Caleb evaluated his production process for creating a short horror film. He felt he worked well planning different ideas and choosing horror. Getting shots and audio went smoothly but he lost time finding background noise. Peer feedback praised the camera angles but noted some unstable camera positions. Caleb agrees the camera seemed wobbly in a couple scenes and will improve camera stability next time.

1. EVALUATION
Caleb Wlcox

2. PRODUCTION
PROCESS
EVALUATION

3.  In my opinion I feel that I worked well with the planning for my production work
because when we received the brief for this production work I had several different
ideas of which I thought about creating and personally it felt like we had been given a
sense of freedom with this brief that we haven't been given before and because of this I
almost immediately thought of several different ideas of which I could create, but in the
end I went with the idea of a short scary/horror film, as I thought I would be able to
explore several different ideas in this genre, mainly coming from the idea of different
camera angles and lighting. Despite this at first when I was creating mind maps for my
‘initial ideas’ PowerPoint I felt that I struggled as I had so many ideas in my head that I
was thinking of creating, that when it came down to deciding on a final idea I actually
couldn't’t decide on which one I wanted to create it was easy sailing. Once I had
decided on the genre of short film that I wanted to create my next stage was to find out
what I wanted to base it around, this I was quite quick to do as I had already got the
inspiration of what I wanted to make of a already existing product example of a short
film which I had viewed and made my initial idea to be based around the ‘lights out ‘
idea but changed/presented differently so it has a different appeal towards the
audience. When it came to the stage of planning for were and when I wanted the camera
to be filming from, I also found it quite quick to do as I knew it had to be scary, therefore
I knew I would have to include various different places were there would be a lot of
close up shots to emphasis the main characters fear and also point of view/over
shoulder shots to show what the main character is looking at (what has them so
terrified/scared). The decision about the lighting was the quickest part of my planning I
believe as I already knew with it being a scary/horror short film I would have to make
good use of the idea of dark lighting, to help emphasise the fear the main character
has/is experiencing.

4.  I feel that I worked well with my research PowerPoint as I found it quite easy to find
information about short films and in particular the type of short film of which I wanted
to create as there was already multiple examples of already existing products for the
kind of short film of which I wanted to create and I was able to easily study them i.e.
camera angles/lighting ext. and take ideas from them that I could include into my own
production. I was in fact able to take multiple different ideas from the already existing
products, the majority of these ideas came from the ideas of the different camera
angles and some from the different lighting. One of the main existing products of which
I got my inspiration from was the short film ‘lights out’. In this short film I was
particularly fond of the initial concept of it and the way they used different camera
angles to grab the audiences attention and in a sense, draws them into them almost
being part of the film via first person camera angles, this is the main camera angle that I
thought that I really needed to try and get into my production after seeing it feature in
so many different short scary/horror/action films. However despite all this I feel that it
was down to the fact that I had an idea of what I wanted to create for my short film so It
was easy for me to start my research almost straight away as I had a strong idea of
what I wanted to create, along with this it was also very easy to find already existing
examples and on the different camera angles and lighting.

5.  Personally I think that I didn't’t really work that well with my time management, I believe
that I could have worked much better with it, this is especially the reason with my
research PowerPoint as when I was completing this PowerPoint I lost my memory stick
which had some of the work on of which I needed to complete my second PowerPoint
and as the result of losing my memory stick for a space of a few days I was unable to
add in the information on the last two slides, which stopped me form completing the
research PowerPoint and putting it on my blogger, it in fact haltered me until the last
day of the week as I had to go back and keep re-adding to the slides of which I was
missing, as a result it slowed me down slightly from being able to move onto my next
PowerPoint. Despite this though I believe that I worked well with the rest of my
PowerPoint's and managed to get them all finished in the time that I had set myself (at
the exception of the second PowerPoint). I do get the feeling that I could have worked
quicker with my production work by starting to film earlier, as if I had done this then I
would have had some spare time to go back more then a few times to check over my
work and correct any mistakes that I hadn't noticed but are now then I would have had
time to go back and correct it. I feel that the fact of me not having much time to go back
and check over my production is mainly down to the fact that I los my memory stick
and fell behind in my research PowerPoint because if I hadn't of done this then I would
have got my second PowerPoint done much quicker and would have moved on to the
next much quicker, also I would have finished my production with time to go back and
check it over much more thoroughly. As a result of this happening, when it came to my
evaluation I had in fact gone past my deadline that I had planned to be finished by, I was
in fact running 2 days behind schedule, which in my opinion was unacceptable.

6. I feel that throughout the whole of my filming everything went smoothly without many
mistakes, everything also worked well when it came to getting the different angles/shots
in as I was able to get all of the different shots I wanted to. However I did run into some
delays when I was filming as with some of the shots I couldn’t decide on the angle to film
and with some of the shots I was generally very puzzled onto were to film them, as in
some places there was objects in the way from being able to see the whole scene. When
this was the case I simply took my time in trying out different angles and simply taking
some practice shots, this didn't’t take too long and within no time I was moving onto the
next shot, out of all the filming there was actually only a few shots of which I couldn’t
get the right angel. When it came to setting up the camera, I was able to set it up easily
as the camera of which we where using happened to be my own so as a result I felt very
confortable working with it and getting the filming done. In fact the only really big
altercation I had with the camera was that when I turned it on to film, the battery was flat
so I had to wait around for it to charge before I could start filming/recording for my
production, as a result I only very slightly fell behind with my production schedule.

7. Also within my production I had to add in some sound effects/audio to make my recording
become a short film, this process I thought to be the easiest process out of all of them as
all I had to do was collect/create the audio/sound effects that I knew I was going to be
needing. I did this after I had filmed/recorded my short film as after recording I knew I
would have a better idea of what kind of audio/sound effects I would be needing to
complete my short film. My actual recording for the majority of my audio/sound effects
went quite well as I was quick to start making them, this is because in the earlier weeks I
had made a list of the different audio/sound effects that I might need, no surprise that the
majority of the sound effects I needed were already on the list, as a result I was almost
ready to go straight away. However despite this I did run into some altercations when I was
recording audio/sound effects as when I was recording sometimes there was excess
background noises, this was bad as it kept making my audio recording sound muffled,
making it hard to hear. As a result of this I was only able to record for audio/sound effects
during certain times in the day, when it was quiet and I was able to hear the sound
effects/audio when I played them back to myself, I needed them to be clear and very easy
to hear them from a slight distance, I didn’t want there to be any muffled sound and I made
sure and checked over to make sure there wasn’t any.

8. I feel that I worked well with my editing when it came to the editing stage of my production, I felt
this was the case because I felt that there wasn’t really that much editing of which needed to be
done to my production, as I had tried to make sure that the shots I took where clear and made sure
that it was quiet when I filmed them. As a result of this the majority of my editing was more based
around adding in my audio/sound effects into my production. Although that wasn’t all of my
editing, I also had to make sure that each shot/clip was of the correct length and that the audio was
going to fit with that shot/scene. This I felt to be quiet tedious/boring as it took quite a while to do
as I had to do this with every piece of audio of which I was putting in for each set scene/shot that
the audio/sound effect was for. Before I could even begin the editing stage of my production, I had
to go through my production work and make sure that there wasn’t any unnecessary muffled
background noise that was going to out-sound my audio/sound effects for my production, this
process took some time and I found it to be quiet tedious/boring but it was something that was
important and it had to be done otherwise I doubt my short film would have succeeded with the
audience as they would of probably have been able to hear the muffled background noise, so by
doing what I did , I kept the audience drawn to it. There is a much quicker way to edit out the
background sound from my filming which I wish I had done as it would have been much quicker
and that was to simply press mute on the selected film/track. I wish I had done this before as it
would have saved much more time, time that I could have used to go back and check over my work
once I had completed everything. Once I had completed my editing it was the simple task of
exporting it and posting it on ‘YouTube’ via my account, this was very easy for me as I have done it
multiple times before in the past.

9. Yes I believe that my work looks good and I am also of the opinion that it is creative, one of these
aspects of which I find to be more creative is the idea of the lights on/object, I find this idea to be
the most creative part of my short film because it is generally the main part of my film and it is the
part which is going to attract/make the audience want to view it more. This is because I seriously
doubt that people would see my opening scenes to be creative as I doubt they would be drawn in
by someone going about their daily business…no.... They wil be wanting to get the lights on/off
scenes. Alothough i believe these scenes to be creative but infact the whole lights on/off thing i
got off the idea of already existing short films of which i have viewed on ‘Youtube’ to collect ideas
and this was the main ideas of which i thought i would be able to work/create easily with.If i had
time to go back and improve/look over my work i feel that i would make the time to go back and
alter my first few opening scenes, expecially the ones where the main character is going about
his daily business, i just feel like i could make it seem more interesting by maybe adding in some
more background noises or having things going on in the background e.g other people going
about their daily business in the background, but they obviously dont feature in the film they are
just in the background. If i was to go back and do this i would need to make sure that i didnt add
too many more people into the background as it wouldnt seem right/the general atmosphere on
my short film would seem too crowded/ as if them background people arent ment to be there. I
believe that the main strenght of my production work was my general idea as it was a basic but
strong idea that i was able to work with and create easily, without muc strugles. The main
weakness in my opinion is that in some scenes of my film the camera appears to be unsteady//on
an even ground, due to this i feel like my production could possibly be marked/graded slightly
lower then what i hoped, whihc would disappoint me deepely if it does.

10. On a whole after looking back at my production I feel that I have definitely appealed to my
audience and make sure I have done so exactly how I said I was going to. I have done this
mainly by adding in the features of which I said I was going to add in e.g. to dingy and on/off
lighting of which features as the main scenes of the film. The lights on/off scenes in my film
make the film appeal to my audience because these are the scenes that make my short film
be a scary/horror short film as these are the scenes that make the film, these scenes also
appeal to my audience because if you think about it.. Its scary… it may be only basic/not
compliacted/dense enough for a critisisor but at the end of the day it is still going to be seen
as a short scary/horror film and it appeals to the audience which is all that really matters to
be honest, people can critisize my film but if it appeals to my target audience and they like
it/want to watch it, then thats good enough for me.
Although I know that there is a small audience range that my film may not appeal to but that
is more down to the fact that they could prefer the idea of a more indepth short film or maybe
the concept of my film just doesnt appeal to them, but i dont see that to be the case because
the concept of my short film is a classic, i have seen many already existing product examples
of them, so there must be a wide audience who like these type of short scary/horror films
otherwise, they wouldnt be so popular and one wouldnt have been turned into a film. One
thing of which i particulary like about my audience appeal/target audience is the target age
range being 17-18. This appealed to me because that is the age of which i am meaning, that i
was able to work easily on creating an idea that will appeal to my age group as i know what
would appeal to me and other people.

11. PEER
FEEDBAC
K

12.  What did you like about the product?
 I liked the fact that you made a good use of different camera angles throughout your
short film, such as the idea of the camera switching between the point of view
angles of the main character and the looming character in the dark.
 What improvements could have been made to the product?
 During some of the scenes at the start it seems that the camera isn’t on a level
ground/stable to a certain position. So next time make sure that you have positioned
the camera on a stable/level ground.

13.  What did you like about the product?
 I liked the idea that you chose to make a typical short horror fil that everyone would
enjoy, but the way that you altered it to make it your own is nice, it makes your short
film have a certain appeal to it that you don’t get with others.
 What improvements could have been made to the product?
 Next time, make sure that all of the muffling/background noises have been removed
and check this meticulously. The reason I say this is because when I was listening
to/viewing your short film, I could slightly hear some mulfed background noise. It
wasn’t to obvious to notice, but once I had I couldn’t avoid hearing it.

14.  What did you like about the product?
 I like the way that you have presented/made your short film appear to its
viewers/audience it is quite unique and it is certainly what made me drawn into your
short film, I also like the general idea of it, how you chose to make a typical short
film into your own idea is very suttle but a bold idea and most indefinitely a stand
out.
 What improvements could have been made to the product?
 When I was watching your short film I noticed that in some places the camera didn’t
seen to be on a level ground, it seemed like it was shaking/wobbling a bit. So next
time what would be really good is if you made sure the camera you are using is on a
level ground/ held steady as it would really put the shine on your work.

15.  What do you agree with from your peer feedback?
 From looking at my peer feedback I agree with the initial opinion that some has said the
camera didn’t seem to be on a level ground/ slightly wobbly. I will openly agree with this
as when I went back over to watch my final production, I to did notice that in only
one/two scenes the camera did appear to be slightly wobbly/didn’t seem level. I see this
a disappointment in myself as I had hoped my production would go without any
altercations, however with some viewers/critics noticing this I feel that my level/grade
could be knocked down slightly.
 What do you disagree with from your peer feedback?
 One of the main things of which I disagree from my peer feedback is the fact that
apparently that you can hear slight muffled background noise in my final production. I
strongly don’t agree with my because I listened back over my production multiple times
before I rendered the video to make sure that there wasn't any muffled background
noise, that was going to stop my sound effects from being heard properly and there
wasn’t any background noises and my sound effects could be heard easily, so whoever
came up with the opinion that they could here background noises then they must have
mis-heard.

16. Based upon the feedback of which I have received I believe that there isn't really any
change of which I would make to the initial concept of my game, as on a whole
everything works well on a whole and this has been proven from what the audience has
said about my production work. However there is one thing of which I would do different
next time/ if I had time to go back and that would be to make sure that the camera was
set on a more level ground and wasn’t able to move/shift around when recording. This is
because during my short film if you watch closely you will be able to see that there Is a
few places where the camera has moved slightly and the shot doesn’t seem as
focused/professional. If I have the time later on, I will definitely be going back and re-
recording the scenes of which the camera appears to be out of line/focus//tilted as I feel
it will very much benefit my short film on a whole and will help me to be able to achieve a
higher grade.