Depict Screening
and Evaluation
We were set a task by our teacher to create a short 90
second film about anything we like. We were given full responsibility when it
comes to the task, we had no help, and we only got direction when we needed it.
Our idea was about a man that writes a letter to god asking
if he is going to go to heaven when he dies. God receives the letter and writes
back to him saying ‘thank you for writing to me, it’s a no…’ the man opens the
letter, has a heart attack and dies. When he confronts God about why he isn’t
going to heaven God laughs in his face and turns the letter over and shows the
man it says ‘brainer’. So, the man realises that the letter says, ‘thank you
for writing to me, but it’s a no brainer’ and asks God for a second chance and
gets sent back to earth.
When we were asked to brainstorm, we decided to do it
individually instead of in our groups as this would allow us to produce more
ideas. I came up with the god idea randomly, I just let my imagination roam
free and wonder.
We were given a checklist of documentations and files we had
to fill out in order to start filming.
- - Location recce
- - Location Releases
- - Talent Releases
- - Budget sheet
- - Prop/costume list
- - Shot list
- - Storyboard
- - Script
- - Risk Assessment
- - Production schedule/call sheet
I think that the finished product did reflect our initial
idea, but due to absence and some setbacks in our group we had to use
initiative and change some things last minute. But I am happy with the final
product as it does reflect the idea we had at the start. The whole process of
production allowed room for changes and improvements from the whole group.
We tried our best to stay as close to the original idea as
possible, only changing parts that we needed to if necessary. We were constantly
adding parts and not taking any away so in the final stretch of the project we
had about 40 seconds extra that we had to cut, this came as a big problem
because we had so much good material that we wanted to keep but had to either
cut down or delete completely. So, by the end we didn’t really make many changes
from the start, we had a few location changes and costume changes, nothing
major.
I think that the most successful aspect of the project was
the story line. I thought that the story line and plot was clear. However, I think
that the shots and information given in the video could have been clearer. For
example, when god receives the letter and reads it there is an over the
shoulder shot that lets the audience read the letter themselves. But the
writing isn’t clear, and the paper isn’t fully in shot so the audience could
miss what it says, then missing a key piece of information. I thought that the
costumes and characters worked a lot better than expected as we weren’t sure if
we were going to get the costumes in time or not. Throughout the video you can
clearly tell the characters apart making the story more clear and easier to understand.
I think that we should concentrate more during the lessons
as this would allow us to get more work done in a shorter amount of time,
allowing more time for filming etc. My group was easily distracted during the pre-production
stages and couldn’t concentrate on their work. During pre-production we gave each
member of the group an equal amount of paperwork to fill out, so we would all
finish relatively close to one another. But due to distractions and talking
some were finished before others, which means members were either doing a lot
more work or not doing anything at all. I would also change the amount of shots
we done. I would have taken multiple of the same shot every time we went out to
shoot as this would give us more variety and options when it comes to editing
the final piece.
The thing that I enjoyed the most was the pre-production. I enjoyed
the pre-production the most as it allowed us to all brainstorm our ideas and
express ourselves in many ways and bring our idea to life. I thought the whole
process of thinking of an idea and developing it into the best bit of material
it can be was fun and exciting.
There wasn’t really anything that I didn’t enjoy, other than
the lessons that was not motivated to get work done. These lessons felt like a
waste of time as we could easily have done most of the work or at least get a
huge chunk out of the way, so we don’t have to worry about anymore.
When we watched all the final depict projects in class there
was praised parts and parts that we received ideas for improvements for. Some examples
of praise we received:
The comedy – the class all agreed that our film was very
funny as it made everyone laugh at the parts, we intended them too.
The effects – the class said the effects we put in our film
like the lighting bolts and clouds were used well as it clearly showed if the
characters were in heaven or on earth.
The costumes – the class said that the costumes were very
good as they showed a clear different between characters. For example, god’s
costume clearly showed that it was him, the big white beard and hair, the long
white robe with red parts and sandals.
Some aspects that could have been improved:
Our shots – the class all agreed that some shots were unnecessary
or could have been done differently. They said that more variety could have
helped.
Our audio – we were told that music could have improved our
film and I completely agree. For example, when we are shown heaven it was silent,
and you could hear all the little ambient noises that distracted the audience. The
class said that Christian choir songs could have been good for those scenes.
Our plot – the class said that the plot was too big and
complex to fit into a 90 second film. We could have made the idea simpler and
that would have allowed us to make more sense of it.
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