Evaluation - EXPANSE

In my film, I had a few bits of feedback (peer assessment review) which were mostly positive. They mentioned the sound and how it differs to one side and I explained:

Peer-Assesment-Review

Josh

"I think this film in nice! I love the way in the teleportation scenes, the background is there and I am gone or when I arrive it does the same. The last pano out in the aerial shot was really cool and I like how the credits join with the music. The only thing I would say to improve this is would be to edit the sound so that it isn't one-sided."

In review, the sound being one-sided is actually on purpose. You see, the sound is on the left at the start, so is everything in the shot. So since the visuals are coming from the left the sound does too. I also notice that the aerial shot is mentioned and that is something I prided myself on in the 'Shot List" blog and I feel as if I accomplished all I needed for this to work along with the music in sync with the credits.

Jack

"Good film, Tobie is a little out of focus and the sound is on the left but all in all I like this. I like how the actor teleports and he fades out and the concept of the headphones being a weird device to teleport. It is different and so, I think that this is original and so that makes it great!"

To start, Matt's Dad (TOBIE LANG) is out of focus because the camera is supposed to tell a story. The camera focus represents his vision on what his son will do in the day. He doesn't really know his son all that well since he is a very busy physician/chemist. He wants to but he doesn't understand his son as much as how he'd like.

YouTube comment

This comment means a lot to me. It means that I accomplished something, it means I made someone happy and that is very important to this film, and to myself.

Reflection & Evaluation

Pre-Production

In my Pre-Production, I came across the issue of extravagant places to shoot. I couldn't get recce's of Victoria Park (End Scene) because there was a lack of time. The weather was horrible that day and so it wouldn't look accurate to how I wanted it. Although, I do mention it in my 'Recce" blog. I did plan to shoot there all along and I had a vivid picture of it in my head. I took the actor to the location and he knew what and how we'd be shooting this scene. 

I knew for a fact that the sound would be something that emphasises this film a lot. The teleportation sound would be key and timed correctly and so would the dialogue audio and background noise. I wanted to use foley all along, I planned what foley in my 'Sound' blog and how it would be recorded. I lined up the teleportation sound previous to production so it was ready for editing.

The last hurdle I had to jump was getting the story right. While planning, I had an overflow of different ideas and things I could do to make this better. One of them was to go back in time and take something that a boy chases around the city via teleportation. Another was the idea of having memories of an Austrian Ski holiday. There would be a flashback and then at the end of the film he'd remember what happened. I only thought of this since I was going on an Austrian Ski holiday so I wanted to include that somehow. I scrapped that as I came up with the present story. I liked it so much I ruled everything else out and did that. I am confident that this was the right choice because looking back, none of those come close to this current storyline.

Production

Starting production, I planned to shoot my film sequentially. This would not just make the editing easier but easier for the actors to understand the journey of their character. As this would grow with them and so the audience would enjoy this. I knew what shots I wanted to shoot and foley I wanted to record. I had my script printed off, and my cast and crew eager.  I knew the script and I knew what I  wanted to do. I attempted to film sequentially and I did to a certain degree. I filmed the start of Matt's day first since actor Tobie Lang was unavailable at that specific time so I recorded all the foley and all the scenes of Matt in the computer room. I then went to record with Tobie and his acting was great, we took every line of his in one because it didn't need re-doing.  The only problem with when we had done that was going out and recording all the outside parts. We filmed sequentially in this part as well, all of the different places he is teleported to we filmed as you see it.

The problem was with Victoria Park. The weather on this day was overcast and that wasn't what I wanted to I filmed the next day instead. I also had the drone with me the next day but not previously. In a better scenario, I would have filmed it all in one day but it just wasn't accurate.

Post-Production

The editing for this film was a long process. I already had the teleporting noise lined up but the music and all the different effects for Matt to fade out of shot and actually be teleported took a while. What I did was, I used the 'Faded Film' FX on Adobe Premiere to give it such an effect. This was a massive help and the film wouldn't be the same without it. It is pretty self-explanatory in that it fades into the next scene. I got the shot of Matt not being in the shot and then I put that after every different sequence he did for plugging in the headphones. 

I also filtered it and changed the colour vie the 'Colour' tab. This helped change the way my film looked. It wasn't filmed badly, it was just that everything can always be better and especially with a filter. I increased the saturation and the exposure in every shot to make the whole movie look more colourful and bright, it helps to lighten the mood and keeps the audience intact.

Exporting this, I did as 'H264' (MP4) to be compatible with YouTube. When I actually did upload to YouTube I also left the Scenario and all the links to the music and effects I used. When this was done, I made sure that everything was done on the brief and to the best of my ability. I could then start the evaluation and make sure that I'd done what the given brief had asked for.

Conclusion

In conclusion, I feel proud of what I have produced and handed in. I think that I could have timed the filmings better to be fully sequential and that would mean that the actor could fully grow through the character. This is something I would re-do if I got the chance as well. I will plan better next time to improve on the next project.

My production team were effective in some areas. I did want the audio slanted to the left slightly but not most of the audio. I feel let down by this because it really degrades the film for the viewer. Without this, they were good. I executed all the shot types I planned and all the specific foley I planned to record. I am especially proud of that. This makes the project in my eyes, successful. The editing was also great, the noises match up perfectly and the filters helped so much to bring out defined details everywhere, specifically at Bath Abbey. I also love how the names at the end are in sync with the music, this is something that shouldn't go unnoticed.

I enjoyed filming this, my actors were great and they had a great time which only paid off their actual acting. I enjoyed getting drone footage as this was crucial to the shot type list and the ending of the film, again, as I previously mentioned with the credits being syncronised. This means that I executed my plan to exactly how I wanted it. I have been told that "This is my best work so far" from my parents and apart from in some places, (the lop-sided audio) I'd agree.