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Drive My Car

My thoughts on this film are rather conflicted as i believe there are a lot of positive qualities that the film possesses, however, for me, i did not enjoy the film. I appreciated the cinematography and performance from the cast, especially the opening scene which was lit and shot beautifully and i thought that it was interesting that most of the 3 hour run time is spent in a car, focussed on the conversations between the protagonist and his driver. I feel like the effect of this was lost on me, as the long run time dragged a lot for me and couldn’t keep me immersed in what was going on, and i also didn’t fully understand what the film was trying to convey to the audience. I didn’t really understand some character behaviours or actions and at times they felt really off, and non-realistic. Im not sure if i missed something but my main issue was the representation of adultery. Oto never really seems to be held accountable for cheating, and completely breaking trust in her relationship with Yasuke, as every character including Yasuke seems to just brush it to the side, basically saying it didn’t matter because of how great of a person Oto was which just didn’t sit right with me. I also found it interesting how the director chose to cover the backstory of the main plot within the first 40 mins of the film, instead of using flashback which would have been loyal to the novel. Although, giving us a better understanding of the character and his background, once the opening credits came on screen i felt like i had already watched a film within itself, which for me reflects on the unnecessary long run time. I feel that the director could have either told us what we needed in a shorter amount of time or followed the novel and used flashback to fill in the audiences knowledge which would have made it a very different film, whether that’s for the worst or best is something i am unsure of.

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Film Adaptation

After reading over as many of O Henry’s short stories as we could, a few stood out to us being ‘The Cactus’, ‘Cosmopolitan in a Cafe’ and ‘The Skylight Room’. After discussing further the idea that sparked the most creativity in our thinking was ‘The Cactus’. 

We think that we could do something quite fun with our own adaptation of this story, that doesn’t necessarily stay loyal to the original narrative. We are thinking of playing around with flashbacks in a rather quirky way and the first example that came to mind for inspiration in my head was a scene from ‘Ant-man’, where the character Luiz recalls how information was passed through a bunch of different people and how it got to him. Here is the clip below that sparked a bit of inspiration.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R3eS6wYm8vU

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Winter Break

Near the end of the last trimester, i felt a drop in my passion and motivation for the subject of film, which may have been due to the roles i took on in previous projects such as Producer. I felt like i did no really tap into much of my creativity and was not very passionate about any projects that i worked on which led to a rather large loss of motivation. To try and reignite the passion i believe i have for the subject, i went back to my roots of what i know i enjoy, which is creating an edit of my friends and i, showing what we get up to. 

I called it “stimulation” as in almost every clip people are smiling and having a good time without worrying about anything else. Therefore, i thought the name fitted quite well with what followed the title screen. I found myself smiling for most of the time creating it, as it reminded me of good times and made me want to experience more, and then make another one. I like to think of these edits as like a documentation of enjoying life, and they are a lot of fun to look back on. I’ve only really felt that the last three edits i’ve made, have been of a quality i’m proud of, seeing as i mostly bash them out over the space of a couple days and i’m learning new tricks and ways to tell stories with every new one i make :).

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1-0aqmalECmFFsQJT3dUqLLVJrAxH_NJY/view?usp=sharing

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Film Genre Critical Reflection

Process - My main role in this project was Producer. I also believe i acted as a second creative input behind Director James. I tried my best to oversee the project and make sure it ran as smoothly as possible which i found to be a lot harder than i first believed it to be seeing as this was my first attempt at producing a project. At the beginning of the project, i worked with James in developing his idea and eventually pitching it, which i may have got carried away with my own vision of what i thought his project could be, which was a lot less manageable to achieve. Pre-production was where my job came to be most important with documents and risk assessments needing to be filled out in preparation to shoot. We used my family home as a location to shoot in which made my job easier with documents and the recce of the location as i knew it very well, which eased the stress of the approaching shoot. On set i tried to help in anyway possible, from operating the boom mic, to holding lights or making sure sound recordings weren’t effected by the environment around us. In post-production, i attempted to be present for as much as i possibly could to give feedback and provide opinions on the sound and editing.

Outcome - I was rather impressed with what the group achieved with the final cut of the film, as i saw how far it came from each stage of production. James did a fantastic job at directing the project and going above and beyond to make sure his idea came to life on the big screen.

Feedback - The pacing of the film was highly commended as things were revealed to the audience bit by bit, raising the tension scene by scene. The reflection shot in the mirror mentioned frequently as a highlight, when it came to the visual aspects of the film. Other visuals elements were praised for giving the audience an idea of who the character was, for example, adjusting the knife to make it in line with the other two, and applying pink washing gloves to stay clean while committing an awful crime. However, it was felt that we could of used more visual elements to further show how sinister this character was instead of having it be rather dialogue and exposition heavy. The red lighting in the climax scene shifted the tone from Thriller to Horror in an effective way and the cut too black was a an effective way to end the film leaving the audience wanting to see more. The film as a whole was very atmospheric with the score, although, it was brought up that we perhaps relied on the score too much to build the tension, whereas we could have been more creative in using visual elements to create the tension. From script to picture, it was said that it translated well we mostly achieved what we set out to do, but, it was mentioned that parts of the plot didn’t feel realistic, for example a 12 year old boy using drugs??. For character development if we had seen more conflict within the character questioning his own actions it could have made him more relatable and engaging tov the audience. A big thing that was mentioned lots was our sound design on the film. I already touched on the over-reliance on score and exposition, but our main technical issue was with the panning of the sound as we played around with it too much, instead having it centred when most important. The feedback was was very constructive and mostly positive, which was good to hear after the hard work put into the project, but i found it rather difficult in the role of producer as i felt rather disconnected from the creative aspects of things, and for upcoming projects i feel that i want to get to know my away around post-production softwares as my creative interests are leaning more towards that area of the production process.

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The Shoot

Knowing how stressful film shoots can be, the shoot went pretty smoothly and mostly stayed on time. Apart from realising that we had a broken tripod before setting up i would say that the biggest worry we had was trying to contain my crazy three year old Beagle as he is very excitable and was rather noisy, meaning someone had to watch him during takes. When i wasn’t watching the dog i operated the boom mic or held lights in position and gave any creative thoughts that i had while we were on set, basically just tried to oversee and cover any jobs that were needing done.

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Producer Role - Preproduction

The role of Producer is not my ideal role as i would not say i have the best qualities that fit the role, but i thought that i would give it a go. I also acted as somewhat of a second creative visual behind the director, and also pretty much took on the role of location scout as well.

I offered my home as a location for us to use for our shoot as it had the ideal amount of space for shooting and had a fitting aesthetic. Seeing as we were using my home it was, obviously, easier to fill out the risk assessment and make a recce checklist. To make sure the location fitted within James’s creative desires i sent photos of it to our group chat.

This was also my first time filling out a risk assessment, which made me realise how detailed they must be to cover every possible thing that could go wrong on set. It also was useful that i knew the location very well meaning i could cover almost everything off the top of my head.

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Sound Project Critical Reflection

Process - A large part of my role in this sound project was to closely watch the clip and source the best possible sounds i could find that matched Jame’s creative vision for the project, while Aimee concentrated on the technical side of things, and Lucy contributed towards the sourcing of sounds. I mostly used Freesound.org to look for what we needed as i have used the library previously and found it useful for finding more specific sounds. When it came to the group working on the project in the studio, none of us were confident in our ability on the buttons meaning it was a slow burner at the start, however, James and Aimee managed to get the hang of it the more time we spent on the project and we began to the cogs turning. Creatively we wanted to go for a subtle yet dramatic piece of sound design with an intense atmospheric windy scene followed by a harsh realistic scene in contrast. The aspect we struggled to get right was the footsteps as for the wind scene, as we could not quite find any that fitted well and we did not have enough time to line up each footstep individually so we decided to just try and make the footsteps we had as subtle and quiet as possible.

Outcome - I felt that seeing as the group had barely touched pro tools up until this project i was impressed and pleased with what we produced and i believe we achieved what we were going for but of course there were things that could of been done better and more professionally. I was also quite nervous about how simple our creative idea for the piece was in comparison to other groups work.

Feedback - The feedback we received was complimentary towards the subtle and simplicity of the piece and it worked in favour of what we were trying to achieve. For example the world building and atmosphere that we gave the flat was seen as effective and impressive with the subtle details we included. The footsteps inside were also done well and didn’t throw off the realistic feel of the scene. However, i think the biggest improvement to be made which was mentioned was the intensity and build up of wind in the scene prior. It didn’t feel as overwhelming as it could have and an added intensity would have contrasted better with the following scene, making the project more effective as a whole. There were also a few small details pointed out to do with timings but we had the right idea with the concept, such as the elevator mechanic noises we used. Then of course the footsteps were mentioned in the wind scene as they were not loud enough but the decision to have them less noticeable was better than having them stick out like a sore thumb. We were also advised to make the presentation on pro tools a lot neater and easier to follow if someone else had to pick up our work from where we left off. Overall, i enjoyed the experience and it helped me recognise how crucial sound is in telling a story to the audience as other groups who used the same clip as us told a completely different story to how we portrayed ours.

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Group 8 sound feedback

I thought that the start of this piece was done very well and i appreciated the attention to detail with how well the footsteps were done and the volume gradually increased and decreased as the character got closer and further away which really gave a sense of space and surroundings in the scene along with the rustling of trees and wind. The whistling in the wind also gives off creepy vibes and an eery environment hinting that something is slightly off.

 In the following scene i liked the idea of hearing and feeling this force coming towards the character which i’ not quite sure if it’s a cult chanting or something else. However, what i would criticise is that the footsteps towards the character in the second scene, sound rather fake as if they came straight from a sound library which maybe could of been avoided if they were quieter and mixed in with the other sounds. The loudness of the footsteps kind of took me out of it as all my attention was focused on the fact that those were footsteps. I thought the eery chants were effective and creating a creepy atmosphere and a sense of a dread for the character in shot. The attention to detail in little noises of the candles burning and what the character was doing on the table in front of him was very good aswell.

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Pitch

I had a lot of fun creating this mood film for our group pitch. I spoke to James (Director) about how he creatively saw his idea and he mentioned the song Psycho Killer by Talking Heads. I thought it would be interesting to revolve the mood film around the band performing the song live while cutting between various torture scenes from other films. I also tried to include clips that gave the viewer an idea of what our main characters vibes were like, for example riding a motorcycle which is usually seen as a quite a rebellious and dangerous thing to do. Overall, i was rather pleased with what i produced and i felt it gave a good idea of what we wanted to achieve. Although, during the pitch the sound was not working which of course was not ideal so hopefully the link below should take you to the film with sound. 

https://youtu.be/pl7MUwKNckE

For our pitch in general, i feel that we could performed it better in terms of delivery by preparing more in advance. We were rather unprepared for questions asked after and kind of had to improvise for most of them which i presume came across as us not fully having a grasp of exactly what we want to achieve.

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I’ve never really been extremely confident in my screenwriting abilities but i wanted to base my script off of the previous still my group submitted, however, with the considerations of the feedback we received on the still giving off a teenage crime feel instead of private investigator. it’s not a direct influence the story i tried to tell but one of my favourite scenes is from ‘Tron Legacy’ where Sam Flynn walks into a nightclub in an alternate world and the atmosphere just hits different to me but don’s quite know why. It probably has something to with Daft Punk’s incredible score which is consistent throughout the film aswell, and ‘Tron Legacy’ is a large part in why i wanted to do research on the neon noir genre even though it is mostly a sci-fi film. Anyways the story i focussed on for my script follows a teenager Robbie, whom finds himself laying low, due to getting involved with the wrong people, and he agrees to meet a friend who is in the same position , who he trusts, however, in a twist we soon discover that Robbie had been set up. In my head i wanted the nightclub experience to be atmospheric in a way that made you feel something wasn’t quite right with the use of music, lighting and blocking. Although, i did not really consider the restrictions we would have in filming this and my mind got carried away.

Here is the link to the ‘Tron Legacy’ clip i previously reffered to. I also might create a post speaking about the film and how i think it is actually very underrated.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nMR-PgPJOyM&t=37s

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Genre Tropes

After Kate Davidson’s lecture on genre and the common tropes which each have, i thought that i would try and watch a romantic comedy and see if i noticed a pattern. Me Before You seemed to be a popular one which i had access to and it had Finnick from Hunger Games in it, so i thought i would give it a watch. I literally couldn’t even finish watching it because of the cheesy patterns and i knew what was going to happen. I just kept cringing at Emilia Clarkes dialogue and performance. Think i’ll just stick to watching Love Actually every Christmas!

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Still Feedback

The feedback for the still was mostly positive in praise of the lighting, blocking and location, however, there was a slight fault in our character coming across as a PI due to wardrobe and appearance. Although, the crime/thriller genre was recognised by most of the class, some saw it as a dark teen drama due to the character wearing quite colourful and youthful clothing. One thing that i believe would of got our idea cross more would of been if we used a fake cigarette on set as we could of included it in the still. Cigarettes are usually used in crime films to convey the stress of a character or give them that edge and maybe having a our character smoking could of helped achieve this effect. Preferably i would of also wanted to have there be stronger shadows on the right side of the characters face to really drive home the idea of duality. 

Here are some other stills we took using a real cigarette. 

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GENRE : CRIME/THRILLER

We went into shooting this still with the intention of creating a similar feel to a Jake Gyllenhall underdog private investigator kind of character, who is struggling to keep a case he has been working on seperate from his private life. We wanted to use the neon lighting to convey the conflict within, battling against the darker side of himself.

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Genre Research

when discussing desired genres for our next assignment, crime seemed to be an interesting suggestion in the group due to the many different ways we could go about choosing a still to represent the genre.

I went on pinterest to try and gather some ideas and i was intrigued by dark and gritty film noir stills with harsh lighting only showing half characters faces if any at all. Here are a few stills i thought could be quite interesting to play around with.

However, the neon noir has always been one of my favourite genres when it comes to visuals, as i enjoy the aesthetics that neon lights can bring to cinematography in most genres. I think that there’s lots to explore with if we were to mix film noir and neon noir together, as Edinburgh has many accessible locations that could work for what we would want to achieve. Here are some more stills i found that could be useful in giving us inspiration.

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Peer Still Reflection

Heather chose to use a still from Pan’s Labyrinth which is of the fantasy genre. I’ve never seen Pan’s Labyrinth but i have seen other bits and pieces of Guillermo Del Toro’s work which immediately came to mind when i first saw the still. The still has a very similar look and feel as Guillermo Del Toro’s Hellboy in how they use colour, location and lighting to sell the idea of a fantastical feel.

In this still we see an over-extravagant location with tall golden chairs, towering golden pillars, and a fancy glass window. The overdramatic location suggests this story is being told in a nonsensical world, perhaps inside someone else’s head, alongside the heavenly lighting pouring into the location suggesting a dreamlike environment. The area is also surrounded by what seem to be golden clocks and archways which for me, reminds me of steampunk which is usually associated with the fantasy genre. The characters appear small in frame, overwhelmed by the large scale golden location surrounding them. Overall, the fantasy genre quite strongly comes to mind when viewing this still.

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TITLE: The Shining

GENRE: Horror/Mystery

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Editing

Over the Summer, i found myself enjoying filming what my friends and i got up too, and began making fun edits on Final cut from footage i gathered on my phone.  I usually made most of these in the space of a day and didn’t try to over perfect them. I really enjoyed the process of playing with effects and timing in relation to pieces of music i used.

The link below should take you to my most recent edit.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1ff-p0lGv7e7e5O9vVfk7RezcYCbhu7xi/view?usp=sharing