On the day of our presentation, the time was very limited so we were only able to show half of our rough cut which equated to 10 minutes in total. We wanted to be able to show our presentation before the actual video but unfortunately, we didn’t have the time for it so James just suggested that we discuss it in the blog post:

Slide 1 

In our presentation, we wanted to discuss the genres and themes that were involved in this narrative. This slide mentions that this story is true to a certain extent, and is one of the many love stories that develop in fiction and in reality. There is nothing outstanding about the story but however, it can be seen from an Asian context, especially in a Western society like Melbourne. The main focal point of this project is the cinematography and the visuals, which maximises the simple plot and makes it seem “larger than life”, or at least that was our attempt of it!

Slide 2 

It is after all, romance, a genre that women usually gravitate more towards. It is also because a lot of the perspective comes from the girl, meaning that a lot more women would relate to this story. However, this short film is open to all audience because there are times where it is neutral in both perspectives, making it more open to a wider and general audience.

The roles and the equipment used 

In our supposed presentation, we wanted to discuss the type of equipment we used and the roles that were responsible of. The camera used was the Sony a6000, which I owe a lot to especially with the f1.8 35mm lens. A lot of shots turned out amazing because of the lens and would have otherwise looked simple had the kit lens been used. Of course, the kit lens were great for wider shots but the 35mm lens really stole the show in this production. Alongside the camera, a tripod and an LED panel were used.

In terms of the roles, I was mostly looking at which shots were the most flattering to look at for the actor, actress and the location. Pavina was great in directing what the character’s were supposed to do whilst Joanna did an amazing job with being an actress and also directing herself and the actor in some moments.

The verdict of the rough cut 

As mentioned, we only showed half of our 10 minutes rough cut so we had to skip certain shots. However, the whole class did get to see each and every scene (except the deleted scene) and were able to critique the whole short film:

• James suggested that we go for more ambient, background sounds rather than the cheesy music during the train scene
• He also observed that we all had really close shots (which isn’t necessarily a bad thing), which means that we gravitated towards more close ups and mid shots
• Tightening in terms of editing – as our rough cut was unusually long, more shots needed to be cut off
• A positive aspect of our short film was that it turned out really great in terms of the visuals which was good to hear because of how much thought was put into the composition of our shots, especially in areas where it was busy like the trains and the CBD in general

I’m happy we were able to receive these comments because it gives us more room for improvement!