QUICKSAND FINISHED PRODUCT
Sunday 14 February 2016
Wednesday 10 February 2016
Film Opening (First Draft)
Targets & Evaluation
Despite this being my first year in studying Media Studies or anything related to filmmaking, I started this project with setting a variety of targets that I expected the product to reach by the end of the production process. We had a certain vision of how we predicted the outcome to look like, and needless to say, they were high hopes. For example, shooting took significantly longer than we planned it to, teaching us to prepare for the unplanned. By the end of the first day of shooting, we had only managed to shoot a limited amount of behind-the-scenes footage due to the time it took to set up the equipment.
As for the actual first draft however, we had high expectations for the editing in particular. Our targets included a slick, smooth flow of editing, quick and abrupt to evoke panic and fear when appropriate or involving long takes to linger on a shot or establish a scene/setting. We mostly achieved this although the pacing can be improved, for example some cuts are too quick because we were unfamiliar with editing softwares resulting in trimming large chunks without intention. Getting more familiar with how to use editing software in order to produce an effective sense of pacing is a vital target for our final draft.
As we were inexperienced when it came to making our own music, we disregarded the notion of producing an original soundtrack and opted instead for royalty-free music, which we expected to be exciting and innovative. However, royalty-free music is quite generic and mediocre, therefore it was extremely time consuming to find a suitable and decent choice of soundtrack. We intend to find a more appropriate choice for the final draft.
The mies-en-scene played a key element in our film opening as we intended to place an emphasis on props and the visual aspect of the film opening, heavily influenced by the grandiose stylised world of Mad Max: Fury Road. Stylistically, the film draws on elements from George Miller's latest film in terms of the run-down, metallic chrome aesthetic appeal apparent in the movie. Our props were all hand-made which added to this weared-down quite effectively. I don't personally think the props or costumes need any adjustments or improvements. NVC is relatively limited as well as the dialogue which makes it difficult for the audience to relate to the characters on a more personal level, however our aim was not to establish an emotional connection as most of the characters get killed off. We wanted the focus to be on the action display and the aesthetic components of the scene, which was sufficiently achieved in my opinion.
Despite the amount of time it took for us to set up the equipment, the desert setting was ideal for our film opening; the action carried out by the characters fuses seamlessly with the panic the characters are implied to feel, working simultaneously together to result in an overall realistic and heart-pumping action sequence.
Finally, camerawork was complicated. We expected the movements to be smooth and sleek, but the coarse nature of the desert made it tricky to set up the tripod without it slightly budging, resulting in many failed takes with shaky, amateur-looking footage. In our final draft we intend to reshoot the scenes with a more stabilised look. Most of the shots on the shot list however were eventually executed well, albeit after several attempts.
The mies-en-scene played a key element in our film opening as we intended to place an emphasis on props and the visual aspect of the film opening, heavily influenced by the grandiose stylised world of Mad Max: Fury Road. Stylistically, the film draws on elements from George Miller's latest film in terms of the run-down, metallic chrome aesthetic appeal apparent in the movie. Our props were all hand-made which added to this weared-down quite effectively. I don't personally think the props or costumes need any adjustments or improvements. NVC is relatively limited as well as the dialogue which makes it difficult for the audience to relate to the characters on a more personal level, however our aim was not to establish an emotional connection as most of the characters get killed off. We wanted the focus to be on the action display and the aesthetic components of the scene, which was sufficiently achieved in my opinion.
Despite the amount of time it took for us to set up the equipment, the desert setting was ideal for our film opening; the action carried out by the characters fuses seamlessly with the panic the characters are implied to feel, working simultaneously together to result in an overall realistic and heart-pumping action sequence.
Finally, camerawork was complicated. We expected the movements to be smooth and sleek, but the coarse nature of the desert made it tricky to set up the tripod without it slightly budging, resulting in many failed takes with shaky, amateur-looking footage. In our final draft we intend to reshoot the scenes with a more stabilised look. Most of the shots on the shot list however were eventually executed well, albeit after several attempts.
Overall, the target was to fuse all the elements of filmmaking we spent hours previously analysing to create our own enticing product that engages and appeals to a large audience in its elements and attention to detail, not pandering. Some improvements need to be made in the logistics area and editing, although generally we believe we achieved our targets efficiently.
Sunday 7 February 2016
Behind the Scenes (Video)
BEHIND THE SCENES COMPILATION
This is a compilation of all the behind-the-scenes footage we have gathered, most of which was filmed by me. The video itself was made and edited by Pablo, then uploaded to the Sand Haus channel (our production channel). The video stars Jack, Pablo and Nikita along with other crew members.
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