Progressing The Idea

NOVA Team has decided that we want to base our short film around the basis of time travel. The image shows a mind map, produced by Rachel, and rough plan and ideas that we developed, including name ideas. Now though, we've decided on naming it "Time to Time".

As part of my research i came across another A2 short film that gave me many ideas. It was called 'the waters echo' and this is where i decided i really wanted to do somethign working around the idea of time and time travel. I loved the ways they edited their film and used many techinques and angles, it was also very well staged and the story was told in a maner where you wanted to finish to see what finally happens.

This is the video itself from youtube :

 

-RM (Edited by BW)

Chosen Idea and Update

Despite doing lots if work, building on other ideas, me and the Thundercats (now NOVA Team, I'll explain in a minute) have decided on an idea. branching off of idea 2 (the one with notes and time travel) we've formed the basis of a film called "Time to Time".

While we liked the 2 Alone concept, it was thought that it would be hard to film.We'd need lots of empty places that're silence, which is scarce. Instead, "Time to Time" is a film in which we can film easily in comparison. Because it's some body's life we can use lots of shots with real things going on in the background, which would've made the footage unusable in the other ideas.

Recently, I was playing around with my old ident. After 4 hours of work and 18 hours of rendering, this is the final result. After showing the team, we've decided on this as our production company. I will henceforth refer to us as NOVA Team.









-BW

The Use of Sound in Short Films

Let's get this off to a rolling start with a great example of how powerful sound can be, whether it's there or not. "Virus", a short film by Simon Hynd, uses no dialogue and ambient sounds to create a sense of uneasiness. This film utilises the lack of sound to its advantage. The absent presence of the sound give an unsettling vibe. The sound is meant to be there, but is not, which is unnatural.  The sounds that we can hear sound sinister. The coffee machine, typing and camera all sound evil, like technology is against the protagonist.

The short film on the right, "Pills", uses sound in a different way, ignoring the dialogue, the music played gives a very frantic mood, which adds to the comedy and drama of the piece. The little sound loop that plays is repetitive and annoying, a bit like the character who is mumbling and messing up the house. Relating music towards a characters personality can be like a motif, though in this case I doubt that was the intention. Nevertheless, the music adds a fun feel to the piece, making it more interesting. Without music, this would probably be sinister an bizarre. Although it's already very bizarre.

Breaking the 4th wall could be interesting. However, I can only see us using that in a comedy genre, or dockumentry style.

So, wrapping this up in a neat little bow, the presence or absent presence of sound can affect the way a film feels intensely. Music can practically force a certain feeling onto the audience. Music can amplify the emotion of a scene to. An already sad seen can turn tear-jerking if the correct music is utilised.
Sounds in the scene, diagetic or non-diagetic, can be emphasised to attract focus to the object making the sound, making it more relevant, especially if it's a plot device. Non-diagetic sound FX can be used to make a scene more authentic.

-BW

Alone: Title Concept 2

Building on the previous title concept, I've actually added a title. Also I've decided to change the name of the film to "2 Alone". Because there's two people who are alone and it could be said that they are too alone. I'm aweful at word play.

-BW

Development Update #1

The camera cut out before chloe could talk about parodies of horror films, but there's still lots of groovy things that we discuss in this otherwise pretty radical video.

-CM & BW

Alone: Title Concept

This is the first concept title for "Alone". I plan to edit is more, maybe include more of a story into it, exploring the lives of Terrence and Angela and how one sat and did nothing, while the other searched for other humans. Or something to provide back story at least.

I've made it pixelated, almost 8-bit, because the style resembles a video game. Giving a game-like, fantasy-world sense. This creates a sense of fun, implying that the story isn't completely serious and should be taken lightly.
I also need to actually put the title of the film in there somewhere. But it took 1 hour of coding to make After Effects do a countdown like that. So I felt the need to upload it ASAP. What can I say? It's all about commitment and over-commitment.

Also, now that I think about it, it mildly reminds me of the Universal Studios intro to "Scott Pilgrim vs. The World". It's a completely different concept, plus it's an ident, not a title like mine. I probably got this idea from a part of my subconscious implanting traits of this into my conscious. I'm sure Sigmund Freud could explain it.

-BW

Dreamstate: Title Concept

Considering that this is a film that I may not ever make, I've already put a lot of work into it. This is a fancy title screen that I created a few days ago. Why? No particular reason, I just have too much free time.
The smoke and vines make it more dreamlike and surreal. This is the vibe I would like the film to have. The mixed colours and texture give it a familiar, yet unnatural feel. This should be kind of unwelcoming.
The transition into the lighter part, with the rotating shape is to show the awakening and realisation of dreaming. The rotating shape is something I would like to have a similar look to the mask.

To improve this, I may make it more dark and gloomy, giving it a better feel to the film itself. It's also very long, this is mainly because I forgot to change the render settings though.


-BW

Short Film Ideas: 5

The world's shortest horror story is called "Knock". It has only 2 sentences and is as follows:

"The last man on earth sat alone in the room. There was a knock on the door."



-Fredric Brown





Apart from being one of my favourite stories, purely because it's short, it also raises lots of questions and provokes thinking. Using this as a stimulus, I created this idea for a short film which I've nicknamed "Alone?". It's not a horror story. I think it fits in more with fantasy and romantic-comedy... Or something. 





It at first features a guy, for now let's call him Terrence. Terrence is the last human being alive, as far as he's concerned. He just woke up one day and everybody had vanished. Normally in this situation, the person would question why and maybe attempt to find others. Terrence never really questioned it. He just accepted it and continued with his life, in a world where he could do whatever he wanted. 


This is part of a test title I'm making for this idea.



Now to disrupt the equilibrium with the introduction of another character. Angela had a similar experience to Terrence. She woke up and found that everybody had vanished. Unlike Terrence, she questioned it and began search for others. Her attitude is completely opposite to Terrance. Could you imagine if these two met? 





On her travels, Angela is looking for others, maybe using a system of going to different place. Just as Terrence walks out of his house, possibly to get some fresh air, or is doing yoga in the middle of the street while wearing nothing but underwear and a robe. Why? Because he can and thinks that no one will see him. Anyway, just as Terrence is doing that, Angela sees him. On sight of another human, they're both confronted with heavy emotions. Angela is excited, while Terrence is more confused... And embarrassed. 





What's next for this odd couple who've just found out that they're not the last person on earth? They live together of course! Angela moves to Terrance's house. She begins to settle in, but annoys Terrence by rearranging his stuff, rearranging his life and throwing his whole system out the window. With a female around, he can no longer walk around naked, or leave the toilet seat up. Angela doesn't take notice of these changes, why? Because she never changed. With the expectation of finding others, she never changed the way she acted, so doesn't see a problem.





What will Terrence do about this? Probably throw her out for a while and then realise he misses her, take her back and then passionately kiss her? Perhaps. But that'd be a little cliche.


 Maybe he just throws her out and goes back to his previously peaceful life. That'd be funny. I think. 


He could be a complete psychopath and kill her, there'd be no repercussions, theoretically. Bit dark though. 


Maybe they learn to live together, despite their differences and try to find others. Bit boring.


They could fall asleep, wake up, and find that everyone had come back. They would be in their original and own beds. Go back into their super normal life and then run into each other, leaving a speechless expression on their face.


There are so many possibilities, and each one is entertaining. Mostly.





-BW

Narrative in Short Film

To have a linear narrative is to have a beginning, middle and end that're in that order. In traditional cinema it is considered mainstream to use this narrative. Perhaps this is because it makes the story easier to follow and people don't struggle to follow the story, they can just sit back and absorb the film without thinking about it. But what if film makers want to be more experimental? Well they already did that. An example of a feature film doing this is "Memento" an American art house neo-noir psychological thriller film written and directed by Christopher Nolan. The film itself has a nonlinear, disjointed, or disrupted narrative, making it similar to a puzzle. This structure makes it hard to follow, but is also effective in helping us understand the character. Leonard, the protagonist, suffers from anterograde amnesia, a form of short-term memory loss, which impairs his ability to store new explicit memories, who has developed a system for recollection using hand-written notes, tattoos, and photos. With the narrative reflecting how Leonard sees his memories, it puts the audience in the same situation as him, allowing them to connect with his character. While this is a feature film and not a short film, I can still see how narrative can be used in short films.

If I were to show the end of the story at the beginning of the film, much like in the popular "The Hangover Trilogy", it would cause the audience question how the story got to that point and hook them on watching it develop. While intriguing, as it keeps the audience guessing, it does show where the story ends up. This can take away some of the mystery of where the story is heading, but does still invoke ideas about the journey of how a sequence of events lead up to that point. Of course, with "The Hangover", a lot of its success rides upon its comedy aspect. For a non-comedic short film to have this effect on the audience would require intense drama or a situation that's outlandish, scary or bizarre.

Ok, let's actually look at the narrative of SHORT films. Sorry, I got distracted. "Spider ", a short film directed by Nash Edgerton, has a linear narrative. The film takes place in seemingly real-time, except for one fade, in which an ambulance arrives. With no disruptions to the narrative the story is easy to follow. As the audience, we don't have to think about the order of the film, leaving us to sit back and enjoy the film and appreciate it's simple and entertaining narrative.

So, taking narrative into account, what do I think is best for the film that me and the team are going to make? A simple and straight narrative may appear boring at first, but it is the baseline for most successful films. Not to say that the straight narrative would make a film boring, it's just a bit mainstream and overused. Just because it's overused doesn't mean it's not likeable. It could be argued that a disruptive narrative could cause some audience members to dislike the film. Something that's unfamiliar can cause an instant distaste, making somebody feel uncomfortable and confused. But this could also be the type of sensation that the director wants to cause. Hopefully it wont cause the audience too much discomfort though.
Starting the film at the end of the story, as previously mentioned, can be a strong opening to a film if done correctly. Like in David Fincher's "Fight Club" we are opened to see the protagonist with a gun to his head. This strong and intense opening contrasts to the next part of the film and makes us wonder how such a seemingly innocent person was let into such a dangerous situation. 
Flashbacks can be used to disrupt a narrative at any point in a story. It also provides insight into a characters life or key point in the past that can directly influence the current point in the story. It can provide relevant information to give the audience the info them need to understand a development in the story. While effective, flashback can be considered cliché. And when done in an unprofessional or unclear way, can confuse the audience. So if we choose  to utilize flashbacks, we should be careful. Maybe we should put a vignette around the edge and make them black and white. 

-BW

Editing Styles in Short Film

I'm going to kick off this exciting topic by using a few examples in one of my new favourite short films "The Tea Chronicles" written and directed by Charlie McDonnell and Khyan Mansley, two YouTubers whom I love dearly.

To start off, let's look at how this film used different angles to reveal something. Within the first 12 seconds we see Charlie drinking his tea, then a different angle (accompanied by a deep piano sound) to scarily reveal the other ominous character, Khyan. The way Khyan is introduced implies that he is a threat. The cut back to Charlie's shocked face assures this.
Because we don't see Khyan's face initially makes us not only question who he is, but even what he is. For all we know he's a monster.
The back and forth shots between the pairs faces, which gradually get closer, builds tension, especially when combined with the screechy sound. These quick cuts also push up the tempo, making the moment more nail-biting.

At around 0:44 in this film, we have an example of how a cut-away can be used to show an object that's relevant to the dialogue at the current time.
In this case, it's a cut-away to reveal Charlie's very small "unicycle collection".
Without this cut-away, the conversation would be boring and unfunny. Because we wouldn't see the "collection" without it, we wouldn't understand how what was being said would be funny. But because there is a cut-away, to what is clearly not a "collection", as Charlie states, we can laugh at it because it provides us with the information we need to make the situation comical.

In the film on the right, "Touch" (directed by Nimer Rashed), we see "the life of a couple told through the touching of hands". This is a good example of how past events, in this case memories, can be shown. In mostly chronological order, with the exception of some cut backs to the person remembering (probably to remind the audience these are flashbacks), the story of a couple is told.
Using different clips in that almost chronological order, the editor has created a story. This shows, with minimal dialogue, how a story can be told through editing. The fragments of scenes give us just enough to piece together a story, which in this case is relatively emotional. At least it kind of has a happy ending.

Tick Tock by Ien Chi, apart from being a fantastic short film which only uses one shot, really shows the power of reversed footage. Yes, it's cool, but it also makes it harder for the audience to understand what's happening, hereby making them think about it more. A powerful tool. I'm really considering using reversed footage in the film me, Chloe and Rachel are making. Even if it's just to take the audience back to a key moment, then play it again, from somebody else's point of view, revealing a different part of the story.

This film also utilizes colours to reflect the emotion at the time. I starts (or finishes) highly saturated, reflecting happiness and then finishes (or starts) desaturated. Crazy.  Also, did you know this film is still awesome, even when it's played normally? (Without being reversed)

I've mention reverse motion, let's talk about slow motion. Slow motion can be used to really, really strengthen key moments. By slowing down the action, it gives audiences the time they need to observe what's going on.

Take the film on the right for example. LOVE DIGITAL, directed by Jesse Ashe, uses lots of slow motion. There's lots of combat in this film. When fighting, especially the punches are slowed down. This makes for a cool-action-like feel. It allows us to appreciate the moment more.

Though it's more of a tacky special effect, this film does use one bit of sped-up footage, in which the protagonist rapidly charges at the final boss. I can't really think of another effective way to use sped-up footage. Maybe a tiny bit to make action scenes slightly faster, if the actor isn't quick enough. But otherwise I think it's a no-go for me.

LOVE DIGITAL also uses special FX, a more advanced part of editing. These don't actually add to the narrative or story, it's just visually pleasing and makes it more interesting. The little glitch-like parts make the film more game-like and the neon glasses and super punch make the ten-year-old in me happy. But as exciting as those were, if I'm honest, I think I could match and beat the level of FX used in this film, but I guess we'll have to wait and see.

Oh, and there's obviously techniques like cross-fades and lap-dissolves to indicate the passing of time between two clips. But they're kind of dull.

-BW

Building on "Dreamstate": Christopher

Let's begin with the basics. Christopher, despite being 17 years old boy, is still quite childish. Actually, that appears to be ordinary for most 17 year old boys, I would know. Regardless, he is childish. Not in a mature manner, but in an imaginative and  adventurous manner. Though this may not come across too much in the idea. Like a child, he is curious and maybe also a bit blank in the face of danger. As in, he wouldn't think of the smart thing to do because he's too dazzled by what's happening.

As a student, he is at 6th form studying English Literature, Art and Philosophy & Ethics. This places him as creative and maybe just a little bit laid-back. He probably only wanted to do creative writing and draw but had to choose another subject. But he seems to get on well nonetheless. Although, he does zone out in class and in the corner of every essay he's written are little doodles of characters he's created. 

His friends are similar to him in some respects, but he daydreams more than them. They're the type of people who aren't popular, but are happy in their own sub-group. There are probably people in that group who are like toned down versions of "The Breakfast Club", without the serious family issues and whatnot.

For his hobbies, Chris is a gamer. Not the newer type of angry gamer who is always on Call of Duty though. He's a Nintendo boy, enjoying games for the story-telling aspect. He has lots of Zelda games and has completed Ocarina of Time at least 3 times.

He's also very artsy and likes drawing. On his bedroom walls, I can imagine lots of characters which he has drawn. One of these characters could even be the masked man, an Easter egg in the film, implying it's a dream. Anyway, he 's got a colourful room with lots of hand drawn stuff in it.

Adventure Time is one of his favourite cartoons. Yes, it's aimed at kids, but it has a surprisingly large adult audience and it's something that Christopher would like. It's one of his exceptions for watching TV. He doesn't watch a lot of television. Plus this is an opportunity to use my Adventure Time poster into this film. Also Christopher does not reflect my personality in any way whatsoever... Maybe a little. He is my character after all. But for the record, I watch lots of TV and have never completed The Legend of Zelda: Ocarnia of Time.

If you were to look into his pockets, you'd find a notepad, pencil, some lint and an iPod and headphones. When taking the bus home from school or walking somewhere, he'll listen to music. He has a very mixed playlist, as he doesn't like narrowing his taste. The notepad and pen are for writing down ideas he has and quick doodles.

-BW

Building on "Dreamstate": The Mask

Building on "Dreamstate", or more specifically a character within that, the masked figure, I've designed a concept for the mask they would wear. As you can see, this mask (nicknamed "Eye") features a large eye and lots of swirly patterns. I wanted it to be creepy, hence the one large eye, but also slightly artistic and dream-like, hence the swirls. I want the whole thing to be somewhat surreal. I may even kick this up to another level, and instead of a masked man, have some kind of monster-humanoid... or not.        
This mask shouldn't be just some poor paper mache deal. Although I may actually include some kind of paper mache in the building process. I want it to be good quality. Luckily, seeing as Halloween is upon us, there are lots of masks on sale, which I may be able to take and craft to my liking.                                                                 And if that's not enough, to seek different ideas and techniques, I've been visiting Instructables, a DIY website. It has a tutorial on almost anything you can imagine, so is a good recourse for anything, especially DIY film making.

-BW

Camera Angles in Short Films

Camera angles are extremely important when it comes to film. They make any movie more interesting and visually pleasing, rather than using one wide-shot throughout. They can be used to promote the idea of power or weakness, help a conversation flow and even reveal an object of importance. Overall, angles really make a movie run smoothly if done correctly and vice versa.

The first angle I want to mention is the Bird's Eye View shot, one of Alfred Hitchcock's favourites. This shot is quite unnatural, as the audience wouldn't usually look down upon people from this position... Unless they were especially tall or frequently use a particularly high pair of stilts. The point is, this shot puts the audience in a position of power, making the characters in-shot look insignificant and ant-like.
It's also an opportunity to show the entire scene from a good vantage point. Having a bird's eye view allows us to see everything that's going on, well, unless the characters are hiding under something, like a table or an umbrella.


The use of a high-angled shot is similar to the bird's eye, just not as extreme. It can be used to put a character in a position of weakness. As we look down upon them, they appear small, therefore making the audience feel bigger.
Similarly, a low-angled shot can put a person in the position of power. this is because we are looking up at them, making them appear bigger and more threatening.
To the left is an example of both high and low angled shots being used in "Scrubs", a very popular American sitcom. Although here it's being used in a comedic fashion, almost making a mockery of the shots, it can still be used more subtly and effectively.
At the start of the clip, there's a quick example of using a shot which is eye-level. This more neutral shot type brings us down to the same level as the characters. It's almost like we're observing the scene as another person in the room. This shot is very good when you want to show how all the character in shot are at the same level of importance. It brings the audience to the character's level.

Speaking of taking the audience down to the character's level, POV (point of view) shots are pretty swanky. Because this shot makes us see exactly what the character sees we can perhaps sympathise with them. We see as the character sees, so we feel as the character feels, hopefully.
To the right is a music video called The Stampede by Biting Elbows. This video only uses POV shots from one character, putting the audience in the character's situation. It takes us on this crazy journey, but I'm not explaining it, the video's right there so I don't have to. Anyway, this video is a grand example of the effectiveness of a POV shot. The use of a wide-angle lens is radical too.

The Dutch, Oblique or Canted angle, whatever you want to call it, is when the camera is slightly off-sett, rotated and not horizontal to the floor, making everything slightly disorientating. It's because of this disorientating sensation that makes this shot not feel right, bad almost. This angle can be used to imply corruption, instability and even foreshadowing something bad to come. If a character is evil or to be untrusted, this angle will help imply this.

-BW

Stop Motion Animation

Stop motion animation is a technique in animation which is used to physically manipulate objects to make them appear to move on their own. The object is moved gradually between individually photographed frames, creating the illusion of movement.

Aardman Animation is a well know animation studio, which is particularly famous for "Wallace and Gromit". Here is a short documentary by Christopher "Bing" Bingham. In it, we can see Bing looking behind the scenes of the company and exploring what they do. I think this is a good insight into the techniques used in stop motion animation. Or, it at least is entertaining to watch and is kind of to do with the subject.

I have dabbled with stop motion in the past, both physically (like with plasticine) and digitally, with programs (like Pivot Stickfigure Animatior and Macromedia Flash 8). Throughout my middle school years, and partially high school, I spent hours of my free-time animating stick figures. I got quite good at it, not majorly good, but not completely awful. I learnt that it's extremely time consuming and you can spend many lonely hours animating for 6 good seconds of animation. With the more physical side, it's more fiddly and one slip up can ruin a shot. There's no undo button, unfortunately. Also, unless there's a special camera and/ or specific software involved, putting the images together is even more time consuming. Having the physical style of animation can give the film a more organic feel, and I think it looks cool. Bringing inanimate objects to life and giving them a personality deliverers an almost magic-like sense.

Although I do really enjoy it, I'm not sure if it would be wise and time-efficient to create a short film purely from animation. However, having an animated sequence isn't out of the question.

On the right is a tiny piece of animation I made. Yes, there's an explosion in it, no, the explosion isn't stop motion. I just thought it needed some pizazz. This also took ages and with little pay off. Well, it was kinda rewarding to see my little characters move, but I don't think it's right for any of the ideas I have.


-BW

Storyboarding Ideas: Dreamstate

The basis of "Dreamstate" (working title) is that there is a person who has trouble differentiation dreams from reality... Now that I think about it, it sounds similar to inception. However, the idea doesn't focus on that, as the character, Christopher, is unaware of this. He doesn't really know what's happening throughout. Things happen around him, there's no back story, he's just thrown in and he accept it. It's like the narrative of a dream, think about it. A dream seems to make sense at the time, but it's only afterwards that we begin to question it and realise how weird it was.

Now, let's focus on what happens in the storyboard. We begin with a tilt shot, moving down, revealing a house. It is dark and the sound of crickets can be heard. There is an ominously dripping kitchen tap. It drips into a puddle in the sink. We see the water droplet his the water and cause ripples, this represents the distorted reality which is yet to come. Christopher enters the kitchen and pours himself a glass of water, which he carries into his bedroom and places on his bedside table. We have a canted-birds-eye-view shot as he enters his bed, implying that something is wrong. Christopher closes his eyes and goes to sleep. Almost seamlessly, he is thrown into this dark world. Scared and panicking, he looks around. Something is watching him. We have a POV shot, looking through the bushes, towards Christopher. Chris turns his back, nothing's there, turning back, a masked figure is directly opposite him. Up in his face. The figure grabs Chris' hand and a bright light begins to blare out at the points of contact.  They look at each other, Chris is scared. A smile can almost be seen, etching its way onto the mask. The light bursts, Chris is sent flying. He is blasted backwards and emerges on his bed. Its a mess. He gets up and begins his walk to the bathroom, he needs to wash the sweat off his face and calm down. As he leaves his room, we see a fous/defocus of the water by his bed, it turns blood-red. Chris opens his bedroom door and is confronted by a bright light and the figure again. There is a build of noises and the atmosphere intensifies. There is a soundbridge used and a school bell is now heard. Christopher wakes up to discover he's been asleep in a classroom, alone. He looks around. There is a POV shot, out of a nearby bag, looking towards Christopher. Chris notices this bag and opens it. Inside the bag lies the mask looking at him.

This is where I've ended the story, for now. I may add to it or change it, if I decide to develop it further.

-BW

The Use and Role of Narration

Ever since man told the first story, man has had narration. Well, maybe not. I just wanted the opening of this to sound cool.

Narration can be a key feature in an opening to any film. It can help the audience to connect with and understand a character, even before they've met them. For example in "American Beauty" we hear the character of Lester Burnham before we see him.

The speech that Lester gives the audience also gets them interested in the story. When he mentions that he only has 1 year to live we instantly questing "why?" and are roped into the story to see how it all happens. This is an example of how important the diolouge of a character can be and how narration can lock the audience's interest into a story.

Of course, the character's narration is nothing without a solid character. For it to have that extra edge, I believe that we need to hear somekind of emotion behind the chaacter's voice. It can't just be an actor mumbling into a microphone and layering it onto a clip. We must have what's said said in a powerful or interesting way. It's almost like an art, there must be reasoning behind the words the character says, and even reasons behind why the character pauses. But this can only be achieved through use of strong characters, which is why character development is so important.

In this video we see Don LaFontaine, the man with, possibly, the most recognisable voice in the world... Other than Morgan Freeman.

In this clip we can see how he uses different aspects of his golden voice to create different atmospheres for different films. We can see the contrast between his pitch and tone in "The Simpsons Movie", in contrast to "Terminator 2: Judgement Day".  Although he doesn't use his talents for acting as characters, I can still take the lessons he gives us and apply them to the narraction of characters, if I choose to utilise that. Either way, I can see how important voice is, even if it's not used for narration.

-BW

Assessing other A2 Short Films

Screening 1 - "Love Hurts" by Katie Murdoch

Good Points

• The film has good symbolism. The balloon was a good device to show the audience how the girl was feeling. It also helped to show the changes in emotion.
• Using the combination of the black &white with the piano music gave the film a stylised feel. It helped set the tone and the music was matched up to the story well, adjusting the emotion where needs be.

Bad Points

• Some shots didn't line up correctly. I felt the match-on-action could've been improved.
• The camera was shaky at points, particularly with POV shots.
• When fading to white, the white covered the black box of the screen, making it feel less professional.
• The story, while enjoyable, was predictable.

To Improve

• If the director committed to the genre a bit more, while risky, it may be more exciting to watch. With possibly more grainy film and big text boxes, she could've made it a truer silent film.
• The simple titles were boring. Again, if she stylised them more toward something old, possibly vintage and less simple it would be more enjoyable.
• The actors could've been more expressionate. With the lack of vocals, it's hard to tell what they're feeling sometime. If they were more emotive, the film could benefit.
• More shots, like close ups, should be used to help the audience see emotion and key actions.

Screening 2 - "Hide and Seek" by Hannah Palmer

Good Points

• The concept is original and interesting.
• There is good use of shots and angles, rarely a wasted or pointless shot.
• Plus, the children add that cuteness appeal.
• Good detail to the times set. Especially with costume and props.

Bad Points

• This was let down by the match-on-action and continuity not syncing up.
• Working with children can be difficult. It was easy to tell when they were struggling with lines, however,  they gave a grand performance considering.
• Copyrighted music was used.

To Improve

• The lighting, whether it was intentional or not, at the point before the girl went back to her own time was off key. It looked unnatural, like a grey filter was placed over the footage.
• A better ending may be better suited. For example, an older member of her family could see and recognise the locket.
• Ensure all shots have reasoning behind them.

Screening 3 - "Paradise Found" by Ciara Thorpe & Grace McCabe Barton

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8pdZVYXX21A

Good Points

• The film had a very authentic 1940's feel, despite the silly moustache. It fits well with the romantic comedy genre.
• Lots of detail, clothing and props.
• Good camera techniques, such as focus/ defocus.
• Good idea and twist,

Bad Points

• Boring titles
• There was one shot where the lead female was applying lipstick, yet it did not touch her lips.

To Improve

• Have exciting titles, perhaps a more 1940's film style as opposed to white text on a black background.
• When the woman reads the letter, I think we could've perhaps seen a shot of the letter she was reading. This could've broken up the parts between that and her getting off the train.

Screening 4 - Unravel by Jake Brownbill

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_QqqSvDd1c4

Unlike the other films, I can't seem to find any particular bad points with this film. So, why is that? Well, mainly because it's a very good film. The documentary style is used effectively and combined with the shots of the story, is a very intriguing and engaging. It's dramatic and has great subtle comedy.

The director has forged his own world and we accept it. It's totally believable. This is likely because he puts it across in a way that we understand and the strong acting enforces this. Plus, the fantastic video FX and high sound quality don't put us off, like poor FX would.

The titling looks good and is very fitting.

It's got a great narrative, which is pushed forward by the interesting dialogue.

The characters are believable. I can assume that lots of development went into them, as they're well shaped and have back stories which are pushed into the story.

-BW