Depict Evaluation

After weeks of tireless work and preparation we have finally completed our Depict under 90 second short.
Here are the final results of our short for you to view:



Camerawork:
When producing our storyboard and shot list we decided upon using strict shots for each and every section of our short. This would allow us to know what we wee doing at every single point of the filming process. We ended up abiding by our shot list fully which allowed us to get all of our shots done at the right angle and height with as little stress as possible. We ended up using a DSLR without auto focus which did end up leaving us having to re-do many shots due to the fact we were changing scenery quite often. We were able to use many different shots which allowed the short to be seen as more believable and real by the viewer. Our shots included: Long shots - used so that the viewer was able to see the scenery of the scene so that they can see the scene so that the picture and characters are easy to be put across. We used a mid - shot so that more of the characters facial expressions can be shown with still a bit of the background in, this allows the viewer to see the persons facial expression more and how they are feeling. We used an over the shoulder shot so that the persons face is not in the shot which added, we feel, some mystery to our character. We used point of view shots so that the viewer can see from the characters side and try and feel as if they are the character. We used close ups so that the viewers can see all of the characters facial expressions and therefore try and see what they are feeling.


  Mise-en-scene:

Props: As we were trying to produce a hard hitting and serious short. we tried to make sure that we didn't over use any props. We only really used some children's dolls in the 'child's' room. We did this so that the viewer would originally feel that they were just in a normal day to do day children s room and after a short while they will slowly realize that the dolls are just there and are really there, however they would realize that although we have set the scene of a stereotypical child's room, something is wrong here.
Setting: Our short had 3 settings. The first of which was the houses hallway, we used this setting to firstly paint the picture of a normal family house, the second reason we used this was to link the fact that both the main rooms are directly next to each other, however they seem so far apart. The second setting of the short was the 'child's' room, we used a 'older' child's room to attempt to put across the view that perhaps the child had been gone a long while and in turn the father had kept updating the room due to the fact that he simply could not let go to the fact he had lost her. The final setting in which we used was the room in which the 'trapped person is kept' we used a dark, low-light room with a small light on the 'trapped persons face' We used this so that the person's face was really highlighted.

All in all I feel that our Mise-en-scene worked okay, however I do feel that due to the fact that we tried an idea which was abit too hard to do in 90 seconds, this therefore affected some of the things we were attempting to put across with our choice of props and settings. However, I do feel that we were able to produce a very believable setting which i am quite proud of, looking back at it.

Editing (& continuity): 

Editing: As we recorded many different shots at different angles and distances it was important that we were able to edit our clips together to make the viewers experience as smooth as possible. For the majority of our short I feel we were able to do this very well considering the fact that we barely re-used the same shot. However, we did have one extremely poor looking shot through the times: 13-20 seconds. We also added in a few effects through editing. We added in a a knock on the wall between two of our shots, we did that due to the fact the two shots before and after the knock looked very poor, so we felt that after adding in the knock effect it would run much more smoothly, which in turn it did so we are happy that we added in this effect. We also added in a creepy child's chime at the start so that the viewer would realize that there was a child in the movie, however we felt at the time, and we still feel that alot of what we were aiming for was too much for the normal viewer and especially for a depict short, editing certainly couldn't stop this, however we were able to highlight some of the things, this meant that we were able to try and edit down some of our clips.

Sound: Sound was pretty key to our short. This is due to the fact that we used it throughout. The first example of sound is at the very start, we decided to use a music box from the movie 'pan's labyrinth' We used this due to the fact we wanted to get the point across to the viewer instantly that we were involving not only a child, but there was something, not quite right. Secondly, We used speech, this was so that the viewers could be enticed more by the story due to the fact that they could actually hear what was happening on the screen. Finally, we used knocking and scratching effects, this was so that the image was painted of someone being trapped and banging to try and escape.