Film Evaluation ect.

For our film, we made a thriller that shows how two people were connected, and the film does show the story pretty well. There are both good and bad points to make about the production that I would want to further improve.
For the pros, the camera work was good and we achieved the shots and effects we wanted in the scene - for example, there was a slight tilt during the stabbing scene which hints that something bad was going to happen. Another good point which links to camera work is the framing, where we made sure to have the boy placed on the far side of the hall to single him out completely. The setting we used was appropriate for the story and having the tunnel be a focused setting added horror to the moment.
However, I do think a lot could have been improved. The plot to me wasn't something that could be seen as a thriller - I think more gore and fear factor would have made it better. Some camera angles confused me as we needed a reaction shot but it was filmed at a distant that you couldn't see what the reaction was (I didn't get a say in a lot of the camera work) and I wish some angles I suggested were used because it would have worked well to capture the moment. The acting could be improved as Im not a drama student and we should have been focusing on the directing rather than the acting because I think both suffered because of us multitasking.
Overall, it's not a bad first film to make, but I do think I would prefer chosen groups or independent work so I could focus on the directing.

Synopsis:

The genre of our short film is a thriller. The plot is as such - after his class gets free seating for a lesson, a girl sits next to a boy. A seemingly innocent action leads the boy to become somewhat obsessed with this girl, often trying to strike up a conversation, but most of the time he ends up staring longingly at her, leaving uneasy and sinister vibes in the air. These vibes linger throughout the film until the end, where our narrative twist comes in. We see the girl walking through a dark tunnel. The audience believes the boy will attack the girl in some way when she is robbed. The boy sees and attempts to intervene, but gets fatally wounded as he does so, leading to his demise. The last shot of the film is of the boy reaching out to the girl, whether this be as a sign of anger, content, or acceptance is up to the audience. We also see how the girl pretty much forgets of the guys existence, not even passing him a look in the hallway. The only indication that she knew who he was is proposed at the end, with the look she gives him before he dies.

Evaluation:

During the filming and editing process, some things went to plan and others did not. Most of these can be seen in the script/storyboards, but one, in particular, was when we wanted to shoot a scene where the boy and girl were in their own beds thinking about the days events. We ended up discarding this idea as it wasn’t feasible for us to travel and shoot it, however, we ended up shooting a similar scene in college. This was better as it added a connection between the two, as well as polarising the two further. For our next film it would be beneficial if we experimented more with ranged shots, as we relied heavily on close up and mid-range shots for our film, and while they worked for what we wanted to achieve, more variety of shots would, in my opinion, benefit us greatly.

Cinematic Ideas:

We mainly used close up shots. This would mainly reflect on the boy's somewhat unnatural fixation on this girl. An example of this is when he’s glancing repeatedly at her during the opening. Opposingly, the close-ups on the girl subtly reflect her discomfort/nonchalant behavior towards the boy as she doesn’t really care for/see him. During the end in the tunnel, we use a long shot to present the idea of danger, and later during the confrontation with the attacker, we use extreme close up shot to show tension/fear in the boy. Furthermore, a subtle tilt is used when the boy is leaning on the rail to foreshadow his uneasy demise. Most of the sound in the end sequence is non-diegetic, with that being the atmospheric music and heart rate monitor. That’s not to say that we didn’t use diegetic sound at all, as the grunts and impact noises are all diegetic. We briefly considered using foley sound to accentuate those impacts and convey more pain, but ultimately decided against it as time was dwindling. Finally, as the girl approached the dying boy, we used a high angle to emphasise the direness of the situation.

Script:

Fade In:

Int. Class Room - Day

Bustling Chatter of students in the room awaiting the lesson to start. Teacher Enters

Teacher:

Alright class settle down. Thank the lucky stars

that I'm in a good mood today.

Confused mumbling comes from the students

Teacher:

Free seating for today. Sit with who you want

Students move around and switch seats - Guy is left sitting on his own looking disgruntled. Girl enters classroom - sits next to guy

Shot reverse shot - Both characters smiling/looking at each other when the other isn't looking. Bell is rung. Fade Out

Fade In:

Int. Q Block Hallway - Day

Guy is sitting staring at his phone writing and erasing messages to the girl

Cut

Ext. Church Wall - Day

Girl is with friends and is similarly writing and erasing messages to guy. After a few moments of this her friends call her away. Girl walks off, another student walks in front of the camera. Camera follows. Fade Out

Fade In:

Int. N Block Hallway

Student walks in front of the camera, panning to Guy walking through the hallway. Girl walks past him and he stops in the middle of the hallway. He turns and looks for her. Shot cuts to Girl behind a corner waiting for the Guy to come but he doesn't. She turns and walks into the bathroom. Fade Out.

Fade In:

Int. Class Room - Day

Girl walks through the classroom door and sees the Teacher standing and Guy already sitting down on the right

Teacher:

Please, take a seat

Girl slowly sits down. She is sat on the left. Teacher is inbetween the two

Teacher:

Ok you two, what's going on?

The two briefly look at each other then back at the teacher. They say nothing

Teacher:

Listen, I don't know what's happened

between the two of you, but I do know

that your grades started slipping at around

the same time. So whats happening?

Once again the two give each other a look, but nothing is said. Teacher sighs. Fade Out.

Fade In:

Int. Bridge-Tunnel - Day

A train passing by is heard. Girl is walking through the tunnel alone. Cuts to close up of someone's feet as they walk towards Girl, slowly panning up their body. Stranger runs and grabs the Girls bag and runs off. Girl screams

Ext. Bridge-Tunnel - Day

Guy is walking with headphones in, Girls scream is muffled out by music. Stranger runs into Guy and his headphones fall out. He sees the bag and grabs it. The Stranger tugs but doesn't get the bag off of the Guy. Stranger leans close into the Guy - Close up of Guys face as he falls down, Stranger runs off. Girl exits the tunnel and sees Guy on the floor bleeding. She screams and runs to him, holding his bloodied hand and applying pressure to his wound. Guys is muttering, barly able to say anything

Guy:

Hi. S-sorry for taking t-this long

to s-say anything.. I-m J-

Guy yelps out in pain. Girl's eyes are tearing up/crying, apologising profusely. A heart rate monitor is heard as the camera pans away from the two. Fade Out

Heart rate monitor continues and then flatlines. Title Card and Credits

Moodboard:

Split Screen Shots