Film Seven: Final

Director's Reflection:

Overall response (2-3 paragraphs):

In 2-3 paragraphs, write an overall response to your film: Were you successful at achieving what you set out to achieve? What are you proud of? What would you do differently if you could remake this piece? What did you learn? 

            In general, I was successful. I had a specific story I wanted to tell, and I think in general I was able to tell it with a lot of the nuances of emotion, suspense, and thought that I was hoping for. The performances were nice and were able to carry that depth—both the things we were supposed to like about the characters and the things we were supposed to question. Additionally, a lot of the time, the visual elements I was hoping to use worked effectively. I was able to use tone fairly well by lighting their faces a bit more than most of the rest of the room, and movement was also effective in some ways. Additionally, because of the location, I was able to use color spectacularly in a way I hadn’t planned on before showing up to set. I am most proud of the performances and the script.

            However, there’s a lot of stuff in this film that really makes me cringe. The biggest one, of course, is the tracking shot. It’s very shaky, the focus is a frequent problem, and the pace just doesn’t work as well as I was hoping. Additionally, there are a couple of angles that are just a bit awkward, or could have been framed just a bit differently to vast improvement. Specifically, I don’t like the shot of Kyler entering the door, because technically it crosses the 180 degree line from where we were looking at Ashley. I would have liked to get just a bit wider, and I would have liked it if the shot in which she is on the floor and he is on the couch had a more interesting background. The sound also has a lot of problems because there were people in the location making noise most of the time, and I didn’t have the guts to tell them we needed it quieter.

            My main regrets have to do with the location, and how I handled it. The family at the house wasn’t entirely expecting us, and they also didn’t understand how quiet we needed it to be for the sake of the sound of the film. However, since they were kind to me and I felt like I was bugging them already, I didn’t want to confront them. This also made me anxious, which made me rush some setups that I needed more time on. This is the main thing I learned—that I have a hard time working when I feel like I’m annoying someone. Additionally, I kind of relearned that having good actors makes the directing process go much smoother.

Briefly answer the following:

What, specifically, did you want to communicate? Were you successful? Why? Why not?

I wanted to communicate a few emotions—suspense, empathy, concern, and wariness. I also wanted to communicate a lot of concrete information—who these characters were, what their relationships were, and what the situation was. In general, I feel like I was successful at communicating this. I think this largely has to do with the performances, and with the overall tone and pacing of the piece (which largely relied on tone and color). Any ways that it wasn’t successful had the most to do with continuity and seamlessness. Some elements of the film are a little rough around the edges. This occurred because of me rushing some things and not being as neat—as far as technical skill goes—as I should have been.

How, specifically, did you try to say this? What visual elements, techniques, etc. did you use?

I used tone, color, and rhythm mainly. Color provided warmth and intimacy, which helped us understand and question the relationships. Tone helped with intimacy as well, but it also, I hoped (although I don’t think this came through as much as I wanted) added suspense and mystery. The rhythm (as far as editing goes) helped by giving the audience time to process the emotions of the characters. I think it would have been good to be a little faster, but I’m also happy that it was somewhat deliberate.

I also relied heavily on the performances to carry the scene, and the actors were quite successful.

What did you learn about storytelling:

I learned that ambiguity in character thought and motivation can be good, as long as we understand what’s ambiguous and don’t feel lost. This ambiguity can be provided through performance and blocking.

Working with actors and getting performance:

Getting smart actors really helps. Additionally, having them understand why the characters are doing something is crucial. I made sure each actor was able to tell me why they were doing what they were doing—especially when they did weird things (such as Kyler putting his arm around Ashley at the end, or Brando not immediately telling Ashley about the text). It also helped that they were able to easily understand some of the emotions involved because they were all married, and that was a significant part of what this was about.

Blocking — camera and actors:

When doing a tracking shot—SLOW MOVEMENTS. Putting two characters who are touching also really helps communicate something. As long as the motions are motivated, they’ll read well if you capture them well.

Visuals — composition, framing, visual elements:

There’s a shot that I think is really ugly, when she’s sitting on the floor and he’s on the couch. They’re placement is good, but the background is flat and plain, especially when there’s so much around them in other shots. That shot feels out of place, and I wish I had composed it differently so that it wasn’t so boring and different than the rest of the story. Otherwise, I’m quite happy with some things. There are a lot of light sources or reflective surfaces in the film that could potentially compete for attention during shots of the characters, but I think I balanced most of the compositions well enough that they don’t detract. For instance, in shots of Brando sitting alone on the couch, there is a shiny metal Christmas tree behind him, but it just balances the frame, making us still look at him, rather than drawing our attention away.

Design & Art Direction:

One empty wall is ugly when all of the others are full. But, aside from that, having a really busily decorated home gives a really intimate feeling, which turned out nicely.

The Production Process — collaboration with crew, the logistics of making this piece:

Make sure the owners of your location know what they’re getting into. That way, it’s possible to confront/remind them if things get out of hand. Also, in the case of renting/borrowing equipment, make sure you do it as early as possible…

I was really hoping to shoot on something with a better resolution and dynamic range, but I guess if a scene is lit well, the 5D doesn’t do too bad…

                  

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?  

I was really happy. After looking at that film for a few hours, all of my on-set regrets were the first thing on my mind. However, watching it with an audience helped me realize it still has a lot going for it. All three actors’ performances were complimented, which made me feel great, as did the fact that everyone understood the story, that they cared about the emotional element of the story, and that the ambiguity read well.

Other observations:

Nope. I’m ready to be done for a few weeks.