Evaluation

During this semester we have completed two projects; a documentary and a drama piece. In this evaluation I will be evaluating both of these projects.

DOCUMENTARY

The concept for our short documentary was that we wanted to create a film which would be beneficial to the contributor, to help her raise both awareness and money for her 9 month-old son’s strand of cancer. The idea was that we would create a film which would both fit all the criteria for our university project, but also be suitable for the contributor to put on her online fundraising page.

As our film was intended to help raise money and awareness for a young boy with cancer, we looked at a lot of ‘kickstarter’ films as we wanted our piece to have a similar effect as these types of films. One of the main influences we got for our piece was ‘Still Born, Still Loved’ as it had all of the features that we wanted to include in our project. This included things like using both interviews and observational footage, writing to explain things in more detail, emotive music and the use of a large number of cutaways. Another influential film we watched was a piece made by Macmillan Cancer Support ‘Kate’s Story’ as this was also similar to what we had in mind for our film, especially seeing as the content of this piece had the same subject matter as our own.

The intended audience for our film are adults who are willing to donate to a good cause. This then gives us a large target audience with the hope that the bigger the audience, the more awareness/money we could possible raise.  

Throughout the creative process, we kept in mind that the subject matter of the piece is very sensitive, and we wanted to make sure that we didn’t make it too emotional as this is not how we wanted the audience to receive the piece. We wanted it to be more about raising awareness rather than making the audience emotional.

As the cinematographer I was only needed during the pre-production part of the process and also on the day at the shoot. To make sure I was prepared before the day of shooting, I did some research into the different types of shots used within documentaries. This then gave me an insight into shooting for a documentary as I had never done it before. In preparation for the shoot I came up with a shot list of the shots I wanted to get on the day. I didn’t have a definite list of shots as I had not been to the location, therefore I didn’t know exactly what was going to be available. I also made sure that we had two cameras as it was important to get different shots of the same questions/answers during the interview. This was because we did not know what the contributor’s responses to our questions would be, and I wanted to make sure that we had the right type of shot for the answers she gave to us (e.g. if she gave an emotional response we wanted a close up, if less personal then maybe a wide shot.)

Once we got to the location on the day of the shoot, I was in charge of setting up the cameras we brought with us and making sure that they were both using the same settings, which would make it easier in post-production. After we finished the interviews I then left the rest of the group and went around the house getting any cutaways that I thought were suitable for the piece. I also made a log of all the shots I got so that it made it easier for the editor to identify which clip included which shots when it came to post production.

During this project we came across quite a few problems. One of the problems was that once we got back from the shoot, we realised that the sound recordist had not recorded the sound properly and that we had sections of audio missing from the interview. This was a major problem as it meant that we had to use the sound we got from the cameras, which was not very good quality. This meant that in the background of our piece, there was a distinct hissing sound which made our film sound very unprofessional. Another problem we had was the lighting we brought with us to the shoot was not very powerful, leaving the room looking quite dark during the interviews. We overcame this during post-production as our editor managed to make the image a lot brighter, however this made it very grainy and the colours were very dull.

After we finished this project I was not very happy with the outcome. This was due to many production issues that we had including losing the sound on the Zoom and the bad lighting we had on location. Although we found solutions for these problems in the post-production process, this drastically changed the outcome of our piece as it made it seem very unprofessional and amateur.

Aside from the technical difficulties, I was very happy with how the rest of the film panned out, especially the content of the piece as our contributor was very helpful and was willing to let us direct her in any way we wanted. I also liked the cutaways we used as we got a large range of different shots so that we had enough to fill in the empty space in the film.

However, if we were to re-do the project I would have used a tripod for all of the cutaways as although they were good, some of them were unusable as the camera was shaky. Other improvements I would have made would be double checking that the Zoom was recording the sound during the interview. We did check this during a practice run, but we should have double checked so that we had a high quality sound recording. Another thing I would do differently would be taking better lighting to the shoot as the interviews were quite dark. Also as my role of cinematographer I now realise that I should have done some technical research into the cameras we were using so that we could have got better image quality for the interviews.

During this project I learnt a lot about camera techniques, including things like how to frame a shot depending on the content and also how to use a dual camera set-up for an interview. I also learnt how to be creative with the camera by using things like focus pull and trying to find the best lighting for a shot. I also learnt a lot during this project from my mistakes. This includes things like making sure I have the right equipment before a shoot and doing practice shots, also I learnt how important it is to do the correct research before trying something new if you want it to be a success. Throughout this project I have also learnt how important it is to be professional as it leads to an efficient and high quality production.

I was very happy with the team I was working with as each member was very involved with the project and everyone wanted our film to be a success. However, there was one member who was a bit slack when it came to planning the film and didn’t seem as interested in the project as the rest of the group. This resulted in said person missing a couple of meetings and completing documents late. However, when it came down to the day of the shoot each member contributed equally and knew exactly what they were doing on location, which led to a quick and efficient set up and a smooth shoot. I think the strength of our teamwork was the way that we worked together throughout the whole process, including coming up with ideas and each of us putting in the effort to create a good piece of work. The only weakness we had was some of the group member’s inexperience in their roles, which led to technical problems. Although we had some problems in our group I think we worked really well together and we all had fun during this project.

DRAMA

The idea we used for our drama piece was about a young girl who was not doing very well at school and had a bad relationship with her mother after her grandma died. She then finds a recipe for ‘Grandma’s famous cookies’ which she then makes, leading her to go to a sort of dream world where she visits her dead grandmother. When she returns, the girl then feels a lot more comfortable in her home and school life. The whole concept for this idea is that we wanted to make a piece showing the girls journey from being insecure and shy, to becoming a more confident person.

I think that the final piece looks very good, however it is let down heavily by the bad audio. Visually I think that the film looks very good and professional, with only a few minor problems with the lighting and focus, and also a couple of minor editing flaws. I think that the director and cinematographer did very well when actually filming on location as there are a lot of very well framed shots, which make the film seem more professional. I am also happy with the actors that we used for this project as they all worked very professionally and were willing to take on feedback from the crew about their portrayal of their roles.

The major weakness of our project was the audio for the film. This was due to many different things and was not the sound recordist or sound designer’s fault as this was out of their control. The location we were filming at had very high ceilings, which meant that all of the dialogue that was recorded on set was very echoey, meaning that the sound recordist could not get a very good quality recording. This then meant that it was very hard for the sound designer to make the audio sound professional in post-production as the original recordings were not at a very high standard. Another audio related weakness to our project was that some of the dialogue was out of sync with the picture. If we were to re-do this project again I think that we would try to find a way to connect the microphone to the camera, so that both the sound and picture would all be recorded on one device, as we had a real problem with trying to match the right sound recording with the right clip.

Myself and the director spent about two weeks constantly trying to find actors for our project. This was a very stressful period but I managed to secure all three actors about a week prior to filming. The first actress I got was a young girl, Chelsea Sherridan, from a young drama group at Chesterfield Studios, which we found through a performing arts student at Sheffield Hallam. Once we found her, the director and I went to go meet her and run through a few lines with her at her drama class. After we had spoken to her and discussed a few things about the film, Tyler decided that she was perfect for the role of Libby and we decided to cast her. 

The second actress we secured was Sarah Wynne Kordas, also from Chesterfield Studios, as the role of Helen, Libby’s mother. Unfortunately we could not meet with her before the shoot, however I spoke to her on the phone and we exchanged a lot of emails; discussing the role, the film and the shoot, and we also looked at some of the work she had been in before, to make sure that she was what we were looking for.

The final actress I found was Mary Newey, who we wanted to play the role of Grandma. Finding an actress for this role was definitely the most difficult out of the three as I had no idea where to find an elderly actress. I ended up contacting an over 50’s acting group who put me through to Mary, however after I had first found her, it turned out she was unable to do the shoot on the day we needed her. After we found out Mary was unavailable she then gave us contact details for another elderly actress, Brenda, who was willing to take part. After speaking to Brenda we decided that she would play Grandma in our film, however three days before the shoot she called me informing me that she was ill and would be unable to participate. This then left us once again without an actress. This was a major problem as we desperately needed an actress to play the Grandma, otherwise we would have to delay the shoot, which would cause timing problems in post-production. To solve this problem I then called Mary again to see if she could do the shoot the day after we had originally planned, luckily she agreed and I finally secured our third actress.

Another issue I had as producer was the time management for post-production. Before editing had started I created a schedule so that there was enough time for all of the editing to get done before the deadline. However, because we had so many other issues the picture edit took a lot longer that I had originally thought, leaving the sound designer very little time to edit the audio.

As this was my first time producing a drama I have learnt a lot throughout this project. I have learnt how important the producer’s job is to make sure that all aspects of the production process goes smoothly. Some of the main skills I have learnt are how to run and organise a shoot and how to deal with any issues that arise on location. I have also learnt how to approach and handle actors and how to create a high standard piece of filmmaking with a limited budget and a limited amount of time to work with.

I think that our group worked very well together as we all researched and executed our roles to the best of our ability to try and ensure that we create a good film. None of the group had any issues with any of the other members and we all tried to work together efficiently to ensure the project was a success. The only way that I think we could of improved our teamwork is if a couple of members of the group took the project a bit more seriously, as sometimes they seemed uninterested and were not putting in enough effort. Overall I think that we all worked very professionally in all aspects of this project and I have thoroughly enjoyed creating this film.

Experimental Evaluation

Our film is a linear piece which has elements of a collage as we used both our own footage and footage from the Prelinger Archive. The final product is a film and audio piece about the process of where our meat comes from. However as it is an experimental piece we made it very dark and disturbing by using many clips of cattle on a farm and raw meat being cut in the same shot to shock the audience. We also used a background track of a 50’s housewife themed piece of music, which we got off a copyright free music website, to show a contrast between the disturbing images and the ‘happy’ music.

Delicatessen Opening Titles

This idea was influenced by the opening titles to the TV drama ‘Dexter’ as the titles include his morning routine but it has been edited to make it seem quite dark, so that it links with his ‘serial killer’ personality. This was done by using very sharp sounds when he was eating breakfast to suggest his aggressive behaviour; this was the most influential part towards our ‘kitchen’ theme. The main influence for the idea of contrasting the preparation of raw meat to the cattle was Richie Bierne’s ‘Meat Factory Ear Worms’ as this was a very strong audio piece also based around meat and cattle. Another very strong influence for our piece was the opening titles for Jeunet and Caro’s ‘Delicatessen’ as this piece included raw meat being cut on a white tablecloth so that all of the blood was soaked into the cloth. We thought that this was such a good idea that we decided to do the same thing in our piece using raw meat, a white tablecloth and blood (red food colouring) as this created a very strong, disturbing image.

I think that our experimental piece actually turned out quite well, especially seeing as we had a few setbacks. The main thing that I like about our film is that we used not only our own footage but archive footage as well. We also made the piece work in terms of getting the archive footage to fit with the theme of the piece, this was quite difficult as we had to look through a lot of archive material to find the appropriate footage for our film. However, if I were to re-do this project I would probably have tried harder to find other material that I could film myself and use less of the archive footage. Another thing I would improve if I were to do this project again would be to record more sounds to put into the audio of the piece. This is because I feel like we could have used more of our own sounds to make the piece more interesting, however I think if we added too many more audio clips then this may make the piece seem too busy and cluttered.

One of the things I liked the most about our piece was the camera shots that we used. This is because I think we got some really good close up shots that worked well with the rest of the piece. The fact that the camera was really close to the meat whilst it was being cut made it more disturbing to watch. Another thing I liked about the piece was the fact that we filmed all of the meat clips on a white tablecloth so that it soaked up all of the blood (food colouring) making it more visually enticing.

I think that our film worked better as a shorter, stronger piece. This is because originally the piece was longer but the shots that we have taken out included the meat being handled in someone’s hands. We thought that if we took those shots out and just used shots of the meat on its own then this would make the piece stronger, which it did.

Prelinger Archive Footage

When it came to actually making the experimental piece we tried to be quite creative. Once we had come up with our idea the first thing we did was look for archive footage in the ‘Prelinger Archive’. The clips we chose to use from the archives includes a 50’s housewife talking about the different kinds of steak, footage of cattle on farms and the cows on the way to the slaughterhouse and clips of families eating meat at a BBQ. We chose to use these clips as they matched perfectly with our idea.

When filming our own footage we tried to get as many shots of the meat and blood as possible. We also tried to include a lot of knife shots as our film is loosely about the slaughter of cattle. Along with audio that matched the footage we filmed, we also recorded a number of sounds that we didn’t have images for but that we thought would be interesting to hear. We included a number of these in our piece as we thought we could match them with different images that maybe oppose that sound, therefore making the piece more experimental. When filming we laid a white sheet under the meat so that when we added the ‘blood’ (red food colouring) it would soak into the sheet, making the mood of the piece more dark and sinister, like in ‘Delicatessen’.

Colour Corrector

When it came to editing we made sure that the mood of the piece was reflected in the imagery. As I was the only one who knew how to edit the colours of a clip in Final Cut, this was one of the individual contributions I made towards the creation of the piece. I edited the footage that we filmed so that the ‘blood’ was darker, making it look more realistic. I also made it so that the shadows were a lot darker and the whites weren’t so bright, therefore sticking to the sinister and disturbing mood of the film. We also added a slight comedic value to our piece as when the woman in the archive footage said the word 'steak' we replayed that several times to lighten the piece so that there was even more contrast between what you see and what you hear.

We used Final Cut Pro to edit the footage as this is what we were told to use in the brief. I had never used this program before but had used a similar program previously; therefore I managed to pick it up quite quickly. We also used Pro Tools to edit part of the audio as what we wanted to do with a part of the sound was not possible in Final Cut.

When we originally came up with our idea for our piece we wanted to record the audio and film and edit them so that they played backwards. When we created our first draft for our audio piece we weren’t really confident with the outcome and we received mostly negative feedback when we had our crits where we showed the rest of our seminar group. After our crits we had individual meetings with our seminar leader who gave us a number of ideas to improve our piece. We then decided to keep the original idea of our sense of place being the kitchen, but we decided to focus on using meat as our subject, rather than playing backwards kitchen sounds. We also got the idea to use archive footage to contrast between the kitchen/live animals and the raw meat. This resulted in the end product being very different from the piece that we had originally planned.

During the production process we came across quite a few problems. One of these problems was that when we came to filming our footage, we found that the camera we had taken out of the store at university had the wrong batteries in the bag. This was an issue as we had planned to film our piece in the morning and then show our seminar leader our progress in the afternoon so we didn’t have any time to go and changed the batteries. Luckily one of my friends had a Canon DSLR that he let me borrow so we managed to stay on schedule. Another issue was that the camera’s white balance was on manual so in some of our shots the lighting would flicker, making those clips difficult to use when it came to editing. However, this wasn’t much of a problem as we used a lot of quick cuts in our edit so we managed to get away with only using small parts of those clips.

Although we worked as a team throughout the whole process, me and Ellie also contributed individually towards the project. My individual contribution was that I did most of the editing and she did most of the camera work. This was due to the fact that I was confident using the editing software and had researched how to do certain things to the footage using the software available so that we could make sure that our piece looked exactly how we wanted. This included learning how to manipulate the footage to convey the mood of the piece. We had a strong idea for our piece and I put a lot of effort into the editing to make sure that it looked the way we had planned and that it was received by the audience in the way that we had wanted.

During this project I have learnt many new skills, both technical and creative. I have learnt to use a completely new editing program that I had never used before and am now quite confident using Final Cut and would prefer to use that when editing footage in the future as oppose to software I had used previously. In Final Cut I have learnt many skills which allow me to do different things to improve the final look of my edit. One of these skills is how to manipulate the colours in the image of a film. This was very useful as the original clips we filmed were very bright and did not convey the mood of the film that we wanted, as I explained earlier. I also learnt how to change the sound of a piece of audio in Pro Tools. This was very useful when it came to creating an experimental sound. I also learnt how to correct some of the footage that wasn’t filmed very well during the shoot. Also learnt how to edit the piece to ensure that we used all the footage we wanted to use and how to edit the not-so-good footage so that it was still useable and fit with the piece.

I have also learnt new things through the creative aspect of the course. This includes how the lighting and colouring of the footage can affect the mood of the film and how it is received by the audience. I also learnt how important the editing is when producing a film. This also can alter the way that the piece is received.

For this project we were required to work in pairs. I worked very well with my partner as we were both eager to get started on this piece. We managed to meet up at least once a week to plan what we wanted to do for our piece and to discuss our ideas. Once we had come up with the initial idea we both put in our input and came up with further ideas to make our piece more interesting and stand out from the rest. My partner was very co-operative and involved in the production of this piece, making it very easy to work with and get along with her.

One of the strengths of our group was that we both had some really good ideas that everyone agreed with. This meant that there were no disagreements or confrontations so that all of our time was used productively to produce our experimental piece.

The only weakness that we had within the group was our timekeeping. This is because we changed our idea after we had received our feedback from our peers, which set us back quite a bit. Although we managed to finish the piece on time and we were happy with what we submitted, the last couple of weeks felt very stressful as we didn’t have much time to produce our work. This was also due to the fact that we both had other projects due in and both had part time jobs. We were also in university at different times as we were in different seminar groups for our other modules so it was hard to find a time when we were both free. However when we did find a time that we were both available, we both turned up on time and neither of us missed a meeting.

As me and my partner worked so well together there isn’t much I think we would need to improve on in terms of teamwork. As I mentioned earlier, the only weakness we had was finding time to meet, therefore if we had to improve anything it would be our timekeeping.