FINAL EVALUATION - DIRECTION

I don’t want to overstate my impact on the world of film from the get-go, so drawing comparisons between myself and Wes Anderson might seem like a bit of a far reach; but during my time researching for this unit, I found this quote that resonated with me:

“(My style) It’s not something I make any effort to do. I just want to make films that are personal, but interesting to an audience.”

I think as somebody who considers myself an Artist in other respects outside of filmmaking, my ability to create is more of an innate reactive process that manifests itself spontaneously, rather than one of immense planning. I find concepts and ‘style’ come easily to me, but are often neglected when it comes to building more information into them. Ideas are often neglected in the notes on my phone and most are forgotten forever. However, during the course of this unit, I’ve found the value of planning and how with planning, I can work to better refine those initial ideas into something more realistic and achievable and crucially- make them happen. 

A shot from the opening of Juno

Although the paperwork is what I found the least stimulating, I knew that it was extremely important to the quality of the end product, so made sure that I set about completing this first. I find it difficult to be organised, but thankfully other members of the course were also very supportive and it was nice to communicate with others in order to problem-solve and ensure that the correct procedures were being followed and the correct paperwork was completed. This was mutually beneficial, as we all have varied strengths and weaknesses, so found that we could support each other in different ways. I also knew from the beginning that I wanted to challenge myself and purposely chose a scene that might be difficult to create. I think overcoming obstacles is a hugely important part of the learning process and is a more realistic reflection of working in the industry.

Finding the shop location was difficult and it was something that I did consider at times might not happen and I began to consider alternatives. I approached many shops, many of whom were part of larger chains and were simply not open to having the conversation. Eventually, though, my perseverance paid off and I found Savas, an owner of an independent local shop who was extremely accommodating. Working with somebody in the community was a really enriching part of the experience that I gained from this unit. It meant that I had to reach out to people and communicate with them in a different manner to how I would ordinarily, and it paid off when I secured the location for my project.

Screenshot of the Edit

One of my biggest issues was in the edit. Going into the edit, I had an idea of how I might like the finished product to look and intended to align the final cut as closely to my storyboard as possible. My main concern was that I just didn’t have much experience with editing and knew that I would need to develop my understanding before undertaking the role of editing this film. I worked ahead of shoot week, using various Youtube tutorials to teach me some basic editing, as well as searching and practising more specific skills that I was likely to need. None of this, though, prepared me for one simple mistake- not attaching the microphone to the camera. This meant that although I had sound from the boom, I had no audio to sync to in-camera. This added a new layer of difficulty and I was anxious about my ability to edit the content that I’d filmed. I spent time listening to the audio tracks and renaming the tracks to the corresponding scene and take. This wasn’t the end of my audio woes though, as not every take had been audibly announced and not every shot had the clapperboard in the frame. This meant painstakingly aligning the lip movements of the actors to the audio track as best as possible which was incredibly time-consuming. The lesson learned from this for the future is to be sure to carry out checks prior to filming to ensure that all equipment is sufficiently prepared prior to shooting.

Attempting a tracking shot using a wheelchair (Not recommended)

Directing itself felt fairly natural to me and I didn’t feel self-conscious when making decisions and directing Cast and Crew, which could have been an obstacle. My Cast and Crew were also excellent in their responsiveness to Direction and their enthusiasm for the project. It’s with their help that I achieved and am pleased with my final outcome and it highlighted the importance of collaboration. I wanted to make something idiosyncratic and individual to me, with an identity that is representative of my personality. I truly believe that creating this piece of work has enabled me to self-express and further develop my artistic vision, as well as greatly improve my technical proficiency and my ability to organise. 

In the future, I’d like to allow further time to plan my work and consider the finer details, bringing about a more immersive experience for the viewer. I believe it’s the smaller things that hold the biggest impact and I would like to create a body of work that continually refines my Directorial style and pushes me to challenge myself. I’d also consider further planning such as pre-shoot and set-up checklists to minimise the chances of difficulties arising. I’ll continue to build a network of collaborators that in the future, I can depend on with each project I create, meaning that I’ll have a vaster pool of cast and crew who are reliable and familiar to me and my way of working, which will, of course, be hugely beneficial when creating future work as a Director.