short film evaluation

1. EVALUATION
Your name

2. PRODUCTION
PROCESS
EVALUATION

4.  For my research, I did an interview survey. I did this on my research power
point and charlotte oliver completed it and answered the questions I wanted
to know about technology. My interview was based on people my age as this
is the generation mainly affected by technology and social media. I found
from this that technology is a big part of our every day lives and that it can
take us away from real life conversations and activities so much that we
don’t even realise. However, we cant live without it. It has progressed and
improved so much over the years that are world today wouldn’t be able to
function or be as efficient without it. My main reason for basing my short film
on our lives on a ticking clock and that we aren’t living them to the full is for
the double meaning behind ‘time running out’, I thought it worked perfectly
with this theme. I also did a lot of research on the British series of Black
Mirror. This show is a science fiction anthology series created by Charlie
Brooker, examining modern day society with regard to consequences of new
technologies. As soon as I thought of my initial idea of my character ending
up in her virtual world on sims, I knew that I needed to research black mirror.
This was a well suited show to learn the interesting concept of futuristic
thriller and science fiction knowledge for entertaining the audience perfectly.
I also did some research on science fiction films and time travel, as my
character travels into this alter reality in the game. I think I definitely did well
with my research as It made me more clear on the concept of a futuristic
thriller and how to make it obvious that my film is this genre.

5. Here are my interview questions for
primary research and my secondary
research from websites with links about
technology affecting our lives. I also
research black mirror and its concept, as
well as the history of science fiction films.

6.  To begin my planning for my short film, I wrote my
proposal. I think I have a lot of strengths when it
comes to the writing side of my project, and my
proposal is quite detailed, I think I added
everything required to insure I had a well thought
out plan and idea for my production. The research
really helped me to put my idea together and think
of the concept of ‘technology taking over’ and
time running out as a double meaning. This was
really helpful as once I had done my proposal I
had a set idea and new what I wanted to achieve.

7.  Doing my pre-production was the most time consuming part of my project.
This took me about 2 days to complete as there was different sections to the
power point. I started with my story development and began thinking and
planning how the story of my character would develop into this futuristic
thriller. The story development section was really useful as it helped me pan
out how the film in different sections to help me build up the tension and the
shots I wanted to include. It made me think about how I would create this
ending into a science fiction / futuristic genre which is when I thought of the
‘show not tell’ technique which would make my film more abstract and
intriguing. I also planned my acts 1, 2 and 3 which was useful as an over all
for when I came to filming. I used this as a a good guideline when it came to
my production and used the acts with a variety of shots within each act.

8.  When it came to time management, I think I definitely took too long on my
pre-production. With having a week off due to a weather, I had to do a lot of
catching up with the power-points leading up to my filming. The detail of the
pre-production was the main issue but I managed to complete it after about
2-3 days. I also took a day on my proposal and went back to it a week later
for some added detail. With my initial plans work research, I did this all in the
first week and began the research at the end of the week. This wasn’t too
much of a long process because I had a rough idea of what I wanted to
achieve with my outcome. I was happy with my idea and as the weeks went
on it came together and I progressed with it further. My initial thought was to
do a futuristic thriller involving a child and a computer game, but at the
beginning I wasn’t sure if this would work and if it would be too complex for
me to film. Turns out as I went on I managed the time of my pre-production
well and ended up gradually having the right idea and how to create this
outcome, as it’s a working process starting with mind maps to then actually
making the film and bringing it to life. All in all I think my time management
was fine, apart from one week where I did have to ram in my pre-production
whilst still adding to other power points- this actually ended up being a bonus
as it brought my concept to life and helped me decide quickly on how to
make it work as whole.

9. When it came to my technical qualities, I didn’t have many and
everything ran quite smoothly. In fact, my technical side of my
production ran a lot smoother than I thought it would and was less
complex than I thought it would be having to film someone ending up
in a computer screen. The camera angles were the main thing I
focused on and I had no difficulties. However, I didn’t use my tripod
which is something I would do next time. I thought using my tripod
would be too complicated as I would be walking around lots and
standing around a computer screen with a desk, but it would of
helped the quality of my footage. My footage was a bit shaky as you
could see my hands weren’t still when holding the camera. This hasn’t
made a massive difference to my film or made it any less better, but It
would definitely of improved my films camera quality. Other than this, I
had no technical errors during production. The lighting and darkness
was the perfect saturation for my film and I didn’t have to edit this in
anyway.

10. I began editing my short film by adding its sound effects so it
I could place it all together. This was quite a simple process
which I actually enjoyed doing, as it made my film come to
life and an abstract story, as well as creating this thriller
ending with tension building up through out. I didn’t create
any sound effects of my own, but I didn’t feel like I needed to
or they would be as effective and good quality. I used
features like keyboard sound effects, doors opening, even
time machine effects to show my characters was entering
a virtual world. I had no problems with my sound effects and
I think this was the most exciting part of the project for
myself, as it really made my film become a futuristic thriller,
therefore I achieved my outcome.

11. With my editing, everything worked together and fit
really well. My footage was the right amount and I was
able to piece it together easy and edit it into each
other. I managed to create illusions through editing my
footage. For example, I created a scene where I enter
the room and and you see my character sat on the
computer chair, then I switch the lights off and cut the
scene to just the chair in the dark. This created the
idea that the room went pitch black and my character
starts to enter the world in her computer game. I was
really pleased with this edited part of my film as I feel
without it, it wouldn’t of shown the way my character
left the real world. It is quite abstract, but you get the
idea of what is happening.

12. My favorite aesthetic quality of my short film is the lighting
and where my film was shot. I luckily had an apple mac at
home to use as the main prop, which had great detail to film
sims 4 on. It also includes a feature called photo booth, which
has a hologram effect that I filmed my character on acting out
being stuck in the computer screen trying to get out. This
aesthetic quality worked perfectly in my film and I was really
lucky to be able to use it. I wasn’t sure at first how I would
create an illusion of a character being in a computer screen,
so finding this feature of my mac was really lucky. Especially
with it being a hologram, it seemed as though the character
was no longer human but turned into a sims character/robot
herself with the mind of a human. I also used different lighting
in my film, turning the lights on and off at appropriate times,
as well as going from pitch black to a bright computer screen.
This added depth and had a strong reference to technology
on a whole r

13. My audience appeal was mainly aimed at 16-35 year olds. This
was because of the complex perspective my film was based on,
and it wouldn’t of made sense to anyone younger. I also think
this age gap is the generation that has grown up with technology
and social media from being a really young age, therefore it
would give them a realization of what it is doing to our lives
(taking over). I know that it is a bit of an exaggeration, but I think
it is a clever metaphor that you can interpret however you'd like.
I know being the age of 18 just how popular the series black
mirror is, and this is what inspired me in the first place to base
my genre on modern day society and the regard to
consequences of new technologies.

14. PEER
FEEDBAC
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15.  What did you like about the product? I liked how it was put
together, and it was an interesting and well thought out idea. The
music definitely made it thrilling.
 What improvements could have been made to the product?
Maybe a few more shots of the game running out of time and
shutting down, as It wasn't very clear that it was a double
meaning.

16.  What did you like about the product?
 I liked the hologram idea as It really did look like the child was stuck in
a computer screen.
 What improvements could have been made to the product? The
music could of started off more happy and less scary, so it got
scarier as the film went on.

17.  What did you like about the product? I liked the fact it was a
young child used as it portrayed innocence and you felt scared for
her.
 What improvements could have been made to the product? She
could of made a bit more eye contact with the camera.

18.  What do you agree with from your peer feedback? From my
feedback, I agree I could of included a bit more shots of my game
closing down as I felt myself It wasn’t clear enough that the game
was running out of time, which I really wanted to make clear for
my film to properly make sense. I think this what made my film
quite abstract and complex.
 What do you disagree with from your peer feedback?
 However, I disagree about my character looking into the camera as I
feel this would of seemed un naturalistic and too forced. I prefer the
way it seems as though my character has no idea of acknowledges
what is going on, as I believe this portrays more innocence.

19.  I would definitely add more detail to make my product more clear
if id had the time, but with it being a short film I feel there would
always be this problem. I like the fact you have to work out what
my film is suggesting and it definitely has the goose bump effect. I
think the music is perfectly suited but possibly could of started of
with a bit more up beat sounds, however I don’t think this would
create as much tension which I needed to start building up
straight away as I didn’t have a lot of time like a regular thriller. All
in all, I feel my product has a lot of strengths and I was more
pleased with my outcome than I thought I would be. I think it
includes everything a futuristic thriller should, including
technology and the scary idea of being stuck somewhere you
can't escape from.