'Fatal Choices' Evaluation

Final Texts

Short Film -


Poster -

Review - 

Fatal Choices Draft Evaluation

Questionnaire

Fatal Choices - Short Film - Final Draft

Final Review

This is my final review. I feel that the small changes that I have made since the last draft have really set this review apart. Moving the text on the right up has improved the overall image of the text as it is now all in-line and fills out the page more. I have changed the whole image, and although it is not a direct screen grab I feel that the image creates synergy between the review and the film. The time on the watch is the exact same time that is mentioned in my film and is shown on the phone, therefore this image is almost a teaser and forebodes what is going to happen in the film at that time. I have also made the stat rating more prominent on the page by filling in the stars that it achieved and leaving the outline of the stars it did not achieve. This makes the rating section stand out much more and helps to catch the readers eye and draw them in - as looking at the rating is one of the factors that decides if you are going to read the review and further watch the film.

Script with Directions.

I'm a ghost - I live in the shadows - I could be in the room right now and you'd never know it.

I take my job very seriously - planning each and every detail with acute precision.

But why is this important to me? I am a hit man.

Well, a hit-woman if you want to be pedantic about it. But nonetheless, I am a born and bred killer.

I study my targets maliciously; I become them. I get to know them inside and out, leaving no stone unturned.

(Laughs)

Some might say I know them better than themselves.

Who am I? Who am I really?

Getting Excited: Who is this woman you're watching get ready?... Calming down: That... I guess you'll never know.

On the surface, I am an average woman.

You could pass me on the street, I would smile back at you politely. Whilst all the time, you would have no idea that I could kill you with my bare hands.

Leaving no possible spec of evidence. Very broken - short sharp slow words. 

I go about my routines just as any other would.

It's almost like having a normal job - except, I don't go and sit in an office all day long, whilst monotony creeps in, consuming what it is people call their 'life'.

As Cyndi Lauper would say, 'Girls just wanna have fun'. And that is exactly what I get to do. Vast amounts of money transferred into my off-shore bank account. Tax free. No government tracking... All there for me to spend, spend, spend in my free time - what more could a girl ask for?

You could say it is an easy life... If you don't count the endless rival agencies and contractors putting out a hit on me, and trying to kill me. That's probably what has made me so paranoid.

I can't be in, say a restaurant or on a train without thinking the person next to me, or opposite me, has been hired to kill me, or capture me and conduct some unthinkable methods of torture on me, whilst they try and extract all sorts of information from me - like who I work for.

Other than that, I enjoy the simple pleasures in life - I have my dreams... To get out of this business, move away, somewhere hot, get a new identity, a big house - Very excitedly: OH! maybe a Ferrari... But. Calmed down - monotone-Flat: Where I am at the moment, that dream is a long.. long way away.

My life is nothing to be proud of. I receive hits from anonymous contractors. They give no reason. No motive. Just get. The job. Done.

I could be killing innocent people for all I know. All I do know, is that I take my job to the next extreme with the detail I go to...

Could be linked to my OCD I guess... Yep, A woman with OCD that is a hit man - how more conventional could you get hey?

My routines can get quite bad. Sometimes they can interfere with a hit. I have to take my tablets at  specific times. If I don't - I panic, my body refuses to move. I go into breakdown. This causes a time delay. When you're working on killing with force, chaos erupts if you miss-time. It may seem bizarre. But to me, sometimes it can mean life or death.

As for this hit, well the target is actually VERY similar to myself... Which has made it easy. A simple tablet swap. Routine really. No fingerprints. No blood. No evidence. Just like I said. First tablet she takes today at 14:23. I'll give it about an hour and then...

Job done.

Final Script

A copy of the final script I will be using for my final film:

I'm a ghost - I live in the shadows - I could be in the room right now and you'd never know it.

I take my job very seriously - planning each and every detail with acute precision.

But why is this important to me? I am a hit man.

Well, a hit-woman if you want to be pedantic about it. But nonetheless, I am a born and bred killer.

I study my targets maliciously; I become them. I get to know them inside and out, leaving no stone unturned.

(Laughs)

Some might say I know them better than themselves.

Who am I? Who am I really?

Who is this woman you're watching get ready?... That... I guess you'll never know.

On the surface, I am an average woman.

You could pass me on the street, I would smile back at you politely. Whilst all the time, you would have no idea that I could kill you with my bare hands.

Leaving no possible spec of evidence.

I go about my routines just as any other would.

It's almost like having a normal job - except, I don't go and sit in an office all day long, whilst monotony creeps in, consuming what it is people call their 'life'.

As Cyndi Lauper would say, 'Girls just wanna have fun'. And that is exactly what I get to do. Vast amounts of money transferred into my off-shore bank account. Tax free. No government tracking... All there for me to spend, spend, spend in my free time - what more could a girl ask for?

You could say it is an easy life... If you don't count the endless rival agencies and contractors putting out a hit on me, and trying to kill me. That's probably what has made me so paranoid.

I can't be in, say a restaurant or on a train without thinking the person next to me, or opposite me, has been hired to kill me, or capture me and conduct some unthinkable methods of torture on me, whilst they try and extract all sorts of information from me - like who I work for.

Other than that, I enjoy the simple pleasures in life - I have my dreams... To get out of this business, move away, somewhere hot, get a new identity, a big house - OH! maybe a Ferrari... But. Where I am at the moment, that dream is a long.. long way away.

My life is nothing to be proud of. I receive hits from anonymous contractors. They give no reason. No motive. Just get. The job. Done.

I could be killing innocent people for all I know. All I do know, is that I take my job to the next extreme with the detail I go to...

Could be linked to my OCD I guess... Yep, A woman with OCD that is a hit man - how more conventional could you get hey?

My routines can get quite bad. Sometimes they can interfere with a hit. I have to take my tablets at  specific times. If I don't - I panic, my body refuses to move. I go into breakdown. This causes a time delay. When you're working on killing with force, chaos erupts if you miss-time. It may seem bizarre. But to me, sometimes it can mean life or death.

As for this hit, well the target is actually VERY similar to myself... Which has made it easy. A simple tablet swap. Routine really. No fingerprints. No blood. No evidence. Just like I said. First tablet she takes today at 14:23. I'll give it about an hour and then...

Job done.

Review Draft 1

This was the review that I proposed would be the final version, however, after getting feedback, I noticed that there were a number of elements that I needed to alter for it to look as professional as ever.   There were a few minor issues with the layout - the 'ReadLogix.com' plug on the bottom of the page would make the 'subscribe' plug off centre. The last body of text (far right) is too low down and the text above it is also too low down on the page. Once these have been moved up, the page will have a more fluent layout. Looking back on reflection, the text on the top right is very low down and looks out of place on the page. As well as the text, the image was a big problem. As the review is either meant to sell or criticise a film, my image at the moment does not sell my film. The image is not engaging enough to make people want to watch the film - thus not doing the job of a review correctly. I have stuck with a black and red color scheme throughout, as I feel this would fit into a professional magazine and the colors are easy to keep a house style with.

Review - Body of text Completed

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. Garside’s directing debut aims to catapult him amongst the stars, directing and scripting the film himself. Garside had a clear narrative within his film, looking into the complex world of OCD suffers and incorporating the idea of a female hero into the plot. The film is based around the niche world of hit men, and it explores the thought process of a hit man and allows for the viewers to immerse themselves into this unknown world through the cleverly narrated storyline. Without revealing the plot twist at the end of the film, the dramatic conclusion throws the audience off-track and leaves them questioning what they had just witnessed. Endings like this engage the audience making them then connect with the storyline and the characters in greater depth. Although we are only introduced to the main character for a mere 5 minutes, the in-depth story affords the audience a chance to look into their life - breaking into their private lives. Garside’s short also explores an idea that is still rarely touched upon in the world of film (including Hollywood Blockbusters). The idea that a woman can take on the action-packed, danger fuelled role of a ‘big, burly man’. Garside has an all female cast, and has set out to portray them in a masculine light, pushing the boundaries of what an audience is familiar with seeing. Garside has drawn upon influences from certain hit films such as Quentin Tarantino’s ‘Kill Bill’ trilogy and Phillip Noyce’s recent film ‘Salt’ starring Angelina Jolie. These influences shine through Garside’s work with his strong, no-grief-taking characters. Garside stated that he was “interested in getting the role of women in films to be challenged more and that there should never have been any form of diversity between the two sexes.” And we here at ReadLogix believe that he is certainly one of the leading people in making this change active.     

This breakthrough short film is definitely worth a watch with an engaging narrative and mind turning, plot twist conclusion. If you want to gain an interesting insight into the bizarrely mixed worlds of OCD sufferers and hit-men, further joined with the ideas of women taking on a role, predominantly in a male orientated world. If you have a spare 5 minutes this film has ReadLogix’s seal of

approval.    

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

Final Review Template

This is the layout that I will be writing my review to. Once I have suitable images and enough of the film shot to be able to begin to write the review.