Film Evaluation

I undertook the role of director as well as the lead character in the film extract we were required to create.
The opening of our extract shows two characters, whose names are not revealed, walking up stairsd and down a corridor in order to enter a secure room. I wanted this sequence to show that the characters were intent on completing their task so I decided not to write any dialogue for this part of the extract. I feel this worked however I admit if there had been a few lines of dialogue between the two character would have shown a little more about their personality in the short sequence. The reason I left the dialogue out despite this is because I was not trying to fit everything about the characters into a two or three-minute sequence, considering it is an extract.
As my character does not appear during this part of the extract. I was able to do some camerawork. I decided to do several shots from creative angles to add to the atmosphere of the film. For example, one shot shows the two characters walking up stairs from over the railings at the top of the staircase, once they get halfway up the stairs, the camera changes to a medium shot showing the characters get closer to the camera, which is placed in the middle of the stairwell to show the characters as they get close and further from the camera.
I liked this shot and I felt it gave a sense of the building that they were in, the walls are a plain colour and there isb't really much going on in the background, however had I the chance to re-shoot I would have considered making the scene slightly longer and showing a bit more of the setting.
The next shots show the characters approaching the door, one of the characters then places a keycard up to the door and a buzzer goes off, allowin them to open the door. I think the close-up shot of the key card being pressed against the door worked really well because it showed where the buzzer noise was coming from better than a medium shot would have. I also like the use of the sound effect, the buzzer is similar to that used in police interrogation rooms.
I liked the use of camerowrk when the two characters enter the interrogation room, the camera is positioned high up in the corner of the room, to make it appear as a CCTV camera. It follows one of the characters as they stand in a corner while the other sits down ar a desk, facing the third character.
Throughout the sequence a tapping can be heard, the scene cuts back and forth between the two characters approaching the interrogation roon, and the suspect tapping his finger on the table. This shot was a close-up to bring the audience closer to the action and build suspense. However I would have like to get some different shots of this motion in order to add variety to the extract. For example when the other characters enter the room, the finger-tapping cuts in for a short time again, in my opinion this becomes tedious and I would have liked to pad this part out with a different shot.
The central character turns out the lights by just snapping his fingers, showing the audience in this short extract that he has supernatural powers. I like how this was put together, instead of just turning the lights out in the room and filming that, the camera was covered up completely and a few seconds were filmed to emphasise the lights going out, almost as if the central character had put out all lights momentarily.
I composed the music. I wanted to create an electronic ambient sound in order to work with the theme that is sat in the extract. I used a quiet ambient noise as a background note and it can be heard during most of the extract, over the top there is a slow, reapating piano loop. The piano adds a slightly eerie feeling which I think also works well with the theme of the extract.
The music stops during the interrogation and starts again before the final shot of the extract. However this music changes and become a lot edgier and much more noticeable than previous. I think the edgy music works will with the shot in question as it gives a feeling of energy as the central character makes a break for freedom from isolation.
The final moments of the extract show the central character glowing, emphasising his control of light. The music continues after the screen has suddenly gone black, giving the impression that the action is not yet finished.
I took a lot of inspiration for this extract from the interrogation scene in 'The Dark Knight' when the Joker appears superior to his interrogators up until the point that they start to become angry, when he uses their rage against them in order to escape. The idea of the name 'The Escapist' came from a movie of the same name in which the central character attempts to break free from prison. I wanted to use the anti-hero concept shown in both films.
To conclude I think the choise of shots that I included worked well with the diting and the soundtrack however if I were able to re-shoot this extract I would have definitely added some more shots in order to add variety to the extract so that we can make each shot short, increasing the pace.

Film Extract Evaluation

The film extract we made is on the theme of supernatural, and having super human powers. The clip we film is at the end of the film and shows one of these supernatural characters, that has been captured, being questioned then him escaping. We titled the film- The Escapist because of his strong ability to get out of sticky situations. We had to change the end of our sequence since one member of the group was absent on the last day of filming.

The role I have taken in the process is editor and actor. During filming I was one 3 actors playing the main detective. It was hard to find a film that be part of the influence but I think ‘Watchmen’ (2009) would be suitable. Just in like any supernatural film the character usually has a double identity, one with super powers and one as a public citizen. Watchmen doesn’t include this because of the obvious appearance of some of the characters. Our film relates to this since our ‘supernatural’ character doesn’t try to hide the fact that he ‘alien’ to other people and uses his powers to help him in awkward situations.

We all contributed our ideas on how we could improve shooting and what would be good camera angles to use. One shot used is a high angle from the corner of the room. This was to try make it look like a security camera watching them walk in.
Due to my acting skills being at a low standard I had trouble remembering any number of lines how long or short and this noticeable in one shot. We did many about 3 takes of each shot to make sure we got the one or how we wanted it.
The soundtrack created by another member of the group has a ambient feel at the beginning set as the background music to give more of a super natural feel to the clip.

My main role in the making was motion editing and partly editing the sound to fit the rest of the footage. I am confident in working on this task and I’m pleased with the final outcome. I started off by editing out the important parts of the footage and fitting them together. I noticed that some of the shot were way too long but I could not cut them any shorter so needed something to go in the middle. So I took the finger tapping, which was only going to go in one part of the sequence and placed in between all the clips that were too long leading up to entering the room then took the sound from it and carried that throughout the first half of the sequence. Feedback has told me that although the tapping was good there were one or two parts where the motion of the tap was out of time with the sound. Making a smooth transition between shot also came to difficulty but I think I covered this up more by making sure there was a continuity flow and made sense. I also faded in and out the sound clips so there was a sudden jolt which would have been very obvious. Using sound bridges in some shots helped to move the slower parts along quicker. We imported music from Garage Band which James created, to be used as the opening soundtrack. The type of editing I needed to use to help the storyline make sense was parallel editing. So we could see the detectives coming up the stairs as the same time The Escapist was tapping his finger, then both lines met as the detectives walked into the room where he was being held. Once getting to the end of editing we realise there was no reactions shot of the detectives while in the interrogation scene. The only thing that I could find was a shot of the second detective standing behind, with the head of the main detective in shot. This should have been thought about while in the planning stages and making the storyline/storyboard.
One big thing that was needed to be done was cutting down of the script. It started off as 2 or 3 pages and we decided as a group it was way too long to remember and would of also drag the extract out to about 7 minutes.
If this was to be done again I would think more carefully all the way through all the stages, Including storyboarding and preparation. In my section, editing, I would plan what I was going to with each time period I had and in advance think more in depth about the transitions, how each shot would fit together in a smooth way and keep in mind not to completely concentrate on motion editing that sound also plays a big part.

Whats Been Done So Far

We have started and finished all filming on the project. All the footage is uploaded onto the computer and has been cut into the main part we want to use. At this current time we are editing the sequence to standard and making clear transitions. The sound is also being worked on, trying to create ambient sound while two of the main characters are walking in the first part of the sequence. We are adding few sound effects over the top such as a door buzzer, urban sounds, clock ticking possibly.
We are trying to get on with the work at hand as quick as possible to complete it in time.

It's all coming together...

Since the last update we have completed filming and we're now in the editing stage. We are also creating possible soundtracks as well as sound effects such as doors opening etc. One problem we came across during filming was keeping continuity at a high level. For example we filmed over several lessons, so it was important that the entire cast that are appearing remembered to bring in costumes and props for every filming session.

Finalised idea

Our finalised idea is the interrogation of a figure with supernatural powers. Known as 'The Escapist' due to his ability to escape from almost any situation. The figure escapes from a secure interrogation room and is chased to a car park, where he finds another of his kind.

Basic Costume and Set Idea

Possible Locations
1. top of Grand Arcade Car Park

to be used near the end of the scene when the escapist chased to the 'rooftop'.

2. interrogation room

This is what we are looking for or a room close to this to be used as our interrogation room.


Basic Costume

Escapist: completely in black clothing
Detective inspector Frank Morgan: black pin stripe suit with red tie and silver watch.
Marcus Hunter: long sleeved plain sweater white shirt underneath, black jeans black shoes.
Figure1: red hoody, black jeans, black/red shoes.

Film Influences

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xX5EaARriDo



This scene demonstrates the main interrogation sequence of our idea. Using dark lighting to introduce characters, we are using this to make one character exit. As the character clicks his fingers the lights turn off and he disappears.
This also shows the character getting aggressive trying to pull information from the criminal, we will use this but no physical violence involved more physiological getting information by the language used.
Even though the 'inspector' thinks he has the upper hand it will actually be the suspect.