Lamping final film vimeo

Lamping from Elliot Carroll-Dunn on Vimeo.

Evaluation

I think the final film is a success, we created a film that we wanted to create which included all the elements from the brief. The final is visually pleasing, and the narrative is clear although it might be a little strange. I think the strength of the films lies in fact we created a film that we wanted to create, although the first initial idea was Pauls we where all passionate about the film and saw the potential in the narrative. I felt like the parameters of the brief restricted us when it came to developing the narrative further as we where getting mark of the four elements not the narrative its self. 

The strongest part of our film I feel is lighting as a group we spent a lot of time lighting each scene to create sinister tone we where after, we added blue filters to the Dedo lights to help create this tone. I thought the lighting change worked really well, as the light from the door floods the basement creating this orange glow as she enters the basement and walks down the stairs. We also added two simple light changes as the characters turn of the lights, although very simple it’s very effective.  I think the lighting and lighting changes in our film as are possible the strongest part. I feel that the POV shots are very strong, they create a sense of suspense and are visual pleasing. The POV shots inside the cage I’m partially pleased off. Personally I’m extremely pleased with the camera work, using a low aperture of F/5.6 or lower on the 5D meant with had a really shallow depth of field. On more then one occasion we had two pair of hands of the camera one person tracking the movement of the characters while the other pulled focus. It was quit tricky in some cases in the dinner scene the pull focus at the end is excellent. I think the colour is a little inconsistent in some of the shots, this is partly because we used two different camera but overall it was a huge problem. I think we considered all the technical elements achieved them to a high standard, the only one im not too happy with is the sequence shot.

Another element of the film I really like is the use of location, Paul did a great job in finding three brilliant location, the church, the basement and the gallery. Having a strong location is the only way we could add any really production value to our film and it showed in our final film. We utilised the space very well and took advantage of these great locations.

Where I feel the film isn’t so strong is the sequence shot, as a group we had a lot problems when filming and I think this is evident in the final film. I don’t know if I’m been a little too harsh but personally I found the sequence shot a little boring not just in our film but in all the films that where shown in the presentation. I wanted the sequence shot to be a little bit more then a camera on a tripod buts that’s what we ended up as if didn’t have the equipment. My ambition and vision for the sequence shot far exceeded what was actually possible with the equipment we had. I was a little bit disappointed Grindleford footage, this was due to my own expectation. All the pictures I saw of Grindleford where beautiful and rich in colour. However we filmed in March everything just seemed a little bleak and dull. This wasn’t a huge problem as Grindleford plays a very small part in our film. Another problem with our film is the fact we didn’t use any dialogue people might get a little lost, as the narrative isn’t linear. As a group we made the choice to have no dialogue, as we wanted the audience be immersed in visuals. Personally I think having no dialogue really works, it builds suspense and makes the film more eerie. Another problem we had was the actor availability as she had a job she was only available in the afternoon, so it was quite had to orgainse the Grindleford shoot she wasn’t the best actor and she had little acting experience but I’m very grateful that she agreed to be filmed

Overall I’m very pleased with the final film, we incorporated all the elements of the brief and the film is visually pleasing. Although things didn’t quite go to plan and a couple of the shots didn’t turn out as well as I hope, will still created a film that included all the elements, was visually pleasing and we made a film that we all wanted to make to a certain extent. The brief I felt was quite restricting, the fact you where limited to two characters and one of them had to be followed by the other. It was quite difficult to think of film that incorporated this element of the brief without going down the typically stalker/slasher film. We tried to think a little bit outside the box and changed one of the characters into a rabbit, which is a little different, but at the end of the day its still a stalker film.

The process of making the film began quite slowly as I didn’t find a group until the 3^rd/ 4^th week. Once I found a group the preproduction went quite smoothly, we all generated and contributed ideas, we went with Paul’s idea of the rabbit man which we all got behind. As group we all worked really well together and all contributed to the idea. Paul did a lot of the pre production getting props, actors and finding locations but when it came to filming we all contributed. Then Elliot and me took control of the post production but that’s because where my strengths are. As a group we where well organised, we had lots of meeting so we could develop the idea, disusing locations and what props we needed. We planned to film everything before Easter but due to the weather and actor availability this wasn’t a possible, this meant post production was a little rushed but we still managed to get everything finished before the presentation. To be honest I wish I got more involved with the pre production part of the film, although I’m very happy with the locations and the props. I wish we spent a little more time looking for an actress, as we got was one of Paul’s friends, she looked exactly how I imagined but She had little acting experience and in some of the scenes you could tell. However I’m really grateful that she decided to help as finding an actor is very difficult.

I’ve learnt a lot while making this short film the problems we faced on the way have made us better film makers. Personally I think cinematography is one of my weakest skills and I was keen to expand my knowledge. I feel like I’ve learnt a lot more once we started filming then we did in workshop, when it comes to learning I’m very hands, I think I’m been a little unfair as a two of the practical work shops where canceled and I missed one because I was ill. Missing these practical workshops I feel hindered me when it came to filming, especially filming the sequence shot, some of the mistakes could have been avoided.

My contribution to the project, in pre production I helped developed the idea and thought of interesting ways we could include all the technically elements. Sometimes I was a little ambitious and there didn’t always work but the group let me try them, which was great. When it came to filming we all contributed equally, its quite hard to say what I personally shot, I took control of most of the basement scenes and the dinner scene at the end of the film but in the filming we all contributed. Then Elliot and me took control of the post production. I’ve really enjoyed this module I’ve learnt a lot about filming process.

Overall I’m very happy with the final, we encountered problems on the way that have made use better film makers. The film we produced was to a high standard that incorporated all the elements of the brief. It’s a film that I’m extremely proud off even tho the brief limited us its still the film we wanted to make. The scenes I’m most proud of as the shots in the basement, the lighting is good, constant and the lighting change where very effective. If I was to film it again I would got involved a little bit more with the pre production. The module has been enjoyable and been I think I’ve learnt a lot.

Post Production and Presentation

Post production was left to me, doing the sound design, and Elliot doing the edit. As we filmed really late we only had a week to do the edit, sound design and colour correct. Lucky we didn’t have much to do in the way of colour correction.

At the presentation people didn’t really say much about the film, which was a little frustrating but the group seemed to enjoy it.I was more concerned what Paul would think as that was the first time he had seen it but he seemed to really like it. Overall I’m very happy with how the final film looked, we wanted to create something visual pleasing, that had all the technical requirements and I think we achieved that.

Influences

Our main inspiration was Alice in wonderland, but instead of the rabbit getting the Alice into the woods in our script we have revised the roles so we have the female character trying to capture the rabbit/man and bring him to the city.

Opening shot of our film i got inspiration from Cashback. 

when the rabbit gets captured POV shot in the grip with the dragon tattoo (2:05:23)

We had seen any shots we liked we tried to put them into the scrip.

Shoot Day Three

After yesterdays shoot didn’t go to plan we regroup and discussed the plan for what we had to film but also refilm form yesterdays shoot. We had to pretty much reshoot all the shots we did in the basement and the shots that tracked down from the celling in the church. The actor also couldn’t make it until afternoon, we decided that we would reshoot the basement scenes first. We followed the lighting plan form yesterday Kino light at the top of the stairs to flood the basement and then a Dedo at the bottom. Elliot filmed the POV coming down the stairs while I filmed some cutaways with the 5D with a 50mm lens.  The a big problem we had yesterday was that there wasn’t enough light but filming with the 50mm we was able to get round that. Once we compared the footage, the colours on the 5D looked more vivid, we decided that we would film the rest of the scenes using the 5D.

Once the actor arrived we quickly re filmed the scenes in the church then headed to the gallery to shoot the final dinner scene. I had put together a quick plan that I designed on Photoshop that gave us a rough idea about to position the lights. 

We had a couple of problems when it came to positioning the lights. The actor where casting shadows on the wall behind them, at first we hung a black drape on the wall but it just wasn’t quite big enough to fill the frame. We then spent an hour rearranging the lights. The initial idea was to have the dinner scene quite over exposed, contrasting with the dark basement scene. We decided to lower the lighting and add blue filters to the dedo lights. The blue filters created a really nice effect making the shot cold.

Once we had the lighting set up we then planned where the actors would walk, as Paul visibility was very limited in the mask.  We walked through the take a couple of times and thought it would be a good idea for Paul to walk towards the camera after he had strangled the women, filming with a shallow depth of field F/5.6 Elliot had to pull focus as I track the movement.

I was very happy with how today went, the shots look good and we managed to get everything filmed. My only concern is how this footage is going look when its cut together with the shots from yesterday and the Grindaleford footage.