My project was built around the concept of character, drawing on the style and techniques of directors Edgar Wright and John Hughes to inform my work and help me develop as a filmmaker.
My initial idea was to take from Hughes’ work the importance of character and create something similar in my own work, particularly in regards to the costume choices you would see in films such as The Breakfast Club or Ferris Buelller’s Day Off, while also taking from Wright’s work the idea of visual comedy and the specific style that encompasses his films, attempting to learn to film and edit in this particular manner. Because of this, a majority of my work revolved around small exercises that each worked with specific filmmaking/editing techniques, or focussed on character specific aspects such as costume.
My work largely depended on post-production, particularly when attempting to imitate the works of Wright, and so as I continued with my project a lot of my focus became filming for editing (ie. planning for the edit and following that through during the shoot), and learning how to use the program Adobe After Effects for things such as transitioning and crash-zooming. This focus meant that more of my time became dedicated to learning from Wright’s style, and so my later projects are less focussed on Hughes and more on referencing movies such as Hot Fuzz or Scott Pilgrim vs. The World.
After creating these smaller experimental videos covering the concepts of character, costume, coverage, crash zooming, match-cutting and transitioning, I decided to make a longer video that would combine these techniques and reference the Wright films mentioned above in a more direct way, showing where my influence had come from and ensuring that I had the chance to really imitate some of the things I love about Wright’s style. This included the close-up/action montage, the silhouetted phone conversation, the use of whip-pan transitions, the pop-up text box, the inclusion of a ‘Wallace’/background character, things entering the frame without context, the long walk towards camera, the dialogue used, the use of video game sounds, sound effects for zooms and transitions, the ‘there and back’ shot, the mannerisms/expressions of the characters, match-cutting, and the shot that breaks the rhythm of the scene (eg. a drink being poured interrupting the pace of the montage).
Bringing all of this together meant that I had a project to apply my new skills to, particularly in regards to editing and planning for the edit in pre-production, and I really got to understand the style of the directors I was attempting to imitate, bringing me one step closer to becoming a better filmmaker.
Screener:
Focus on Costume:
Focus on Coverage:
Focus on Match Cutting:
Learning Transitions:
Bringing It All Together:
