Progress

Complete -

As for being fully complete, there is only the poster which I can say is completely finished and I can leave alone. As for making the poster, I went for a very minimal style, drawing in elements of symbolism. As for making this poster, I found it fairly easy as the Photoshop skills required were very minimal. The only part that I had mixed thoughts on was the body of texts at the bottom of the poster (director and crew info). From my research, I noted that the majority of the posters text gave the effect that it was in a box, whereas mine, due to the length of names and titles, turned out to form a pyramid shape. At first I thought that this looked odd and out of place, but later decided that it fitted with the poster and if anything, made the poster more appealing to look at and made he audience engage in reading more due to the interesting shape. As for the Raven in the middle, I thought that it would make the viewer question the meaning of the poster and ask themselves what the message I was trying to convey is.

In Progress -

Review: As for my second ancillary task, this is very nearly completed. Where am at, whilst writing this post? The review is basically done. the majority of the text is completed, with two short paragraphs left to be written - one of which will be a final summary/rating/'final words' about the film. I have been working off of a template which I designed myself and I feel like the design has afforded me to write a healthy amount about the film, whilst getting in the critical aspects. I feel that the red accents of the page gave it a professional finish, with the small graphic design elements woking in my favour. As for the images, as it stands I am going to have one main image which will take up a large amount of the double spread, and it will be a photo from a photo shoot related to the film. I have decided against using a screenshot for the main image as I do not feel as though there are any shots in the film that would fulfil the double page image spread. As for the screen shot, I have chosen the image and it is placed on the far right of the image. The only part of the review that I am a little uncertain on, is the image that will be portrait, sat within the body of text. At the moment, I am thinking of using either a DVD cover case (but that then raises the issue about would this film ever be distributed on a DVD, or would it be purely online - like most short film), the poster or a black image with the title 'Fatal Choices' in the same font from the film itself. Other than that, my review will be complete within the next few days. Allowing me to turn all of my attention and focus onto the main task.

Final Film: The largest task. If I had to my completion of this into a fraction, I would say that I am 2/3s of the way through. Putting any re-shoots aside for the moment. I just have to film and edit together the final two sequences, involving leaving the house and the car scene, roughly 02:30. The shoots and edits will happen over the next two weeks, leaving me with a week to touch up the entire film. As well as shooting this, in those two weeks, I need to film my re-shoots. The largest re-shoot is the kitchen sequence, which is due to a continuity error in the clothing. As for the editing of the film, I work in a way that when a shoot has finished, I edit the footage straight away, therefore I am always up to date with my editing and I am able to see if the filming was successful or not.
As for the footage that I have already got, there are a number of things that I am happy with and that I am not (and will address). Starting with the positives; I feel that the framing of the shots that I have produced is very good. I think that I have captured everything that I wanted to capture in the shots and the positioning of the actors and props works in a way that it looks natural and not intrusive. What I mean by that is that I feel like the way I have cut my film, using long shots and slow cuts, makes the audience feel like they are welcome into the characters home and that they should be there watching as the events and story unfold. Next, I think that the script is working well and is parallel to the live footage, which draws together the film as a whole. An issue that has been brought up however is the diction and tone in some parts of the voice over. I have decided that I am going to try the voice over once more with the same person, but this time give them much more guidance and direct them more as to how I really want the voice to sound. If on reflection, I feel the problem is persisting, I will look into changing the person. This I feel is going to need to be a very quick turnover as it is vital to the film and needs to be spot on. Another element which I am very pleased with is my title sequence. I think that the first shot introducing a short film can be very hard to direct and frame and I feel that the waking up and the title sequence being incorporated into the POV blinks has worked extremely well and sets the pace of the film and sets up the audience for what is to come.
As for the negatives, I feel like there is too many lighting changes - yes, the scenes are in different parts/rooms of the house, but I feel like the contrast between some of the scenes interrupts the continuity. I have had a few ideas as to how I will fix this and need to trial them. Firstly, I could adjust the lighting post production (using Premiere), or, I could film a shot showing a bling being pulled up, letting in the natural light to the room, revealing that it is the same time of day (the scene I am talking about is the makeup scene. The lighting is completely artificial as compared to the rest of the films natural light.) If worst comes to the worst, I can re-film the scene.

Rough Cut

This is the first complete rough draft for my final film. In terms of completion I am a long way from completion. One of the main areas that is sticking out is the script. There are a number of issues with both the timing of the script in relation to the footage and in the diction of the script itself. This is going to call for the script to be re-recorded and then edited again. This time I will make sure that I edit the script to a much more precise timing. Another area that needs to be changed is the bottle moving scene at 00;51. I had the idea in my head that this would be edited with very fast jump cuts, making it look like she is attempting to move the bottle on multiple tries, however, I do not feel as though I achieved that effect and that it is the right effect to have in the film. I plan to re-edit this and make it slower, using less shots and cuts. The next element that needs to be added are my sound effects. In the shower scenes I do not have the sons of the shower turning on therefore the continuity is not kept throughout that scene. Similarly to this, the whole next scene is going to need re-filming. Something which I just did not happen to think about, but after she comes out of the shower and goes downstairs, she is wearing the exact same clothing as before. Therefore I will need to re-film this section with her new clothes and a motivational shot of her getting dressed, pre-empting the stair shot. Other than this, I also need to film the entire car section and the finale (death). Once these are filmed and edited, I will address the scripting issues.

Where I'm At

With the deadlines fast approaching, I needed to review where I am at. As for the titles, I really like the way that they have turned out. The blinking effect and the text makes the opening flow evenly.
The shot that links the titles and the live action, I feel works effectively. The shot coming into focus I feel runs parallel to the story (just waking up) and makes the film run smoothly. However, I don't think the white page for the main title fits with the image of the whole film.  




To Complete:

Writing my Review

Novice director Reece Garside's, first short film hopes to launch his career into the critical world of film.
Starring Hannah Vincent and Harriet Newman, this plot twisting 5 minute shocker, affords confusion and astonishment as the big reveal at the end changes the dynamics of this dramatic film. Directing and scripting the film, Garside