For this project (Ways Of Telling), We decided to remake a lot of the audio in post production. This included music for the video. We needed some music that added suspense and had a good build up for when Tom finds the box just before he opens it. I then went ahead on youtube and found a fitting song, it ended up working well with the footage, having a good build up as said by the class in group crit. I then went for a funny twist, by using a car speeding past sound to recreate the sound of me running past the camera. This was well perceived in the group criticism.
FMP Evaluation
Proposal:
Give a brief description of your proposal, your intentions and the avenue you were going to explore.
Initially I was going to do a comedy on East Surrey College based around the inspiration of Little Britain, The Educating Series and The Inbetweeners. After considerable reflection this wasn’t the best idea for my FMP so I decided to stick with a boxing theme which I have used before and I have done well before. My final proposal idea is about a fighter (Tom) and he is training for a street fight, he is doing all of this training and at the end of the film there is a massive plot twist and he decides that he doesn’t want to fight and has a funny ending.
Was your proposal ambitious enough and did it give you enough scope to be able to develop a personal project?
Due to time constraints from having to change my idea 5 weeks in I was a bit behind. However I worked hard to catch up and my idea was simplistic enough but still challenging because I was able to use an external boxing ring where the majority of the filming took place and the more artistic shots were taking at the boxing gym.
If there are changes, ensure that you discuss them and reasons in this opening paragraph.
The main change in my idea is the overall idea because I had to change the whole idea 5 weeks in to the project but I have reflected on this.
The second change is the ending to my new idea, as originally I was going to film a street fight so there would have been a fight scene. I decided that it would been too obvious to the audience so I decided to change the ending to the character deciding it was a silly idea to go ahead with the fight (despite the amount of training he was doing) and to stay at home.
Sources
Describe the range of primary and secondary sources that you explored.
What visual qualities and other information did you extract from them and how did this shape your exploration and idea development. How useful was your research for the development of your personal project?
Primary Research –
The first bit of primary research was speaking to my actor because he used to train in boxing so I asked him questions like what equipment he used in the gym and what training regimes he would carry out so I can get an idea of what training we can film him doing for my short film.
The other part of primary research was finding the contacts for a local boxing gym (BattleBridge Boxing Gym) and contacting them to see if I can use their premises to film my short film.
Secondary Research –
This was all of the films and clips I have watched on youtube and on DVD for instance Rocky and Fight Club. I also watched the Henry Cooper interview for inspiration and ‘The Day Of The Fight’ by Stanley Kubrick which was one of his earlier pieces of work and used this from a director’s perspective.
The Rocky training montages were something I wanted to recreate in my short film, I think that they are a good way of showing of a lot of content over a long period of time in a short space and that is really useful when the teacher specifies how long the films should be.
Again another source from Rocky is the eggs drinking scene. This was a good scene because it shows him drinking protein and it is known that a lot of fighters drink raw egg for the benefits. My actor did actually drink raw eggs for my film. This wasn’t a trick shot this was filmed as he actually drunk them.
I think for what I produced this was enough research but if I was given the right amount of time for the project like everyone else I would have been able to do more research for my film and make the film better overall. This wouldn’t have changed the narrative but I might have added more detail and more scenes to make the film make more sense, longer and a better representation of my ability in Film and TV.
Did you select the most visually interesting sources to record and work from?
For the majority of my film I did honestly do my best for the most part of the film and I would have had film shots multiple times until I got it right but again, because I had to change my whole idea and all my work 5 weeks in (so half the amount of time to everyone else) my choices where limited.
The two massive mistakes were the shot in the boxing gym where you can see a tripod and me filming the shot in the mirror and the last scene with the lighting in Tom’s house because it is too bright therefore the screen goes to almost all white when it was meant to be focusing on Tom.
Did you have to find further references as you developed your ideas?
To be honest I was fairly set on references before I started filming, and I didn’t really deviate from my proposal much apart from the change of ending but that wasn’t due to any new references.
Do think any additional references would have helped now you have completed your outcomes?
It is always good to reflect on a project after you have finished it because you can see how you can improve your project, so yes I would possible used additional references.
Development of ideas:
In what ways did you develop your ideas?
My initial idea for filming part of the training was going to be in the park but then I decided to film it in a boxing gym which added a real life element to the film to make it feel a little bit more real.
Compare and contrast the successful and least successful. What have you learnt about the different ways that you can develop ideas?
The successful elements of my film, I believe were the ones in the boxing gym because the lighting was good, the equipment was good, the angles were good, the choice of angles were good because we had quite a lot of freedom as we were the only ones in the gym.
The least successful was the one shot in the boxing gym with the mirror reflection of me and the tripod being in the shot. I’ll be honest and say that I didn’t notice these things until half way through editing and there wasn’t enough time to re film, however I would be more wary of this in the future.
The Second least successful shots was the one at Tom’s house because of the lighting being far too bright and the sound not being good at all. I did try to rectify this through editing but they were beyond repair at this stage. I did try and incorporate music over this to try and make it sound better.
How did your work progress in the time you planned on your action plan?
Overall the timing was pretty spot on with the action plan apart from the filming process because my actor wasn’t available for some days I needed him so I had to film some last minute shots close to the dead line.
Did you manage your time effectively?
Yes I got better with my admin and my blogs because this wasn’t one of my key strengths and still isn’t but I am learning and progressing and one of the main things that I have learnt in this project.
Was your action plan successful?
Yes, my action plan was successful it was just the last minute filming as said above that set me back.
Contextual links
Which media links did you find the most useful?
All the ones that I found on youtube of the interviews, Rocky clips, the fight club clips and I watch the film ‘The Day of the fight’ on youtube so all of these I found useful and you can find the links to these in my Bibliography.
These were quite close to my overall idea for the film hence why they were useful.
Did different film makers support your ideas at different stages of the project?
Yes, for instance, Stanley Kubrick was a big inspiration for me in this project, I think that some of the shots in this film were heavily inspired by Kubrick, I also think that John G. Avildsen (Director of Rocky) was a massive inspiration to me and I think that the way I filmed the montages really inspired me to how I filmed my montages. These two inspirations were a massive help to make the film as good as it was.
Explain the links to your developing ideas. Did you add more references to your bibliography on your proposal form as your work developed?
As the project progressed, one of my developing ideas was the ending to my film, initially I was going to finish the film with a street fight but then I decided to finish the film with an ending where he decides to not fight. I didn’t add any more references, I carried on using the same references that I used before.
Why do you think it is important to look at other film makers work when developing your ideas?
It is important to look at study other director’s work because you can get a bigger range of ideas and inspirations and techniques that can be put in to your own work. I think it is good to look at the mistakes that other directors made so that you can learn from that as well and try to not make the same mistakes as they did. You can get a lot of variation from watching other people’s work which helps you use more of your imagination.
Problem solving
As you developed your ideas you solved many problems, in pre-production, production, editing and post production, describe some of these. Try not to list these but explain what happened and how you resolved the problems.
Pre Production
One of the problems in this section was the locations for the training montage I wanted to do. I was going to use an external park and woodland but then I decided to contact the local boxing club (BattleBridge Boxing Gym) for the reason of making the film more realistic.
Production
The mirror in the boxing gym was a bit of a problem for me in my filming, although it did catch us out once overall we did well to avoid it by using different angles through the film so that the person using the camera was not in the shot.
Another problem was that Savvik (one of the actors) is wearing jeans while running to the gym and then is wearing tracksuit bottoms in the gym, this was an error on my part because I forgot to plan set costumes for characters.
The filming in Toms house the lighting was bright and it ruined that shot for a few seconds. This could have been fixed by simply re filming the shot and turning down the exposure for the shot so it is better.
Editing
The songs that I used for the project I had problems getting the songs in the first place and I also had problems when cutting the songs to make them seem as if they haven’t been cut.
The reason why I did this is because of timing issues in the film. On reflection perhaps I should have chosen a better song or done more research on mixing songs together.
The way I managed to get the songs for the film is that I had to download them at home and take them in to college because the college has problems with downloading footage.
Post Production
In my post production I should have developed a survey and handed it out to my classmates for more primary research and so I knew what people thought of my film.
What have you learned about ways of working: technical equipment and use of technology when solving problems?
I have learnt to understand that certain types of shots need certain types of equipment and you can’t always just use a camera for filming because it will just not be as good and will not look as professional.
The technology used for editing was premiere pro, It is a good program to use for editing.
How did these issues affected your initial time schedule?
In the most part, I was lucky and It did not actually effect my time schedule that much. the only problem that did is with my actor Tom not being available at the times I needed him because he was busy doing his own work or helping other people. This obviously effected my time schedule in a big way because I had to rush the last parts of the filming. but, I did manage to give the film in by the deadline.
Development of skills
You used and developed a range of filming and editing practical skills. How have these craft skills developed and in what ways?
I think that the inspiration I have got from Stanley Kubrick especially has really helped me develop my skills in filming with angles
Have your strengths/interests taken a different direction?
If so, in what way?
Outcomes
How successful were your outcomes?
I think that the outcomes of my final project were okay. I think given that I did only have 5 weeks rather than 10 weeks due to complications, the end video is okay, most is shot well and looks good in the film, the music is good in it and fits the film well. the twist at the end of the film was good because people found it funny and that is what I intended.
The outcomes that I didn’t like were the shots where their are clear mistakes that I should of known better from, for example the shot where the tripod is in the shot and me filming is in the shot. and the shot at the end where Tom is about to walk out of the door and the lighting is too bright. obviously the outcomes of these are bad and they are easy mistakes to fix if I was to have more time to film.
What would you do differently next time?
The things that I would do differently in my next project and in other things outside of college is that I will never listen to anyone tell me that my idea is bad and not listen to people saying that I can’t do something that I know that I can do. I know now that doing things how I like to do them and my ideas are good and I know now that I should of never listen to the person that told me to change my idea because when I did change my idea it came out badly as I predicted because it was a boring idea and its only lucky enough that I am okay at media so I managed to make it somewhat interesting but I do know if I stuck to my idea then my final project would of been more interesting and would of represented my ability in Film And TV a lot more than this project. I do think this project is good but I know I can do a lot better which annoys me now.
How would you change your ideas?
I honestly think that the problem is the fact that I did change my ideas, if I didn’t listen to the people who told me to change my idea completely half way through the project I would of been a lot more happier with my project.
Moving on from that, I think that I would of taken more time to film the shots more carefully but then again I didn’t have as much time so I couldn’t take my time as much as I would of liked to. I also thing that I would of liked to use ADR for my project because the scenes with the dialogue in them would of sounded better and they would of been more professional sounding.
Evaluate your strengths and weaknesses visually/aesthetically and practically. Are there any avenues of exploration that you might consider following another time?
Visually
Strengths
The strengths that I have visually are: Shots, I think that I have a good eye shot getting a shot in a film and I know when I have done a shot well or done a shot badly.
Angles, I think that I have mastered the key techniques to filming certain angles and I know what angles are good for certain shots.
Lighting, There is some improvement to be done in lighting but I think that overall I am aware what is good lighting in a shot and I know how to light certain shots.
Weaknesses
The weakness that I have visually is the awareness of a mirror in shots, I did mess up with this because in one of my shots you can see me in the mirror of the shot when you are not meant to.
Another weakness I have is that I tend to rush things because of my time management ability and therefore what is perceived on the camera is not my best work.
Aesthetically
Strengths
I know what colours go well in certain shots and what colours compliment each other. I also have good ideas for shots aesthetics, colours in shots and music choices in shots that go well with the film.
Weakness
My ideas are good but I need to think of how to expand my ideas more and I need to be better at time management so I can put more thought in to the aesthetics of my shot and so I can take more risks with more shots.
Practically
Strengths
I understand the requirement of the admin side of things like research and bibliograpghy and through out the last three months I have got better at completing these sort of things.
Got better at working with others and assisting others on their films, I.e. as an actor.
Weakness
Focus on the task at hand. Completing tasks outside of the classroom. and not getting distracted in the classroom.
Have your outcomes communicated your concept/theme?
Yes, my proposal was about a person getting through the training process and showing some emotional sides to him and I believe that I managed to show this.
Retrospect
How will the above experiences and learning help you in future projects the second year of the programme?
I’ve clearly identified the sections that I am stronger in although these will still require development in the second year. With my weaknesses I am looking forward to improving these further.
Conclusion
Summarise what you have learnt by doing the personal project.
I have learnt about time management, self discipline and the importance of research and also that I can take more risks when thinking of ideas and to listen to what people tell you is right.
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