Introduction:
The final major project which I will be evaluating is an adventure film titled, ‘Gateways’ which follows a young writer named Lawrence. At a young age, Lawrence discovered he had the ability to travel wherever he wanted simply by thinking of a location and opening up a doorway leading him there. When looking for inspiration in the city he discovers he is at a loss and decides to use his ability to escape to the countryside and there he believes he will find his inspiration.
I will now go on to assess the feedback given to me as well as the overall outcome and level of success of, ‘Gateways’.
The Product’s Purpose:
In light of the past three months, or so, working on my final major project, I believe that the final product serves its purpose which is to bring light to visiting the Peak District for younger audiences. I believe that the supernatural element of, ‘Gateways’ positively influences younger audiences as it is a largely recognizable factor in modern day cinema, especially for this age demographic being people aged 12 and upwards. I believe that the fact that the protagonist is of a young age, will also influence the target audience to visit the Peak District more often as we see him grow fond of the change in surroundings and, from that point, we see the mood pick up and become more benevolent. Being that when I first started, I set out to create a positive, up-beat adventure film and now that it is finished this all fits, in I would definitely say that it fits its purpose and is something myself and the team should be proud of.
I believe that the final product does, indeed, follow the codes and conventions of an adventure film. For one, it clearly reflects on a protagonist flooded with positivity and wonder when he visits a wide open space in the great outdoors; Somewhere he has not particularly thought to go before. I believe that when we show this change in mood we reassure the audience that their feelings are correct and that the uplifting atmosphere is now the main focus in terms of a backdrop for the story line. One moment which shows this, would be the moment towards the end when the character stands upon a rock formation and verbalizes his admiration for his new surroundings; ‘Sweet Verity, all is bright all is beautiful.’ Again, it is reinforcing the sense of adventure and change. I set
At another moment in the film, where we first see the protagonist enter the Peak District, there are a variety of extreme long shots which would follow the codes and conventions of an adventure film; Wide angled shots of fields and trees with the sky more visible. As well as this there is the uplifting score which begins to play to represent the protagonist’s change in mood as he embraces the different environment. This is often a code and convention of an adventure film and really sells the location that the film is filmed in. Often, in such films as, ‘Stardust’ there are scores which play along with the shots of the locations where we follow the diverse characters. These scores always fit with the pacing of each shot and I believe that this worked in the final film.
The reaction from the audience was extremely positive, the entire audience laughed at moments where I had injected humour into the film and this was precisely the reaction I was looking for. Being that the audience were within the age demographic, but older than 12 years of age, this was even more of a positive result. I was reassured that the product had truly served its purpose and entertained.
To improve the fitness for purpose, I believe that I could have asked the cinematographer to shoot more scenery shots out in the Peak District just to further the positive and cinematic feel of the whole product. However, this is something only I have picked up on and none of the members of the audience, or the tutors, referred to a lack of scenery shots. I also believe that to improve, I should have focused on directing more still shots whilst out in the Peak District as one tutor assessed a shot where the protagonist runs up to a tree. The camera then follows the actor as they continue on past the tree heading out of shot to the left. The tutor said that they thought it would have been better, had the cinematographer kept the camera still and allowed the actor to run out of frame. On reflection, I believe that I could have further assessed the shooting of this particular shot, beforehand, and explain to the cinematographer why it needed to be altered.
The main purpose of the product was to inspire younger audiences to visit the Peak District more. This brought forth a number of questions I had to take into consideration such as how old should the protagonist be? and even, what events should take place in the film? I believe that, as a whole, I successfully took the story in the right direction and made it appeal to the chosen audiences. However, perhaps I could have cut-down the level of confusing phrases the protagonist delivered when verbally listing ideas for a novel. This would, most likely, confuse younger audiences as opposed to the protagonist simply talking to himself about what he is experiencing. However, considering the screening to the class, I am hard-pressed to find any comments people made about the story not making sense to them. In fact, the members of the audience praised the story and how it brought a very up-beat feeling to the overall approach to the adventure film genre.
Feedback & Comments:
When given feedback on my final major project, there were several points given by the audience which were both constructive and perceptive.
Audience:-
Some addressed the use of the scores, I personally provided, and even asked if I intended to, ‘…use a motif’ when building up the moment another gateway was about to open. They talked of how the individual notes somehow became recognizable as the lead-up to another gateway appearing. Though this was not necessarily entirely deliberate, I did intend to make the scores run smoothly alongside the sound effects and if this was appreciated and addressed by the members of the audience then I can only assume that this worked well.
Others addressed the Foley work and how, at points, the footsteps were slightly out-of-sync. They went on to discuss ways of which this could have been improved such as by having a live video reference whilst recording Foley or by watching over the areas of the film which required the Foley and taking more time to line up the audio with the visuals.
Again, the audience responded well to the humour and said that it was timed well. As said before, the entire audience responded at the time and instantly made the effort to address the comedy and congratulate the success of it. Referring back to the pitch, I briefly mentioned how I wanted, at the very least, a small amount of humour. Now looking at the final product as well as the feedback towards it, I can see that the comedy worked just as I wanted it to back when the film was simply an idea I had. One member of the audience talked of how they the humour helped create a very ‘happy’ mood.
When asked if the concept fitted my original idea during my pitch, the audience confidently answered, ‘Yes’ and went on to say that when reflecting on my pitch and the ideas which I had, the final product was extremely close to the original idea and the overall concept was near enough the same.
One member of the audience discussed their admiration for the effect itself and how there was realism added with the added lighting; Whenever the gateways open there is light hitting the surroundings and creating the effect that the gateway is actually part of the reality the protagonist lives within and not just an added on piece of imagery.
Another member of the audience addressed the story line and how everything is ‘explained’ well. The audience even responded to a question the tutor asked by saying that they were never bored; They were always engrossed with everything that was happening. One member of the audiences even commented saying how it was, ‘Well-paced’. This, of course, being due to both the editing which, clearly, was not too fast or confusing and the actual storytelling.
Another member of the audience, talked of how perhaps the beginning of the film was slow when the protagonist is, ‘…walking through town’. This did not, immediately, come-forth as a problem when in post-production. However, now considering that others interpret the genre of adventure slightly differently, I see how it could prove a little prolonged. As a whole, the individual did not dwell on this point and seemed to agree that it was not a problem which would majorly affect the remainder of the film.
Referring back to the effects, the audience commented on how the shots where the protagonist enters and exits a gateway are, ‘…seamless’ and how, ‘…it looks like one movement as opposed to the same movement twice…’ This, again, was extremely pleasant to hear, as I intended to make the effect as plausible and as smooth as possible. Having worked on the effect for a certain amount of time, the effect began to lose its impact and I lead myself to believe that it did not look as well as I expected it to. Now, having received this feedback, I feel reassured that this was simply down to me working on the same effects for days without focusing on other work.
Tutor(s):-
In relation to what the tutors said about the final film, there were a number of positive comments as well as constructive, just as before.
One tutor picked up on the footsteps provided by the sound operator. They talked of how during the town sequence they were slightly out-of-sync. This was something I only really picked-up on after the film was in the late stages of editing, approaching the final render. They went on to say that during the Peak District sequence this was no longer an issue. This was a relief, as I had the same opinion and seen as the footsteps, which were out-of-sync, only lasted a matter of seconds neither the audience nor tutor or even myself saw any reason for it to affect the entire film. The scores partly acted as a distraction to the issue but the issue was only minor.
Another tutor approached a small issue they had with the wipe transition used at several points throughout, ‘Gateways’. They commented saying that they found it unnecessary and found that it would make more sense being used if there was some form of a fight scene being built up towards. They respected that it was a technique influenced by Edgar Wright’s work and expressed how enjoyable they found the entire product. For future reference, I have taken on-board the comment about the transition but will not avoid using it where I see relevant. However, I will assess its effectiveness and if it does not meet my expectations then I will consider further options.
The tutor also commented on the footsteps sometimes falling out of sync just as before. This was something both tutors picked up on and, for future projects, this will be something I make sure I avoid when instructing people, working on sound, to independently capture the Foley.
The Film:
What went well/ What could have been improved:
Looking at, ‘Gateways’ as a whole, there are several aspects of it which work and several which could have worked better. Through the weeks of planning and even carrying out physical practice for the final shoot, we encountered a number of possible issues and, with regards to whether or not we were able to avoid them at the time, I believe we successfully made the most of situations and found ways around the problems.
One thing which worked well with the final product, would be the editing and composition of the shots. When watching back the final product, there was no clear differentiation between shots which worked at an even pace and others which were not given enough time on-screen. Though one member of the audience suggested that, perhaps, the town sequence was a little, ‘long’ this did not become a reoccurring comment and, the majority of views were that the story was delivered smoothly.
One thing which did not work as well as expected, and mentioned above, was the syncing of the protagonist’s footsteps during the town sequence. Though, for the most part, I was extremely pleased with the Foley work, I did realize that there were moments where the character would be moving and for a second, or so, there would be a delay. All of a sudden, in would come the Foley footsteps. After screening, ‘Gateways’ to the class, members of the audience picked up on the Foley and how it fell out of sync at certain points during the movie. Of course, to avoid this issue in the future I will make sure that there is an available video reference to work from whilst recording the Foley. This method worked well during unit 5 when we recorded Foley for silent films.
Reflecting on the work I did for, ‘Gateways’ there is a similar situation. For the most part, myself and the members of the audience were extremely pleased with the final outcome. However, during the town sequence there is a moment where the score I provided becomes louder than the protagonist’s voice. This was something which could have easily been avoided and, in post-production, I decreased the volume of the score to make the vocal recordings more audible. The main issue with doing this was that I did not re-examine the audio during this moment and found that I had not turn the volume down enough. On balance, this was not a problem which affected the entirety of the film as I became more thorough with regards to checking the volume of the scores and vocal recordings. For the most part, the scores worked well alongside the other audio in the movie and did not require constant changes.
With regards to the Gateway effects in the film, there were no issues raised by the audience, rather more raised by myself. During the end of the town sequence where the protagonist first ventures out to the Peak District, I rotoscoped the actor so that he Gateway effect appeared to be in front of him rather than behind. However, looking back on the effect, I found that I had feathered the edges of the mask around the actor a little too much. Therefore, there were areas in front of the actor which were covering the gateway effect and, to me, this made it more apparent that there was rotoscoping involved rather than the effect appearing seamless and smooth.
Looking at how the audience responded to the effect, there was one member, as mentioned before, who admired my use of environmental lighting; Whenever the protagonist opens or closes a gateway there is light on his surroundings. Of course, this was not done practically as the shots were filmed in day light and any additional lighting, in the areas we filmed these shots, would have been almost completely invisible. I masked out, and feathered, areas of land nearby where the gateway was going to be and increased the brightness, subtly. The member of the audience said how it made the effect seem realistic and avoided making the effect seem noticeable and as though it was simply added to the shots with no consideration. Another member of the audience said how each shot involving the gateway effect was, ‘cleverly-done’ and how I had, ‘…thought about it all…’. My main target, was to make sure the effect was sold and looked part of the world I had built around this character and, considering all the comments given relating to it, I believe I achieved this.
One aspect which one of the tutors picked up on, which could have been improved, was the end credits. After informing the tutor that I had provided all of the scores in the movie, they responded saying that I should have, ‘…credited…’ myself. This was something I, originally, thought had already been done. However, when rendering out the end credits to add to the finished film we found that the font was altered due to working on different computers. Though the tutor did not stress any issues they had with the font’s appearance, this was something I, personally, wanted to improve. After receiving this feedback, I instantly set myself on-task improving the font style for the end credits and adding in additional roles and names which we had missed out beforehand.
Research/Pre-producion:
With regards to whether or not any pre-production work, and research, had any impact on the film, I believe that there were several pieces which contributed. One example would be, the early stages of looking at the effect for the portal. At times, I had looked back on my, ‘7 Deadly Sins’ title sequence along with the components I had used for the effects within that project. For the burning oil in the sequence, I used a shot of bath water with the shower head raining down on it creating a ripple effect.
After several attempts looking at different glowing effects I could use for the gateway, I found myself looking over a shot capture during experiment week. I then used a rectangular mask tool and masked a small section of the shot with the rippling water. I then increased the brightness and this created a yellow glowing effect. Something about the aesthetic of the fields and then the yellow glow just seemed to work and look natural. The sheer simplicity encouraged me to see the effect as a positive and, before-long, I found that the effect would work in the final project. Of course, the rectangular shape was finally changed to a more circular shape, but the texturing was still there.
Another piece of research which helped aspects of the film I was involved with would be when I looked at the training montage from Matthew Vaughn’s, ‘X-Men: First Class’. Of course, I had discussed the input I wanted to have with regards to the colour in the film during my pitch. After referencing the film in my research I was reminded of how colourful and vibrant each shot looks. When in post-production, the editor would consult me with regards to whether or not the shots were colour graded the way I wanted them to be. Fortunately, myself and the editor’s ideas were not entirely separated and we were able to achieve the vibrant, summery look for the Peak District sequence.
How did the final product turn out:
I believe that the final product turned out extremely well. There were always going to be issues with working on such a project, no matter how much planning went into it. Considering that the idea of having the character transporting himself from one place to the next was rather ambitious I believe that the final effect was rather respectable. One shot, in particular, that I think worked was the shot where the protagonist exits a gateway at a tilted angle. The mist which is seen exiting the gateway with the protagonist, really added depth to the effect and made it feel part of the scene.
Though there were a few minor problems with Foley during the town sequence, all the sound work was extremely well made and worked well with the pacing of the film. The moments where we see the protagonist running across rock formations, the Foley was extremely well done and worked in-sync with the actor’s footsteps.
The cinematography was to an extremely high standard and I believe that the Director of photography really captured the beauty of the Peak District and, overall, of the summer season. Many of the camera movements were extremely thrilling and stayed true to what I was aiming for in selling the adventure genre. The way the camera was positioned, along with the placement of the actor was of an exceptional standard and continued to paint a picture of my vision.
Given that he had a small amount of time to learn them in, I believe that the actor managing to remember all the lines, I wrote for him, was another exceptional outcome when we approached making the final product. Of course, a copy of the script was taken with us on the shooting day but after I gave a little direction to the actor he was able to perform the lines to his best ability. Given feedback by a friend, they said they found the ‘dialogue’ both ‘cheesy’ and ‘dead’ which I believe was as a result of confusing the character’s ideas for him recalling past events which had happened in his life. Either way, most responded positively to the lines, even when admitting they were ‘…bizarre…’. After all, this was intentional.
I composed each of the scores in a piece of software titled, ‘FL Studio 12’ In most films, scores are created practically with orchestras and conductors in recording studios. However, with the time we had and the fact that I had the software at my disposal, it made more sense to make all the scores in there. In the end, I was extremely happy with them all as they all sounded cinematic and all served their individual purposes in the film. They even contributed to the success of the humour such as the moment where the protagonist jumps from a rock formation, materializes a gateways and then falls as it closes.
Would I change anything (Given a different role):
Sound:-
If I was in the role of the sound operator, I would definitely take either a tablet or some form of device which would allow me to have a video reference available at the time. This would be to avoid the moments where footsteps fell out of sync. I would also probably try and record a wider variety of foot step sound effects, just to make sure that I covered different terrain.
I would have also probably changed my position when recording the actor’s dialogue on the shooting days just to make sure there was maximum coverage and, when editing, the volume of the monologues could be increased. I would probably have recorded three minutes of ambiance at each of the three locations we shot at in the Peak District.
Actor:-
If I was in the role of the actor, I would have asked the director for a copy of the script, prior to the shooting week. I would have revised the lines for thirty minutes every night leading up to the shoot week and then begin to envision how I would interpret and perform these lines when in role.
I would constantly be asking the director how I was supposed to deliver certain lines and practice projecting my voice between takes. For the most part, I was extremely happy with the performance of the actor as they were able to bring laughter forward, in the audience and even further accentuate the positive mood of the film.
Cinematographer:-
If I was in role as the cinematographer, I would have shot a collection of additional footage of the locations. I would have also made sure that there were a reasonable amount of still shots to balance out the shots which involve significant movements. This often helps with the pacing of the film. However, this did not affect the pacing of, ‘Gateways’ as there were still shots.
I would just consider adding more in for moments where it may not seem as relevant. The still shot where my own cameo appears helps with the comedy in the scene as we see he protagonist exit shot leaving behind my character. The fact that the camera remains still, looking at me emphasizes the character’s confusion and allows the audience time to respond.
Editor:-
If I was in the role of the editor, I would have perhaps focused on cutting out sections of footage where the actor(s) are looking at the camera or towards the director whilst waiting for further instructions. At one moment in the film, we have a three second space where the actor remains still and then looks towards the director. After this pause, he then begins performing the lines. In terms of the edit, I would split the clip to the moment where the actor is looking past the camera and in the process of performing his lines just to make sure the wall between the audience and the fictional character is not broken. Some films often do this, intentionally however it was not part of my idea to have the character break the fourth wall and so this would have been something I would change.
Also, there is a moment where protagonist attempts to jump into a gateway from a rock formation. The gateway closes as he panics and he stumbles to the ground. There is a shot where we see him stumbling down the pathway before falling over. Personally, I thought that this shot lasted a little longer than what would be ideal. I would have started the shot further ahead where the protagonist is stumbling and then falls rather than starting it when he is further away.
Conclusion:
In conclusion, the past few months working on, ‘Gateways’ unit 8 have been challenging. However, this is an advantage as it is all preparation for when working in the world of cinema; There is never an easy project around. The more effort put into a project, the more people see how passionate you are for it and how much the project means to you on a personal level.
Pre-production:-
During the pre-production stages of unit 8, there were a number of challenges. One challenge would have been the pitch; When first approaching making a presentation slide show to refer to when I actually stood before the class and talked about my idea, I found it difficult to gather information which related to what I was wanting to discuss.
For example, I was aiming to discuss how scenes are directed and every time I began analyzing a scene from a film, I found myself discussing the cinematography and movements as opposed to the actual director’s decisions. Also, when first asked to discuss location, I interpreted the task wrong and began talking about locations used in films which matched the genre(s) of my final major project. From there, I had to begin back-tracking and making sense of what I had wrote.
Another piece of work I found a challenge would be the action plan. When listing work which had to be completed for specific times I found myself trying to rationalize dates and be realistic. I was continuously asking myself whether or not I had done something wrong and listed completely different dates to the actual schedule.
After creating the shooting script and the script itself, It was said that a storyboard would be unnecessary. However, I began creating a storyboard to further assist the cinematographer in achieving my vision. However, I only managed to draw very abstract moments from the film from the start through to the end. This did not present itself as a major challenge and, using the shooting script, we were still able to create the film close to my original idea.
Writing the script was not so much a challenge as it was a delight. I was able to record down all my ideas and then begin editing them to try and rationalize the script for a short adventure film. In the end the script was considered, ‘well-paced’ and ‘bizarre’ which, in many ways, was what I was aiming for. I already knew how to set out a script, with slug lines and all words in capital letters if not part of dialogue, so as said before, this did not present itself as a challenge and was handled with confidence.
Once the equipment list and shooting log were completed, we were ready to begin filming.
Production:-
After the experimentation day, we were more familiar with the environment we were going to be shooting in. Having tested out using the telephoto lens, we decided that the second time around we would avoid taking it and avoid re-shooting the shot we had shot with the lens. This was the shot which inspired the final gateway concept so, as a whole, the shot of the actor running at the top of a field in the Longshaw Estate was not a complete waste of time as it contributed to one of the main factors in the finished product.
Managing to use the drone for several elevated shots was a great advantage and the shots captured were utilized in, ‘Gateways’ despite the lack of a live feed from the camera, on the day. However, one critique from a tutor was that during the shot where the protagonist is running across the rock formations, the drone continues to fly over the actor’s head. The tutor did not understand why this was kept in the film and said how it would make more sense to have the scene cut when the drone is closer to the actor.
At times, recording monologue was a challenge as there is one moment where the actor is sat at the edge of a rock formation and the ground around that specific area is not particularly leveled. The boom operator was slightly off-balance when recording the monologue of the actor and this showed in the final product; It is subtle but when he speaks you can hear the boom pole and shotgun microphone mildly shaking. Again, this was nothing which majorly affected the final film but would have been better avoided.
Post-production:-
The editor seemed confident in piecing together the shots which would make the final film. Whenever in-doubt of something, the editor would simply turn to me and asked how I wanted the scene or shot to be edited together. This was extremely helpful and allowed my constant input to be put-forth into the film.
Our scheme of work was extremely successful as the editor would be piecing together the whole film, the sound person would be gathering the external audio recordings and I would be creating the visual effects such as the gateways. This helped push things forward and allow us to add as much detail to the film as possible whilst still keeping up with meeting the official deadline.
At times, the effects grew stale when I spent hours working on key frame animation and increasing the brightness for the gateway. However, as mentioned before, the audience responded well to the final film when it was screened.
One major challenge was adding the scores to the film before it was all rendered out. The group had to set the town sequence and the Peak District sequence exporting on two different machines so that I could take them home and use them as video reference when creating each score. The issue was that the machines were working slower than usual and the export claimed it would take close to an hour to completely save. This all became a problem as we drew closer to the end of the college day.
However, one member of the group set a low quality version of the Peak District sequence exporting and within a smaller amount of time, it was saved. From there, I was able to create the scores, in-line with the film whilst at home. In the end, the scores proved extremely successful and cinematic. When I raised an issue I had with the scores cutting off abruptly in the final product, the tutor responded by saying that it was not a blatantly obvious problem. This was very reassuring and partly the reason I believe that the final film is as successful as I hoped it would be.
Though there was the initial problem with the footstep Foley being out-of-sync during the town sequence the entire film was a delight. I received the reactions, from the audience, that I wanted and even the elements of humour which I had worked into the script were largely celebrated by the class. Even the line leading up to the cinematographer’s cameo worked well as it created a build-up and when the cameo was shown there was context and the audience reacted well. This, again, was down to a number of things including the editing, the acting and even the script-writing. As a whole, I am extremely happy with the final result and am exceptionally proud of each member of my group for listening to my ideas and doing their best to make them work.
Brandon Hobson 
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