Evaluation

R.E.D. Evaluation

Pre-Production

 I feel I could have planned the shoot more thoroughly, for example I could have spent more time on the storyboard. However I have always found that a more on-the-spot, instinctive approach has served me well, so I’m not really so worried that I didn’t spend a lot of time on the storyboard. I also could have tested ideas more, for example it would have been good to test creating an atmosphere with purely sound before the shoot so I knew how to go about doing it. The main reason for a lot of these issues is that I perhaps took too long on pre-production planning the story and characters, which in my defence has always been my main focus and interest. Basically, in future I should learn to manage my time more effectively. One good aspect of spending a lot of time on characters and story is that it resulted in me getting big ideas into a good script, which was ultimately the main goal of this project. I am very happy at how well the characters came out, I’m sure that this is a result of spending a lot of time developing the characters and really thinking through what motivates them and how they act.

Production

An important thing that I over looked is to always check the equipment before the shoot. Due to overlooking this important precaution, I ran into some problems with the camera that resulted in losing the footage and needing to re-shoot. This was a big problem that could have easily been avoided, however it did teach me the importance of checking the equipment and to be honest the footage wasn’t that good, it was rushed and overall not as good as it could have been and I somewhat glad that I had to re-shoot because the footage from the second shoot was far superior. During the making this film, I encountered a number of problems, the most annoying of which was a double booking of the studio theatre. Due to this problem, what was a four hour shoot suddenly became a two hour shoot. Fortunately, we all, Isaac, Ben and myself, worked quickly and got all but one shot done, this is due to us using the limited time effectively, shoot went very smoothly.. In the past I have always shot on location in public spaces, which inevitably meant having to deal with the general public, noise, weather etc. In contrast, I found using studio space very convenient, provided that there are no double bookings of the room. I really enjoyed being able to completely control the environment and not having to worry about the general public ruining a shot or bad weather. I will certainly consider using a studio space in future. I was happy that I managed to maintain a collaborative environment whilst still being in control. I’ve always enjoyed an easy going, collaborative work environment as I feel that it brings out the best in me and I happily welcome other people’s input but it is also important to maintain some level of control when it is your film and your ideas at it’s core.

Post-Production

One thing that I regretted whilst editing was not getting more cutaways or alternative shots.  This meant I didn’t have as much room to move as an editor and didn’t have much opportunities for alternate edits. There where a number of minor issues that had to be fixed in post-production, for example in one shot The Dark Other’s head is out of shot. To fix this I used a clip of a close-up of him to create a composite shot. I was very pleased with this as not only was it undetectable but it also made him look considerably better. Because we were using a studio space, inspired by Dogville, I instead used ambient sound to create the atmosphere of an eerie forest at night. I would have liked, if given more time, to have recorded the sounds and music myself, but due to limited time I was forced to use sounds obtained from freesound.org, I am happy though with the sounds I used and see no reason to change them now. I certainly feel that I succeeded in creating an atmosphere with purely sound. For the pacing I was inspired by a number of Sergio Leone westerns, particularly the beginning of Once Upon a Time in the West. I really like the slow pace of that scene and felt that it would help my film. I had this in mind since pre-production however didn’t due to limited time I didn’t get the scene as slow as I wanted during filming. Fortunately due to the voices being re-recorded and lip-syncing not being that necessary I was able to slow the pace down a lot, which I feel helped the film considerably. After screening the film, I felt that I needed to edit the film some more to make it perfect, but upon reflection I feel that it is as good as I can be, particularly as this is really only a test of an idea rather than a completed film, although it certainly can stand alone by it self.

Conclusion

Overall I am very pleased with the film. The goal of this project was to find a method of realising my fantastical ideas in a realistic and practical manner. I consider this film a success, in my eye it has achieved this goal and proven to me that I need not hold back on my more ambitious ideas because of limited budget and means.  One thing that did worry me was the recording of the dialogue. I had always intended to re-record dialogue and sadly was unable to use the sound suite. To get around this I got out recording equipment and decided to record at home over the weekend. However, the hiss on the recording was so bad we had to use the internal microphone on Isaac’s Mac. I was worried that the recording wouldn’t be good enough but after screening the sound got good feedback and seemed absolutely fine, so I see no need to re-record the dialogue anymore. This film is, in my eyes, merely a test of a larger idea. I fully intend to carry on the story in the future, however I feel this idea is too big to do any justice next term, so I do not intend to use this idea for my final piece. For my final I intend to tell a short story that is set within the same world. The events that this film was based on will play a part and be connected but will not be the focus.  

Editing and Final Thoughts

I have finished editing my film and I am very pleased with the results. There are a few minor things that would need tweaking but ultimately as a test, I view this film as a great success.

When editing, I had a limited amount of time and so upon reflection, more time perhaps would have been of great use. Because of the way I shot, I didn't have much room to move as an editor and would have preferred more alternative shots. The shots did look great however and I love the overall look of the film. As the film is shot in a studio space I want to attempt to create the atmosphere with ambiant sound. To do this I acquired some appropriate sounds of a forest at night and attempted to create an atmosphere.

The goal of this project was to find a way to realise one of my fantastical ideas in a practical and realistic manner without "dumbing down" the idea for the sake of budgets and the like. The characters have come out very well, though for the real film I will need professional actors. Although me, Isaac and Ben do a good job considering, I can't help but feel that having a professional cast would really help bring these characters to life. Another thing that I would improve in future is to plan the shots better so that I can edit more effectively, though in my defense I would have more shots had a number of technical problems arose. I intend to re-edit the film slightly, to try and make it a little better beofre hand in. Ultimately I feel that this test has proven to me that I am able to realise these ideas on a limited budget and means. I fully intend to continue this story and also intend to follow these ideas on into my final film next term. 

The First Test Shoot

I have just completed the first text shoot for this project and have, at the very best, had mixed results. There were a number of small issues, such as a lack of a story board or having to settle for a cannon 7D when I reserved a 5D, not to mention having our two hour time slot reduced to a one and a half hour time slot, due to me not being informed that the college shut a half hour before my time was up. However, me, Isaac and Ben, who were wonderful enough to aid me in this shoot, pulled together and managed to overcome these obstacles, with no friction and only a minor period of stress on my part. Overall, most of the shoot went very well indeed.

But, unfortunately the most crucial element of the test shoot turned out to be a failure. Because of a yet unknown technical error, the camera read the blank 32gb card as full and only recorded for a second after pressing the record button. This resulted in me not getting any of the footage, which to be honest honest, is crushingly disappointing.  We have since examined the camera and card, which still has over 31gbs available, and found nothing wrong. We were able to record perfectly fine.

Still, I refuse to let this be a complete failure and so I'm determined to learn from it. I intend to re-attempt a shoot and I am currently composing a list of things I have learnt from this shoot.

1) Get out equipment a day in advance and test it is working correctly.

2) Use the Dedo light kit, more lighting is needed to create the full effect.

3) Make sure to have all props before filming.

One positive thing to come out of this shoot are that it proved to me that this idea works and the characters look great. Also, I found working in a studio environment very useful and enjoyable.



I am going to begin organising another shoot, I intend to use the studio theatre again and if not possibly Room 1.22.  Below are some screen shots of what little footage was captured, unfortunately for some reason these pictures show considerably less darkness than the actual footage, in which the background was not visible. Please bare this in mind when viewing them.

Everything is coming together...

Tomorrow is the lighting workshop and aside from a few last minute things, everything is ready. I have sorted out the costumes for the Crimson God and the Suicide King and I'm very pleased with them. They look better than I had thought they would. I have also completed the script. Although, I intend to develop this into a large narrative for now I am simply attempting this first introductory scene.

"Things to come..."

I've been thinking lately that some experimentation and testing is in order. I have looked into some methods of realising my fantastical ideas in a practical way and now I feel it is time to experiment and see if they will suit my intentions. I have a few methods in mind to test:

1). LIGHTING - Inspired by the results of the lighting workshop, I wish to try my hand at creating a scene through the clever use of lighting.

2). STUDIO SET - Inspired by Lars von Trier's film Dogville, I wish to experiment at using a minimal black box style studio set for a scene. In this I will also experiment with narration and sound-scapes as methods of creating a scene.

I also would like to experiment with using Editing techniques to imply and supernatural element to a character, I would like to work with Isaac Livingstone on this as I really enjoy his unique editing style and I'm curious at what we may be able to come up with.

The Suicide King

The Suicide King is the final and most well known of the three. The Suicide King is primarily known for offering shady deals and engaging in bets with mortals for their soul. The Suicide King exists as an immortal spirit that inhabits a monstrous body made from possessed corpses. Due to his vanity and pride, he hides his hideous form under elaborate clothing and carnival masks. Though his inner foulness is well hidden beneath his outer, more jovial appearance, it occasionally seeps through and reveals itself. 

The Suicide King is driven by a love for life and a the simple desire to enjoy himself. In his heart he cherishes freedom, something he fiercely protects. He wishes to help people to be free and despises those who seek to control others. Those who follow him, either by choice or after having lost a bet, exist as deathless spirits inhabiting vessels of rotting flesh and hide their horrific forms under elaborate clothing and masks. Despite his façade of confidence, underneath he is very self-conscious and is very sensitive about his appearance, never letting anyone see passed the mask in case they don't like what they see. 

The Suicide King was once a mortal man who loved life so much that even after death, he refused to let the grisly reaper take him. Desperate to escape the fate of all mortals before him, he challenged Death to a bet, which was accepted. An impossible task was given to him and if he could complete it, he would win his immortal soul. Death was certain that victory would be his but Fate, taking a liking to the Suicide King and wishing to spite Death, intervened and the Suicide King won his soul.  Feeling cheated, Death chases the Suicide King to this day, waiting for his opportunity to take back what is rightfully his.      

The Crimson God

The Crimson God is a messianic god and is the youngest of the three. The Crimson God is worshipped by the warrior monks of the east who's goal is to spread his message and teachings of peace. Unlike the other two gods, the Crimson God achieved his godhood through training his mind and body. He earned his godhood, whereas the Dark Other stumbled upon it and the Suicide King won his. The Crimson God has achieved enlightenment and inner-peace, is in complete control of his mind, body and spirit and is in complete balance with nature.

The Crimson God is driven by a need to help others. He is very optimistic and passionate  having both faith in and hope for humanity. He believes that people are inherently good and can achieve anything they put their minds to. Because of his centuries of training, he is able to achieve impossible feats and there are many tales telling of them, most with a moral message. He dresses in robes akin to that of his followers, however more supernatural in nature. They are made of the finest red silk covered with golden embroidery telling the never ending history of the world. The images continue to move and change as history continues, all that is or ever was can be found embroidered into his endless red silk robes. Long dead plants spring to life and blossom around him into beautiful flowers that only ever exist in his presence.

Below is a myth telling of his origins. 

The Crimson God lived in a time of great suffering. Famine, pestilence and war were common. The Crimson God was a slave, his was a life filled with endless toil and work. He was the lowest of the low, unloved and uncared for by society. One day he looked around at his fellow slaves and his heart broke, then and there he decided that enough was enough, he would stand up against this injustice. The Crimson God began to train, in any way he could.  Anything and Everything that he could, he turned into a training exercise.

One day, after years of hard training, when his masters began to taunt and abuse one of the weakest slaves, he stood up and ordered them to stop. Confused and infuriated that this lowly slave would dare insult them so, they attacked him, attempting to teach him his place. The fight was a quick one.  After, the broken bodies of his former captors lay before him and the former slaves stood in a state of awe and gratitude.  The Crimson God walked away into the jungle, deciding to dedicate his life to training his body and his mind so he may help his fellow man.

The Dark Other

Since a large part of the basis of this project are the fictional god characters I have created, I thought it would be a good idea to talk about them and explain them a little more.

Firstly, these gods are not part of the same pantheon and are not the only god's that exist, rather they are deities of individual ancient religions that have become aware of each other over the millennia. Each is very different in nature to the others, the term "god" here being a very loose term to describe immortal beings of great power and who are often worshipped by mortals. They can be quite co-operative at times and have even become friendly with each other over the course of they're interactions.

In this post I will describe the first of these gods, the Dark Other.

The Dark Other is a dark and mysterious god, and is by far the oldest of the three. He was worshipped by the ancient people of the cold northern lands but over the centuries he has fallen into obscurity and now has taken on a cult like status. Not much is known for certain about him as he prefers to maintain a high level of secrecy  but it is rumoured that he is as old as time itself and that he will live to witness the apocalypse. Those who choose to follow him become part of a hive mind, similar to a bee hive or an ant colony, and then devote they're lives to serving their dark master.

The Dark Other is primarily driven by curiosity, he wishes to understand and eternally seeks more knowledge. Through his followers he carries out grand and complex schemes, taking every factor into account and never leaving anything to chance. In fact, his ability to predict, plan and manipulate future events is so accurate that many believe that he is able to see the future. However, his origins lay deep beneath the surface of the planet and to operate in the world he requires a host to act as his body. Visually, the Dark Other tends to cloak himself in shadow. His eyes glow an eerie cyan glow and his voice is a deafening whisper.

Below is a myth that was written in the hopes of helping people understand the method of thinking that is behind this god and the motives that drive him.

At some point thousands of years before the creation of the Empire, the north was a brutal and harsh land. One day a man with glowing cyan eyes and cloaked in darkness as black as the night sky wandered from village to village telling dark and wondrous tales. The man called himself a prophet and claimed his stories were true.

He told of how while travelling through the dense pine forests and snow capped mountain peaks of his homeland, he came across a dark and foreboding cave.  Curious, he entered and followed the cave deep underground.  Eventually the cave stopped, leading him to a huge and shadowy cavern that stretched down for eternity. This presented him with a dilemma, he could turn around and leave as he had entered and live his life as he had always done, or he could follow his curiosity further and jump down. If he jumped down, he knew he may never see his home again.

He stood for a moment, his foot hovering indecisively over the edge of the abyss. He savoured the moment. He was calm. Closing his eyes and taking one last deep breath, he stepped over the edge and let the darkness of the chasm envelope him. 

"It's all smoke and mirrors..."

Recently I took part in a Lighting Workshop and I was tasked with the role of observing and reflecting upon events as they unfolded, however what I found most interesting about the workshop was not how various people's roles worked or how to best organize a shoot etc. but rather the results of the shoot and how they were achieved.

The goal of the shoot was to create a scene of a criminal cornered in an alleyway by the police. The shoot took place in a studio environment and we did not have very much in the way of set and props at all, however by the clever use of lighting, black boards and a smoke machine we were able to create a very convincing scene that had a style that appealed to me greatly, very dark and shadowy with bright  vivid colours. As I watched the group work I was amazed by how much they achieved with very little.

This is very interesting to me and I am eager to pursue this approach further, as this not only solves my budget issue but also creates a great visual style. Unlike the Dogville approach, which also has it's merits, this approach does not require me abandoning my desired epic visual settings, rather it changes them into a more achieved able and interesting visual style.

Another example of this approach would be one of last year's Lighting workshop which achieved the same inspiring effect and visual style, I find the name Neo-Noir to also be very apt. Perhaps looking into last year's influences would be useful?

"This town is rotten from the inside out..."

I recently watched Dogville directed by Lars von Trier. To say that I have mixed feelings about this film is to put it mildly, this is with out a shadow of a doubt the most challenging and draining film I have ever watched. I could, and would certainly enjoy, ranting about this film for pages and pages but that isn't relevant to my project. All I will say is that the film is pretty much flawless and works brilliantly, which is exactly why I never want to watch it ever again.

One element of this film, indeed the reason I sat down to watch it in the first place, is, however, extremely interesting. Rather than film on a realistic set or on location in middle america or somewhere akin to that, the film takes an extremely minimal approach to the set. The small town of Dogville is created from a blue-print like layout on the ground, complete with white outlines and labels, for example "Ben's Garage" , "Elm st." and the "Gooseberry Bushes". The setting is made real by use of lighting, sound effects and ,of course, the actors' performances. In addition, the film is told from narration, performed by the amazing John Hurt, that feels more like that of a novel than it ever does a film.

During the first few minutes the set is somewhat of a novelty, it is very interesting to behold, but soon enough the minimal set design is forgotten and the town becomes real, only to be reminded of once in a while, but only ever for a short time. I for one, expected that the set would continually remind me of the fictitious nature of the piece, but it actually worked extremely well, in fact the somewhat unusual editing techniques seemed to break my immersion more than the set ever did. More so, the set design meant that a number of wonderful shots could be used, bringing the whole town together despite being in separate buildings as well as giving the whole film a theatrical feel, which I find is one of the more charming aspects of the film. Anything that the use of lighting, sound or performance could not create was described to the audience by the narration, completing the illusion of a small town.

This approach provides me with what maybe a good solution to my problem of not being able to afford epic sets, elaborate costumes and stunning effects. With this minimal approach, although I'm sure that lack of funding wasn't von Trier reason for taking such an approach, means that these things are unnecessary. All that is needed are the actors and a fair but of creative thinking. For example, why bother having gooseberry bushes when you can just draw an outline on the ground and act as if they were there?  In fact perhaps I could take this approach one step further, why have fancy costumes when simplistic black costumes are enough?

This approach to sets and props is certainly worth investigating further, maybe a look into more theatrical techniques is needed?

Below is a bird's eye view of the set, to give an idea of what I'm talking about.

The birth of gods.

The story I wish to use for this project is one that has interested me for a while. Sometime ago, whilst in a creative mood, I decided to challenge myself to create a number of fictional gods for a steam-punk fantasy world of mine. This project was mostly inspired by my love of ancient mythology, in particular ancient Greek,  as well as various fictional works, such as the "Chaos Gods" of the Warhammer 40,000 franchise.

I attempted to create gods based on the elements, on emotions, on concepts such as death and justice etc. but all I ended up creating were gods similar to those that either already existed in mythology or fiction. So in an attempt at originality I decided to create gods based on people I knew. More specifically, I created gods based on my friends Isaac, Ben as well as myself, and from these gods entire mythologies surrounding them were created.

It is these gods that I wish to use as the basis of this project.

In the beginning...

One of the things that truly delights and amuses me is creating fantastical stories in my head. Stories with strange and interesting characters, with wondrous and impossible locations and deep and meaningful story lines. These characters and their fictional lives constantly fill my head, and I attempt to jot them down in a word document or a script whenever possible. It is these stories that make me want to make films.

However, much of these stories have never come to anything more than ideas in my head and abandoned, uncompleted scripts. This is largely because I will move onto another story or change the story and start it over again. But, the main reason is because the films in my head would cost a lot of money, and I mean huge budgets, and the sad truth of the matter is, that this is money I simply do not have.

So, after two years of honing and improving my film making skills, I have decided to do something about this problem. If I wish to make these films then I will need to find a practical and realistic way to make them. This is what my research project is about, finding a practical and realistic way to realize my fantastical stories and ideas.

I am much looking forward to this project and am eager to witness it's, hopefully pleasing, results.