Film evaluation.

For my project I had to develop a short film completely of my own choice and it had to create meaning for the audience to watch.

Before starting this project my friend and I mark decided upon making the film together and so had to decide upon the roles in which we were going to take. I was to be the cinematographer in charge of the mise en scene and all camera work plus the sound technician and mark was to be the director and editor. However most work done on the film was shared and it was just the final say on ideas were we would allow for the roles to take charge.

As part of a continuos record of work I set up a blogger account online in which I could keep all my research and keep a weekly diary of the process of making my film. The fist part of my project I had to sit down and decide with the director what genre and storyline the film will have. After going through various ideas we decided upon a horror/post apocalyptic film that was influenced by films like twenty eight days later and the television drama skins.

This then laid out the first point of research in form of the genre. Looking at films such as twenty-eight days later we could collect as much information as possible about the codes and conventions needed for our genre of film.

Watching the film it became apparent that it is post modern and so pastiche of those films similar but also has many conventions needed for it to work. One major convention used in the project film was the use of hand held cameras to give the film a feeling of verisimilitude which relates also to the scene in which an infected character runs towards the main characters of the project film. This is a major convention used in horror films and was one I believe used well in the project film. Other conventions used was the use of open space to show the characters are on their own in the establishing shots and the use of natural lighting and effects to create a dark mood about the sequence. These conventions were all learnt from research done on the genres. Also from looking at the genres now we have realized how there were many conventions we could have used to improve our film. One stereotype, which we tried to express, was the use of a stereotypical blonde however I feel I could have pushed the character more for a more stereotypical performance. This would of given the audience the protagonist in which would usually have survived. This was another convention I chose not to use and routed for a more unpredictable ending.

The characters themselves are 16 to 20 and so we tried to capture the language and ideologies for this age group. This also allowed me to decide upon the target audience and institutions in which the project film would be produced and consumed by.

As part of the mise en scene looking at 28 days later I was able to see how the gore and blood are a major convention mainly due to the narrative but also as it stands out for the audience to associate with. This was also used in the project film and using the natural lighting became very clear to see for the audience.

I decided, as part of the project film should have clips of the infected characters separate to the main narrative. This would not only shock my target audience but allows the audience to see what the infected look like.

Another aspect of the mise en scene I wanted to present was the use of natural lighting. Especially as much of the shooting took place at different times and also with the shooting taking place in winter it was very hard to film during daylight. Also lighting would differ throughout the shoots. This was then overcome when we decided to use dark shots and add effects when editing the project film. This gave the film a sense of horror, which both the director and me wanted especially as we were aiming for the film to be scary.

We also made sure that the characters didn’t wear anything to outrageous as this reflected the mood of the characters with the exception of jack who was projecting the stereotypical lad with child like ways and no sense of urgency or commitment to what matters.

The character of jack was placed there to carry the narrative for the male side of the audience with the joke scene were jacks being blamed for leading mistakes and all he seems to care about is the beer. This would identify with a male audience and was influenced by skins from the television channel E4.

The narrative of the film has changed dramatically through the shooting process as at first we had another female as part of the group however due to lighting issues and problems with sound quality we had to leave this out. Originally the group was going to sit around a fire set up camp and then be attacked and run away but with very little equipment for the lighting this couldn’t be done. If however we could have done this then I personally think the film would of felt more like a horror and could be more scary. As part of the narrative we wanted to make sure the film was light hearted in a humorous way with the use of bad language and teeny quotes which also reflected the target audience and their ideologies. I believe we were successful in this but could again of pushed more especially in the conversation scenes as the dialogue was minimal.

The sound quality of the film was hard to keep up to a good standard as the microphones used were based on the camera but this meant that actors just had to speak louder and in order to create a general background noise we pre recorded several minutes of just the location we was filming in which gave us bird noise and trees. This was used as a non-diegetic clip over the top of all the shots. Also as the film was filmed non-linear and so weather often effected the sound quality picked up on the microphone. This was simply edited out were possible and covered if not.

I believe that the project film was successful in creating meaning for a target audience and would be effective as a post apocalyptic horror film.

The project film however I believe would have been much better with better technology and the experience behind it. The production of the film really allowed me to develop how conventions and codes are used in films and how much in filmmaking can go wrong if not planned correctly.

the final film.

this is were the film will be.

Casting list.



naz plays naz the geeky stereotype who dosent say much.

louise plays louise who belives herself to be pure beauty and is really cocky.

mark plays mark the joker of the group and accomplice of jack who plays jack the leader of the group and has no real intrest in surviving but mainly in louise.



Steven Mars played the infected characters.



as a group i felt it was right to use the same names as this would make them feel more relaxed infront of the camera. basically they could re invent themselves on the camera and this i believe allowed me to create much better shots.









Prop check list.

• tent and case.


• sachel type bag.


• sunglasses.

Clothing for characters can change on the day but must stay similar to the prop list.

• Louise is going to where a dark coat and jeans.


• Naz will be wearing a black cardigan and reserved clothing.


• mark the director also plays mark in the film sequence and will be wearing a blue or blue striped jumper and jack the cinematograpgher/camera man also has to play the leading charcter jack who also wheres stripes however with a black cardigan and outragous sun glasses.

the props are limited as much of the film sequence is made a distance from college.

ideas for the scenes in which we should film.

location list.


these are photos of locations in which we should be filming and this has enabled me think about the mise en scene of the locations and what more could be done to make the film more structured in order to create meaning. thus allowing the audience become engrosed into the fillms diegesis.

the location enbled us to look at the genre conventions and see if this area would be good to film and set our film in.

the aim of this storyboard was to enable me and mark to look at how the sequence would flow and if there would need to be any improvements made upon the sequence itself. it also allowed me to invisige what types of shot i will need to use when filming the final piece but also what to include in the shots using ny genre convebtions and sticking to the aims and context.

genre.

Analysing a small film.

The film in which I am going to analyse is called first time it hits and is directed by Jason Budge.

The sequence starts with montage editing at a fast pace and has inserted animations in within the frames describing the production details and the name of the film.
The mise en scene of the this sequence is very dark urban and rough. This establishes the setting and co notates the depressing feeling of the area. Also in the montage sequence itself you are introduced to the two characters from the film briefly which again helps when establishing audience expectations.

When You see the main character of the sequence which is the boy.
He is positioned centre of the frame and filmed at a low angle which immediately shows the audience the dominance of his character within the sequence.
This also allows the audience to view the character as the director intended by the use of mise en scene, for example the boy is dressed in mixed black and white clothes and looks fairly innocent also with the light above his head this creates the sense of innocence surrounding the boy.

The female is portrayed very differently however with gothic clothing little lighting plus she smokes and is wearing badges containing adult content. the audience is then meant to be able to establish that the girl is rebellious and with the use of close ups of the cigarette bubble gum piercings and porn star badges this highlights her rebellious ways. then you see her like the boy captured from a low angle giving her dominance however she is sat down relating to how she is clam at this point.

When the audience first see the characters together there is use of a two shot but also there is a trolley placed in the scene as part of the mise en scene which I believe is meant to show how she could be trapped within this life and how the boy sees him self freeing her.
There is also use of close ups when the boy enters focused on the girls face showing her eyes following the boy however the girl is relatively un phased by his entrance.
At one point there is a two shot of the girl drawing on the floor and the boy is in the shot as well however there is some graffiti on the wall which says “bizarre dwarf porn” and I believe this subliminal messaging allows the audience to reflect on what she thinks she is to him as he is obviously besotted by the female.

Also another subliminal message I believed used in this sequence is when the camera pans up to the boys face because it starts the shot focused upon a hawk sticker on his skateboard and this could co notate the boys desire to hunt for the female.

There is also a series of teenage pop art animations in place to show the audience briefly how the boy is in love with the female character and how he intends to perform a trick to impress her. This animation cleverly uses pop art which immediately reminds the audience of the boys age and how its just a teenage crush.#

When the boy starts his trick there is a series of close ups used in order to create suspense on the trick in which the audience are going to see but also use of a depth of field shot in which is close to the skateboard and shows the distance to the female.
The trick is then performed again using different angles of camera shot heightening the audience suspense to see if the character does it well.

When the trick then goes wrong in the background there is another subliminal message which says”wime” which I believe is short for “why me” and co notates how the boy feels.
There is then use of an eye line match from the boy to the female and this shows how the boy is concerned and then there is use of cartoon like love music played for a short time. This shows again the true age of this boy and how he quickly gets over the girl.