Film 4 Director/DP Reflection

NAME: Josh Allen

DATE: November 2, 2016

FILM: Film 4

DP: Josh Allen

TMA 285 DIRECTOR’S REFLECTION

Reflect on how your film turned out. Have the courage to evaluate your work not only with a self-congratulatory eye, but also with a critical eye. Step back; pretend the film wasn't made by you. Be exacting. Be demanding. Don't let yourself off the hook. Be completely honest about your performance.

- Turn in a hard copy of this statement the next class session after your film screens

- Upload the statement to Learning Suite the day after your film screens

- Post this to your blog with your film the day after your film screens

Overall response (2-3 paragraphs):

In 2-3 paragraphs, write an overall response to your film: Were you successful at achieving what you set out to achieve? What are you proud of? What would you do differently if you could remake this piece? What did you learn? 

            I think I mostly achieved what I wanted.  I was able to rotate around the event happening and get some interesting footage.  I am proud of all the different angles that I got.  I feel like I covered so much of what was going on, and I like that every person playing the game is shown.  I also feel like I mostly had good control over the focus.

            If I could remake this film, I would linger on faces for a little longer.  As discussed in class, it would have been easier to connect the people in the film if I had lingered on their faces for longer.  I also would have kept my hand on the focus ring.  There were a couple times when I accidentally grabbed the other ring that changes the F-stop.  That caused some problems.

Briefly answer the following:

What, specifically, did you want to communicate? Were you successful? Why? Why not?  I thought I was successful in showing an aspect of comedy and entertainment.  The players were having fun and joking around.  The joy of playing together was one thing I wanted to communicate.  I also wanted to communicate the drama of playing a card game.  I do not think I was very successful in that regard.  There was a little more fun than competition present in the film.

How, specifically, did you try to say this? What visual elements, techniques, etc. did you use?  I tried to use camera movement to intensify the drama.  Having constant movement that kept the audience on its toes should have been able to express this.

What did you learn about storytelling:  Exposition of characters is NECESSARY when you want to have a good film.  I need to be better at that!

Working with actors and getting performance:  Well, since this wasn’t acting, I’m not sure what to say.  However, I did have to do interesting things with blocking, which I will explain below:

Blocking — camera and actors: I had to make my “actors” sit close together so that I could have enough room to move around the group.  It was fun filming whatever I wanted from wherever I wanted!

Visuals — composition, framing, visual elements: I learned that it is hard to get specific compositions in a small space.  I was never able to capture all four people at once.

Design & Art Direction:  I cleared out some things from the room to make the space look less like we just dumped ourselves on the floor.  I also really liked the red playing cards!  They provided a nice color to the film.

The Production Process — collaboration with crew, the logistics of making this piece: I learned that I need to make sure that I know exactly what I am going to do before I start filming.  My subjects had to wait for me to get the camera set up because I had forgotten things.  This wasted their time and caused me stress.

                  

What was it like to watch your film with an audience? Did they understand it? Miss the point? Why did they respond the way they did?  It was enjoyable to watch my film with the rest of the class.  I was glad that some people liked the first shot, and I think people understood what was going on pretty easily.  One thing that I noticed was something that Jeff Hein said.  When explaining the story of the film, he said something along the lines of: “a group of friends and playing Go Fish.”  This is exactly what my film was about.  However, I wish there was more substance to it.  I wish that there were a bigger story with some kind of conclusion or climax.  I felt like that was seriously lacking in this piece.

Other observations: