Week 15 – Final Words
Goodbye Coventry University!
I’ve said what I needed to say in previous posts.
Having finally seen the final edit on the submission day, I have to say I’ve got mixed thoughts about our film. In perspective, since I didn’t get a chance to edit or even look at the rushes, my first impressions are easier to point out than to those who have seen it over and over. The positives I found about this film was the expressions being sold brilliantly by our actors. It is these little filler shots that add to the professional touch. I have complimented the quality of the film so many times but it can not be overlooked. The detail is amazing and I’m proud to have been involved with such excellent equipment. But then my problems arose as the film went on; the scenes looked really tight on our actors, as if the camera was right in their face. This of course wasn’t the case when we filmed it and it didn’t seem like this on the LCD screen, but that’s how it looked on the projector. I understand from the interim critique when someone mentioned that it looked claustrophobic in a majority of the shots. The room we filmed in was small and had I been able to carry out my role as AD, I probably would have suggested an alternative. In addition to this, I feel Curtis should have noticed this as he sat down with the HD field monitor during the production. This was a mistake that couldn’t be fixed it seems. Another problem with the edit was the flowing of continuity scenes. For example, we would have a close up shot of Naveen on the dinner table looking to his left – the camera would be facing him from the right side of his face. It would then cut to a medium shot of him looking to his left (the shot where he looks at the hat) and again the camera is at the right side of his face. It just wasn’t a good flow as the camera was in the same position of the character. When the cut is made, it seems as it it was a jump cut. We should have had a variety of angles and shots for this type of scene. I was surprised that the whole of the script was used within the final edit and I thought that it dragged on. Some of the dialogue needed cutting down mainly due to the tedious over the shoulder shots that would go back and forth. Again, a variety of angles were needed. I am still negative on the music used and I didn’t feel any passion towards it. Credit to Luke for getting permission but I didn’t think it was appropriate for the film. It required a score without vocals in my opinion and therefore we wouldn’t be distracted from our actors’ dialogue. I am really unhappy about the exterior shots, mainly due to the rain and construction sounds. Along with our actors needing to leave early, we had to rush the last scenes and I think we didn’t get enough. The ending was no different to the rough cut I saw almost a month ago and it just shows that we need to plan a variety of shots. Luke didn’t film enough and I didn’t think he carried out his camera role appropriately as well as he did with the lighting.
Even though a lot of people were positive about the film, I still feel there was plenty of room for improvement. I am satisfied, but don’t feel like it’s my ‘baby project’ which is what I promised I’d treat it like. It’s been a wonderful lesson learnt, that you should really (REALLY) plan well in advance. And you should also delegate tasks responsibly and not take on too much yourself. I feel that towards the end of this project, I had nothing to do and that’s why it was easier for me to point out these errors. Had I have been involved with the editing, then I would’ve overlooked these. In the future I will improve by letting my voice heard. It’s really challenging to do this when the group disagrees but if you feel it will work then you should go for it. I believe this is my one weakness and I need to overcome this next time.
The other groups’ projects were really well done and it was a fun way to end our module. I really enjoyed Sam Calverly’s and Marcus Essbergers’ ‘Divided Kingdom’ – the cinematography and acting was spot on. I really felt like I was watching Green Steet meets This Is England and not made by two students!
Here’s to the future of our media lives.
Azizur Rahman.
