Reflection

Year 11 Film, Television and New Media Film Noir Style Production

Self-reflection and evaluation:

Please answer each question using complete sentences, including as much detail as possible.

1.  Discuss your feelings about the production task: Please justify your responses:

·      Are you satisfied with the result? (i.e. did it turn out as well as you hoped?)

I am happy with how our film noir style film has turned out. I have loved developing the story line and different aspects of the film and finally seeing it all come together now. As a group we are satisfied with how the result and it came out exactly how we hoped and planned. I am extremely pleased with Chelsea’s recording; it adds character to our film.

·      Did the project require more/less time than you originally thought?

The project required a lot more time than I originally thought it would. We used approximately 4 Saturdays and a couple days after school then edited during our class time. It was definitely worth all the work once seeing it finalized. This was obviously a longer task as we were only using weekends and didn’t use our class time, as we didn’t want to shoot any of it during school. We just used our class time effectively by editing what we had filmed over the weekend, planning for our next shoot, updating shot lists and reviewing storyboards.

·      Would like to change or improve any aspects of your final film (storyline, shots, editing etc.)?

If I were to re-do the film I would re-shoot the two scenes we did during the day, as it would fit more with the film noir theme. Although these still work they could have been improved and possibly looked better. I am quite happy with the storyline and once we added the voice over of Red (Scarlett’s) perspective it worked a lot better and flowed easily. Some of the shots could have been tighter but we are happy with the final result as it sits well with the audio.

·      If you could start the project again, what would you do differently?

I would re-shoot the two scenes we did during the day so it fits more with the film noir theme. I only discovered that this would look better once we shot and night and saw how we could utulise the lights to create harsh lighting and shadows. Other than that, we are happy with how the film has turned out.

2.             As this task focused on the Film Noir Style, describe:

·      How you used specific elements of mise-en-scene to depict your film’s genre and enhance the narrative?

Lighting was the most important element of mise-en-scene when creating a film noir style film. This is due to it being quite popular at the time; it is crucial to have harsh lights and shadows. We used this to create a sense of suspense and to depict who the dominant characters were within the film. The use of costumes and style of acting were also important to fit with the time.

·      How you used specific shot types to convey the story using visual language?

We used certain types that focused directly on shadows or were placed in thirds. These shots created different and interesting ways of portraying the storyline to the readers and audience. Several of the shots that used the thirds were done so to draw attention to particular object or person. Our shots effectively conveyed the storyline and enhanced the narrative.

·      Whether the intended genre is depicted clearly or if this could be improved?

Film noir is clearly depicted through the use of audio, style of acting, costumes and especially lighting. It is clear that it is set during the time frame and could only be improved by shooting the two scenes during nighttime, as it isn’t typical to have daylight in a film noir film.

3.  Personal reflection and evaluation:

After your previous task, you were asked to reflect upon the project and identify aspects of planning, production and reflection, which could be improved. Please explain which aspect you chose to focus on for this task and how you have made improvements.

4.  Reflecting upon your completed task, respond to the following points:

·      How did other people respond to your rough-edit? Did you use their feedback to make changes to the film?

Mr Andrews thought that we should have quicker cuts and use an omniscient voice to make the storyline clearer. We changed many of our cuts so they weren’t mundane and were interesting and engaging to watch. These shots looked a lot better once we had edited them properly and also flowed more. We also added a voiceover from the character Red’s perspective; this was done to make the story line clearer so it wasn’t misconstrued or confusing to the audience. This feedback was extremely helpful and turned out better than I originally thought.

·      Did your group use the planning and analysis tools effectively? (ingredients list, storyboards, shot lists).

We used the planning and analysis tools effectively throughout the project and they were extremely helpful when we came to filming. The use of storyboards and shot lists made the process quicker when we got to our location; we knew exactly what we had to do and did it quickly. We also updated our storyboards and shot lists throughout the project during our class time, as there were some changes along the way.

·      Were there any problems or difficulties during filming and how did this affect your project. (Difficulties may include; shooting, technical, time-management, teamwork, absences or editing etc.);

We did not encounter many issues along the way. We all had missed at least one of the filming times but whoever missed the day we shot edited that scene so it ended up being quite fair with how it all got distributed. Our group worked quite well together and I would love to work with them again. All of our after-school and other commitments ended up working well together and this made is significantly easier to work our shooting times.

·      Discuss whether you undertook adequate and detailed reflection to support your work? (Look at your blogs and consider if it looks like a terms worth of work);

I could have improved my blog this term during out project. The only problem with my blog is that because we only shot on the weekends there weren’t a great deal of information to update during the week with class time. Although we used this time to edit and update story boards and shot lists there wasn’t much to post about this is why I did an overview of each week and then individual posts about the weekend shoots. I am happy with my blog as there wasn’t enough to post during the weeks which is why I did overviews.