Project One: Evoking Childhood - Safer
Director's Reflection
Overall response (2-3 paragraphs):
In 2-3 paragraphs, write an overall response to your film: Were you successful? What are you proud of? What would you do differently if you could remake this piece? What did you learn?
I spent a lot more time and effort developing this film than most films I have worked on in the past. As such, this film had a lot more organization and specific direction than other projects I have done. Overall, I think my vision came together fairly well. The contrast between images I strived for came across well, such as in repeated images of hands. Many people understood the general feeling I was trying to evoke with specific images and sounds (such as the structure and safety of the metronome, the freedom of riding the bike, and the restrictiveness of not having these kinds of guides in the second part). The editing was pretty low-key, but I didn’t receive any complaints about it so I think overall it was decent. I also think the music evoked what it was intended to, even if it didn’t knock anyone’s socks off.
However, there were a lot of things that didn’t work perfectly. The largest one was the acting. In a lot of cases, the emotion behind the acting was unclear and unfocused, and felt like it didn’t have any real defined motivation. It felt nonspecific, and thus didn’t really carry the meaning it was supposed to. Another obvious technical flaw was the coloring. In production, we neglected to white balance the camera, and so everything we shot outside (95% of the film) turned out very blue. I tried to fix this in post, but I was tired and not very successful, so it really came through and was very distracting in the finished film. Other than this, there were a few issues with theme and image. Although a few people understood the images I tried to use, a few did not. This is very understandable, because without more story and specifics, if someone had a different childhood experience than me these images would not necessarily evoke the feelings of childhood. This would have been helped by better acting, but also could have been helped by a more specific goal.
If I were to make this film again, I would focus primarily on improving the acting. This would mainly involve me coming up with a more specific narrative around all of the scenes the character performed in, so that he could have more specific goals, and more specific outcomes. If necessary, I might also recast it for someone more familiar with acting. It would also involve devoting more time and daylight to shooting, so that we could get a sufficient number of takes. I would also be sure that the production values (color, in this case) were not distracting. (In fact, I already re-colored my original cut, just so that I would have the practice and satisfaction of having a balanced film.) I might also try to make it more accessible to more people, although as of now I’m not exactly sure what steps that would involve. I learned the importance of specific storytelling, even in abstract images, as well as of learning how to direct actors. I’ve learned how much goes into the preproduction of something even as short as 2-3 minutes, and I am now doing everything to get the details (locations, casting, props, etc.) squared away as quickly as possible for my next film. I’ve learned how important good production values are, because of how distracting they can be when they’re not handled well.
Briefly answer the following:
What, specifically, did you want to communicate? Were you successful? Why? Why not?
I wanted to communicate a sense of safety and freedom that came with ignorance in my childhood, and then loss of that safety. I think I was somewhat successful. Some people felt it, others didn’t and were confused. More specific acting would have been helpful to key the class into what the character was feeling. However, I think I was still somewhat successful because of other elements—music and symbols.
How, specifically, did you try to say this? What visual elements, techniques, etc. did you use?
I tried to show this through contrasting images. Presence of another person versus her absence, different placements of hands, etc. I also tried to use the metronome as a symbol. Finally, I tried, but failed, to use a slight color temperature difference between the first and second parts of the film.
What did you learn about Storytelling:
I learned that emotions and ideas are not communicated specifically if I don’t have a specific way to show them to the audience.
Working with actors and getting performance:
I need to devote more time to learning techniques to do this, but what I learned from the process this time is that the actor needs a specific goal to do anything believably. I need to not be too vague, or tell him why he’s doing it for the sake of the film. I only need to tell him why he’s doing something in terms of why the character is doing it.
Blocking — camera and actors:
I learned a lot about what different focal lengths feel like and how close and far away I need to be with each of them. I also learned that it’s really easy to fall into the trap of relying too heavily on shallow depth of field instead of actually composing a nice shot.
Visuals — composition, framing, visual elements:
I learned that if I don’t have a specific image in my head of what a shot is supposed to look like before getting it, the composition is much harder to make nice. Conversely, as long as I do have a specific image in my head, I was able to make things that turn out surprisingly well.
Design & Art Direction:
I need to get props and design elements lined up as early beforehand as possible. I don’t own as many things as I think I do.
The Production Process — collaboration with crew, the logistics of making this:
Communication is so important to do early. I need to make sure people will be there when I think they’ll be there, and that I have all the people I need to shoot something as early as possible.
What was it like to watch your film with an audience? Did they understand it? Miss the point? Why did they respond the way they did?
It felt incredibly vulnerable—the more work I put into it the more the flaws I see and that other people see the more painful it is. However, I also learned that if I have a vision, I can execute it. I had more of a vision for this film than for any other film I’ve made, and it came closer to what I wanted and expected than any other film I’ve made. In that way, it was quite successful. I think a lot of the audience’s response can be traced to acting and white balance, which I will really work on fixing in my future projects.
Other observations:
Hard but really thrilling and fulfilling.
Director's Reflection
Overall response (2-3 paragraphs):
In 2-3 paragraphs, write an overall response to your film: Were you successful? What are you proud of? What would you do differently if you could remake this piece? What did you learn?
I spent a lot more time and effort developing this film than most films I have worked on in the past. As such, this film had a lot more organization and specific direction than other projects I have done. Overall, I think my vision came together fairly well. The contrast between images I strived for came across well, such as in repeated images of hands. Many people understood the general feeling I was trying to evoke with specific images and sounds (such as the structure and safety of the metronome, the freedom of riding the bike, and the restrictiveness of not having these kinds of guides in the second part). The editing was pretty low-key, but I didn’t receive any complaints about it so I think overall it was decent. I also think the music evoked what it was intended to, even if it didn’t knock anyone’s socks off.
However, there were a lot of things that didn’t work perfectly. The largest one was the acting. In a lot of cases, the emotion behind the acting was unclear and unfocused, and felt like it didn’t have any real defined motivation. It felt nonspecific, and thus didn’t really carry the meaning it was supposed to. Another obvious technical flaw was the coloring. In production, we neglected to white balance the camera, and so everything we shot outside (95% of the film) turned out very blue. I tried to fix this in post, but I was tired and not very successful, so it really came through and was very distracting in the finished film. Other than this, there were a few issues with theme and image. Although a few people understood the images I tried to use, a few did not. This is very understandable, because without more story and specifics, if someone had a different childhood experience than me these images would not necessarily evoke the feelings of childhood. This would have been helped by better acting, but also could have been helped by a more specific goal.
If I were to make this film again, I would focus primarily on improving the acting. This would mainly involve me coming up with a more specific narrative around all of the scenes the character performed in, so that he could have more specific goals, and more specific outcomes. If necessary, I might also recast it for someone more familiar with acting. It would also involve devoting more time and daylight to shooting, so that we could get a sufficient number of takes. I would also be sure that the production values (color, in this case) were not distracting. (In fact, I already re-colored my original cut, just so that I would have the practice and satisfaction of having a balanced film.) I might also try to make it more accessible to more people, although as of now I’m not exactly sure what steps that would involve. I learned the importance of specific storytelling, even in abstract images, as well as of learning how to direct actors. I’ve learned how much goes into the preproduction of something even as short as 2-3 minutes, and I am now doing everything to get the details (locations, casting, props, etc.) squared away as quickly as possible for my next film. I’ve learned how important good production values are, because of how distracting they can be when they’re not handled well.
Briefly answer the following:
What, specifically, did you want to communicate? Were you successful? Why? Why not?
I wanted to communicate a sense of safety and freedom that came with ignorance in my childhood, and then loss of that safety. I think I was somewhat successful. Some people felt it, others didn’t and were confused. More specific acting would have been helpful to key the class into what the character was feeling. However, I think I was still somewhat successful because of other elements—music and symbols.
How, specifically, did you try to say this? What visual elements, techniques, etc. did you use?
I tried to show this through contrasting images. Presence of another person versus her absence, different placements of hands, etc. I also tried to use the metronome as a symbol. Finally, I tried, but failed, to use a slight color temperature difference between the first and second parts of the film.
What did you learn about Storytelling:
I learned that emotions and ideas are not communicated specifically if I don’t have a specific way to show them to the audience.
Working with actors and getting performance:
I need to devote more time to learning techniques to do this, but what I learned from the process this time is that the actor needs a specific goal to do anything believably. I need to not be too vague, or tell him why he’s doing it for the sake of the film. I only need to tell him why he’s doing something in terms of why the character is doing it.
Blocking — camera and actors:
I learned a lot about what different focal lengths feel like and how close and far away I need to be with each of them. I also learned that it’s really easy to fall into the trap of relying too heavily on shallow depth of field instead of actually composing a nice shot.
Visuals — composition, framing, visual elements:
I learned that if I don’t have a specific image in my head of what a shot is supposed to look like before getting it, the composition is much harder to make nice. Conversely, as long as I do have a specific image in my head, I was able to make things that turn out surprisingly well.
Design & Art Direction:
I need to get props and design elements lined up as early beforehand as possible. I don’t own as many things as I think I do.
The Production Process — collaboration with crew, the logistics of making this:
Communication is so important to do early. I need to make sure people will be there when I think they’ll be there, and that I have all the people I need to shoot something as early as possible.
What was it like to watch your film with an audience? Did they understand it? Miss the point? Why did they respond the way they did?
It felt incredibly vulnerable—the more work I put into it the more the flaws I see and that other people see the more painful it is. However, I also learned that if I have a vision, I can execute it. I had more of a vision for this film than for any other film I’ve made, and it came closer to what I wanted and expected than any other film I’ve made. In that way, it was quite successful. I think a lot of the audience’s response can be traced to acting and white balance, which I will really work on fixing in my future projects.
Other observations:
Hard but really thrilling and fulfilling.
For Jeff Hein’s first film, we used a Canon 7D, intending to take advantage of its rich colors and light weight for the bicycle tracking shots, while it was in lesser demand than the other cameras we had available, so it was more likely available to us. We only used natural lighting for every shot, except for the wooden picnic table, which we gave highlights to with a cell phone flashlight. Originally, we planned to use a Lowel lighting kit to control lighting, but Jeff decided for the emotional intentions of the film to let the look be either lit by sunlight or the overcast coolness, to give a sense of insecurity in the world. I gained plenty of experience with planting the camera at specific angles and getting the focus exactly right, but a major mistake I learned from is that I forgot to check the white balance for everything, so the final result looks more blue than it really was. I feel like I got to know the different lenses very well; which ones had narrower depth of field and which gave wider views of its surroundings. I am satisfied with how well I held the camera straight for the tracking shots, but I think I can do better in the future by using my shoulder as the stabilizer and not my chest!
ReplyDeleteWatching it with an audience for the first time was actually very exciting, because every shot looked detailed, sharp, and immersive. I loved the director’s choices to include stationary shots just looking at nature and lawn devices; those are ones which I have most experience and appreciation for. There weren’t a lot of different takes which tried different things, so everything we see in the final video portrays exactly what I expected.