DRAMA Evaluation

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. 

SKILLS Final Film - STALKED

Final Film - STALKED

DRAMA - Final Film SPACEBOY

Final Film SPACEBOY

SKILLS Group Meeting - Planning Final Shoot

Group Meeting - Planning Final Shoot

We had a meeting today to discuss the first edit Billy and I did, to organise the final shoot on Monday, and to carry on with some editing. We went through the things I had written down and posted on the Facebook group along with the edit and planned in as much detail as possible what the schedule would be for Monday. We hope that the shooting shouldn't take more than a couple of hours and then we will all come into the edit suites afterwards to transfer the final footage and complete the edit up until colour correction and sound.

The majority of the shots we still need to shoot are cutaways to feature when Lucy is struggling with her idea, as it doesn't convey time passing as well as we had hoped the long shot would. We also need other connecting shots such as her grabbing her coat and leaving and we will possibly reshoot some shots we already have but could improve on or change in some way.

We focused on getting some sound into the edit today and soon realised that sound was a bit of a worry in that we needed to try and capture more in sync sound rather than recording it afterwards, even though a lot of the time recording the sound at the same time as the filming often doesn't go well and doesn't sound as good as sound recorded afterwards. However Amy managed to put some of the clips we had into the edit and in particular the paper scrunching and the kettle fit really well.

SKILLS First Edit - Rough Cut

First Edit - Rough Cut

 

 

After we had finished filming the indoor scenes and Billy and I had stayed to capture some sounds while it was quieter we met the rest of the group in the edit suite and transferred the footage to Billy's hard drive, we discussed when we would edit and I suggested that for the first rough edit where we would just be sifting through what clips we can use and roughly what order everything would be in we didn't need everyone there chipping in. I said I would really like to have a go at editing as I am not as confident on the new software and this is where we have a bit more room for mistakes as we would be changing a lot of it later on but gave me a chance to get to grips with the controls etc without getting on everyone's nerves and having the time to experiment.

 

Billy and I agreed to come in together and do this first cut. We came into university on a few occasions over the days after the second shooting day but numerous problems prevented us from transferring footage and accessing a computer. We managed to get in today and did this edit in one go. As we were working through the edit, we soon discovered that we may need to have an extra shooting day as parts of the film didn't flow as well as we had hoped. Thankfully, it was mainly the city scenes that were the problem and is just a case of reshooting a couple of things in my flat, for example more shots of Lucy struggling to write, as I had feared we might need more emphasis on.

 

I made some notes on what we need to shoot again and we posted the edit in our Facebook group and it received good feedback, the next step is to arrange the last bit of filming.

I am looking forward to further editing sessions and working with the rest of the group, and also learning more about the colour correction and other aspects of post production as I think we can experiment more with the element of colour. I think we shot emphasise the bright nature colours in Grindleford such as the orange leaves in the above shot and dull down the city shots.

SKILLS Filming Day Two - Indoor

Filming Day Two - Indoor

We had our second day of filming today, doing the indoor city scenes involving both characters but mostly Lucy. We planned to pick up the equipment and head to the train station to film a few shots including a sequence shot. From there we would head to my flat where we would film Lucy's scene and then on to Issy's house for Callum's, however when we got to mine we decided that we didn't need to use a separate location for Callum because all of his shots were very close up and didn't give anything away about his surroundings and so to save time we did it all at mine.


We intended to get shots of Lucy struggling to write and her being frustrated about her writers block, then she would discover the postcard and decide to go to Grindleford. I think we got the shots we needed however it will depend on how it looks after the first edit whether we will need more, maybe some shots of her in different places and positions around the flat to show time passing in between her trying to write rather than just in one place - although we got a long shot it might not look like she has been trying for as long as we are intending to show.

The shots of Callum were just close-ups of him writing the postcard he will put under her door and then him opening the book which will feature after the Grindleford sequence.

I tried to make the flat look a bit more like a writer lived there by asking the rest of the group for some books etc we could put on the shelves which Josh brought. Also, Issy and I wrote a few things on some sheets of paper to cover up my board with pictures on, and also to emphasise the fact that she was thinking of ideas and didn't know where to start, so we included lots of notes and mind maps and stuck them around.



While some of the team were filming shots I put together the book that Lucy has supposed to have written and that Callum buys later on in the film. We had a meeting yesterday and afterwards Billy, Amy and I went the edit suite so Billy could transfer the footage from our first filming day and Amy and I could create the postcard and the book cover to make the idea more realistic. So I used one of Josh's books that he brought and attached the makeshift cover to that, as well as the dedication page.

SKILLS Group Meeting

Group Meeting

The meeting today was to plan what we were going to do tomorrow for the city filming. After the meeting Billy, Amy and I stayed to create the book cover, the dedication and the postcard that Callum sends to Lucy.

Here is what we came up with;