Story-Telling: Critical Reflections

After a long and work-filled 10 weeks into the course, I am finally coming to an end with this unit and have completed all the work outlined for this project. Nevertheless I have come across numerous problems which were expected and I have worked across and improved, as well as a few things which I though worked well with my project.

Problems

When comparing my project to other students in my class and general queries, I came across a few (but not too many!) problems with this unit:

Actors

Firstly, I feel that the actors I used could've been a lot better. For a start, all my actors aren't at all professional or had any experience, they were simply my friends whom I thought would suit my trailer. So straight away I already have a downfall for my trailer as it doesn't quite create the idea I was hoping for. For example, for my gang I needed older people (around 20) whom look intimidating - say perhaps visible scars or tattoos, piercings and accessories such as hats. 

Additionally, I noticed that the non verbal communication with my actors too weren't as effective as planned. For example, the seriousness of the brother's face when they finally Meet isn't as emphasised as I planned to be, thus reducing the intensity of 'The Meeting'. This could be improved by potentially taking more shots until it looks right or initially having hired actors. 

Nevertheless, I knew this would be a problem anyway with my trailer and is quite hard to overcome due to my project having minimal budgeting and of course my lack of experience. Despite this, I feel that my actors generally worked effectively - there are no confusions as to whose who and in some scenes they help to convey the meaning of what I am trying to show.

Locations

The locations I used for my filming were arguably tricky but they had to be used as I felt they were the most effective. The main problem I had was having to change one of my locations - here I tried using an alleyway (as mentioned in my plan) which turned out I couldn't use as it was private, and as I went to go and film there the alleyway was blocked off by gates. This meant I had to change one of my locations which in the end turned out ok, as the alleyway wasn't as important as I thought it was. 

However, because I was filming on a public field which is frequently used due to the park and the skate park, my filming took longer than expected. This is because we had to wait for people to move out of the shot (i.e. people in the park or just walking through the field) meaning we couldn't film, as I felt that if people are in the shot of my trailer then it would reduce the effect of the scene. This however wasn't a big problem  as I managed to film without people getting in the way - the only worry was that it took a bit longer than expected.

Time

Which leads me to my next problem - time. This I knew would be a problem mainly because of my lack of experience. For example, I didn't know how long it would take to film, to write a script, edit a trailer, etc. So the only thing I made sure I kept on track was organisation. I frequently planned out what I was doing and when, which you can tell from my 'checklist' posts. This turned out to be a very clever idea because in fact time wasn't as big of an issue as I expected because I gave myself more than enough time for certain parts e.g. for editing. However I still think if I had say one or two more weeks I could've done another draft for my script and more editing for my trailer (which however applies for almost everything). Then again, I should be able to apply time even better for my next project now that i have gained editing and camera skills from this unit!

What Worked/went well?

In general throughout my blog posts I have mentioned what I liked about my project as well as some of the problems which I have tried to improve. Overall I am surprisingly pleased with my project - I received great feedback from my script and only had to do little work to change it as well as all my footage and editing for my trailer not taking as long as I expected. I have shown a few family members and friends both my trailer and footage and generally received good feedback - as well as taking note of any small problems which they picked out. 

Additionally (and more importantly), the best thing which worked well for me was actually enjoying the unit. It is probably the first project I've ever done which I have loved doing, which I feel makes the outcome seem better and more effective because you can see my passion and motivation from my work!