PROJECT EVALUATION

PROJECT EVALUATION 

Before embarking on the journey that is/has been/will be TV Production, my understanding of what it was to ‘produce’ TV was minimal. I’d read stories and appreciated their sentiment, watched films and been baffled by their spectacle, but I’d ever wandered down the rabbit hole and thought about the “How?”. This has all changed in twelve short weeks though, and I can safely say that I’m beginning to develop some understanding of not only the intellectual, but technical and industrial aspects of Television. 

I’d written short stories, poems and spoken word pieces prior to starting University, but with little understanding of the core elements that should be implemented. Our ‘Script to screen’ unit has changed that and I genuinely think I’m a (slightly) better writer because of it. Through lectures and research, I’ve developed an understanding of the components that are integral to creating great stories; i.e. conflict, resolution, change, solution. And, through fulfilling my blog tasks, I’ve encountered more insightful knowledge too and I am beginning to understand particular, specific qualities that I like in screenplays and media. For instance when reviewing the ‘Fargo’ pilot screenplay, I highlighted a row of Action text, that read: “The washing machine is acting like a caged animal, roaring and bucking. Lester stares at it, hypnotised. We get the sense he’s looking at his own trapped heart.” Reading that prior to starting my study, I’d have liked it, but my train of thought would likely not have wandered beyond that. Now though, with a more developed understanding, I understood that I liked this as it felt like poetry to me and tapped into some raw characteristic of the Protagonist, it felt as though I was reading a perfectly articulated emotion on a page and I could absorb that and feel it, too. When I read excerpts like that, it also creates within me a tremendous appreciation for the craft of writing and the power of the pen (or keyboard), when wielded by somebody with a passion and knowledge for writing. Equipped with this information and a dollop of optimism, next came my turn to write. I found that as much as I might try in the day to think of something profound, I was drawing blanks. By night however, obsessive thinking took over and I had flurries of ideas flood my brain as soon as I settled down to go to sleep. The trouble with ideas, however, is that nine out of ten are just not very good and the one left over is usually over-ambitious. I struggled to settle on a story and this was the most difficult part of my journey thus far. I presented a different pitch every time and still ended up settling for something entirely different. I loved a lot of my ideas, who doesn’t? But I felt as though the limitation of 10 pages would be restrictive for some of the stories that I wanted to tell. I ended up settling on something that I believed to be more straightforward, but admittedly, struggled with this too. Developing an idea and fleshing it out became more difficult the more I tried to dissect it. I had a vague idea of my Characters and I was confident about my dialogue, but realised that there wasn’t enough conflict, or change in the story arc. This is something that Jane Marlow, when I received my feedback, echoed in agreement, describing it as a “Situation”, rather than a story. I made some changes after speaking to Jane and “Upped the stakes” at the beginning. Where a montage once sat, a scene revealing an engagement ring now takes place. It all feels familiar and safe, but I tried to elevate it with likeable, relatable characters and a deliberate emphasis of the tropes of break-up comedy. I’m pleased with the final product, but know that by knuckling down and continuing to study story structure and applying it to my future work, my writing can only get better. Beginning with a ‘Beat board’ is something that I intend on implementing in my next screenplay and I know that focussing on ironing out a solid arc before working out the details will make for a more robust, impactful story. 

Moving on to the technical, I’ve not invested as much time as I’d have liked to in certain aspects of filmmaking. Editing in particular stands out as something that I’d like to explore further, as my knowledge of Premiere Pro is very restricting at present. That said, I’m more familiar with Premiere, as well as all of the other aspects of filmmaking and production than I was at the beginning, so overall, I’m making positive progress. In our group collaborative project, Silhouette, I was responsible for camera operation alongside another Student. This gave me the most hands-on time that I’ve had with the camera since beginning the course. For me as an Artist, it’s all about the visual (Though I do appreciate the huge breadth of other skills that go into producing films and TV!) It was important to me to feel as though I had some impact on the final outcome of what the audience will see. Our Director was receptive to ideas and this gave me an opportunity to have some creative freedom and try different things. I was pleased with the footage we managed to shoot, but can identify where planning could have been more refined and robust. We did not have a stabiliser with us, but our film was largely handheld, leading to some considerable shaking at times, though in the final outcome, for me, I didn’t find it overly distracting. I’d also have liked to have tried shooting using the tracks and working with more dynamic movement, but unfortunately we did not book these out so this was off the cards. I enjoyed being involved in a hands-on role for the project and I’d like to consider directing a future piece of work if it’s something that I feel passionate about, or that resonates with me. 

You can watch our project, ‘Silhouette’, here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DhVmMwLTQ1Q&t=6s