Fiction Adaptation: Evaluation

This unit allowed me to develop and improve my directing and screenwriting skills from the last few units. For example, I felt more confident when directing this unit, and managed to better frame shots and understand the 180 degree rule.
I also learned that perfection isn't always possible with shots and framing, and sometimes that's a good thing. With the nightmare sequence in my film there are two close-ups which were filmed as wides, but as I filmed in 4K, I planned to scale in and not lose any quality. However, as the light was so hard, as I had intended, I hadn't considered that there could be some grain in the background, which becomes more apparent when scaling in. I ran out of time to correct all of this grain, so some of it is still apparent in the final film. Yet, I think this works since it is a nightmare and the audience are supposed to be glimpsing the inside of the character's mind, where dreams and nightmares aren't always clear, but sometimes fuzzy, especially in the moments before waking, as the character is at this point.

Developing quick reactions when making decisions became important during this unit because of the fast turnaround, which I initially found difficult, since I like everything to be planned and ready as early as possible before filming. However, I found it wasn't possible to get permission to film at a location a day and a half before filming, which in the end, I think made the film better.
This is because it pushed me to come up with a creative solution, which was still filming in the same location all the way through, but adding a sequence showing the character's past, which added more depth and backstory to the character so the audience could better understand her and her journey.
I had several plans in case I couldn't get permission at these other locations, as I have learned in previous units that it is always useful to have back ups, but they were not fully developed until the day before filming.
Yet, this helped with directing this sequence since it was more organic and natural with the motion and energy because what I wanted was fresher in my mind. It also helped if I stood away from the camera, so I wasn't just looking at the actor's performance through the monitor, but saw it as the camera was capturing it, since I better felt the tone of the actor's performance, which helped me make decisions about what to film next so the actor could give their best performance (Schwarz, 2014).
This worked with the sequence where the character is trying to write and getting more and more frustrated since I could better judge how frustrated the actor was in their performance, and build this so it is evident in the montage that the emotion increases.
However, I found this didn't work as well with the nostalgia sequence showing the past since there were so many costume changes, which disrupted the flow of filming since the actor and I had to keep leaving the location and running back to film scenes which usually didn't last more than a minute.
Because of all of these changes we also ran out of time on the first day so had to film on a second. Because we were going to stay in one location I thought we would be able to film quicker, but I hadn't taken the changes into account. This worked though because I had initially scheduled to film for two days so the shoot was able to extend. Still, I think it would have worked better if I had scheduled for two days, because on the first day we got through half a scene and ran out of time, meaning we had to reshoot some of it on the second day, something which could have been avoided.

Getting test shots worked, since it helped me to better visualise the shots and frames I wanted so I didn't cross the line. This is something I tried to get into the habit of doing, especially since there were models of astronauts on the set which could stand in for actors, helping to save time when blocking and moving the camera (Schwarz, 2014).
However, for some of the more technical shots, such as those requiring the green screen, I didn't have time to test them since I came up with them only a few days before filming. For example, I had planned to include a shot where the character looks to the ceiling and she imagines she can see the stars through a hole. Therefore, we set up the green screen so it was attached to the ceiling:

But, the roof of the summer house where we filmed wasn't flat, which created problems with depth. This meant that the edges of the hole looked fake, since there was obviously a separation where it had been masked.

Since my sister is an Illustration and Animation student at UCA in Canterbury I asked her to try, but even drawing in the hole and its shadows still didn't look as realistic as we had hoped.

This could be solved by using a flat surface instead, which is one colour, such as a white wall, because then it would be possible to add shadows and depth since they wouldn't already be as present and hard to get rid of.
I also think it would make the shots of the projector light look cleaner since the beams are very evident and break up the projections since they cause lines with their shadows.

However, filming in the summer house gave me control to add details with the production design, such as designing the set from scratch so it is personal to the character. This could then correspond to the costume, giving the film more of a sense that it is from the character's perspective, since the audience enter her world. This was also something I tried to achieve through writing and directing with point of view shots, such as the ceiling with the projector light, and also by placing the viewer in the character's mind, like with the nightmare.
This was important since learning about the character's viewpoint when writing, directing or watching a film makes them more layered and therefore more real, and thus believable, helping the audience to engage with their story (Ade, 2017).
Yet, I think having the character grounded in reality also helped, since I based her and the story partly on my own experience as a physics student.

"find something personal. My films are not autobiographical. I write about something that I know. But I make it bigger, or more intense for a film."

(Ade, 2017). 

Writing about something that I knew helped the script to develop and flow better, something I struggled with during the Script to Screen unit since I wrote about something I could only imagine.

I think this also helped the tone of the film, since I had a better sense of how it felt to be the character, which was useful because it meant I could get to know her quickly, even if I was still changing things just before, and even during filming, due to space and time constraints.

The main thing I think I need to improve on is managing my time which could be done by scheduling more effectively. To get better at scheduling filming, I could make more use of my script breakdown by going through the sheets and adding in extra time for changes and set ups, leaving room for things to go wrong, or things to be moved, as well as arranging scenes so that everything which is filmed outside or uses special effects, extras or other equipment such as a green screen goes first (Zeke, 2016).
Nonetheless, I think this unit went well, since my directing and writing improved, as did my editing skills, since I learned how to add new effects such as the spinning and double effect, as well as colour grade, making me realise I need to have more belief in my skills as an editor.
My time management and therefore scheduling needs to be improved, so that filming is more economical and I have time to test shots and prepare effectively before filming, which I think would help me achieve more of what I want with regards to adding in effects.

References

Ade, M. (2017) 'Ten screenwriting tips from writer-director Maren Ade.' In: BFI. [online] At: https://www.bfi.org.uk/news-opinion/sight-sound-magazine/features/10-screenwriting-tips-maren-ade (Accessed on 13th December 2018).

Schwarz, J. (2014) 'Attention, Filmmakers: Here's 12 Tips for Directing Your First Feature Film.' In: Indie Wire. [online] At: https://www.indiewire.com/2014/11/attention-filmmakers-heres-12-tips-for-directing-your-first-feature-film-68413/ (Accessed on 13th December 2018).

Zeke (2016) 'How to Plan an Effective Shooting Schedule.' In: New York Film Academy. [online] At: https://www.nyfa.edu/student-resources/how-to-plan-an-effective-shooting-schedule/ (Accessed on 13th December 2018).