seen
in the background of most bedroom shots). The film ended with Daniel
burning the note found by Aaria, his girlfriend, when she went into the
bathroom to find something that would calm Daniel down. I wanted to
show this character development from Daniel as I wanted my audience
to see him bring himself round from the panic attack, but to also see
that Aaria was there for him which is something I want people to realise
when they go through this experience. Daniel burning the note really
shows how he developed as a character because at the start of the film,
he had suicidal thoughts of “not wanting to be here anymore” and I feel
that him burning the note really shows how he got himself through that
with the help of a loved one. A message I want my audience to take
away with them.

9. Sound
• As I used a song and have no script, I felt there was something
lacking in terms of linking the film together. I have added the
sound of a heartbeat at the beginning of the film as a rapid
heartbeat is a warning that a panic attack is imminent.

10. Planning

11. What Went Well…
• I thought my storyboard went well regarding planning, even though my film
isn’t exactly how I designed it to be on my storyboards, it helped me picture
my film in my head, which then meant I was able to make the changes I did
to make my film more understandable and watchable. I feel my initial
thoughts on my film were good, however once I changed some of the
scenes and set up of the film, I felt it made my film better. I’m glad I had a
time management page, because it meant I was able to properly decide
what shots and scenes I needed to film on both filming days and how much
I could roughly edit in between at college.

12. What Didn’t Go Well…
• It took me a while to decide on locations for this project as the plot did
change a lot throughout the planning and pre-production stage, this
delayed filming a lot because I was too indecisive. I definitely
underestimated time management and how long it would take to edit my
film, this meaning I didn’t have a lot of time to really analyse my work and
make minor tweaks, however the product I do have I am happy with. I do
wish I had more images from the behind the scenes of my production so I
could show more of what we did and how/where everything was set up on
set.

13. Production

14. What Went Well…
• The efficiency regarding how fast I was able to film and how much over a
two day period shocked me as I thought we would need an extra day to film
another part of my film, however we didn’t which meant I had more editing
time. I feel the days we were filming were really good, we got a lot of work
done and I had input from my actors which I thought would help my film
was very open to other peoples ideas and we talked about how we could
improve the film more if we changed up some of the scenes and the way we
placed the camera.
• Clothing wise, I think my actors dressed appropriately to how I wanted my
characters to look in the film. I liked the way my male characters outfit was
dark colours, I felt that represented the darkness he felt within when he was
having a panic attack. The bright colour of my female character represented
how bright and bubbly she was, thus showing how good a friend she was
when ‘Daniel’ was having his attack.

15. What Didn’t Go Well…
• Because we filmed on different days, the lighting is slightly different in some
places, however it isn’t noticeable in the film as I adjusted the brightness
when editing. There is a very high exposure in some of the shots also, which
meant that Fraser’s complexion was very pale because of the camera angle
and way the light was shining on him. This was easily solved, like I said
previously I was able to change the brightness settings so that isn’t as
noticeable now.
• I feel that because I left filming to the last minute, I haven't had a lot of time
to edit my film. I’m happy with the way it has turned out, however I do wish
I had another week or 2 to work on editing and adding effects, changing the
typography etc. The time I have had has given me time to complete my film
and I’m happy with how it has turned out with the editing that has
happened in the space of time I did have.

16. Post-Production

17. What Went Well…
• After filming, I was very efficient with editing, completing milestones that I
set myself each day in order to make sure my film was in and completed on
time. I learnt where to put crossfades in order to extend a certain shot that I
wanted to be longer (the drink dripping from the win bottle in the first
scene). Originally that was a 3 second clip that I lengthened and made look
like it was a longer shot by adding the crossfade into copies on that same
drip sequence.
• When I decided to add in the extra typography that gave people more
information about suffering from anxiety and depression, I was glad for it
because it gave me chance to fill in the song gaps that I couldn’t edit out as I
did want my film to be over 4 minutes long instead of 2. I feel that because I
added this typography in, hopefully it draws out the emotion I wanted it too
with my audience/viewers.

18. What Didn’t Go Well…
• I did start editing later than everyone else because I began filming a week or
so after production started. I had to be much more efficient with my editing
as I had lost a few weeks of production time because of starting late.
• Aside from this, I didn’t face any other issues because of the work ethic I
made myself get when it came to editing this film.

19. Problems

20. Technical
• The only technical problems we had was the over exposure with the
sunlight making some light reflect back on the camera. The issue was hard
to resolve on set as it is a natural problem and I had nothing to reflect the
sun away from my actors/equipment, however it was easily resolved in
Adobe Premier.
• Another technical problem was the soundtrack needing to be edited to
sound different to the original track I was needing to use because of being
let down by my original singer. I had to edit the track down a little also, as
my film wasn’t long enough to support the full film. I also had to cut the
song half way through in order to cut out dome of the guitar solo, this
meaning I had to edit the soundtrack in Adobe Audition on two separate
occasions and make sure I added the same effects in both so it sounded like
a continuous track and not choppy/badly edited.

21. Management
• Time management was one of the biggest problems as I don’t eel I left
myself enough time to really get my project edited and completed to the
best of its ability, however the work that has been done makes it look as
good as it can be given the time.
• Management regarding casting was easy as I knew roughly who I wanted in
my film, because there’s no script, it meant I was able to help my actors
more with how I wanted them to act/react in the film and show them
exactly how I wanted things to be portrayed in an emotional way.
• I thought I had a confirmed singer for this project, so didn’t think I needed
to have a second one lined up just in case. When this person pulled out, I
didn’t have enough time left on the production side of the project to try an
find someone else who could sing and re-compose the music. Thus meaning
I had to edit the original soundtrack I wanted to sound different to the
original in order for it to be allowed to be incorporated into my film.

22. Emotional
• There were no real emotional problems that happened during production.
Myself and my actors seemed to be happy with how everything was run as
we were filming on both occasions.
• I was let down by my singer for the music part of my film, meaning I had to
edit the original soundtrack myself instead of using a cover like I intended. I
was a little stressed on knowing what to do regarding getting a new singer,
but I resolved the situation by deciding to edit the song myself.
• There were times in production where we would stop to take photos or
have a break halfway through filming that we didn’t need, but we quickly
got back on track after a short length of time, knowing we were short on
time to film in the day anyway.

23. Does My Product
Meet My Intentions?

24. My Intentions
• I feel this project does reach my expectations. It took me a few weeks at the
start of this final project to finalise my decision on what to make. I had
around 3 different versions in my head of what I wanted the film to look
like, however now that I have done this version of the film I’m really happy
with how it has turned out. My actors were already chosen at the start of
production as I had an idea of what I wanted my characters to look and act
like, my two actors portraying them exactly how I wanted.
• Filming wise, there were a lot of shots I didn’t have on my shot list that I
ended up adding on production day and those are the ones I used in
production (an example of this is the shot of Aaria running into the house,
that particular shot being a close up of her feet as she runs in). Another
example of this is the wine bottle shot where there is a drip coming from
the hole in the top, this shot was only conceived about just before my actors
arrived on set to film.