top of page
EVALUATION AND REFLECTION
My short film "Boxed In" appeals to its target audience of young to middle aged people. The film has a dark tone and is in the Thriller genre as it is about a robbery that went awry, and one of the theives losing his mental stability due to his actions. This would appeal to young to middle aged people as they are more likely to watch films in the Thriller genre as it is a niche genre. The style of the film would appeal to its target audience as it is shot and edited in a non-conventional way that would make it interesting for the target audience to watch. The format of the film appeals to the target audience as it was shot in 1080p at 16:9 aspect ratio and exported from Premiere Pro at 1080p resolution. This format works for the target audience as it is high quality. If it was in a lower resolution such as 480p or in a smaller aspect ratio such as 4:3, the low quality would be distracting and off-putting to the audience. The creative quality of the film would appeal to the target audience. For example, the film has shots such as long take shots and tracking shots. These shots make the film more visually appealing to the target audience as these shots are more engaging than having a conventional shot such as a shot-reverse-shot or a medium shot. The editing appeals to the target audience as it creates tension in the film. The film has visual effects such as blurring and glitches to convey to the audience the instability of the character. I used similar effects in my first short film to convey the unease in the scenes. The sound effects in the film also convey this, for example, the man believing he can hear the news reporter accuse him of murder and ask him about his actions. These creative aspects make the film more attractive to the target audience.
I wrote, directed, shot and edited the film. I fulfilled the roles well. The shooting for the film was complete after two 1 hour and 30 minute shoots. This matches what was predicted on the shooting schedule, with no extra time or reshoots needed. I met the requirements of the target audience as the film is a dark Thriller. During the production of the film, I used my time well. The script was written in around a week, storyboarding the film and researching took round 2 weeks and filming and editing took 2 weeks. There was no wasted time during the production of the film. During production of the film, I kept a production dairy and recorded everything I did for the production over the weeks. For the production diary, I took pictures to document the production.
During production I had to make production decisions to make sure the film was produced successfully. During the production process, filming locations were changed due to their practicality for filming. The first edited version of the film included no sound effects. This was done intentionally as I wanted the audience to hear what the main character was hearing in the film. Due to the ringing in his ears, he could not hear most sounds. The only sound effects in this version where the ringing ears and police sirens and police dialogue. I made a second version of the film, including the sound effects for the visuals, such as the characters foot tapping and footsteps. This version of the film was not as successful as the original version of the film when showed to a small audience. The sound effects removed the tension that the music alone created in the original version. Some of the clips from the shooting of the film were removed from the film due to either being shot incorrectly or not fitting in to certain scenes. During the long take tracking shots, the camera lost focus when the actor was too far away. To prevent this in future productions, I will use equipment such as different lenses and mobile tripods to keep the shot in focus. The style of some of the scenes were changed during production as well, with new scenes being added and planned scenes being shot differently. I listened to advice and guidance during production of the film, changing some of the direction for the actor when it was suggested to me. The film was produced on budget, with the only costs being on props for the film.
My research helped me when shooting my film as I used information from my research to shoot some scenes. For example, when I shot my long take shots I included parts where I could cut together multiple takes if needed to make the shot appear continuous when editing. I did this as when I researched long takes and methods of shooting them, I researched Hoyte Van Hoytema, the cinematographer of Spectre. Hoyte Van Hoytema created the long take in the film by seamlessly editing together a group of separate long takes to make it appear as one continuous long take.
My research also helped me when shooting the scenes when the character is alone in the room. I wanted to make the camera movements look more natural and to convey the instability of the character, so I used multiple hand-held shots in my film. In my research, I researched Directors and Cinematographers that use hand-held shots in their films and why they use them. Paul Greengrass uses hand-held shots in his films to create anxiety and instability within a scene. I used hand-held shots to convey the same emotions within my film.
My research also helped me when developing my ideas for my film. Before writing the script for my film I researched the conventions of short film scripts. One of the conventions of a short film is to only include a few characters, as too many characters with their own individual story that needs to be resolved can overcrowd the short running time of the film. My film tells the story of only one character. Another convention of a short film is that they convey a strong emotion to the audience. I wanted my film to convey anxiety and panic to the audience through the characters and the editing.
bottom of page