I have to say without
unbiased opinion that I feel both film pieces turned out to be really strong I
the end for different reasons. I felt the story line of ‘A Short Story In
Brutality’ was extremely good and strong performances from the actors. I think
it was a pleasant surprise for everybody on the finished piece because nobody
was quite sure how it was gong to pan out with the sound being played forward
in chronological order and the picture in reverse chronological order but I’m
really pleased with the results. I think its main strengths are the
cinematography, performance, editing and direction. Though some of the shots
are a little bit grainy I do think that this adds somewhat to the monochrome
picture. If I had to pick faults with it, I would say that my performance could
have done with a little more drama in it but I can totally accept the blame there,
as I wasn’t really comfortable acting in the first place. I felt that Jordan
gave really good direction to us as crew and cast member, I knew exactly what
he wanted and we talked a lot about how he wanted it to look when I edited the
project, with short snappy cuts. I’m also happy to report that our feedback for
the film was nothing but positive and I think, though it was only two minutes
in length, it has been the most successful project I have done since my time
here.
Our next piece was entitled
‘Lack of Prestige’ as well as going through a name change this piece went
through many other changes along the way throughout filming and post
production. Though the entirety of the film has ended up a solid piece of work
and looks visually good and the sound work Joel did is incredible, There were
so many complications with the shoot that meant Joel and Jordan didn’t have
much time to pull it off at all but they managed to do just that, which is why
I believe the main strengths of this piece are editing and sound. I think the
weakest part is the cinematography, purely because of grain and shooting at
night it was hard to tell. But also time keeping and direction is creeping in
there too. Because Christi was so confused with ideas it took a lot of time and
talking to iron them out and the actors would get confused often. I think the
project has changed a lot from what we originally wanted to do because I think
Christi wanted to have it as a serious film but looking back it just wouldn’t
have worked out that way. Joel’s work on the sound is truly amazing and it adds
such a lot to piece not only with Foley effects and dialogue but also
everything he created to add comedic value to the piece, I think it’s
definitely the strongest part of the film. But overall I enjoyed both project
in both roles first as editor and then as art director.
The process of making both
these pieces were so different for many reasons, in ‘A Short Story In
Brutality’ my role was editor but I was also cast as the lead female. So I was
there for the entire making of it. The planning for the project was good and
although we had some initial casting problems but once the cast was found the
filming went off without a hitch, Jordan was clear in his direction so we were
able to film the whole film in two days. Because of our prior issues with
casting this pushed the whole postproduction time to a lot less than what I had
hoped for which meant I had about two days to completely edit the picture. So I
got cracking on it and started editing the first set of raw footage. This is
where my issues started coming in, because I only had a short amount of time to
edit I decided not to name the sub clips of the second shoot footage I just
didn’t have time but it lead to so many more problems along the way. I couldn’t
find the clips that I did want to use because I couldn’t remember the numbers
and I was beginning to suspect footage was definitely missing from the SD cards
and I knew that obviously because I had starred in all of the film. The moral
of this story is ALWAYS label the footage otherwise it’s going to take a lot
longer than if you did label.
The second time round, even
though my role had changed I wanted to be well prepared for the shoot as I had
known we’d be filming through the night this time. I also had two weeks over
Easter to scout most of the props and costumes I would need to make the script
a reality. After talking it through with Joel before breaking up for half term
I was confident we had the costumes for the magician and apprentice nailed. So
all I had to do was find the rest of the props, which I did over Easter at a
tidy price. I also brought things like tape, glue, scissors, pins etc. for any
mishaps along the way, which we had to do when Jim broke the cane! But
fortunately we bought another that was exactly the same for the second day
shoot. I think there are a few aspects I’ve learnt which unfortunately I didn’t
learn until it was too late, is that I should be involved in location scouts to
develop ideas of set design and also communicate my ideas with the
cinematography as well before they set up. I was out on the sideline a lot and
if I was aware I should be involved with those aspects beforehand I would have
done.
I think my contribution to
each of the projects was quite a large amount because not only was I editor for
‘A Short Story In Brutality’ and art director in ‘Lack Of Prestige’ but I also
had to be in both films as well, which I had not at first anticipated and not
something I wanted to do at all. I gave as much of my time as I could to both
projects especially in art direction, as that is the area where I’m most
passionate.
As a group I think we
worked really well together which is good because I know a few of the lads have
worked together before but I hadn’t worked with any of them so it was good that
I could fit into the dynamic so easily. I think we all managed to get onto the
same level as each other in regards of what we wanted to achieve and make in
the films. We tackled all group aspects face to face we would meet before
tutorials, after tutorials, have short meetings at the end of the shoot, text
and call each other, so we were always in contact. We also made use of social
networking site Facebook. Robin made a group with all of us in and he would
post all schedules and meeting times there and it was also where the scripts
were uploaded so we could all access them easily, which was a good idea.
There were a few things
that did bother me though whilst filming these projects. Robin managed to make
situations tense when he wanted something his way when he was only the producer
and when we were filming he’d always pressure us with time constraints which
made it a bit too intense for me. I also didn’t think that any of my opinions
were valued or taken on board when it came to filming especially with the blood
scenario because I had envisioned it the be splattered against the wall and
Christi and Robin were determined it had to be on the floor and as a result the
effect didn’t work.
The only other issue we had
was filming our 10-minute piece, the actors weren’t ever on time because they
had to travel from Leeds and they often cancelled on us because they had other
plans. Christi wanted these actors as they were his friends and unfortunately
they kept letting us down but unfortunately there was nothing we could do as we
had shot half of the film already.
Overall I think we all
worked well together we were able to have a laugh and enjoy ourselves most of
the time, it was only when time was getting short and tempers started to fray
that disputes arise but it was only with certain members of the group.
This semester began with a Short film called Cubs
that I have also reviewed in my blog, that film sort of stuck with me
throughout this whole process because it’s a film essentially about fox hunting
but delivered in a new way. And that is how I want to think when I start on
every new project, how can I deliver that in a new original way. I took
inspiration from Editor, Walter Murch’s book ‘In the blink of an Eye’ where one
of his founded theories is “cut out the bad bits”, in fact that’s exactly one
of his chapters in the book. Though my skills lecturer advised me that his book
would be my ‘bible’ for that module for this module I decided to challenge that
concept when I came across the film ‘Memento’, edited by Dody Dorn whose
philosophy is juxtaposed with Murch’s when she says, "It is still a commonly accepted notion that the editor just
"cuts out all the bad bits." I liken editing more to sculpture. I
don’t claim to be Michelangelo, but I like to think that when I am watching the
dailies projected for the first time, I am seeing the pure essence of the film
and that I work toward preserving and presenting that essence in a form that is
accessible while still being artful." I much preferred this concept of
editing as even Murch himself admitted that it was a sort of dramatic butchery.
I far preferred to think and feel whilst I was editing that I was sculpting a
movie.
For ‘lack of prestige’ I did some
of my own research into films such as Harry Potter and came across the widely
known British production designer Stuart Craig, who production designed for all
of the Potter films. Whilst reading through a lengthy interview with him
sharing his insight in a book called ‘Production design & Art direction’ by
Peter Ettedgui. I have never read such an informational and insightful
interview he lent so many pointers on how to be a good art director that I only
wish I had read about him sooner there would have been far more ways I could
have got involved such as location archive research, how you know your set design
is as good as it could be and most importantly learning to let go of your work
and pass it on. You have to trust that your work will retain its integrity and
trust the cinematographer not to ruin it basically. This last point is
something I definitely need to work on.
