1. PRODUCING SHORT FILMS EVALUATION ISAAC SHARP

2. STAGE 1 INDIVIDUAL EVALUATION ON THE FOLLOWING SLIDES I UNDERTAKE MY INDIVIDUAL EVALUATION OF MY SHORT FILM AND ITS PRODUCTION 3. FITNESS FOR PURPOSE For my short film, I was given complete freedom with the content of my piece, meaning I did not have to work to the requirements of a strict brief. The only requirement was that the film could only make use of a single camera at one time. Instead, I set myself a guideline to work to. All of my previous works have tried to be comedic, with the humour being recognisable as my style, even if they are not of the comedy genre. For my next work, I knew it had to be another comedy piece, with my style of humour throughout. I started the scriptwriting process very early on, with assistance from Amy Jones, giving me a good basis to work with. I planned for my short film to be viewable for children as well as teenagers, although in order to make the film suitable for a young audience, I would need to reshoot one of the final scenes, where actor Dom Brooks accidentally swore in the take I decided to use. I researched comedy productions that might be considered similar, such as Nash Edgertons Spider, and I was able to make my film completely different to all of these works. STAGE 1 Q1 4. COMPARED TO ORIGINAL INTENTIONS My film, Watch Your Step, tells the life story of a spider who was raised from being a baby into a college student, who would eventually get married, before being stepped on by teenagers. I stuck to this idea precisely, and used every single line of dialogue that I had scripted. The scenes were comedic, as I had planned. However, there were a few miscellaneous details that I had to change. I was expecting the film to be a short 4-5 minute piece, but the final version was a whole nine minutes in length. As mentioned before, Watch Your Step was originally aimed toward a younger audience, specifically 11-15, but the inclusion of a swear word bumps up the target audience somewhat. In the planning stages, I expected the film to use a single piece of music throughout, as a flashback typically does, but I later decided that it required a variety of music tracks for greater effect. I wanted the film to give messages that some audience members may interpret. An example of a message that people can interpret is perhaps the life of an insect should be treated in the same way as the life of a human. STAGE 1 Q2 5. EFFECTIVENESS OF TECHNIQUES Perhaps something that drags Watch Your Step down is a lack of effects, or innovative camerawork. Most of the transitions in the finished piece were fade-to-blacks, as I found it fitting for flashbacks, and it helped to transition into a scene with a completely different mood to the last. The biggest use of special effects was during the shots where Uncouth Youth A crushes spider. Before landing on the spider, the footage and sound would enter slow-motion, delaying the inevitable fate of the spider. Throughout the single shot, the visuals would also become more and more grey, which required me to make use of keyframing. I was satisfied with how this looked and sounded, particularly the sound of the shoe hitting the floor. The scene where Spider has a phone call with his father also allowed me to learn more about sound editing. I manipulated Fathers speech to sound like it was coming out of a mobile phone, which sounded realistic, even if it made the speech somewhat quiet. STAGE 1 Q3 6. TECHNICAL QUALITIES The camerawork is a weak point of Watch Your Step, as it is very basic. Most shots are stills, and if they are not, there will only be a slight zoom or pan. The reason for this is that most of the film was shot by myself and Amy, with no other crewmembers. As we both act in the film, one of us would have to set up the shot by ourselves, and then move into the frame. This meant that the camera had to stay stationary, and we could not place ourselves perfectly. Occasionally, we would enlist the help of a cameraman such as Kaleem Abdallah or Rowan Thornhill, giving us more freedom in these shots. I believe that the music choices in Watch Your Step were very appropriate for the scenes using them, particularly Mother 3 Love Theme during the romance montage. However, a films soundtrack is always more credible if the music was composed for the film itself, so this would be a way to improve. The sound editing itself was successful, and I learned a lot from it. I was taught how to remove the hissing noise that a lot of shots contain, and reduce wind noise. My film sounded a whole lot more professional once I had removed the hissing and reduced the wind noise, even though this could sometimes affect the sound quality or make tracks quieter. STAGE 1 Q4 7. CREATIVE/ARTISTIC QUALITIES In my personal brief, I intended to make the film humourous through my own personal ways, giving it an auteurist stamp. I believe I have done this well, as my peers laughed at the jokes in the film when they watched it during the edit process. I plan to enquire more about the humour of the film during the audience feedback stage. The characters and locations were colourful, like I wanted, while the Uncouth Youth characters looked as chavvy as I could have hoped. However, I feel there is one scene which sticks out in the middle of the film, where Spider has a phone call with his Father. Due to a lack of footage, I had to include this scene in the form of a single 30-second shot with no cuts. The shot was very dark with little movement, so I feel it drags on for a long time, but all of the dialogue during the scene is important, so I could not think of a way to cut it up. I will also ask my audience what they thought of this shot. Although the camerawork is on the whole quite weak, I use the camera for comedic effect in one shot of the Uncouth Youths scene. When Uncouth Youth A yells IM NOT A SWEETHEART!!, the camera shoots upwards from below the characters chin, which my peers and I found particularly amusing. I believe the story is easy to interpret, although two people have already asked me is that actually you they stand on?, meaning the crushing may have been harder to interpret than I imagined. STAGE 1 Q5 8. SUMMARY Strengths *The humour proved effective, and made peers laugh. *The jokes were spread evenly throughout the film, as was the drama. *The film uses a large variety of different areas for scenes. *The voice acting provided for Father was well performed. *The film gives out messages that are open to interpretation. Weaknesses *Camerawork is basic. Filming required a cameraman at all times. *The Spider Calls Father scene show the same shot for too long. *The film contains a single swear word, while all other scenes use terms such as flipping just to avoid swearing. *The Grandma Calls scene has poorer lighting than the rest of the film. *The music did not consist of original compositions. STAGE 1 Q6 9. STAGE 2 AUDIENCE FEEDBACK I RECEIVED AUDIENCE FEEDBACK ON THE TECHNICAL AND CREATIVE QUALITIES OF MY FILM AND ITS SUITABILITY AS A PRODUCTION THIS SECTION WILL SUMMARISE AND REFLECT UPON MY FEEDBACK 10. TECHNICAL FEEDBACK POSITIVE On the technical side, a lot of my positive feedback was crediting the soundtrack, and the way it was edited in. The feedback says it fits the film well, help set a mood, and helps an audience connect with the characters. Particular shots also received credit. The establishing shot of York Minster was praised, as it shows an audience that Spider and Anna are marrying each other without having to actually show it. The shot of Uncouth Youth A from underneath his chin was also credited, with two viewers even saying that it was used to show a lack of power in that situation, which I had not considered myself. The spinning shot of Uncouth Youth As foot was also positively received. STAGE 2 Q1 11. TECHNICAL FEEDBACK NEGATIVE A lot of my negative technical feedback concerned the audio quality of the dialogue. Some parts were called quiet, while at other parts, the sound of the wind overpowers the voices of the characters. For one scene where the wind overpowers the dialogue especially strongly, I used subtitles to display the dialogue. Some viewers thought the subtitles were a good idea, while others thought they were insufficient. While I was surprised to see some positive feedback regarding the variety of shots, there were also some complaints. Some shots were wonky, and panning on some of the clips would have helped to give the short film a more professional feel to it. Indeed, I would have used more pans if I had a cameraman at all times. An interesting piece of feedback told me that the first half flows more smoothly than the second half. This could mean that the editing or the time progression was too rapid in the second half for that persons tastes, or the transitions were just weaker. STAGE 2 Q2 12. CREATIVE FEEDBACK POSITIVE Summarise the positive feedback you received about the Creative qualities of your installation, you should also consider use of space Messages, such as people shouldnt stand on spiders. In-jokes. I was pleased to see that audience gathered messages from the film. Many realised the comparison between a spiders life and a humans, and how the film questions the difference. The storyline and script were heavily praised. An audience member told me that they really connected with Spider, and all viewers admitted to laughing at the dialogue several times in the film, calling it extremely creative, well written so we understand the message/concept. I was also happy to see that some of the viewers enjoyed some of the in-jokes in the film, that reference previous projects of mine. The Roundabout Proposal scene references We