Evaluation

Watching the film back there are strong elements throughout, the most predominant positive outcome of the film is the cinematography. The tracking shots allow the viewer to see the great location we were able to establish, there is certainly a simple clean style that runs throughout the film never at any point is their a complicated shot or sequence of shots, nothing is over the top or ill-considered. The focus in all shots is well maintained throughout a key element that many student films fail on occasions. The motion of the tracking shots carries the audience from location to location and conversations are well framed with the well proven technique of shot reverse shot which is well executed. There is also intuitive filming techniques used that work well such as the track and pan which is completed fluidly with little shake. The technique of tilting a tripod from two stools that myself and the cinematographer used as Adam awakens in the dream sequence works well again with no wobble, the resulting position however breaks the reverse shot framing convention but is suggestive of his uncertain mental state which is fitting for this scene. The two whip pans that I filmed are a classic horror style camera movement and for good reason the pans peak the tension built up through the previous shots, the lighting behind Lily on both pans cause her to silhouetted which complements the pan as her identity remains concealed. Moving on the lighting this is another of the strong elements in the film which complements the shots throughout, what we were able to achieve with such limited experience with the lights is very positive and something I can congratulate myself on, the conversation between John Greene and Adam Praed in particular as the lighting seems natural with no indication of where we may have it the scene from, shadows are never visible when unwanted, the shading on Adams face works well to accentuate his facial expression, the actor recovering from a virus makes his expression even more prominent. The Kino-flo back lighting detracts the actors from the dark background with help from a Dedo to fill areas was well executed, with need for little or no adjustment. In general the lighting in the film is a strong feature, its rare in the film that the audience could tell it had been lit, in particular the long walking shots of Adam where by his face is only lit with the hot shoe camera lamp, the only give away being the white glow in his eyes, though this I did mention added to his unsure character temperament. The actors that I managed to get hold is a strong element of the film, using student actors in student films is a dead giveaway that they're amateur productions, and so having these actors all middle aged to play the adult roles reflects the quality of the pre production management. The sound in the film is of a high standard, the sound designer did a meticulous job on the foley and the score at the beginning of the film is fitting to the theme both of fear and horror creating tension from the outset. However despite these many strengths I feel the production is let down on the fundamental mistakes and weaknesses, the most noticeable personally is the editing. The cinematographer had captured a great deal of footage possibly slightly too much but still workable, which did pose a problem when it came to cutting the piece down to under ten minutes. Though once the film had been cut down to this length is was still rife with ill considered cuts (a pet hate of mine) but also an element that should have been noticed either by the editor or the director. The lack of awareness when cutting between the conversations made it hard for me to watch and the viewers, the cuts are so quick the viewer isn't able to grasp the dialogue, they create an unnerving sense of disorientation ruining the well lit shots and performances, some of the cuts being almost instantiations, I believe lack of research into cutting or lack of enthusiasm toward the piece has caused this catastrophic downfall. This failure on cutting is also evident in the initial meeting between John Greene and Adam Praed in Johns office, we see Adam take a seat but then cut to John as he speaks which feels again ill considered. Subsequently the length of shots before cutting confuses me, the long take where John takes Adam through the market in closing time is cut almost in half which is a great shame as we gain information about other concerns that John talks about the shot also captures the distinctive aesthetic of the market, though this is cut to accommodate other aspects of the film I'm again confused as to why a shot of Adam in the lift which has not dialogue is held for an extended amount of time developing nothing in terms of story plot. Though the sound in the film is good it could have been better in some areas, in particular the whip pans where we see Lily, these shots are typically accompanied with a loud tone to shock the audience, unfortunately the whole build up in tension becomes a crescendo of empty sound thus diminishing the audiences expectations of being shocked, rendering the film a somewhat failure as a horror piece.


When completing this film I started by obtaining a location as I knew months before the film that I wanted to shoot within the market and tailer the script to the market in many respects so that we nothing was scripted that couldn't be filmed in the location. I then set about getting actors to play the roles using an internet website. I then helped the cinematographer work out how the film would be shot and draw up rough storyboards which were then copied up in neat. With no uniforms sorted I then took it upon myself to sort these out with the actors as I was worried they wouldn't have any costumes to wear. A schedule was then created and sent out to all actors and altered if there were any problems with the days. Lastly we booked out the relevant equipment on Friday prior to the monday of filming, each actor was then contacted daily until all the footage had been captured. I then pro-resed the footage and gave it to the editor and sound editor ready for editing and sound design. I have learnt that in my future projects I want to avoid being the producer for films as the creative control is restricted, or in university it seems to be and focuses on the organisation of the project which is uninteresting as I feel more suited to hands on roles, though in this film and others I have always been a strong part of the filming, and general aesthetic of the film down to creating a final export to be screened.


As producer I congratulate myself on what I have done for the project, all of the actors were contacted by myself and the ones that I managed to secure for the project were fitting for the characters they had to play, in particular David Worden as his face suggests an underlying agenda or a hidden persona. I kept these actors constantly updated with new scripts as the director sent me new ones, I made sure I had met all actors prior to the shoot to discuss and problems or queries. Before each shoot/ day of shooting I would always ring the actors to make sure they would be on time, what outfits to wear and remind them which scene we would be shooting. I made sure that all documentation was completed, I visited the market on many occasions before shooting to meet up with the head of the market Andrew Chapel to discuss our intentions for filming, and anything that we couldn't do and get the location secured with the relevant papers signed. I made sure that we could use the CCTV room for that scene and also stressed that we needed an office space I which he presented me with the disused office. The whole film was lit by myself with help from the cinematographer at times, I would light his shots as he looked through his camera working to get the shots ready before going for a take this close communication made setting up shots efficient. As well as this I would take on the role of the director throughout the majority of the production, the cinematographer did this with me also, the director was either making cups of coffee or off taking photos of the market, which were both unimportant toward the filming. Rather than finding him we had no choice but to take on this directing role as we had a short time frame to work in and had to get the shots before we ran out time. This happened everyday of filming and the actors soon noticed our enthusiasm toward the film and so would approach either myself or the cinematographer for direction as we seemed to be in control of the situation understanding where we were in the script in which the rest of the crew had no idea due to there lack of presence on set. At the times when the director was directing he wasn't commanding enough or directive in terms of how he wanted the actors the deliver the lines. Embarrassingly his phone also went off during a scene involving John Greene and Adam Praed and stood up in front of the lights while the actors were performing which I am sorry to have to endure as the filming a lot of time was professionally handled. Either myself or the cinematographer had to call action or cut as the director wasn't loud enough to be heard, and on many occasions actors would say they needed him to be louder which ceased to ever happen. Not only did I take on the role of the director but also the art director, other than her providing a dress for Emma's character Lily and doing make up her role of art director was short lived, her presence on set was un remembered I never recall any contribution made by her toward organising the background or props in any scene, and so it was up to myself and the cinematographer to sort out this issue, including all three office scenes being dressed, the dream sequence and letting David Parkin know he needed to bring civilian clothing to one of the shoots. To see the editor sitting in the screening room whilst I had been burning the disc and putting the sound into her timeline, putting in titles and student numbers was actually unbelievable to see. The fact that the editor refused to turn up to any shoots was a huge mistake and something that caused problems later in the post production as she was totally confused as to which piece of footage went where on the timeline despite having very clear labeled storyboards and shot lists, the argument of “seeing the footage with a fresh eye” is a poor excuse to not see the film being made unless the editor is of a highly experienced level, a quote from the editor of both the 'Lord of the Rings' and 'The Hobbit' helps we to argue my case: Editor of the Hobbit - “It was good to be there when the scenes were being shot,” he continues, “because I could hear Peter talk to the actors and get a greater understanding of how the scene should be, and that helped me do an initial assembly. Without that contact we would have been a lot further behind when the shooting ended”, turning up at midday to edit each day and leaving early wasted precious editing time causing a late finish.This lack of contribution to the film is something that I feared when being put into a larger group and once again my expectations of poor efforts from the majority of the crew are confirmed.
As producer I congratulate myself on what I have done for the project, all of the actors were contacted by myself and the ones that I managed to secure for the project were fitting for the characters they had to play, in particular David Worden as his face suggests an underlying agenda or a hidden persona. I kept these actors constantly updated with new scripts as the director sent me new ones, I made sure I had met all actors prior to the shoot to discuss and problems or queries. Before each shoot/ day of shooting I would always ring the actors to make sure they would be on time, what outfits to wear and remind them which scene we would be shooting. I made sure that all documentation was completed, I visited the market on many occasions before shooting to meet up with the head of the market Andrew Chapel to discuss our intentions for filming, and anything that we couldn't do and get the location secured with the relevant papers signed. I made sure that we could use the CCTV room for that scene and also stressed that we needed an office space I which he presented me with the disused office. The whole film was lit by myself with help from the cinematographer at times, I would light his shots as he looked through his camera working to get the shots ready before going for a take this close communication made setting up shots efficient. As well as this I would take on the role of the director throughout the majority of the production, the cinematographer did this with me also, the director was either making cups of coffee or off taking photos of the market, which were both unimportant toward the filming. Rather than finding him we had no choice but to take on this directing role as we had a short time frame to work in and had to get the shots before we ran out time. This happened everyday of filming and the actors soon noticed our enthusiasm toward the film and so would approach either myself or the cinematographer for direction as we seemed to be in control of the situation understanding where we were in the script in which the rest of the crew had no idea due to there lack of presence on set. At the times when the director was directing he wasn't commanding enough or directive in terms of how he wanted the actors the deliver the lines. Embarrassingly his phone also went off during a scene involving John Greene and Adam Praed and stood up in front of the lights while the actors were performing which I am sorry to have to endure as the filming a lot of time was professionally handled. Either myself or the cinematographer had to call action or cut as the director wasn't loud enough to be heard, and on many occasions actors would say they needed him to be louder which ceased to ever happen. Not only did I take on the role of the director but also the art director, other than her providing a dress for Emma's character Lily and doing make up her role of art director was short lived, her presence on set was un remembered I never recall any contribution made by her toward organising the background or props in any scene, and so it was up to myself and the cinematographer to sort out this issue, including all three office scenes being dressed, the dream sequence and letting David Parkin know he needed to bring civilian clothing to one of the shoots. To see the editor sitting in the screening room whilst I had been burning the disc and putting the sound into her timeline, putting in titles and student numbers was actually unbelievable to see. The fact that the editor refused to turn up to any shoots was a huge mistake and something that caused problems later in the post production as she was totally confused as to which piece of footage went where on the timeline despite having very clear labeled storyboards and shot lists, the argument of “seeing the footage with a fresh eye” is a poor excuse to not see the film being made unless the editor is of a highly experienced level, a quote from the editor of both the 'Lord of the Rings' and 'The Hobbit' helps we to argue my case: Editor of the Hobbit - “It was good to be there when the scenes were being shot,” he continues, “because I could hear Peter talk to the actors and get a greater understanding of how the scene should be, and that helped me do an initial assembly. Without that contact we would have been a lot further behind when the shooting ended”, turning up at midday to edit each day and leaving early wasted precious editing time causing a late finish.This lack of contribution to the film is something that I feared when being put into a larger group and once again my expectations of poor efforts from the majority of the crew are confirmed.
As producer I congratulate myself on what I have done for the project, all of the actors were contacted by myself and the ones that I managed to secure for the project were fitting for the characters they had to play, in particular David Worden as his face suggests an underlying agenda or a hidden persona. I kept these actors constantly updated with new scripts as the director sent me new ones, I made sure I had met all actors prior to the shoot to discuss and problems or queries. Before each shoot/ day of shooting I would always ring the actors to make sure they would be on time, what outfits to wear and remind them which scene we would be shooting. I made sure that all documentation was completed, I visited the market on many occasions before shooting to meet up with the head of the market Andrew Chapel to discuss our intentions for filming, and anything that we couldn't do and get the location secured with the relevant papers signed. I made sure that we could use the CCTV room for that scene and also stressed that we needed an office space I which he presented me with the disused office. The whole film was lit by myself with help from the cinematographer at times, I would light his shots as he looked through his camera working to get the shots ready before going for a take this close communication made setting up shots efficient. As well as this I would take on the role of the director throughout the majority of the production, the cinematographer did this with me also, the director was either making cups of coffee or off taking photos of the market, which were both unimportant toward the filming. Rather than finding him we had no choice but to take on this directing role as we had a short time frame to work in and had to get the shots before we ran out time. This happened everyday of filming and the actors soon noticed our enthusiasm toward the film and so would approach either myself or the cinematographer for direction as we seemed to be in control of the situation understanding where we were in the script in which the rest of the crew had no idea due to there lack of presence on set. At the times when the director was directing he wasn't commanding enough or directive in terms of how he wanted the actors the deliver the lines. Embarrassingly his phone also went off during a scene involving John Greene and Adam Praed and stood up in front of the lights while the actors were performing which I am sorry to have to endure as the filming a lot of time was professionally handled. Either myself or the cinematographer had to call action or cut as the director wasn't loud enough to be heard, and on many occasions actors would say they needed him to be louder which ceased to ever happen. Not only did I take on the role of the director but also the art director, other than her providing a dress for Emma's character Lily and doing make up her role of art director was short lived, her presence on set was un remembered I never recall any contribution made by her toward organising the background or props in any scene, and so it was up to myself and the cinematographer to sort out this issue, including all three office scenes being dressed, the dream sequence and letting David Parkin know he needed to bring civilian clothing to one of the shoots. To see the editor sitting in the screening room whilst I had been burning the disc and putting the sound into her timeline, putting in titles and student numbers was actually unbelievable to see. The fact that the editor refused to turn up to any shoots was a huge mistake and something that caused problems later in the post production as she was totally confused as to which piece of footage went where on the timeline despite having very clear labeled storyboards and shot lists, the argument of “seeing the footage with a fresh eye” is a poor excuse to not see the film being made unless the editor is of a highly experienced level, a quote from the editor of both the 'Lord of the Rings' and 'The Hobbit' helps we to argue my case: Editor of the Hobbit - “It was good to be there when the scenes were being shot,” he continues, “because I could hear Peter talk to the actors and get a greater understanding of how the scene should be, and that helped me do an initial assembly. Without that contact we would have been a lot further behind when the shooting ended”, turning up at midday to edit each day and leaving early wasted precious editing time causing a late finish.This lack of contribution to the film is something that I feared when being put into a larger group and once again my expectations of poor efforts from the majority of the crew are confirmed.
In one of the sessions we watched some clips from 'The Shining' which is a personal favourite of mine, and so I have taken inspiration from the filming techniques and camera movement. The most important being the way the steadicam/track pursues the characters in the house lingering behind as we see through the eyes of the so called “Shining”, this camera movement was used in our film as myself and the cinematographer discussed using long tracks and possibly a steadicam. These shots in our film can be seen at the very beginning of the film where the camera follows Adam Praed as he we walks through the market and into the lift, the long horizontal tracking that sees Adam and John talking as they walk down the empty market and many other tracks that follow Adam as he walks in search of what caused his lights to go off. These long takes are heavily used in Kubrick's 'The Shining', also his use of drawn back open shots that capture the aesthetic of the location, again these were used less so in the final edit but the ending shot finishes framing a long open hallway, much like the hallways in Kubrick's film. These long takes/tracks in our film are justified as they suggest the eye of Lily watching the men and making her selection of Adam when he is first seen walking in through the market.