CPD&R Module Evaluation

I feel that over the course of this module I have learned a great deal in terms of technical production and practice on each project task. Beginning with the sound piece, I particularly learnt a lot from this project as it was my first time working with the software Pro Tools and creating sounds using foley and software design was not something I had learnt or done before this module. I found the process very rewarding and my skills in sound design improved vastly. I learnt how to mix levels and in some cases manipulate the sounds completely; certain lines of dialogue were made to sound like a radio broadcast using an insert. As the sound recorder, designer and editor it was a great challenge to invert the approach to filmmaking as well and think of how a narrative could be built and developed using sound primarily. 

The Documentary task had elements of production that I was more familiar with though not on the level that this production required. I was the Director and Producer for this task, which are two roles that I received my best feedback from and enjoyed working in the most. I had to reach out and contact potential contributors to the film. At first this was nerving, but the process of doing so and building relationships with the contributors really strengthened my professionalism and understanding of a Producers role. Directing a documentary was a new and interesting role for me. Conducting interviews to weave a story out of the answers and content was a rewarding and fun process and we were fortunate with the depth of knowledge and characteristics of each of the contributors. Again sound was a strong element for this film, as we used lapel microphones to record clear, clean interviews which worked highly effectively. 

The Drama film posed some of the more challenging production issues compared to other tasks on this module. Writing the script for this project was something  that I was not new to, nor however was I experienced at writing serious drama. I feel that in the end I overreached on the concept of the story, which may have affected the overall execution of the film. My technical role on this task was as the editor, though I worked as a director also, as I had a clearer, more direct vision for what needed to be shot on the days of filming which kept us to schedule. This carried through to the editing though there were still issues faced. On one cut sound had been synced to the visuals and I extracted a piece of camera audio which shifted the positioning of the visuals and sync sound on the entire track. This caused the editing process to be longer as I had to re-sync the Boom sound whilst fine cutting the film. Though the project in the end came through and I am very happy and pleased with it, along with my other projects on this module. 

Task 3: Drama Evaluation

Evaluation

Pre-production got off initially to a good start, however it slowed down before production. A story concept that was discussed in a workshop was taken as the base foundation for the narrative of our film. From this, a script, of which I was lead writer, was put into development and a first draft was completed early on. However feedback on the script from the group was largely minimal, which meant that, upon review in the actors workshop, it had to go through a heavy amount of rewriting and tweaking when issues with it arose. Additionally, preparing for the production took a slow amble; locations and actors were found a few days before filming, scenes were not extensively blocked before the shoot and use of equipment caused issues with lighting on the set. The first shoot on April 13th, though we shot the best part of 4 scenes, turned out to have lots of issues upon its review in the edit tutorial. We took this feedback onboard and began to plan when we could continue the production. 

From this point we faced as a group, a major stumble, as our actors bailed on a planned day of filming. However, we came out much more prepared on the second day of filming, when we were able to reshoot most of our film and were faster setting up shots, wiser to lighting the set and more confident in the direction of our actors. Communication between members of the group improved greatly over the course of making this film and was constant and clear at the end. The producer gave constant updates on the status of actors and the shooting schedule and on set, there was good communication between the Director, Cinematographer and Sound team. Our Art Director did great work in making a location available for filming and we were able to dress the set neatly, with splashes of colour. Post-production involved a smaller team working together but I feel this worked effectively. There was good communication and understanding of each others roles and by often working on separate parts of the project we were able to produce the film to a polished and higher standard then our previous attempt in a shorter, pressured space of time. 

Weaknesses of the film can be found in missing cutaways and shots that sometimes make the narrative of the film unclear and a lack of varying shot types and angles. This was however due to the space of the locations and large amounts of dialogue in the script. Additionally, the acting is sometimes more theatrical which pushes it to become a little cheesy in places when it needs to be more subtle. There are great strength in the post production, especially with the colouring, graphics and sound design. The colour grading adds visual tonality to the piece, with a cool blue and the music creates a sense of emotion and gives the film some needed depth and variation. Overall, I am very satisfied with the final film. 

The Stage - Final Cut

The Stage [Short Drama] from Liam Atkinson on Vimeo.

This is the Vimeo link to the final cut for our 5 minute short film drama, The Stage.

Production Stills

Sound Logsheet

Drama Logsheet - Sound

Actor and Location Release Forms

Art Direction Notes and Designs

Below is a link to a presentation for the Art Direction on this project:

http://francescachambersdrama.blogspot.co.uk/?view=snapshot

Equipment List

Equipment List

First Draft - Drama Script

Script Untitled Project: This was the very first draft of the script for our 5 minute drama film. At the time of writing this script, a name had not been found for it and so it remained an untitled project, until the right title was found. 

Shooting Schedule

Shooting Schedule

Edit Progress and Feedback

So far in the edit, I have been able to do a rough cut for the Therapy and Theatre scenes. What I have noticed so far during the edit is a lack of varying shot types and angles. For example, there are very few cutaways or establishing shots, which makes creating space or pacing for a scene very difficult. It almost makes the scene very tedious and boring to watch, due to a lack of any real change or variation in angle or positioning. Additionally there are other mistakes made in the production that have a bad effect on the edit. For example, there are takes, especially on Mid-Shots, in which there is clear and obvious shadow in the background behind the character caused by bad lighting. Cropping or Letter-boxing isn’t an effective tool for this and colour correction will only partially help to remove any obvious lighting errors. Feedback was largely negative overall, as there were a lot of problems with the footage. This ranged from poor, wooden performances from actors, as well as uninteresting set design. Additionally I made a mistake in presenting an image only cut, which made it harder to analyse. 

Below is a non-audio rough cut of the footage we shot from our first day of shooting.



The Stage Rough Cut from Phillip Cullen on Vimeo.

Final Script - The Stage

The Stage - Final Draft

Casting Proforma

Casting Proforma

Actors Workshop Evaluation - 200 Words

The actors workshop was a great experience to be able to flex the script and gain some valuable feedback from peers and the actors taking part. As we only had a script with us to work from, we used the session as a reading, in which to go through the script in its entirety to see what its strengths and weaknesses were. The most important feedback we received was that the script seemed to lack any sense of actual conflict or struggle that stopped our main protagonist getting what they were after, in this case, self-confidence, independence and being freed of grief. Suggestions were given, such as changing the attitudes of the characters to be more aggressive, causing friction that would help bring out the ‘drama’ from the script, or to use the location of a previous scene as a recurring motif almost, were we could use it as a playground to expand upon the more surreal parts of the film and display the battle of memory loss. Since the workshop, the script has gone under development and rewrites to accommodate for a better sense of conflict, with an extension of the dialogue in the ‘Therapy Scenes’.