Evaluation

Evaluation

My chosen topic is a short film about the beauty of spring. Which will be in harmony with the music I have chosen. So I came up with the idea while I was listening to my favourite piece of music. The track works very well with the beauty of nature, particularly wildlife in spring. The track is from the BBC series Atlantis and is called ‘Journey To Aegina’ and composed by Stuart Hancock. As I know Stuart he gladly gave permission for me to use it in my project.

The strengths I believe I have and other people say that the cinematography was excellent , footage was in harmony with the music, the editing flows very well, and builds to dramatic images and music. My weaknesses in this film is some of the beginning shots which are quite noisy and grainy because I filmed in low light conditions. I'm not happy with the quality of a few shots, also I would have liked more variety of wildlife. I ran several questionnaires about my film and got some good feedback. I took this feedback and made a better film because of it. For example a lot of people liked the longer shots of the animals, so I took that forward and listened to the feedback given. Also everyone liked the music choice because it flows very well with the footage, I was very happy to hear this because this is what I planned from day one, "to have the footage in harmony with the music". Mission accomplished. 

The main theme was nature and the idea that I wanted to convey was a journey of new beginnings. My main influence was the music by Stuart, as I listened to it it made me think of nature and spring. I researched nature programmes i.e Life on Earth and looked at camera angles. I researched how to film nature and wildlife in books and the main thing I learnt was that you need to be patient and let the wildlife come to you. Some of the shots were unexpected and lucky, for example the seal and the buzzard. I was filming other shots and they appeared and I managed to film them. I looked into where to find certain wildlife and their habitats by researching online.  

I found a trailer for Planet Earth which uses a variety of nature films from around the world. It used dramatic music and it has been edited to match the film action with the music. This seemed like a good choice as it is essentially what I did with my film.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c8aFcHFu8QM

Comparison wise, the build up with the music and the images becoming more dramatic. Also obviously its about nature. For differences my film was a journey through the day, the Planet Earth trailer did not have any night shots. Planet Earth had more animals whereas mine focused on landscapes interspersed with film of animals.

I think the one thing that developed over the project was the dialogue at the start of the film. I started off thinking I wanted an narrator to say some powerful words. At the start of the project I didn't know who this was going to be, In the end I thought about having a impressionist to speak in a Peter Capaldi voice because his voice is very dramatic and full of life. I kept adding to the script everyday day and kept coming up with new words. So I think I have massively developed this aspect of the project.

I have had positive feedback from the people that have seen the film and although this had made me happy I still feel that it could be improved. I feel this about every piece of work because I am a perfectionist.

On the whole, I followed my statement of intent as intended. The one thing that I had planned to do, but did not, was to storyboard. This is due to the unpredictability of nature. I knew that there would be certain times of day when I would be able to get shots of trees or the sea but it is impossible to predict which animals, birds or insects I would be able to film.

I felt nervous before I delivered my pitch because I do not feel comfortable standing up and talking. The pitch went much better than I had expected but I did find some of the questions difficult as I felt very pressured. The feedback I got was to make sure that I documented everything and noted all the technical aspects of the project. I took this advice and there is evidence of this in my blog.

The next time that I deliver a pitch I will make sure that I practice it more beforehand and that I try to predict what questions I might get asked so that I am better prepared.

I really enjoyed making this nature film and loved editing it together and hearing good feedback! Also it was a great adventure being in the natural world of nature, also a journey I will not forget.