Final Evaluations

Research

I found research for this project to actually be incredibly difficult.

It  began easy enough, watching films, taking note of styles and defining elements, and looking at the  promotional material, most of which I could name off the top of my head anyway; but writing the research was so tough when I had to apply critical thinking to something I had very little in depth knowledge of. It felt like my writing was very inconsistent, and incoherent, definitely not as good as I usually make it. I did get chance to try improve it and edit but still, over all I would say I was not happy with it.

The rest of my research was effective enough, purely for the fact that I had gotten so used to hearing and learning about advertisements, and reviews that writing about it came naturally to me.

If I could do it over again, I would look into, more romantic comedies, as I feel if I had watched a broader range of films I would have been able to apply theoretical knowledge to it more effectively. Otherwise, I am content with the other research I conducted, such as the reviews (even though I wanted to do a couple more of them), the trailers, and the promotional material and posters; it did give me some good ideas for my film though so I am thankful for that.

Planning

Coming up with the idea for my film was an easy part for me, as soon as I heard the brief I had a couple of ideas swimming about so expanding on them was relatively simple, as written in my idea process post. After deciding to go with the idea for a trans couple who meet online, I wrote up the script, and planned the shoot.

Writing the script was one the most enjoyable things I have done in the project, planning each scene and how I wanted it to look was much easier to visualize and produce than if I had tried to storyboard or shoot it right off the bat. One thing that made writing the script easy was that throughout my research and watching pre existing rom coms, the idea kept developing and changing in my head, with certain scenes and elements becoming more cemented, and more desirable to achieve; having a firm idea of what I wanted in the film meant I was able to complete the script fairly quickly, and the fact that the idea rarely strayed from its original vision also helped me write it in plenty of detail, with each scene featuring exactly what I wanted in it.

After the script was complete I contacted the actresses I wanted to use, sent them the script, and set up a date for shooting. With the actresses and places organised, I created the plan for the shoot; this featured the costumes, the props, the equipment, and the precise schedule for shooting by the hour. I stuck to this script fairly strictly, apart from after day one (which was originally was meant to encompass all the scenes to be shot) I had lost the location for Rileys apartment, so I had to contact Huddersfield Uni students to ask permission to use their flats for shooting, I reached one of my actresses friends Shanade, who generously provided her uni flat to be Rileys.

Finally there was a simple matter of deciding on transport and meeting details, and we were ready for the shoot.

Overall, planning was easy and rather enjoyable. The obsessive compulsive in me enjoyed planning each detail of which scenes were to be shot when, how, and where; and I think the planning was very solid and left a good base to ensure maximum effectiveness when shooting my film.

Shooting

Shooting way by far the best, and most successful, experience I had during this project.

This is put down partly to the planning I did as I took time to plan it out entirely, as putting everything down, and ordering it just helped keep me on track to finish the shooting quickly and efficiently. It was also helped in most part to the actresses as well, because they would give me suggestions as we shot and helped with problems and were generally incredibly helpful.

On the first day of shooting we shot all of Isabella's scenes at Sophias uni flat. The shoot at the flat went incredibly smooth, we had no technical issues (as I have worked with the camera before) and Sophia worked quickly and intelligently, and understood everything I wanted her to do and suggested cute little gestures to help add to her character. She also came up with the idea to type a genuine conversation between herself and another version of her to her friend Alexia so I could get genuine footage of her typing, and her genuine laughter and responses so I could get each shot regardless of what it shown, with her real true emotions. This helped my film as it made it more immersive as viewers always reflect the genuine emotions they see. Sop was also a star as when the initial locations for Rileys shots were made unavailable as she was the one who contacted her other friends to get me a new location.

The second day (which was actually 4 days after the first), also went smoothly. The only issue we had was that my tripod had the base for the camera missing so I couldn't use it, meaning all shots had to be done by hand which did result in shakier footage sadly. This was also the shoot where I was able to let the true friendship between the two actresses come out and interact properly together when their characters had joint scenes. They both played about and all I had to do was make sure I got the shot and just let them do what they wanted; I do think it did work better having a real couple play the couple on screen because in scenes where they had to act romantic, or in love, they do it realistically and with so much genuine feeling it just makes the shot that much better. I did have a little trouble though with the solo shots of Jess because shes a little anxious in front of the camera, it was a bit difficult at times but that was only with a couple shots so a majority of my shots were as I wanted.

The other technical form of shooting I did was recording my screen for the chat and internet sections. Using a program called CamStudio, which records your computer screen as if the desktop is the camera allowing for much more flexible footage without the issues of using a camera, such as glare, lack of focus, and inconsistent colours. Using this recorder, I chatted to an account on facebook to simulate the conversations between the characters (even though I couldn't respond as another person so its difficult to tell who sends what), and when I was browsing tumblr as filler pieces to bulk out the montages and give it some better context.

Overall, the shoot went really well for my first major shoot, there was a couple lines or shots removed, and a couple added in but I like what I got overall and think the final cut does have the potential to be what I wanted.


Editing



Now editing has been a weird trip this time around. Obviously, editing each video is a different experience so nothing will be expected, but I ran into way more issues than I'm used to.

An error in Vegas where every edited clip was dead

 This is due to the fact that I had a portable version of Sony Vegas and the full version, the difference being that the portable is a lighter file and can run off a memory stick, but the lighter file means it is missing elements that help it run quicker and smoother, making it a fairly buggy and temperamental program; so moving the file between portable and full did induce errors such as: inability to open video files, inability to edit, missing files, and occasional sound bugs where it would jump or break, increasing the time it took to edit my final piece.

To begin though, I imported every raw video file into Sony Vegas Pro 11, along with the screen captured footage from my computer and 2 episodes of the TV Show 'Supernatural', which my characters have in common, thus bringing them together.

After importing them, I chose the music I wanted to play alongside my trailer, I went for the song that was in my head throughout the entire idea process which was: Hopeless Wanderer by Mumford and Sons. I like this song a lot, its the cute pop style that fits well into the genre of rom com, but its got deeper meanings of being lost, and lonely which I think worked well with the themes of my story especially when they split up.

Screen cap of mid edit in Vegas

When every file was imported, I took out the script and began editing exactly as I had planned on paper. This was a good idea for me because as soon as I rendered the first intro, and watched it, it made me want to change it immediately. I still ran alongside the script but it was more fluid as instead of rigorously  following my plan, I allowed it to be a guideline because otherwise the film looked clunky and would be too long for a trailer so I stopped the original plan and instead allowed some of the later ideas to work their ways in.

This lead to the more successful second render of the intro where the sections with no music (that were nearly a minute together) were cut to 10 seconds and the bulk of the trailer began. I liked this idea more, it grabbed attention much more effectively than my written plan, it set the mood quicker and gave a sense of pace to the ad.

This lead me into my first montage piece. Choosing certain clips off the top of my head was incredibly tough so instead I looked through the shots I had taken specifically for the montage, and went through the Supernatural episodes, and screen capture footage in the clip editor window for best bits that would show their love for the show, as well as its humour too. But I didn't want the show to look like a part of my trailer, so I added a VFX filter to the episode, and screen capture footage; going through a pre made filter called 'tv look' I edited it down to make it more subtle and achieve the look like a computer screen had been filmed with a regular camera while still being able to see what was going on. This helped especially with the chat as when I zoomed in to the chat, I could also make the computer effect grid zoom in too to achieve effects that would have been very difficult with any other type of technology. Also, during certain parts where I wanted it to be inline with the music or another visual, I would use marker in Vegas, which are helpful little tools used to mark along the timeline which comes in very handy for music as you can set each beat to help you edit in time to music.

I will admit there were some devices I was quite proud of while making my trailer, some of them are as follows: I liked using clips of the show to act as parallels to my characters and their conversations as I feel it  showed just how much they bonded over it, how big a part of their lives it was, and how it affected them. I especially liked the pair of shots where we see the supernatural couple share a smile, and then my characters share a smile, because I think it shows their bond properly and truthfully.

Another element I like creating was when the music would quieten down and you would hear the characters voices or the organic sound. I know its been used before in films but I think its a great way to connect the music to the scene and helps immerse the viewer in the same feelings.

Editing audio in Audacity

Although there was one device I was incredibly proud of creating was the effect on the music which made it sound like it was being played out of headphones because I thought it illustrated how upset she was perfectly. Like the music was playing all the time in her head and it was something that brought her joy, now its only something she can fake and never really be involved with again, which is also accented when Isabella starts typing again and the music lifts back into life playing at full capacity once more. I did this by taign the clip into Audacity and using low pass and high pass filters to simulate that sound as if it was being played from headphones.

After that it was final shots and edits, and the title cards.

In its entirety  my trailer ended up being 190 seconds long, 40 seconds longer than the brief. I did create a cut down version which measured in at 160 seconds, however portable Vegas (A software I now despise) wouldn't allow me to render the video over 25%, as such only the directors cut is available to view.

After it was rendered I uploaded it to youtube in it standard wmv. format, the format and medium I chose to host this video didn't affect the ideas or my working process at all as its the process I am most comfortable with and most used to.

Overall, even though it was the most difficult part, Im glad I got it done; although I do see lots of errors and lots of things I wanted to edit and remake, and all the technical issues will always leave me slightly bitter abot Vegas, it was a learning expierience I drastically needed and I loved being able to get back to my hobby in a professional circumstance.

My Final Film.

Poster Production

The final part of my production was creating the promotional. material for my film.

The main idea we were given was a poster, and although I liked this idea, the second I came accross digital posters I thought the idea was way better than a regular poster.

The difference between them (as I mentioned in my research) is the digital posters move and are only posted online; this would really help my production as mine is posted online so traditional printed posters wouldnt do as much advertising. For example, if I posted this on tumblr it would have the potential to get passed around thousands of people, maximising the spread of my film over the potential fanbase.

Final Poster number 1

To make it, all I did was import frames of the video driectly into photoshop through the import function, then add coloured layers and change the filters to improve how they looked, and then add anyother details such as feathered backgrounds for particular colours to show through, or extra shapes and pictures for effect. These were finished off with the title and my name underneath.

I think my posters would do well at showing my ideas and the concept of my film well as it clearly shows the 2 girls as a romantic couple, and one clearly as a trans girl. I wanted to make it clear these girls aren't just 'tomboys', and they aren't just centrered around being gay. They are a genuine couple. with troubles and obstacles that don't just come down to their sexuality in the end; although they start that way for the girl who sees herself as straight, she sees past it and I think that comes accross in my poster.

Final Poster number 2, My favourite of the pair

I like the posters I made, I do think they make an impact and I like that I combined multiple ideas from my mock ups to create the final ones, its without a doubt my favourite part of my trailer.

Sadly, on a nother note, I didnt get the chance to expierience group critiques due to illness, hence the reason the section was left out.

To conclude, this project was certainly my most challenging, I didn't get to create the work I fully enviosioned nor to the standard I would have liked, but it helped me climb an incredibly steep learning curve which I will be forever greatful for. I have found more of my faults and how to correct them, and how my strengths can play to them and help them grow. It truly was a mind bendlingly taxing course with extreme payoff.