Directions: Drama: Production Day, Feedback and Evaluation

Production days before rough cut hand in

This day was a very interesting day for me as I learnt so much about myself, others and how to deal with certain situations. 

Actors
First of all I felt really unprepared and nervous about the SFX and my actors. Just knowing that everyone was relying on me was so scary. I was delayed with the make up and it was a very windy, cold day. My actor was getting stroppy when I kept asking to do more takes from different angles and it was quite stressful. Because I knew the actor was cold, I tried my best to accommodate him and I also ended up restricting the amount of shots I re did because I didn't want everyone to be out in the cold too long. That was my biggest mistake. I should not have put the actor's feelings in front of the task at hand as much as I did because I ended up limiting my coverage which is never a good thing. When it came to edit I realised that there were shots that I forgot to film, even though I had the shot list at hand I still struggled to execute all the shots so now I know for next time, I need to prioritise the elements that are important because at the end of the day the actor knew what he was getting himself into, I advised him on the weather and as an actor it should be expected to do more than one take for a scenes. However, the actor was a great actor, especially for someone who was just starting out, he was able to create a believable performance and I was really pleased with it. He didn't need much direction in terms of how to execute his lines. overall it was a decent experience.

shooting
I had a camera man who I trusted to get the right shots. Sound did not play a big part for the first scene as I knew I wanted to do foley in the edit so we did not use a boom pole for these shots. After finishing the first scene which ran smoothly, I then had to pack up everything and order a cab to the second location. All was well until I realised that the bicycle needed to go to the second location too, one of the actors said they would help take it over because it was only a 15 minute walk but then she changed her mind and said she doesn't know where it is so I had to put my actors and crew into a cab and walk the bike over there my self. At this point I felt very unprofessional because a director shouldn't leave their cast and crew alone like that. Luckily I had Saskia at the second location and she was able to usher everyone in and also get started on the second zombie's make up which I was extremely grateful for. Now I know for next time that I need to be much more organised and to have all aspects of transport covered. So I then arrived, briefed everyone, finished off the make up, we had lunch then we were ready to start again. I could tell that my actor was getting tired but I still tried to keep everyone motivated. I learnt that it is very difficult to have a balance, depending on who you are working with, some people tend to be more high maintenance than others and I learned how to try and find a balance between getting the work done and making sure everyone is happy whilst doing it because without happy actors, that could easily transcend into the piece and could have a domino effect on the final outcome. 

Editing 
This became another stressful part of the whole production because this is where I started noticing all the little errors that I made. First of all the footage was grainier than expected. I am partly to blame for this because I guess as a director I should've checked over the camera. Even though I spent most of the time looking at the footage through the screen anyway, I wasn't able to tell how grainy it was. I also noticed later on in the footage that the tripod bag was in one of the shots. I didn't cut it out because it was only for a split second but all of this has taught me that for next time that I need to double check everything and not entirely rely on the crew. 

Feedback from simon. 
Here is my rough cuts for both Self portrait and Drama piece they were both a little bit unfinished; 

Self portrait Rough cut: 

Self Portrait rough cut feedback: 

• More sound design 
• car journey shots seem a bit dreary, should cut it down a bit or do something different with it
• make the overall thing more snappy

Self portrait fine cut:

Self portrait fine cut feedback:

• everything was great and I was now finished with self portrait.
• The Sound is different to the imagery but it fits

The Walking Dead Rough cut; 

The Walking Dead rough cut feedback: 

• Sound design, replace with foley sounds
• quicker reverse reaction for Rick
• atmospheric sounds
• tighten the cuts, more pace
• come out of the long depth of field shot quicker
• enhance the derelict sound, use wind
• sound for the hit
• try to show zombie first as he emerges
• shorten the cry scene
• make connection between the two characters more pronounced
• colour correct
• opening credits

In these two photos, I demonstrate how I have chosen to colour correct my video. I added the bars to give it an enhanced cinematic look. I had no idea it would change the look and feel of my entire sequence like that. I will keep this in mind for future post production edits. I chose to enhance the blue tones of the entire video because I wanted it to have a cold feel to it. In comparison to the original which had a warmer, summery feel to it. I wanted mine to look different to the original.

Original: 

My version:

The walking dead fine cut: 

The Walking Dead fine cut feedback: 

• needs sound for when rick grabs the bike
• Tighter cut on the door opening
• shorten the cry by 10 seconds
• bring in strong wind as soon as he comes outside, bring it in slowly
• add title sequence at the start
• Fix one sided audio

evaluating my self portrait: 

I was so happy with Simon's feedback overall, He really opened my eyes to all the little details that i need to be considering when editing. I was really nervous to show him as I wasn't happy with the quality of the edit and I feared that my idea would've been a bit too out there to understand but it just goes to show that I shouldn't be so hard on myself and I shouldn't doubt myself as much either. One of the things I struggled with in the edit was making the sound play from both left and right, I searched for hours on youtube for a solution but no luck, I was about to give up until I found a random video where someone taught me about mono sound and stereo sound and I managed to find a solution for my audio. I learnt that I could "fill" the right side with the left side's audio and it solved all my problems. I learnt the importance of audio mostly during the editing period because he use of sound effects really brought my production to life in the end, sound engineering added a real depth to my piece and I wish to learn more about how I can enhance it even more. Sound played a big part in my self portrait as well, I wanted to create an uneasy vibe and I wanted sounds that did not match the image. I learnt that you can be expressionate with sound, you can tell a story with sound and it is definitely something that I will pay more attention to in the future. But I am really proud of the turn out in the end.

General:

I started off hating the work that I created during the editing. The more I looked at it the more little flaws I begun to see and the more it became a chore to edit rather than something enjoyable which was a shame. But after the feedback from simon I felt somewhat uplifted and felt silly for doubting myself. I will learn to be more confident in myself next time. Ive learnt that I need to be more organised and i still need to plan out my shoots more. I have improved from the last shoot but there is still plenty room left to go. But in the end I am honestly so proud of myself and everything that I have achieved in this unit. Ive taught myself how to make prosthetics, learnt more editing skills, audio engineering skills and communication skills. all of which I will be taking on board for future projects and aim to build on them even more.