Throughout many weeks in Deliberate film, I have become much more of a critical thinker when developing films and navigating through multiple stages of editing. This awareness has seen me approach the pre-production stage of filmmaking in a completely different way. My initial idea about what this studio was really about eventually transformed as I quickly understood the truer meaning of this studio’s content. The beginning stages of this realisation was evident in my assignment 1 goals blog, where I explained that I wanted to be a better critique of my own work and how to assess film through specific lenses that will allow me to unpack and dissect minor details. In the earlier weeks of this studio my initial thoughts were quite broad, which stopped me from dissecting the process of filmmaking. My later understanding of this studio allowed me to see every element of film development as an important step in the creation of good work. As this studio’s name suggests, the deliberateness in approaches see time taken in every department. My new found appreciation for the processes used in shot construction has allowed me to understand the idea of more deliberate approaches to filmmaking, something I wasn’t always accustomed to. As someone who was usually about getting something done without proper consideration, I now see the importance of being intentional with my decisions. Looking back to my first class in the studio, I can see evidence of my skill development. However, much of this development has been in the area of my thinking and approach, more than my technical competencies. An area which I find extremely important, as better planning and considerations allows for better productions.

This new way of thinking allowed me to develop my final film produced out of ‘The Call’ script. As this production was done solo, I faced a few minor difficulties during the shoot. This was definitely not an ideal circumstance. However, going into this I didn’t feel too underprepared. A semester full of projects gave me an opportunity to apply learnt skills and ideas, also allowing me to practice technical and pre-production elements. When it was time to make my final film, I had the necessary tools to be able to complete something that displays a level of technical competence and pre-planning. The most important piece to my film’s development was the pre-production stage, which made execution possible. Having learnt the importance of shot construction, vision animatics, bird’s eye view plans and location tests, I was able to incorporate all facets into my project planning. I spent a lot of time experimenting with how I could navigate my chosen location and execute the shots I intended for. Taking the time to walk through the space with my camera and take note of what shots I wanted and how I intended for them to be framed, I was able to collate a storyboard and bird’s-eye-view plan. This was the most important part of the production which allowed me to execute the film. When it came to capturing the shots on the day of the shoot, filming was made possible by following my shot-list and blocking plan. This really highlighted the importance of approaching filmmaking with intention. 

Although this production was able to be completed, I would have much preferred to be solely behind the camera. Though my plan displayed most shots having a static camera, my shot list and plan made room for the possibility of more handheld and tracking shots, if I had the luxury of another performer. This not only would have made everything quicker, but would also have allowed me to have more control over the camera and allow more evidence shot diversity. With the ability to move the camera during a take, I would have been able to create more cinematic tension, which I felt my film lacked. To make up for the lack of shot diversity, I made a strong attempt to light the location as best as possible. This was my first time attempting a multi-light set up. I found this quite difficult to execute properly with no crew. Though my results were not amazing, It was an enjoyable process experimenting with light in a space. As an analysis of my lighting attempt, many of my shots appeared to be very washed out and harsh. This probably didn’t work in favour of my intention to make a horror piece.

Editing this film was not too difficult, as I considered how shots would cut together prior to filming. This also reminded me how important my pre-production stage was in making this possible. While having a horror style in mind, I decided to approach the colour grade with a gritty appearance in mind. Though I feel like my lighting was too bright and washed out a lot of the footage, I tried to combat this with my colour grading approach. In my final version I desaturated the colour, put emphasis on the darker parts of the picture by making the black points more pronounced, made shadows stronger and added a soft vignette to centralise the focus to add to the suspense. Overall, this gave the final version a cooler-grey feel, which I feel clearly shows my attempt to make a project within the horror genre. Though there were quite a few elements of my film which could have been executed better, most of the areas I lacked competence in were in the technical department, more than the organisation and pre-production stage. This project was definitely a learning experience, which I can now use as a base in moving forward.

A major aspect of my reflection in this studio highlighted the importance of collaboration. It is quite evident that my experience with the production of my film was made more difficult because I was unable to collaborate with a proper crew of people. Though that has been evident throughout the semester. While still online I found the element of collaboration was something that clearly lacked. Occasional experiences of collaboration online were interesting and offered a completely different view of collaboration. Working with other students online really stretched our abilities to communicate with each other. Being from different parts of the globe, liaising with others was made slightly more difficult due to timezone constraints. However, by working on exercises within the parameters of project briefs and with the internet as our only means of communication, these experiences allowed us to really strengthen our communicative abilities. Especially when devising works where the ultimate goal is to create a piece that tells a singular story in the one location, navigating the spaces of fellow students online was quite difficult. Making group films offered enjoyable challenges, which saw me acquire some valuable takeaways, mainly in the area of communication. These experiences strengthened my ability to work in diverse environments with constraints.

EXAMPLES OF PRE-PRODUCTION:

Camera and blocking Birds Eye  (PDF)

The Call Storyboard (PDF)

Rough-cut V1: