The task:
The task we were set in our groups was to create a roughly ninety-second maximum short film as if we were going to submit it to the online short-film festival 'Depict!'. For the film, we had to complete the pre-production, like the paperwork that needs to be done for media products like this, as well as the actual idea for what the video would be about, the filming & getting the equipment, and finally the post-production tasks, such as the editing, all completely on our own.
Our idea:
As a group, we came up with a few ideas to possibly use and make a short-film about, but eventually the idea we settled on was what we eventually titled 'Caution: Do Not Try This at Home' - shortened to simply 'Caution' for the YouTube video upload on the Sixth Form's Media channel. The basic premise of the film was that a guy watching the news sees an interview with the local superhero Mellow-Man, and decides that he can do what the hero can do and more. The video then consists of a montage of this guy, dressed completely in a custom costume he creates in order to look the part, attempting multiple examples of typical 'superhero' things; he attempts to climb walls, shoot lasers from his eyes at a can of beans, save a woman crossing the road (who wasn't actually in any danger to begin with), train to get super-strength in the gym, and finally jump from a high platform in an attempt to fly. Ultimately, this results in him in a hospital bed knocked out due to how hard he hits the ground, only for the doctor at his bedside to be revealed as Mellow-Man in disguise...
Planning documentation/process we had to complete + how much input I had:
There were many pieces of documentation we had to complete and fill out properly in order for us to be able to begin filming and creating our short-film. These included paperwork for the locations (recces and releases), release forms for permissions to use the 'talent', (aka the people who would be on camera in the video), which included separate sheets for if the person was a minor or over eighteen, a shot-list and a storyboard to assist us in filming and editing, a risk-assessment about all the possible risks that could occur during the filming of the scenes we had planned, a list of props and costumes we wanted, and finally a production schedule. Throughout the entire pre-production process, it was split quite evenly between all the four members of the group.
Did the finished work reflect the planning?
Once everything was completely finished, overall, the finished short-film we had created was quite similar to what we had originally envisioned for it, reflecting most of the planning. However, there were definitely some features of it all that were changed in the final product, some slight and some more major than others.
Changes we made from our planning and why:
Every change we made after our planning was done had a justifiable reason, For example, on both the storyboard and shot list we had created, we had a scene set at a bike shed which ended up never even being filmed as we decided as a group that we would not use it, due to reasons like it potentially causing the film to be too long and that it was not important or funny enough to be integral to the video and be kept in. As well as this scene removal, the scenes during the montage were switched around for the final edit, as we had never really came up with a set order for them in the first place (except for the clip of the guy attempting to fly needing to be the final one of the montage). As for some of the slightly less major changes, some of the original locations we created recces for and were hoping to film some of our scenes in ended up needing to be changed, due to them not being available for us to use, meaning we had to find a different location which we were allowed to use which would fit the scene as well as the others had.
The most successful aspect of the project (in my opinion):
Overall, despite the fact that it did not turn out perfect, for the first short-film I had a hand in creating, I was quite proud of what we had created once it was all completely done. Specifically, there are some aspects of the project which I am particularly happy with.
One slightly small feature of the video which I am personally quite proud of is related to the audio and sound in the film. Due to the montage nature of a lot of the video, we had some royalty-free music which we downloaded from the site 'Bensound.com' playing through the majority of it all; this was used as opposed to dialogue, which was extremely minimal for a lot of the film, and instead of just having it playing for the entirety of the film, as mentioned above, we used it to help the comedy factor of it all as well, by pausing it when it seemed like it would fit to do so to enhance the comedy of what was happening at the time on screen. The music is also used from its beginning in the final scene when the doctor shows his suit under his uniform, as to amplify the fact that he is the 'real hero'. As well as the music, we also used a few sound effects in the video, such as the artificial 'slap' sound when the guy is hit by the girl he attempted to save by the road, the enhanced punch of the punching bag in the gym to reflect the pain it caused, and the groan of anger from him in the science lab. For the groan noise specifically, a detail about that which I am particularly proud of is that the sound was not originally there in the recording, but was moved there from an earlier point to cover up the sound of one of our group talking behind the camera and edited to sound like it was there all along - personally I am really happy with this admittedly tiny detail because of how it seemed pretty natural in the final product as if it was not changed at all, which was exactly my intent.
What I would do differently if I were to undertake the task again:
Despite the fact that I was genuinely overall quite happy with the short-film we had created, there are definitely some parts of it that, looking back on, I would have liked to have done differently or changed slightly to hopefully improve the video a little bit.
One example of one of the issues in the video I would fix is in the scene set in the science lab, where a 'mise-en-scene' mistake can be seen by those who pay extra attention. During the long shot of the guy behind the table after hitting the can across the room, a tripod can be seen under the table on the side facing the camera. This was a mistake that none of us in the group realized until we were in the final editing stages of the project, and were not able to easily re-film due to the location we had done the filming of that scene in being previously arranged for us to be allowed to film there at the time. So if I were to do this task again, I would make sure to pay extra-attention to what can be seen on camera during the filming and deciding whether or not the objects that can be seen could or should be there or not.
Another little change I would want to make would be to do with a slight continuity error that changes the film's ending's impact because of it. Essentially, the original intent of the story of the film was that the hero we see on the television at the very beginning of the video turns out to be the doctor who we see in the hospital in the final scene. In this ending scene, the doctor unbuttons his shirt to reveal the 'M' of is suit he wears as a superhero, which the audience would have seen him wearing in the interview at the start. However, the person in our group playing that character forgot to wear the M when we were filming that first scene and, similarly to the science lab scene, we couldn't easily re-film it in time for the deadline. Re-trying this project, I would make sure to look for small details like this at the time as to not have these issues later in the project's life. It is probably worthy to note that I was not in the room with the group as this scene was being filmed as I was sent to go sort out some other things for future scenes, but this would still be something I would want to improve on.
What I enjoyed most about the project:
Personally, I enjoyed quite a bit of this project. Specifically, quite a bit of the filming I was apart of was pretty fun, as well as the editing part of it being really enjoyable for me. This is because of the fact that I really enjoy video editing anyway, so being allowed to use a smooth, professional editing programme like Adobe Premiere, learning details about how to use it better while doing the work, was great. As for the filming part of it all, being allowed and trusted to go off independently with group members a lot of the time was fun to do. Some of the filming was more stressful or simply less fun than others, but overall, it was quite a good part of the project to take part in, with my role as being onscreen for the majority of it (although in the future I would love to be behind the camera instead).
As a group, we came up with a few ideas to possibly use and make a short-film about, but eventually the idea we settled on was what we eventually titled 'Caution: Do Not Try This at Home' - shortened to simply 'Caution' for the YouTube video upload on the Sixth Form's Media channel. The basic premise of the film was that a guy watching the news sees an interview with the local superhero Mellow-Man, and decides that he can do what the hero can do and more. The video then consists of a montage of this guy, dressed completely in a custom costume he creates in order to look the part, attempting multiple examples of typical 'superhero' things; he attempts to climb walls, shoot lasers from his eyes at a can of beans, save a woman crossing the road (who wasn't actually in any danger to begin with), train to get super-strength in the gym, and finally jump from a high platform in an attempt to fly. Ultimately, this results in him in a hospital bed knocked out due to how hard he hits the ground, only for the doctor at his bedside to be revealed as Mellow-Man in disguise...
Planning documentation/process we had to complete + how much input I had:
There were many pieces of documentation we had to complete and fill out properly in order for us to be able to begin filming and creating our short-film. These included paperwork for the locations (recces and releases), release forms for permissions to use the 'talent', (aka the people who would be on camera in the video), which included separate sheets for if the person was a minor or over eighteen, a shot-list and a storyboard to assist us in filming and editing, a risk-assessment about all the possible risks that could occur during the filming of the scenes we had planned, a list of props and costumes we wanted, and finally a production schedule. Throughout the entire pre-production process, it was split quite evenly between all the four members of the group.
Did the finished work reflect the planning?
Once everything was completely finished, overall, the finished short-film we had created was quite similar to what we had originally envisioned for it, reflecting most of the planning. However, there were definitely some features of it all that were changed in the final product, some slight and some more major than others.
Changes we made from our planning and why:
Every change we made after our planning was done had a justifiable reason, For example, on both the storyboard and shot list we had created, we had a scene set at a bike shed which ended up never even being filmed as we decided as a group that we would not use it, due to reasons like it potentially causing the film to be too long and that it was not important or funny enough to be integral to the video and be kept in. As well as this scene removal, the scenes during the montage were switched around for the final edit, as we had never really came up with a set order for them in the first place (except for the clip of the guy attempting to fly needing to be the final one of the montage). As for some of the slightly less major changes, some of the original locations we created recces for and were hoping to film some of our scenes in ended up needing to be changed, due to them not being available for us to use, meaning we had to find a different location which we were allowed to use which would fit the scene as well as the others had.
The most successful aspect of the project (in my opinion):
Overall, despite the fact that it did not turn out perfect, for the first short-film I had a hand in creating, I was quite proud of what we had created once it was all completely done. Specifically, there are some aspects of the project which I am particularly happy with.
Quite early in the production of our project, we had decided that the genre we would attempt to make the film would be 'comedy', and I would say that we achieved that goal pretty well - in quite a few ways. A way we did this often in the video was by using the montage music we had to our advantage, stopping it at times for comedic effect. These pauses had different reasons, like to show how stupid what was happening at that point for example. The biggest example of this that comes to mind is in the scene where the guy attempts to fly by jumping from a high surface and ends up getting knocked out, which we edited to have a silent couple-second black screen after the jump, then hard cut to him laying, passed out, on the concrete.
One slightly small feature of the video which I am personally quite proud of is related to the audio and sound in the film. Due to the montage nature of a lot of the video, we had some royalty-free music which we downloaded from the site 'Bensound.com' playing through the majority of it all; this was used as opposed to dialogue, which was extremely minimal for a lot of the film, and instead of just having it playing for the entirety of the film, as mentioned above, we used it to help the comedy factor of it all as well, by pausing it when it seemed like it would fit to do so to enhance the comedy of what was happening at the time on screen. The music is also used from its beginning in the final scene when the doctor shows his suit under his uniform, as to amplify the fact that he is the 'real hero'. As well as the music, we also used a few sound effects in the video, such as the artificial 'slap' sound when the guy is hit by the girl he attempted to save by the road, the enhanced punch of the punching bag in the gym to reflect the pain it caused, and the groan of anger from him in the science lab. For the groan noise specifically, a detail about that which I am particularly proud of is that the sound was not originally there in the recording, but was moved there from an earlier point to cover up the sound of one of our group talking behind the camera and edited to sound like it was there all along - personally I am really happy with this admittedly tiny detail because of how it seemed pretty natural in the final product as if it was not changed at all, which was exactly my intent.
What I would do differently if I were to undertake the task again:
Despite the fact that I was genuinely overall quite happy with the short-film we had created, there are definitely some parts of it that, looking back on, I would have liked to have done differently or changed slightly to hopefully improve the video a little bit.
Another little change I would want to make would be to do with a slight continuity error that changes the film's ending's impact because of it. Essentially, the original intent of the story of the film was that the hero we see on the television at the very beginning of the video turns out to be the doctor who we see in the hospital in the final scene. In this ending scene, the doctor unbuttons his shirt to reveal the 'M' of is suit he wears as a superhero, which the audience would have seen him wearing in the interview at the start. However, the person in our group playing that character forgot to wear the M when we were filming that first scene and, similarly to the science lab scene, we couldn't easily re-film it in time for the deadline. Re-trying this project, I would make sure to look for small details like this at the time as to not have these issues later in the project's life. It is probably worthy to note that I was not in the room with the group as this scene was being filmed as I was sent to go sort out some other things for future scenes, but this would still be something I would want to improve on.
What I enjoyed most about the project:
Personally, I enjoyed quite a bit of this project. Specifically, quite a bit of the filming I was apart of was pretty fun, as well as the editing part of it being really enjoyable for me. This is because of the fact that I really enjoy video editing anyway, so being allowed to use a smooth, professional editing programme like Adobe Premiere, learning details about how to use it better while doing the work, was great. As for the filming part of it all, being allowed and trusted to go off independently with group members a lot of the time was fun to do. Some of the filming was more stressful or simply less fun than others, but overall, it was quite a good part of the project to take part in, with my role as being onscreen for the majority of it (although in the future I would love to be behind the camera instead).
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