Jun
13
2011
Click the image below, which links to our finished Integrated Media 1 K-Film! Commentary is in the attached essay, which you can find a link to on the main page! Enjoy.
Jun
13
2011
Here are my reviews for the films that were screened on Thursday night, overall it was a brilliant screening and it had opened my eyes up to the vast amount of talent that is present in our program. From this I shall be definitely securing strong connections with some of the awesome filmmakers in the hope to collaborate and produce more amazing works. The future is exciting! Anyway here are my reviews, three of them have been copied and pasted from my last blog post, where I reviewed my three favourite films:
I shall be using the “Hat’s critique” in order to review these films in the most honest way I can. There were a few films, which I couldn’t remember based on the title, I know what these films are, I just cannot assign them to the titles left, so I have left them blank, sorry!
Here is what each category represents:
Red- emotional response
Yellow- positives
Black- negatives
Green- constructive
“01 Jerk at Work
Alex Switzky
Ellie Cameron-Krepp
Steph Veljanovski
Cassie Wright
Ally Hamilton”
Red- It has a quirky feel, colourful feel to it and I enjoyed it.
Yellow- It has a nice rhythm that adhered to the Dr. Suiss style, I actually liked how it wasn’t too ‘over the top’, making it a little bit more believable.
Black- There are some awkward pauses, and maybe it could have been cut down a lot more to make it flow a little bit nicer.
Green- Get rid of the awkward pauses and maybe add some more dramatic score and SFX? Overall great job!
“08 Occulus Mentis
Annie Carroll
Hana Bahari
Verity Trott
Hannah Hollis
Kieran McGrath”
Red- Really funny in it’s own, unique way.
Yellow- The actors were great and even though the script may not have been conveyed in it’s best sense, there is a great potential evident and I think a little further editing will enhance this.
Black- A lot of awkward pauses and some instances of jerky camera movement.
Green- I’m not sure if it was colour graded, but I think if that was done properly it would have made a big difference.
“02 conscience
Harry Hughes
Hashim
Michael
Jo Hawley
Eli Mak”
Red- Creepy in a good way, left enough open for individual interpretation.
Yellow- Fantastic Lighting and location, great casting and a brilliant mood created through the soundscape and increase in suspense. Great ending.
Black- May drag on a little too much and the moment where the ropes fall free is a little confusing and could be clearer, but this is being picky.
Green- Some extreme close-ups with amplified breathing noises would have added to it in my opinion.
“05 Preteintiux Art
Lucy Bellomarino
Adrian Giovannucci
Dom Bonnice
Beatriz Ramirez Lopez
Melissa Wong”
Red- Great concept, a little awkward to watch, but I liked it in some senses.
Yellow- Great casting, locations and production design.
Black- Awkward cinematography.
Green- I would have played on the awkwardness of the cinematography and found a way to edit the film so that it almost becomes another character to it, otherwise a re-shoot?
“16 The Job
Lucia Clark
Tristan Lai
Yaqian Huang
Claire Wheaton
Tracy Chen”
Red- Hilarious at moments, awkward at other moments.
Yellow- Some of the jokes were quite original and found them to be hilarious
Black- I didn’t quite understand it, maybe it was the script, maybe it was the way in which it was filmed and edited? I am not sure, there was just something that didn’t allow the story to connect with me.
Green- Obeying the 180 degree rule would have been beneficial for this film and if a lot of the pauses were taken out and the lines were clearer and volume levels were more consistent, I think it would have been a strong comedy.
“18 Donna’s Deed
Sissi Wang
Zara Cooper
Rachel Yan
Lara Ouyang”
Red- Quirky and funny at moments.
Yellow- I love the dog! It was a nice concept.
Black- Camera work and editing could have been improved.
Green- Colour grading and general tightening up would improve the film.
“04 Family Traditions
Pat Swan
Paddy Hassall
Daan Bol
Bella Buffon
Maddy Kilby”
Red- Heartfelt and encompasses a comedic tragedy that begins by drawing you in and explores the story in a comedic way before ending on a tragic note.
Yellow- Nicely filmed, great story.
Black- Could have been a little stronger if it was tighter in terms of editing.
Green- I think a different colour grade and matching all the shots together with the grading might have brought a consistency that the film was lacking (in my opinion), then it would enhance the montage, which has a completely different grade that suggests the moments are flashbacks or in the past.
“07 Incubus
Evelyn Ng
Celine Choo
Sally Tabart
John Roebuck”
Red- Nice concept, stunning location shots.
Yellow- Well thought out and a nice variation of shots without deterring too much from a central location.
Black- More close ups would have been nice, as I think this was all it was lacking.
Green- I think if it all went a little faster we would understand the concept more and maybe a different colour grade for all of the footage in between the cafe scene?
“10 Blitzkreig Tots
Damian Filippone
Steph Miles
Herald, Jun Hao Chia Eunice Tan”
—?
“06 Movie Addicts Anonymous
Lincoln Mackinnon
Yoon Jang
Heath Garvey
Santilla Chingaipe
Caitlin Royse”
Red- Hilarious, engaging and interesting.
Yellow- Fantastic camera work, great actors and performances, excellent lighting and sound, clever ending.
Black- The script may be a little vague.
Green- Nothing too much else to say about this one! Yeah if the storyline were a little clearer then it would be perfect in my opinion.
Intermission
“17 Hard Light of Day
Jess Hallay
Damian Gould
Georgia Sampson
Edna Lim Xin Yi
Stella Foster”
Red- Stunning and captivating.
Yellow- Really interesting camera work and it allowed itself to take its time to fit in some great location shots, engaging the surroundings with the events that were unfolding. Fantastic script.
Black- I don’t really see any negatives in this one…other than I can’t really see a guy getting rolled off a pier into a lake during daytime, but I think the title of the film suggests that this was intentional.
Green- If it went a tinnnnnnyyyy bit faster and had a little more guts to the sound that would be great, but this is being really really really picky.
“09 Still Waters
Victoria Ong
Ginny Leng
Eliza Herbert
Ming Chieh Lee”
—?
“12 Screw Youssical
Rocky Rapke
Shushan Lam
Hugh Brophy
Lynette Chua”
Red- Hilarious.
Yellow- A great dedication to the production design and shot planning, with a good sense of comic timing and a brilliant rendition of the Dr. Suiss style of storytelling.
Black- May have actually been a little too over the top for me…I still need to believe a film, even if it is fantasy etc. and I didn’t see myself believing this one.
Green- There was a lot of moving about over the location, which it ok, but it exposed all of the location and made me think about what the location is used for in real life as opposed to the world in which the film in about. I think if it was a little more restricted, I would focus on the characters and the story more.
“13 Head Case
Maddy Featherby
Elena Szymanski
Carmen Holman
KB (Katherine Buzza) Leona Jiang”
Red- Brilliantly, creepily, scarily awesome.
Yellow- Fantastic build of suspense and the flashbacks were amazing and tied in with the present story beautifully. Great story idea (*cough*cough*).
Black- I can’t really remember, but I think there was a little too many close-ups and I felt I needed to see more of the room.
Green- Yeah, just lingering on some wide shots would have really enhanced it I think.
“14 Grind
Charles Bai
Julius Lim
Michaela Palmer
Paris Thomson
Karina Pribadi”
—?
“11 Crossing Live
Mel Gleeson
Zee Ko
Ryan Jafarzadeh
Abbie O’Brien”
Red- Engaging and captivating.
Yellow- Fantastic cinematography, brilliant script and soundscape. Awesome, original idea that hasn’t really been explored in film.
Black- Dressing room scene felt a little cramped with the close-ups, but that is an unbelievably picky statement.
Green- I wonder if the lipstick was a darker reddish colour it might enhance the shocking effect of the cross-dressing? Again- pickyyyy.
“15 Press one
Michaela Palmer
Georgia Morgan
Jason Tseng
Alene Tan
Jae Won”
Red- Amazing, exciting and engaging.
Yellow- Really well structured, shot and great colour grading and soundscape.
Black- No negatives!
Green- Simply brilliant, so I have nothing constructive to add.
Jun
10
2011
After finishing off Pipe Dream and screening it I have to say I am rather happy with the response it has got. I knew from the first day of Film/TV1 that I wanted to do something fun, light and comedic, which is why I had really enjoyed filming and editing Pipe Dream. I think we have successfully created a good visual and aural representation of the script based on the story idea that we had picked, which is great, yet I have recently been thinking about what we could have done better…what would have made it award winning?
Then as I was thinking about this, I realised that if I were to do Film/TV1 all over again, I think I would have chosen the same story idea and approached filming and editing it the exact same way that I had already have this time. Why? Because I think that A) I was completely set on doing something humorous (for a number of reasons- the main one being it reflected by mood at the time of story idea picking), B) I wanted it to be extremely fast paced and have a vast amount of different shots in it (the main reason for this being to reflect the energy about the film- making it almost like a film that was of some sort of speed-like drug), C) Based on the amount of shots that we had, it would have been difficult to really master each shot and get it perfect and artistic.
So this brings me to my question as to why didn’t we pick a script where there was a smaller amount of shots, with one location etc., where we could really focus on getting each shot perfect? Because I wasn’t interested in perfect.
I wanted: Fast, Messy, Quick, Tight, The audience wanting more.
The last one is my main philosophy. It doesn’t matter if the films I make are shot terribly or the lighting is dodgy or the sound is out of whack….as long as the audience is left wanting more, then I have succeeded. And based on that philosophy, I think I have achieved exactly what I wanted with Pipe Dream, and couldn’t have done it without my beautiful cast and crew who were completely dedicated to the project and who were absolutely amazing.
Jun
10
2011
Thought I would make a quick blog post in regards to the screening. It is currently 3am…I am a little bit pissed and fairly tired so this may be quite incomprehensible, but apart from that- I am actually doing it, which is the main thing. The reason why I am doing it at 3am? Because I won’t get a chance to do it between now and when the blog is due, due to my need to be at work tomorrow…to you know…work…and make money etc.
Anyway, the screening. Was rather awesome. Was a little bit stressful getting there and making sure the cast/my parents made it to the room safely and on time, but apart from that it was great to see everyone’s films up on the big screen. I will use these few moments before I drift into a coma to reflect on my 3 favourite films, which I have forgotten the names of, which means I shall refer to them based on a short phrase that I think may be understandable as to which film I am relating to.
Lincolns film with the DVDs.
I thought this film was the best due to the casting, direction, lighting, cinematography and overall mood and tone about it. The script wasn’t exactly a stand-out, but I didn’t think the script was the important aspect of the film…I didn’t think it was needed in order to carry the film along. What made the film so captivating was the creation of these fantastic characters, who all came together in this quirky situation. The film made a point, which I think is extremely important. The point that is made doesn’t need to be defined, but I think there is something there, which says that a lot of work has gone into the film and it deserves its position among the films of the highest quality in the screening tonight.
In the harsh light of day
This film in one word is: Art. That is all it is really…the cinematography was brilliant. The location was lovely. The way that the film ‘took it’s time’ was nice…as it allowed the viewer to take in the beauty of the surroundings despite the fact that it was a gritty little darker piece. The colour grading shifts was what really captivated me, which really showed that a lot of thought has gone into what message the film is trying to send and how it is going about connecting to the audience in order to send this message. The sound design also fitted the film perfectly.
Press 1
What can I say? Just brilliance. Every aspect of this film was fantastic. As I said to Jason tonight…I believe that it was “a western film that was conveyed as an action film that was filmed in an arty way”. Everything about it was nice and I’m getting too tired to reflect any further on that, so I shall leave it there!
Gooooooodnight.
Jun
10
2011
Why hello there.
I have been in hibernation over the last couple of weeks and have completely neglected my blog- whoops! The reason for this was inevitable- assignments, assignments, lack of time, assignments. But I’m back! (Well, for these last couple of hours before our Film/TV1 blog is due, which I shall be updating with all of the things that I have missed out on over the last couple of weeks.)
So here I am sitting up at about 2:30 am making blog posts because I didn’t get back from the screening until now (which I will be blogging about in a little bit), but regardless of that this blog post is about colour grading!
I actually did not have that much experience about colour grading coming into this course, but I knew how to do it and an idea of what colour grading is good colour grading. The lecture in the week that we learned about this was quite interesting, as it explained not only how to approach colour grading and how to go about getting the result you in-vision, but also the method behind finding the best option.
My best advice would be to practice with the colour grading controls first until you are completely comfortable with using them. This video below explains how to use them and what each control and button on the interface adjusts:
Then I would pick a scene from a good film or TV show, which best represents the ‘look’ that you want your film to have and pretty much, well….copy it! This is the method that I used when I approached doing the colour grading for ‘Pipe Dream’:
I had taken my inspiration, which was from ‘Secret Diary of a Call Girl’ and located some similar scenes in terms of lighting and location. And therefore looked at our raw footage, the first shot below being of Ali:
Then based on my inspiration I had lightened the shot quite a lot, added a pink tinge to it and then crushed the blacks for a more contrasting look. I kind of didn’t want it to look as ‘cold’ as my original inspiration image, which is something you will find…once you begin to adjust the colour grading…you seem to tailor it for what you feel looks best for that particular shot and seem to veer away from the colour grading that inspires you, you really just need that initial inspiration to get you started if you are not quite sure what to do yet.
And this shot below is the reverse shot of Genya. The most important thing in this case is trying to match the colour grading of the shot previously. DO NOT make the rookie error of assuming you can just ‘copy’ and ‘paste’ the same colour filters over all of your footage, as you will find different shots are lit differently and will not match.
May
29
2011
Editing is probably my favourite part of film-making. Not entirely sure why, I think it is because I just love the idea of having complete control over what the output will be and having the ability to manipulate, change, juxtapose and create meaning out of the content. It is like playing God, it’s awesome. Here is a good example of what I mean by this point. The video below was created from the footage of one of Lady Gaga’s performances, where she hit a bit of a sour note. The creator chopped it all up and juxtaposed it with footage from The Green Mile (1999), which made it look as though she was being electrocuted.
This is why I love editing. You can just….create meaning out of something that wasn’t intended by the original creator of the footage. Here is my commentary from this week’s lecture based on what I had in my notes.
One of the major components in a film, which is often overlooked by people who are just starting out in film is sound design. This is normally a subject of it’s own, but in this course it is counted in the ‘editing’ week, therefore I am going to discuss it now. These points were taken from the lecture, which are components of sound design, which you must recognize and consider. It is also advisable that you deconstruct the sound design from scenes in great films, which relate to the scenes in your film. This way you can see how the “professionals” do it and apply it to your work!
• analyse the rhythm
• whose listening
• whose talking
• the space
• the pauses
• the talking over (interrupting)
• the atmos
• sound fx
• the music
What I think is really important in editing, is not being afraid to overlap the soundtrack with other clips, so if you had a shot of person A and you cut back for a reverse shot of person B, you could hang on that reverse shot if, for example, person A has a really short line and it is not worth cutting back to them in order to watch them say it. Sometimes cutting back and forth on every line can be quite jarring for the viewer, therefore if you think of the sound and vision tracks as separate entities and really embrace the freedom that you have with moving them around/using different audio from other takes for the visual of another take etc. you will produce better quality work.
Here are some other brief points: (Trying to cut down the essay-like length of my blog posts)
The brain takes a while to comprehend a graphic match, which is when cutting on an action, you would pull the second shot back two frames, as if you were doubling up the action.
You can extend real time when not cutting on an action. For example, if you cut to person B before person A picks up the book, then you can hang on person B for however long you want before cutting back to person A, who then picks up the book. Voila! You have extended the time.
Put music in as a placeholder before or as you are editing the scene(s), as it is likely that you would totally change your cutting style based on the rhythm of the song, or simply because there is music there!
You need the audio levels peaking between -6 and -10.
Send your audio tracks out as mono so that both audio channels have the same volume projected out of both speakers.
Audio Mixer- Button on top right enables you to record key frames live.
Drag your clip into a ‘colour correction sequence’, just so you can play around with it for peace of mind before you continue cutting. You then drag in the attributes from the colour correction sequence onto your final cut.
When you do colour correcting make sure you adjust each individual shot’s attributes so that the shots match.
May
24
2011
Ok, so I am sitting here in class and I have just realized that the way in which we are supposed to mark ourselves based on participation is not entirely based on the criteria, as in…the criteria I have assessed myself on is entirely blog based. Now…I am assessing myself on these three questions below (which we were told to do), which makes me reconsider what I really deserve in this course.
What have I done well?
Korsakow- understood the program and embraced in quickly.
Blogging- my posts have been good and have reflected how I have challenged my theories and tried to open my mind up to new ways of thinking.
What have I learnt to do better?
I have learnt to think with a more open mind- creating content that is willing to be taken out of its intended context and interpreted through its juxtaposition against other content.
I have learnt to make content faster.
Learn how to work better with new and vulnerable, glitchy software. I can’t always rely on software that is flawless.
What could I have done better/differently?
Read all the readings thoroughly.
I missed a couple of lectures.
I would reflect on a lot of the course concepts and apply the skills I have learned in the course on the outside, yet I just didn’t have time or forgot to blog about it.
So what do I deserve? I am not going to make the mark public, but it is more than my prediction.
May
24
2011
Well Integrated Media 1 seems rather popular this morning, with a total of (turns head around to count students) 10 students rocking up. In this weeks lecture, Adrian discussed the purpose of this course and what he has hoped that we have learned from it. These are the main areas:
Sketch and post-industrial media.
Sketch is not about casual or lazy work, but a way of working where you may leave a small footprint (such as you do not require much tools, equipment and resources in order to create a sketch) and it is a way of working where you may practice your making. They are lightweight, quick ways of making content that may turn into something larger in the future. You can see the thinking in the lines of a drawing sketch.
It is an everyday, formal practice that we may make as sophisticated as we like. Adrian explains that we do not need a huge production team, schedule, actors, locations and lighting etc. in order to create content that means something, instead he is trying to make us see that we are capable of being spontaneous, exploring and experimenting with new ways of making.
Why Barthes? Because as we are reading the text we can actually see the thinking being done as the text travels along. It is a ‘snapshot of what theory really is’ (Miles 2011), allowing us to not only see the output, but also the process that leads up to the output.
Industrial Media and Society.
Industrial is the key mode of the late 19th century; the post-industrial revolution era, where it was decided that the most efficient way for individuals to create a piece of work, they are placed in one ‘section’ that goes into the production of this work, such as in a factory lines, where the workers simply position themselves at their station to do the one job they were trained to do. Modern media follows this process, where time is a factor in not only deciding what content is to be broadcast when, but also restricting the time limit of each show, how many episodes that the show may have etc. Everything has these limitations, which are restricted through these Industrial time frames.
Knowing ‘How’ in a post-Industrial society is more important than knowing ‘What’. For example, if you wanted to remove an imperfection in a sound clip, such as a noticeable ‘hum’, it is much more important to know ‘how’ to do something rather than ‘what’ to do, where you may know that adding noise to the sound clip will remove the ‘hum’. You may not know how to operate the program, but it is more valuable that you know how to remove the annoying ‘hum’. Another example would be the relationship between the cinematographer and the camera operator. Why is the cinematographer considered more important in this relationship? Because they know how to shoot the particular scene rather than the camera operator who may only know what to do in order to control the camera based on the cinematographers vision. The technology will always change, but the knowledge here is the more valuable tool.
So what does this mean for us?
Well the whole purpose of this course is not for teaching us content (as we have access to many forms of content at our fingertips), but rather knowing how to recognize this content, arrange it and apply it to our particular usage rather than knowing what to do in order to find this content.
Materiality.
Material is about representation, about what stories we choose to tell rather than how we arrange them in order to tell it. When we see the texture of how a subject is represented, this would be referred to as materiality, rather than the idea of calling that subject by what it is intended to be represented as. This materiality is seen in our K-Films, in our blogs etc. The individual videos and blog posts are material objects, like pixels that make up an image on a computer screen. They are the components that make up the thing that is to be represented.
He used the example of how we work this way when we operate our computers, as we may have 3/4/5 programs open at once, multitasking and doing multiple things at the same time. This is how we are trained to work in this new media environment, rather than doing one thing at a time until each particular task is completed, which can be related to a cinematic model of working (such as being shoved in a dark cinema, where our attention is directed to the film until it is over). The materiality becomes about how we relate to the materials used in order to create what is intended to be represented rather than how we relate to the particular thing that is represented. We work with this multiple programs as if they are fragments in the ‘desktop narrative’ that we are creating as we work and our relationship with this narrative is with these fragments themselves other than the single unit, or ‘desktop-narrative’, that we have created, which may represent a particular entity, which cinematic working or media may force you to form a relationship with.
Coming into Integrated Media 1, I didn’t really expect to learn the concepts listed above, as I read ‘interactive video’ and ‘online media environment’ and instantly thought that the course would simply just be creating media (as is short clips and mini films) and putting them in an online environment. What I expected is what I got in the course, yet I still didn’t expect to be confronted with the theoretical back-grounding. Instead of expecting the course to be simple and straightforward (which it is in it’s practical sense), I was confronted with my whole perception of what film and media is to be completely challenged. The narrative world that I was brought up in was turned upside down and instead of my natural habits taking control, being creating media based on my own narrative vision, I was creating fragments of media that allow for the viewer to create the narrative for themselves. This was something that I found very difficult to allow myself to do, but I completely understood the concept of it.
I think I will take a lot out of this course. It’s not only made me realize how much I love narrative, but also how there are so many other options out there in the world in creating media, which is challenging and exciting.
May
22
2011
I was intending to do this post for a while now, as I have felt like I may have set my participation criteria a little too high early on in the semester. Why is this? Well when we were setting our criteria, we were told that we had to set criterion that would be achievable, which may be interpreted a number of ways. Is something that is achievable for one person not achievable for another? For example, one person may be available 24/7 and have the time to do a lot of blog posts and research, where as another person may work 30 hours a week and have several side projects and not have the time to do what the first person has done. Does this mean that the second person has a more achievable criteria?
I must investigate this topic and somehow come to a compromise in terms of my criteria and what I think I deserve. I will begin by not looking at the criteria to start off with and talk about how well I think I have contributed to IM1 this semester, giving myself a rough mark based on my gut feeling. Then I will bring up my criteria I set for myself a while ago and talk about each one individually, possibly reviewing some of them based on what I thought was achievable at the time and what I had discovered was really achievable for me. Then I will form a new criteria and compromise between what I have set and what I think I deserved before my criteria review.
So first up, I think I have been working at about 70%-75%, based on a pure gut feeling (judging on my participation in previous subjects as well. I am worried about how I have documented this participation, though, which could affect this mark. I also beleive that in order for that mark to be any higher I would have had to give up work in other areas of my life (despite the occasional party and chill out time), as I think this semester I had taken on WAY too much work (short film, job etc.).
Anyway…onto the participation review:
CRITERIA:
1. Write Notes in every lecture and do a blog post about that lecture. (This means attending every lecture.)
2. Experiment with a small task at least once every 2 weeks and document this.
3. Engage with the tutorials- Ask questions, Answer questions, write notes etc. Document this in a blog post. (This means attending every tutorial.)
4. Demonstrate my external research in a blog post every week, or do a blog post on a reading
5. Bookmark at least 5 websites (Which relate somewhat to IM1) on Delicious, and create a post each week with these bookmarks in my blog.
1- 6/11
2- 4/11
3- 9/11
4- 8/11
5- 26/33 (bookmarks) = 9/11
TOTAL: 36/55
= 65%
Ok, yeah I am not exactly sure I deserve that mark. Sure, I could get the 10% off my gut feeling of what I think I deserve based on a “non-documenting-stuff” penalty, but I think I need to review my criteria a little before I go any further, as there are some criteria that didn’t really match the course, itself.
REVIEW:
1- 6/11
I documented 6 lectures in my blog posts at some point, which I think is fair, as I had missed a couple of lectures due to other scheduling complications.
2- 10/11
From what I presume the concept of this course is, which I think is about embracing the online media environment by experimenting with interactive video and different new media forms interconnecting with each other, I can safely say that I have been experimenting with online media in this way, yet I just have not been documenting it in my blog.. The ‘little tasks’ (assuming they are tasks that are unrelated to Korsakow) that I have set for myself in this criteria don’t really fit the mound for the course, as we are learning through the Korsakow program in order to grasp the overarching concept for the course. Therefore I am going to change this criteria to something work that I believe should receive credit for, which is ‘Korsakow’ engagement’ and this is one that I have documented extensively, but I will deduct 1 mark for changing the criteria in the second last week.)
3- 8/11
I think I have actively engaged in most of the tutorials, yet I just haven’t really been documenting it due to a lack of time etc. Therefore I will mark myself a 10/11 but deduct 2 marks based on the fact that I have not really documented this engagement.
4- 8/11
5- 26/33 (bookmarks) = 9/11
TOTAL: 41/55
= 74% (I think this is what I deserve as a mark for participation.)
May
20
2011
A couple of days ago I had my very first screening of the first proper film I have produced, filmed and edited. This was a pretty exciting moment and one that I have been waiting for a very long time to experience, as I have known for a very long time that I have wanted to get into film-making and being a self-proclaimed ‘film-maker’ that hasn’t actually made a proper film is a bit unnerving for me. Therefore, I couldn’t wait until this moment finally arrived so I could call myself a film-maker rather than an aspiring film-maker, as even though I love to aspire…I don’t like to sit around and do nothing about it. So here is the promo picture that we had displayed on screen before we hit the play button and sank into our seats full of anxiety and nervousness:
So I sat there in utter silence and dread as the opening titles flashed before my eyes…then the first shot appeared on screen and at that moment I was thinking…17 and a half minutes of judgment from this audience. I said at the beginning of the night that I was completely fine, not nervous and excited, which was true, but when that first shot came on screen I could almost crawl into a little hole and die. This was the moment that could begin a career or send me back to the drawing board. Then after a few moments of recalling every detail of every frame before they appeared on screen, we approached the first joke. This was the verdict I kept thinking to myself…it’s amazing how all your hopes can hang on just one tiny little joke. Then it happened…
I didn’t hear silence. I didn’t hear crickets.
I heard…laughter.
I wasn’t an incredible amount of laughter, but is was a good amount of laughter. At that point I glanced around to see 50 people smiling up at the screen and I immediately felt an overwhelming sense of relief. In that one moment I could see a bright and shiny future that is ready for me to reach out and take….and I was definitely not going to give up that opportunity of pushing myself forward into that position.
The film continued on for what seemed like FOREVER. I couldn’t help but cringe at minor problems that I had forgotten to fix or not noticed (such as the sound being 0.1 of a second out in the first scene, atmos dropping in and out in some of the scenes, grading issues and so forth) and cringe again at technical issues with the DVD player and/or projector, which would flicker every now and then. These issues would have been incredibly minor and unnoticeable to the audience, yet I felt like stabbing myself in the face after a while…hoping that that one last pop in the audio wouldn’t send me over the edge and make locate the nearest knife and/or gun.
After some more laughter and smiling from the audience, which seemed to keep me going…the real verdict was approaching, which was when the film was over and I would have to face the dreaded opinion.
The end credits flashed before my eyes and the next 5 minutes went by in 2 seconds. There was applause…there was a couple of speeches (one which I had forced myself to do…one that I cannot remember)…there were 50 blurred faces staring at me and there was definitely a petrified Alex shaking uncontrollably in the corner.
The audience exited the screening room and I stayed inside for a moment. Alex walked out briefly and then walked back in and collapsed on the front row of seats. It was over. It was done. It was screened and now we had to walk out and face the verdict.
I took another moment and exited the screening room only to be greeted by a blur of faces congratulating me and buzzing about the film. There was SO many people I knew…but they all just blurred into one mass of unknown individuals that loved the film. There was not one bad review…there was nobody who said that they liked it, but you could tell that they didn’t….everyone had something nice to say and it was…weird.
I knew the film was good (despite the extensive list I have of things that are wrong with it), but I didn’t expect the response that I received. I mean, we were 1st year media students, who were inexperienced, who had no money and who had never made a short film or had ever been taught how to make one. We were just a group of “film-makers” who wanted to be film-makers, who ran into some luck with the sourcing of great actors, great locations, access to equipment and a whole lot of time on our hands. It shouldn’t have been good, but it was…and I think in that moment when I was hearing this positive response, I couldn’t help but track back to that first moment where I said to Alex that I wanted to make a short film…I knew back then that when I said those words I didn’t expect it to even be made…I expected an OK film at the most.
It’s not that I feel I don’t deserve it, because I put in an insane amount of work, but now it is more like I have been given a motivation that I didn’t know had existed…and I am going to use that motivation to continue to make films. There will be bad ones. There will be good ones. But all I ever really want to do is create films in order to entertain people, to draw them away from any troubles that they may be experiencing in their lives for at least 10 minutes and take them into a world where they can just…chill. That is all that I want and I will not stop until I reach that shiny future that I caught a glimpse of the other night when I heard the first laughs in the first screening of my first film. That is enough to keep me going and I will not give up.