Evaluation
The brief for this project was based on a task we had to do in the early weeks of the course. Our idea was based on what Kirean came up with for this task and from this the idea was a young boy named Dylan ends up in a field dressed as an astronaut and we took it from there to come up with the reason behind why he was there and what will happen to him after that. The task was split into two projects; a 2 minute emotive piece and then a longer 5-10 minute based that would stem from the 2minute. I was really looking forward to getting started and was happy with my group having worked with Kirean and Ellie before on the documentary project in Liverpool. We decided that it would make a good story to really focus on the fact that we were making a film with a child in and to make the most of how a child would think and react to bad news and how they process it and deal with it. The idea was that Dylan's father had died on the way home from work- how it happens is irrelevant to the story and then his mothers way of breaking the news is to tell him that his dad is 'with the Stars' or something to that effect. The film really plays on a child's innocence and naivety as he doesn't understand what has happened as so takes the news very literally and proceeds to try to get to his father by 'becoming an astronaut' so he can meet him in space.
I believe the idea was strong and when we started I was really look infirmary to getting into the project, especially as we would obviously be working with a younger actor which was something I had never done. Although I would have liked to take on the role of director as it is the role that I am most interested in, and I felt like I could oversee the project and produce a brilliant film, a couple of other people wanted to try the role and I had done it previously on the Liverpool project and so as nobody wanted to be the art director as it was a new role, I thought I would give it a go as it did seem interesting and I thought I could take on the role and do it well as I believe I am artistic and creative and there would be a lot for me to do on the project to adapt a set and gather props that are appropriate for a young boy.
We had numerous meetings as a group and believe we worked very well and were organised. We met regularly and had a Facebook group so we could keep in constant contact with each other and talk about the idea. We originally set our budget for the film quite high as we were planning in case we had to cover the travel of actors from outside Sheffield and we knew we had to be prepared as we needed a child actor and finding one would prove a challenge. I think we dealt with it well as we explored StarNow and contacted drama groups in the city and it was lucky that someone Ellie knew was an actor. I think something that could be improved upon in the future is creating a better way for us as students to contact people in and around the university that act and creating some sort of network as StarNow wasn't as useful as I thought it would be and we had to pay for credits to talk to each person. When we met Louis I was so pleased that we would be working with someone so enthusiastic and not shy as I was worried it would be a problem.
As for my role, I believe I did a good job. We were successful in creating an environment that was appropriate and looked as realistic as it could be considering it was a student house and a student bedroom that we had to work with. I am extremely grateful to Ellie's cousin for lending us a lot of the toys and Louis and his mum for helping us and bringing things along. I was initially worried that the room would look bare as we intended to scour around charity shops and buy toys from there. The fact that all the toys were a bit random and didn't match was a good thing and it showed that they were all mixed together and placed around the room and displayed as a child would. I really wanted to achieve the effect that Dylan's mum had tried to make the room a place where he could learn as well as play, hence the desk, paper and pens as well as the posters I got myself. But also somewhere that Dylan had tried to personalize in his own child-like way, by sticking up his drawings and magazine cuttings, as well as how the toys were displayed; there were a lot on show and rather than putting things away properly on shelves for example he had set up his toys as if he was going to come back to them and carry on playing rather than thinking to save space.
Another part of my role was to create the suit that would be a motif throughout both films, as well as it needed to be practical and something that would last and survive the elements as we would be filming outside, it needed to be something that a young child could have done- possibly with some help from his mum. Our emotion for the two minute piece was excitement and the most crucial part of the film was when he was gathering the materials and creating the suit, and I think we really succeeded in creating that build in excitement.
We received positive reactions to both our pieces in the project and I am really proud of what we achieved. I think our film stands out against others as not only does it involve a child but the emotion we chose to portray was completely different to anybody else's and was a nice change when it came to everybody viewing them at the screenings. The reactions to the films were exactly what I had hoped for, people laughed and thought Louis was cute and a good actor, and were also empathetic at the end when they understood and the whole story came together.
I was worried at the start of the project that because I wanted to be director and had some really strong ideas of how I would want the film to look that I would be disappointed with the end result, but I feel like the team listened to my ideas most of the time and I was happy with the film overall. I would have liked some things to have been done differently but at the end of the day my role was not director so it wasn't up to me. I really wished we were more competent at animation as I feel like if we were our film could be so much more with drawings that 'Dylan' had created coming to life on the screen around him, but we weren't so obviously we had to do our best with the abilities we have. I am pleased with the other members of the groups contribution to their roles and think everyone worked together really well, however I felt a bit useless when all he filming was done and didn't really feel like I had as much of a role as other members of the group, but then this could be said the opposite way around for the likes of Valerie who's main job came in post production.
As I have said, overall I am extremely pleased with our finished projects and couldn't be happier with how we worked as a team and how well Louis worked too.
