Poetic Film Screening: Feedback

On Monday we showed our two minute poetic film.

The film was not in a finished state when we screened it.  Joe, our editor, reported that he had had set backs (which I presume he will cover in his own blog).  On the day of the screening the whole group sat with the editor while he assembled the film.  It was good that Hannah (director) and I (as producer) were there as we gave a fresh pair of eyes to the sequence and were able to suggest different shots, which we knew we had from the filming sessions, or offer our opinions as to the running order and pace.

I was disappointed that we hadn't managed to have a finished and polished film for the screening.  I take this course very seriously and treat it as a full time job, with all the disciplines that that involves; organisation, prioritisation, time management, resourcing and attention to detail to produce a professional product.  I like to treat assessments as though they are professional commissions and adhere to deadlines and standards as I would to any employer.


The film that we screened contained a lot of the ideas that we wanted but not necessarily the best examples of, or treatment of, the footage, and it felt like it hadn't found it's shape yet.  It was a flat mish-mash of 'the type of shots' that we want to feature in the final poetic film, but it lacked soul.  It didn't have a life of it's own which would make it stand up on it's own and be considered an interesting work of art.

I'm not too worried about that at the moment as we were all aware that it was far from finished.  Hannah and I have had a lot of discussion about how it needs to develop and we are keen to keep working on it.  I think the important thing at the minute is to get the editors working on the ten minute film.  It could be that Hannah and I could work on finishing off the two minute film.

Feedback

The feedback from the screening was really useful.  I agreed with a lot of the points and think we actually got off very lightly.  Don't get me wrong, I think there are a lot of good elements in our two minute film, it was just that I saw it as a rough cut, not a final film.
 
The tutors commented on the use of music, that is something that we are still working on.  Luke as sound editor will be working with Joe (editor) to organise the sounds in the ten minute film.  Although I gained clearance for the music I am wondering whether or not we should use it.  We will discuss this at the next production meeting.

The sound design of the crowd noise build up was positively commented on.  I like the build up, it fits the atmosphere of the sequence.

Some of the shots need to be more still.  The handheld works in the ground amongst the crowd but not for the establishing shots and cut aways - agreed.  This will be worked on.

Film "not self contained" - I agree with this.  It needs a life of it's own.  A narrative arc or point of interest.

"Doesn't explain why Tango is interesting" - Personally I don't like the use of the black title frames and the movement of text and voiceover at the same time.  In the ten minute the text will be presented differently, as headline graphics resembling newspapers or Twitter screen.

As Chrissie said in our feedback, one of the purposes of the two minute film is to experiment and see what works before charging off into the ten minute film.  As the producer and director, Hannah and I have had a long discussion about the two minute film, things we would like to alter and improve, and hazards to look out for, and ideas that work, during the assembly of the ten minute.