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| R-03 FILM EXTRACT: Jack Nicol's Evlauation of Film Sequence |
| Tuesday 3 March 2009 |
| Jack Nicol's Evlauation of Film Sequence |
AS Film Studies Film Making.
We had a clear plan from the start of what we intended to do. We wanted to merge an everyday situation with science fiction, so as to add a twist. Films like A.I, E.T, and Flight of the Navigator present the idea of being abandoned and lost in the world, which is one of the themes we aim to get across in our project. Although it took longer than we expected, we were well prepared with the equipment required and were very pragmatic when it came to shooting the film, getting all of the shots we needed at a variety of locations.
Initially we had planned an element to the film where the young boy was attempting to make contact with extra-terrestrials/his father inside a bedroom, covered in pictures and posters of space, aliens and other scientific objects but then we had the idea of shooting it out in rural Cambridgeshire. We decided that use the setting of the bleak fens would have a greater impact on our audience and would enable us to represent the emptiness and loneliness the boy experiences in his life. The vast open landscape is symbolic of the boy’s loss of security and paternal contact.
I feel that our project was able to run smoothly as I had picked a group of people with common interests and views on film. This made sitting down as a group and producing a storyboard much easier. Everyone was able to contribute their different ideas to the film, so as to make it as original as possible and have a variety of styles and shot ideas. We then decided on who would do what in the group, based on everybody’s individual strengths. We recognized that Loz Anderson was specifically good acting as he had done it well at GCSE level and also liked to edit sound over skate videos. – Actor and Sound Editor, Keeley Moore had edited more than either of us and had good experience with the editing programmes. – Editor, Myself (Jack Nicol) have worked, filming with the cameras and also am the only one who had a car. - cinematographer and driver.
Some shots that we intended to include weren’t successful, for example the angles of some shots did not look as good e.g. when both the bike and car are coming at the camera, we noticed that the feeling of speed is greatly improved if the camera is lower to the floor. To get some of the background on the close up on Loz’ face while he is riding the bike, rather than just his head taking up the whole screen, had the desired affect that we wanted it to on the audience. We considered mise-en-scene with detail, and tried to construct certain shots in a way that was in keeping with the theme of the scene, for example including the car and the bike in the shot, creating a sense of speed.
We wanted the audience to be moved by the driving sequence, and to feel sympathy towards the young boy being victimized by a menacing ‘Chav’ in his car. Teenagers would be familiar with the feeling of desolation and at the loss of security, and also the image of a ‘boy racer’ in his car is something our target audience could relate to. Throughout the film we tried to keep the audience gripped and involved. We did this by using storylines that our audience could relate to, and also by mixing genres and creating a twist that will make the audience want to keep watching.
All of the feedback that we received was positive which was very gratifying. People said that we made good use of the camera angles and that the acting was realistic and poignant. We used fast cuts from different perspectives and a variety of effects to keep a high tempo throughout.
We surprised ourselves with our technical abilities and the professional look of the rough cut that we have produced. I feel that we worked well as a team and we all had the same vision of what we wanted as an outcome. We interacted well and fed off each others creativity. I personally feel much more comfortable doing the practical part of this course because I enjoy being creative and find it more difficult to express myself through words.
Our expectations were realistic and I feel that we have achieved many of the things we had set out to achieve. I do not feel that we were hindered in the creative choices that we made, instead our technical skill enabled us to be more creative in what we produced, both in terms of filming and the way in which we edited it.
Jack NicolLabels: Jack Nicol |
posted by AS Film Studies Students @ 15:52  |
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