Colin’s class

97%: A pleasant, enjoyable Short Film in my opinion.

Posted on by aarong5298

97% link–>   https://vimeo.com/143233550

At the suggestion of colin, one of my tutors i made a Vimeo account and started looking around, i found this film and thought that it was quite funny and charming. I’m sure all of my tutors have said this to me more than once before but i remember Scott saying it most, that is that a short film can be a very simple idea that is played out.

This is the case with this film as the story goes like this: bert is on the train home and gets a notification from a dating app saying there has been a profile match nearby to him with a match rating of 97% the rest of the film is him trying to find this girl. like i said, simple idea but its quite a nice short film thats funny and interesting.

Something that this film did that i have noticed seems to be a fairly common or popular theme with short films is the distinct lack of any dialogue, this offers the opportunity to show a lot of character through expressions and body language

Ill be using the worksheet from colin’s lesson to break down the film into different ways to analyse it, this sheet highlights: camera and lighting, locations, audio recording, editing and the story.

First of all, the camera and lighting. In my opinion the lighting in this film was good and well used but, of the two the one that stuck out to me was the camera work. for the majority of the film it is either a wide close up or a close shot of the face of the protagonist or if not that it is showing what it is hes looking at which is mostly different women scattered around the train car that he is in. Something that struck me as a nice touch was that in one scene, he is focused on the woman sat in front of him but he is looking at her reflection to the left of her in the window. anyway the camera is looking at him looking to the left off screen, and there is a noticeable increase in camera shaking, i think that this was meant to show that it was a point of view shot of the woman looking at him who is looking at her reflection and smiling and then when he notices shes smiling back at his reflection they look at each other in person. i believe that he looks at reflections one or two other times in the film but u really enjoyed that scene. and thought it worked very well, especially when this is combined with the fact that the only insight as to what they’re thinking is expressed through their smiles, and hushed giggles as they look at each other.

Next is the Location. Most of it was shot in a train and for the little bits that weren’t, they were on platforms and one shot where he leaves the station in search of his match. The location worked well with what little story they had because it gives you information about the character. clearly hes trying to find this woman with such a high match percentage but the use of location was quite smart in my opinion because it added a sense of urgency to the characters search because it is shown that the woman is on the same train as him so he has the goal of finding her before the train stops at the next station. i think that their use of location fit very well because it was such a simple idea as a story they needed to use specific elements such as the location to their advantage in order to strengthen the film as a whole.

After that is the Audio recording throughout the film it has a simple, yet cheery or maybe perky tune, though strangely enough it plays when he is specifically looking for the woman at the times when he is in danger of losing track of her, for example the times when people are leaving the train or when he is searching the platform for her, it was selective however in the way that it doesn’t play too often so as to get annoying or play too loud to drag attention from the slightly comic slightly desperate search of the character. Another nice thing in relation to sound was the Foley, things like people speaking over speakers on platforms or the hiss as the doors closed were ever present but not invasive to the story. they added to the realism perfectly in my opinion and the best example of this in the film is the dull rumble of the train wheels on the tracks, if i remember correctly they were constantly in the background and it provided a very pleasant sense of calm while this man was silently seeking his match slowly getting more and more frustrated with the task. another major part of the sound in this film is the sound of the phones notifications, the first time his phone goes off is the proper beginning of the film because it gives the character a sense of purpose that is the whole point of the story, so it is a way for us as the audience to anticipate information that will become available to the character that will help ascertain the location of his match

next, The Editing. At the start of the film, it shows the man thoughtlessly making his way to his train home, and on his way it has a small shot of his gaze drifting to a couple cuddling as they ride the escalator up and away from him. but then it immediately shows him entering the train and sitting down i thought that this was a very smart way to add a bit of character within the first couple seconds of the film. the way his gaze so noticeably drifts to the couple it shows what he wants already, and how he is feeling at the start of the film which is feelings of sadness or perhaps loneliness this is also his motivation for seeking the woman so intently. The rest of the film is edited in the way to show us his search, when he is sat down and unable to move around to look for her it shows us the people he considers a possibility and shows us his face to show us whether he thinks its them, and in the times when he’s free to move about it shows us quick shots of him running to and fro, i believe this shows quite skillfully the urgency of his search.

finally there is the Story. i think after talking about the other aspects of production for this film, there isn’t much that need be said about it. True though it is that the story is incredibly simple it is in my opinion expertly saturated by things in this film such as the camera work, audio and particularly the location. it is as Mark keeps repeating in lessons the simplest ideas can lead to some of the best films. with an idea such as a man searches for a woman based on details about her, based on her dating profile on a train you have to enhance it with good usage of the other parts of the films which this film did quite well, so i think that the story was empowered through these means.

Duties And Responsibilities Of An Editor

Posted on by aarong5298

Like all the other jobs ive talked about. The mighty editor is also quite integral (im starting to see why colin said that a film is all about teamwork) to the creation of the film, the editor is the one who takes all the jigsaw pieces of a random collection of scenes, shots and etc and sticks them together to create a film.

Duties:

  • so an editor’s job is to obviously edit but as an extension of that it is their duty to try and edit the bits of the film together in order for the film to actually begin to resemble a film. but more specifically they are supposed to do this in a way that fits
  • it is their duty to confer with the director when using a scene or editing a scene in a way that may require the directors go ahead.

Responsibilities:

  • it is their responsibility to pick clips based on their, dramatic effect and entertainment

Duties And Responsibilities Of a Director of Photography

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As far as i can tell, the director of photography is kind of like the big leader of camera men and all things visual in relation to the film, he is one of the heads of department which just immediately sounds important. they work very closely with the director, gaffer (the light guy) and the sound recordist.

Duties

  • The director of photography is supposed to meet with the director of a film so that they can discuss the visual style of the film
  • its then their duty to conduct research and preparation and will go look out at locations so thay can properly start forming a list of required equipment,
  • this list consists of things like camera’s and their equipment, lighting equipment and other things
  • another one of the duties of the director of photography is to oversee the camera crew

Responsibilities

  • one of their responsibilities is to make sure that they are getting the right shots in order to bring the directors vision alive.
  • another responsibility of the director of photography is to read the script and discover the perfect visualisation for the script he is bringing to visualisation.
  • also based on the scenery that the director of photography will have had to have been shown or told about, it is their responsibility to visualise, and develop a colour pallet for the film that he perceives as fitting or suitable

The Duties And Responsibilities Of A Sound Recordist

Posted on by aarong5298

As we have been both learning about it and have also been told it multiple times this year, sound is one of the most crucial components of film, its not hard to imagine then, how equally important the sound recordist is to the production of film.

Duties:

  • fairly obvious first one, it is a sound recordist’s job and duty to record sounds or dialogue when necessary, more precisely to be punctual with arriving on set and also being ready to record the instant it is necessary
  • it is also a duty of theirs to assess a scenes acoustic capabilities before shooting has begun, for example if the room is echoy, when an assessment is made, its up to them to use the appropriate equipment to deal with it
  • it is the duty of a sound recordist to inform of any problems with the audio during filming, as soon as a problem appears

Responsibilities:

  • collect the sound, evaluate whether it is usable and then its also within their duties to make sure it lines up with the footage shot as well
  • it is a responsibility of a sound technician to make sure that his knowledge of his own equipment and the equipment available to him at the time to be constantly updated, always recent and suitable
  • it is also a sound recordists responsibility to make sure that he treats his equipment well and with respect, also making sure to keep in mind where it is at all times

The Duties And Responsibilities of a Producer

Posted on by aarong5298

Producers are some of the most integrated and important people in the process of the creation of film. they’re accountable for the overseeing of the production film “from conception to completion” they can also be involved in the marketing and distribution process. obviously they have duties and responsibilities that they take seriously being professionals.

Duties:

  • producers in charge of putting together a cast and crew that will be necessary for the creation of the film. they have to be the right ones for the job so this is an important duty of theirs
  • another important part of the producers duties is money. it sounds rather shallow in my opinion but unfortunately its compulsory. so to be more precise it is the producers job to make sure that the film turns a profit by being responsible for all aspects of the projects production.
  • it is their duty to handle control and steer the project in a direction they think is best for the film throughout the entirety of the production process

Responsibilities:

  • it is a producers responsibility to create a filming environment for the cast and the crew that will allow them to flourish, and be productive so they can put all they have into each individual task they have in order to add to the overall completion of the movie
  • it is also their responsibility to be able to handle the money and channel it into the appropriate places in order to get the most in terms of effort, work and over all production out of every penny spent.
  • one more thing that producers are responsible for is the approval or denial of any script changes, ultimately the final draft of the script is the producers say

The duties and responsibilities of a director

Posted on by aarong5298

A director has many duties when working on a film. in essence he is a storyteller whose primary job is to utilise the tools, equipment and resources within his grasp to create and deliver a story in the form of a film in such a way that he thinks will captivate audiences. as in enjoy them but also bring in money. 

Responsibility

  • directors have a duty to tell or deliver a story in a way that will appeal to fans and audiences. ultimately their main concerns are:
  • 1. whether they are delivering the story well. as a storyteller this is obviously going to be one of the primary concerns of a director. it is one of the two. but as a person who greatly appreciates a good story the supposed viewpoint is that it is more important than the second concern. which is true purely from a consumers perspective. both the director AND the viewer get to worry about the story but it is only the director who needs worry about the second concern.
  • and 2. whether their efforts as a director are enough to be able to bring in a considerable profit. obviously one would think that being a story teller would mean that the story is the one and only primary concern. which is partially true but it remains partially because it would be only fully true in a perfect society where people spend millions on the production of films and then say “if it doesn’t make that much then its ok, the story alone is worth me giving you all this” sadly this isn’t the case and realistically directors have to very carefully consider each and every penny spent to make sure that it is necessary, cost effective and will also help the film in the long run in terms of turning a profit.
  • its also their responsibility to research, script,direct and edit.
  • they’re responsible for creating the mood and personality of a film that they are working on

duties

  • a director obviously has many duties and or jobs on set.
  • he is one of the most important people involved in the creation of the film except for maybe the producer.
  • his job is to properly convey how he wants the image of the film in his head to be transferred to the screen.
  • more precisely it is one of his duties to have a broad knowledge of each of the various methods that will be used to help him achieve this goal / image.
  • for example he hast to have at least a vague knowledge and amount of experience in different areas of filmmaking some examples being cinematography, editing, audio development, lighting and whatever may be necessary for him to know
  • another of his duties is to research into these different fields of skills and make sure that his knowledge of techniques and equipment is always fresh, and up to date