Tuesday, 30 March 2010

How does my film fit the codes and conventions of short film?

Overall I believe my short film adheres to the codes of conventions found in most short films that are produced. It is a 7 minute long documentary, that is quite heavily focused on the editing to make the content be portrayed in such a short amount of time, and is aimed to teach something.

By having a lot of quickly cut shots and mini montages within my short film, it fastens the pace and makes it more intriguing to the viewer. However long interviews within the film are made more interesting by having cutaway shots and trnasitions between different shots of the person rather than one long shot.

Overall I believe I have made an effective short film and am very pleased with the outcome.

Editing process of Rockumentary

Overall the editing didn't take half as long as I imaged it to be. I believe I edited efficiently and effectively still with some minor alterations to make, however because I was on my own in a group it allowed me to have freedom in what and how I wanted it to look like visually.

I didn't come across many problems when editing however did have to do some colour correction and adjustments of brightness and contrast when editing dark shots. However because it wasn't a particular complicated piece there wasn't much to do that was complex editing as if it would have been if it were say a horror piece or an avant garde short film.

I managed to add in credits easily from Photoshop and I converted music formats to be able to use in FCP however that was really the most technical part of the editing! Otherwise it was mainly just short cuts of shots and fade transitions that contributed for the most part of the edit.

I firstly used only one song for the Rockumentary throughout, however realised it became slightly repetitive, however when I decided to change it to have two songs it wasn't as effective so I am going to change it back but maybe have a few variations in what parts of the songs I will use.

Filming and preparation of Rockumentary.

Overall the filming of my Rockumentary went extremely well. The organisation aspects of about 90% of footage went to plan however I did not get 2 of the interviews I wanted in time, however will hope to do so when I do my feature length version.

I managed to get a lot of cutaway fotoage from clubs and pubs and in Camden, where I even gained permission to film a timelapse from a roof which looked very effective in my piece. I easily gained permission from places in Croydon to film footage and they were very welcoming of it. My production schedule went relatively to plan and I was filming almost every day throughout the holidays. I liked the setup of my interviews and believe the lighting did them justice and were good shots. Although some shots were hardly visible when I shot in the Black Sheep Bar the first time, the next time I took a camera light and it gained much better clearer results.

Overall I am happy with the quality of my filming however wish I had gotten certain interviews with the camera light as opposed to having to adjust the clarity within the editing.