I confirm that the work on this website is entirely my own and does not include any work completely by anyone other than myself, except where clearly stated otherwise, and that sources have been appropriately referenced.
Blog
Tuesday 22nd March 2022:
I feel like I have come a long way when it comes to making the idea for my project, at first I was planning to make a comedy where a man doesn't have enough money (change) to pay for a parking space but after the session with Simon where we watched parts of Peaky Blinders and Killing Eve, I came up with the idea of a secret hitman. I need to come up ideas for costumes, I have a basic idea of how the characters should be dressed but that is only to contrast with the colour palette. I have done research on a deluge of films and series', I especially picked up inspiration from the UK show Utopia, There is a scene where a guy has a job at a fast food restaurant and when he gets home he turns out to be involved with a bioterrorism plan, I also took inspiration from American Psycho when it comes to the person having obvious power over the hitman. I have no idea how long my short film will be, I have a basic plan on how long each scene should take to make sure that I don't exceed the time limit or fall short of it. I need to watch a few more clips of films, TV shows and video games so I have a more clear understanding on the different codes and conventions of how a person with a secret act and behave around people. I feel like the biggest thing I need to focus on in the next few days is to make a script so that I can give it to the people I plan to have in my short so they get well acquainted with it before we film. I also need to find what sound effects and atmospheric music I can add to make the short more full feel more tense, I feel like this is a weakness for me since I feel like I have had trouble building suspense in the past.
Tuesday 29th March 2022:
I did my pitch for my final presentation, I feel like it went well even though I had the memes in it. One of the questions that I was asked that dumbfounded me was what were the character's morals, I didn't know this at first but now that I had time to process this question I want the character to be completely detached from his normal life and his hitman life. I wish I would have included more about the costume and the props.
Tuesday 5th April 2022:
I feel like my project was quite effective, I feel like I communicated the points I would like to make quite well, I feel like I could improve some of my answers as in I said that I chose the easier options instead of justifying why I chose the easier option instead. The main feedback I got from my pitch is that I need to focus on the morality that my character has, as in what are the repercussions that my character faces after he killed the person, I haven't fully found an idea for what that would be. Since my pitch I have researched the way dialogue is written in movies, courtesy of Keaton's suggestion, and the way around the hinderance of the character's lack of morality is to put a hint of a job where the character perhaps went wrong and is on bad terms with the people he enplaned for. I certain technique I need to practice is of an overhead shot, I plan to use this shot when my character is making his eggs, and we look over the character and see the whole stovetop so you can see he is both reading and cooking, I also need to test a shot I plan to use of the character stepping in front of the camera and when he moves his foot away we reveal another character in the background.
Tuesday 25th April 2022:
I feel like I have done well with my schedule considering over the half term I had only one day to film with other people at my own fault since the props I ordered didn't arrive until the day after, since then the people I worked with weren't able to help me but most of the other footage has been filmed so I feel like I only need some dubbing and a little more footage. I feel like the exterior footage was a great success, all of us were hurt in some way but the footage came out well because of it so I feel like that was a strength. I was really challenged with the footage of me cooking the eggs because the lighting was more of a problem then I thought because the layout of my kitchen made be block the light in most of the shots and in context of the short I couldn't open the curtain and have some natural light come through. Next, I need to finish up the filming, get the voice overs done and then edit the final result.
Tuesday 3rd May 2022:
When it comes to my footage, I feel like I have some good shots. I mainly focussed on having the framing straight forward and have most of the subjects in the centre of the frame, the only time I feel like I break this framing is when I have the other person in frame and then then they are on the right, I feel like I could have had benefitted having some unorthodox camera techniques but I am happy with the final results from these shots. I feel like the lighting for the exterior shots were really good however the interior shots, I overestimated my kitchen's lighting, many of the shots inside came out really dark, so I have to reshoot those scenes. I feel like the clothing in my short is good at making the main character inconspicuous and also fits the hitman feeling.
I started editing and have put the footage in effective sequences. I still have a small amount of footage to film and a few pickups to still film, but I have the majority of the short shot. I could make the pace slower by having long shots and takes, I debated on making one part a one take but due to the layout of the location I decided against that but I can still have shots that linger at the start or the beginning to make the pacing a lot slower. I have learnt that I have additional lights in my kitchen that I could have turned on that would have saved me doing the pickup so I will make sure to use those. I feel that for my rough cut, the colour correction is a real strength.
Tuesday 10th May 2022
I need to update my proposal so that it includes the references that I used for this project and the original planning schedule. I feel like the proposal still reflects the idea that I chose for my project. I am really close to finishing my project I still need to film a little bit more footage that will complete my project. I will be able to film the footage any day that I am at college. I feel like my research is a strong point on my website whereas everything else is quite weak and that will stop me from getting a higher grade. At the moment I feel like my context and research is at least a passing grade. My practical skills page is less fleshed out than my context and research page since I still have difficulty what to put on the page but I have started getting the right stuff on there. I feel like, at the moment, my Practical Skills page is at a lower grade than my Context and Research page and therefore might be a failing grade. As a whole, I think my website needs improvement in some areas, specifically the practical skills page, so I think that my website is at a fail grade at the moment.
Tuesday 17th May 2022:
I feel like the research that I have done has really impacted the way I did my film, for example, I just originally wanted to have a guy that lives a normal life and then ends up killing someone since he was a hitman, but after watching American Psycho, I decided to amp up the mystery by adding a character that above the hitman and alludes to a job going wrong. I have had some feedback from Simon and some other people, I have been told that the footage is well shot and the colours are good, I have also had feedback when it comes to some negatives, such as, the interior footage that I have filmed came out really dark, I have tried to correct it as much as I can but I think that I have to use what I have. I feel like the context I have used when it came to the genre and feeling of them have been good at giving me ideas on how to effectively use drama and mystery in my short. I have been looking at ways to make some of the scenes have some comedic moments, but I haven't really used any of them to keep the tone of my short consistent. I have been looking at ways to challenge myself in terms of creating tension, I feel like at time, I have been unsuccessful at creating tension so I want to try with this film to try and make it tense.
I already said some of the feedback that I got from people, I personally feel like my short has some moments that don't really blend well with some of the scenes. I like how my colours came out, I feel like the exterior shots are really vibrant and colourful which is what I wanted so the audience feels like it will be a cheerful story but then are wrong, I don't like some of the shots when the main character is cooking since I feel like they are too dark and not really well shot I really like the shot of the character sat in the chair since the colours could convey the main character's true nature being this dark murderer. Simon watched mine and during the beginning scene of the flies buzzing, he suggested to have a score that accompanies it so that it doesn't feel bland and flat, I originally wanted to do a score but, for some reason, I didn't do it. But this feedback from Simon pushed me to add some other music to the short other than the classical piece.
Evaluation
After watching my short I was happy with how it came out but saw some very apparent weaknesses. One strength of my short is the colour correction. I am really happy with how it turned out because there is more vibrancy and tones than the original footage and I believe that it worked with making the short look happy and cheerful. Another strength I feel is the audio mixing. This is the first time I had to mix audio for dialogue and I think that it came out really well since the dialogue was clear for the audience to understand the characters. One weakness that I saw in mine is some of the dubbing. When syncing the lines, I saw that some of the timings were a bit off, specifically the line where the character says, “Dump his body in the field” really didn’t sync up and some other lines looking quite janky and rough. Another weakness I saw was the interior footage. I still think that it is way too dark in comparison to the rest of the short and I feel like if the scene of him making the eggs was taken out, the short would have still made sense.