NAME: Jase
Van Meeteren
DATE: November
29, 2016
FILM: Master
and Coverage
DP: Kent
Thalman
TMA 285 DIRECTOR’S REFLECTION
Reflect on how your film turned
out. Have the courage to evaluate your work not only with a
self-congratulatory eye, but also with a critical eye.
Step back; pretend the film wasn't made by you. Be exacting. Be demanding.
Don't let yourself off the hook. Be completely honest about your performance.
- Turn in a hard copy of this
statement the next class session after your film screens
- Upload the statement to Learning
Suite the day after your film screens
- Post this
to your blog with your film the day after your film screens
Overall response (2-3
paragraphs):
In 2-3
paragraphs, write an overall response to your film: Were you successful at
achieving what you set out to achieve? What are you proud of? What would you do
differently if you could remake this piece? What did you learn?
I think overall as far as how I wanted the film to look and
feel, this one is the closest to my original vision and feeling. I am pretty
proud of how I was able to control most of the elements during production. That’s
reflected very well in the image. I am also proud of their performances I got
out of the actors. I think the feeling I wanted to portray came through well
because of them.
If I could change anything I think
it would be the edit. In fact, I think I am going to go through it again and
re-edit the piece. That is what really ruined the film for me and I am really
disappointed about how careless I was during the edit. I learned how important
each edit should be in a film. Making purposeful images doesn’t just mean
during production, but it also has to do with how these images interact through
editing. This means I shouldn’t just make purposeful images, but I should also
make purposeful edits.
Briefly answer the following:
What, specifically, did you want to
communicate? Were you successful? Why? Why not?
I wanted to
communicate a sense of skepticism in the scene. I wanted Kick-Ass to push
against Red mist in a way that wasn’t loaded with conflict, but I wanted the audience
to feel like he shouldn’t go with Red Mist. There were a couple people in class
that said almost the exact thing that I wanted so I thought that was pretty
cool. Because of that I think I was pretty successful.
How, specifically, did you try to
say this? What
visual elements, techniques, etc. did you use?
I wanted
Red Mist to stand out in the world. I wanted the audience to know that she doesn’t
fit in with Kick-Ass. The stark contrast between the two helped to show that he
shouldn’t go with her. Performance was another thing that I used. I wanted the
audience to see his reactions to her so they would understand his skepticism.
What did you learn about storytelling:
I learned
how important the edit is in storytelling. I honestly think most of the film
worked really well, but the edit totally ruined it. It made the pacing feel
weird and I don’t think the jokes landed like they were supposed to. I also saw
how the audience wanted to see something in the story but I didn’t show it to
them.
Working with actors and getting performance:
I learned
how beneficial it is to give actors something to do and think about while they
are speaking. Their reactions become a lot more believable. They even start to
do things I don’t necessarily ask them to, but because of their thought
process, it makes little movements and facial expression that I really like.
Blocking — camera and actors:
I learned
how important it is to keep the characters in frame. Especially when one of
your characters is a key visual element. When the red in Emily’s sweater
disappeared, it made a really weird bump in the story that I didn’t like.
Visuals — composition, framing, visual
elements:
It’s so
important to control color in the frame. I got lucky during shooting because
the cars around us didn’t stand out in a noticeable way. Red was the boldest
color in the scene which helped me out a lot.
Design & Art Direction:
The design
was actually fun in this one because I got to create really weird costumes out
of every day objects which made the design process interesting. I learned you
can make things that seem as though they are decent quality, but using every
day objects. I thought their costumes actually looked great on screen and I didn’t
have to spend any money on it. I think this is because production design
depends so much on color. If we get the color right, and it matches the film
well, then it isn’t as strange in the image.
The Production Process — collaboration with crew, the
logistics of making this piece:
This was
interesting because of the location we shot it. There were a lot of distractions
that invaded our space and made it difficult. I learned that, as long as you
are pretty respectful, people don’t bother you, but you shouldn’t count on
that. Most of the people coming through the alleyway were respectful, but there
was one that made it really hard. I think it would have been better if we got
some sort of written consent from the company who gave us original verbal
permission. I think it would have better validated our being there.
What was it
like to watch your film with an audience? Did they understand it? Miss the
point? Why did they respond the way they did?
I think for
the most part people responded well to it, but the pacing and editing was
really bad. Watching it with and audience, I noticed every cut that happened in
a weird spot, and every edit that lasted a little too long. I think that was
the worst part for me. There were times when people laugh though and that was
cool for me.
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