Module Evaluation

I really enjoyed creating our sound piece. Sound is something I'm personally very interested in. This project taught me how manipulate sounds to create a piece which I believe successfully portrays a girls anxiety in concerns to beauty standards. I am very proud of what we as a group created. However if I was to do it again I would work on my pacing. I also believe that there was times in my sound piece where it peaks too early and sometimes it can be a bit of an anti climax. However I am very proud of this piece over all, especially since going into this piece, non of us really knew anything at all about sound recording or design.

 In the Experimental film I mainly did the sound recording and design. Experimental film is something I have previously not encountered. Therefore this task allowed me to discover experimental film as an art form and connect with it. Once again this task allowed me to develop as a sound designer, learning how to record sounds in the most effective way, to create clean sounds that helped me create a piece which portrays the internal anxiety given by beauty standards. I believe that our final experimental film is very effective and I believe the sound piece and the visual piece works well together to create a successful final film.

 Our documentary is something I am extremely proud of. In this piece I did the sound design. This task allowed me to get even more familiar with pro-tools. Before this piece I had only worked in a very small group, so working in a group of 6 was an experience its self. This helped me develop my communication skills, as we all had to communicate effectively to successfully create a documentary which looks and sounds amazing. One thing I learnt from this is how important location is when recording sound. Sometimes when recording sound for this piece the background noise made the interviews completely inaudible. This is near enough impossible to correct in post, therefore we had to do pickup interviews to correct this.

 Our final piece, the drama was probably the most stressful of our projects. We really struggled with timing in this piece as I have already discussed. If I was to do this again I would allow ourselves more time and would make sure we had proper actors so we could portray what we were wanting to. In this piece I was the producer. I believe I have done really well in the role, especially in terms of organising our shoot, our group and our actors. Personally I didn't particularly enjoy this role, as I would have preferred something more hands on, however I believe I have done everything in my power to make this project as successful as it could possibly be.

Evaluation - Actor

   Personally I found the process of creating this film very difficult. One major issue when it came to this film was the fact we had to change our idea very last minute. We originally had gone with the Vices idea, which can be seen, earlier in my blog. We had begun to search for locations, actors and began planning to film for this film. However due to the specific ages of the characters in this film, we found it extremely difficult to find actors in the time frame we had. This lead changing our idea last minute, and meant we had to rush planning and preparation for this idea. Due to the lack of time, we ended up with a day to film. Personally I'm very proud of how as a group we dealt with the shortage of time. I believe as producer I successfully organised the group for the day, with me getting the equipment together, getting the actors prepared, and sorting out our location. As producer I spent a lot of the time working with the actors, preparing them for the shoot, building a rapport with them and making them feel comfortable during the time we were filming. I understand that for the actors this must have been very stressful as we had so much to film in so little time.  I would like to mention as a group we worked extremely well during this project. Due to our issues with time, we had a lot to do in very little time. This was very difficult, however I believe that the contribution of our entire group made the workload bearable and it helped us get everything done. 

  A major strength of our piece was our group’s dedication. Without our group being so willing to be in shoots and in uni for long periods of time there is no way that this film would have been done in time, and no way would it have been completed to the quality that we did. I would like to comment on the cinematography within our film. Josh worked really well in this project and I think the cinematography looks amazing.  

 I think there were some major issues with our film. One of the issues was the acting. Due to the timeframe we had to use friends of mine, rather than real actors.  Due to this I believe we failed to portray the emotion we originally had tried to create. However, I do believe that all our group did everything we could to create the best product, and despite the bad acting, I still believe the film looks and sounds really amazing. Another issue was communication within the group. There were times when we had organised as a group to edit or do some pick up filming ect. We put all the times in the group chat and contacted all the members individually to make sure we were all there. However some how there was issues with communication and some of our group members weren't where they needed to be.

Actors Workshop

The actors workshop was very useful to us as a group. From this workshop we learnt how to communicate with actors so we could get the performance we had envisaged. I believe this workshop helped us as a group decide that our original idea wasn't our best idea, and it helped us discover that it was too difficult to pursue this idea in the time we had as it wasn't fully developed. When the actors in this session read our script it revealed the flaws in our idea and lead to us to our decision to go with Josh's treatment. Overall even though I believe this experience was positive, I think we could have been given greater direction on how to direct the actors. Also we only heard the actors read through the script, there was no physical acting, which would have been greater help.

We gave our actors our this section of the original script:

Scene two

int sheryl's mums house - now into mid day

Sheryl is at her mums house, hiding the fact that she is drunk and hating the idea of been there. She walks into the room with a tray of tea and biscuits, how ever spills the drinks slightly as she stumbles due to her intoxication. 

SHERYL'S MOTHER

"careful, it's a new carpet"

(concerned for her carpet and not so much Sheryl)

Sheryl looks at her mum in disgust without any care for the new carpet.

SHERYL’S MOTHER

"So as i was saying, you know Lynda from down the road?..Well apparently she's been getting it off with the postman"

(Spoken as though continuing a previous convocation)

SHERYL

"oh right..."

(Sheryl seems uninterested in the gossip as she really doesn't want to be there)

SHERYL'S MOTHER

"Some people just don't have their priorities straight these days"

(said in a patronising tone as she takes a sip of her tea whilst looking at Sheryl)

SHERYL

(Unresponsive and not caring what her mum has to say)

SHERYL'S MOTHER

"So, how're you doing? it's been a while since you last popped around"

(sounding concerned for Sheryl)

SHERYL

"i'm fine"

(very brief and with a slight sigh, again signalling her hatred for been here)

SHERYL'S MOTHER

"did you go to That chippy hiring down the road i told you about?"

(again in a patronising tone)

SHERYL

"they'd had too many applicants"

(lying to her mum)

SHERYL'S MOTHER

"well that's why you needed to go the day i told you"

(annoyed at Sheryl for not trying hard enough)

SHERYL

"hmm"

(giving a verbal response just to shut her mum up)

SHERYL'S MOTHER

"you'll lose that tone, lady, all i ask is that you at least try to do somethin..."

(now getting angry however interupted by Sheryl)

SHERYL

"like what? prance around in a leotard?" 

(Snapping with anger and due to her intoxication at her mum)

SHERYL'S MOTHER

"How dare you...I've given you everything and this is how you repay me? i gave you violin classes, ballet classes..."

(In disbelief at Sheryl's disrespect and interupted by sheryl)

SHERYL

"yes when i asked if i could do judo or play in a rock band"

(interrupting and finally starting to speak her mind to her mum)

SHERYL'S MOTHER

"someday you'll have to get your head out the clouds, otherwise you're going to..."

(stern and trying to be the dominant character)

SHERYL

"Never be good enough?"

(she says this interrupting before her mum has time to say amount to nothing)

Sheryl storms out of the house hurt and disappointed, she's had enough of the arguing. 

SHERYL'S MOTHER

"Sheryl Wait..."

(Her words have no impact on Sheryl as she still storms off)

When we heard the script back, we knew it wasn't right. However the experience of being able to direct two professional actors was positive and will be helpful in future. 

Actor - Final Film

actor from SHU Film & Media Production on Vimeo.

Behind the Scenes (Stills)

Script (Actor)

(Completed by Josh Beattie)

“actor” By Joshua Beattie

cut TO: SCENE 1

Audition scene – INT. DAY (auditioning room)

We cut straight in to a montage scene of auditions, Charlie walks in to frame from the right. The producer is off screen but still diegetic.

Producer

Can you stand on the line please?

charlie

Yeah Sure.

Producer

Name?

charlie

Charlie Enfield

Producer

Age?

charlie

21

producer

Okay, whenever you’re ready Charlie.

Charlie takes a cigar out of his pocket and Takes a deep breath as if to calm himself.

Charlie

(Imitating Goodfellas)

Ever since I can remember I always wanted to be a gangster.

Clothing change.

charlie

(Imitating Marlon Brando)

You don’t understand, I coulda had class, I coulda been a contender.

Clothing change.

charlie

(Imitating James Dean)

YOUR TEARING ME APART!

Clothing change.

charlie

(Imitating Samuel L Jackson)

And I will strike down upon the with great vengeance…

Clothing change.

charlie

(Imitating Robert Deniro)

You talkin to me? you talkin to me?

Clothing change.

charlie

(Imitating Tyler Durden)

The first rule about fight club is…

Clothing change

charlie

(Imitating Hannibal Lecter)

I ate his liver with some fava beans and nice Chianti.

Clothing change. (Fake moustache) 

charlie

(Imitating Charlie Chaplin)

I’m sorry, but I don’t want to be an emperor. That’s not my business. I don’t want to rule or conquer anyone. I should like to help everyone if possible. Jew, gentile, black man, white.

We now get a quick montage of different producers rejecting him.

Producer

Thank you for coming. thank you for your time. we’ll call you. Thanks for coming in. We’ll let you know.

Charlie walks out of the audition room with his head still held high, through a hallway of guys who a dressed in similar clothes and into a lift. He takes the small fake moustache off and the lift door closes on his smiling face.

CUT TO: SCENE 2

PREP FOR THE AUDITION – INT. NEXT DAY (BEDROOM)

During this scene we follow Charlie as he gets ready for his audition styled in a montage like sequence. The Scene starts from black with an alarm clock going off. We see the alarm clock on the side table next to Charlie’s bed. He turns it off and gets up.

He pieces of script stuck all around his bedroom, on the mirror, on the wall, in the bathroom on his wardrobe. While he brushes his teeth, gets dressed and makes himself look presentable he is constantly reading the script and going over his lines and practicing how he is going to play the part. He has a clear drive and passion for his craft and its clear during this scene.

CUT TO: SCENE 3  

INT/EXT. AUDITION ROOM/HALLWAY

We see Charlie sat in a cluttered hallway anxiously waiting to be called in to the audition room. He gets up from his chair and goes to a water fountain across the hall. A gentle comes and greets him.

Robert

You here for the auditions?

charlie

(Not realizing who he is, until the end of the sentence)

Yeah, you--

robert

(Almost chuckling at the misunderstanding)

Actually no

charlie

(Now realising it’s the producer her is going to audition for)

I’m sorry sir, I didn’t realise who it was. Nice to meet you, I’m Charlie.

ROBERT

Please, call me Robert. You been doing this long?  

charlie

What acting? – I’ve wanted to be an actor since I was little but I’ve been auditioning for roles for the past 2/3 years.

Robert

Ahh so your used to this kind of thing then.

charlie

Yeah, I love it though, even if it does normally end in being turned down.

Robert

Well, you know how Meryl Streep became Meryl Streep.

Charlie

No?

robert

Well in the 70’s she went to audition for the role of ann in King Kong. The producers told her she was to ugly to audition so she left. It broke her down but she had the choice to quite or continue to chase her dreams. She knew that if she could get up from that she could get up from anything and she carried on. Now she has 18 academy awards. Now some may consider that the worst audition of their life --- but I bet you she doesn’t.

CHARLIE

Wow--

robert

Now imagine if no one had said that to her, if no one pushed her to the edge.

charlie

Yeah, I guess but what if that guy discouraged her from ever becoming Meryl Streep.

Robert

Exactly, Meryl Streep would never be discouraged – oh I gotta head off, maybe I’ll catch you later

charlie

Yeah —- okay –-

Charlie goes back and takes his seat. A few seconds later he gets called in to the audition room. He walks in.

Lucy

Hi, Charlie I’m Lucy, this is Robert Lune the producer. He put together the script you will be reading today.

Robert is sat behind a desk, he is on his phone not really paying attention to what is going on.  

charlie

Yeah we met outside.

Charlie goes to shake Roberts hand and he takes no notice. He just carries on with his phone in hand.

Robert

Yeah we will just go from the top, I will play the part of Harry for you.

 cHARLIE

Okay

There is a long pause of silence.

robert

(Stone Cold)

Well speak…

Charlie

(Stumbling over his words)

Oh --- sorry --- I am what you made me! It’s your fault I’m this way!

Robert

Fucking Christ

Charlie, looks at Robert and back at the script confused.

Charlie

Uh --- w --- What?

robert

Sorry, that was unfair. I know it’s only your first take. Just take a deep breath, look at the line and really think about it --- okay.

charlie

Okay

Charlie looks at the script, takes a deep breath and begins again.

Charlie

I am what you made me! It’s your fault I’m this way!

Robert

Well that was your second attempt and that was just shitty. 

Charlie

I’m sorry?

Robert

It was shit

charlie

I --- only did the first line?

robert

Yeah but if you can’t do that line, how can I expect you to do any of the others?

charlie

--- right ---

robert

You want to know a secret?

charlie

Okay

Robert brings him closer to whisper in his ear.

Robert

No one like you has ever made it as an actor, now get your ugly mug out of my fucking office.

Charlie pulls back in shock and slowly walks out of the office in disbelief. Similar to before we see him walk down a hallway but with his head hung low and in to an elevator where the doors close on his face.

Scene 4

INT. BEDROOM – DAY

Charlie is laying on his bed thinking about the mistakes he made at the audition, it constantly going through his head. He has the sudden flash back to the story Robert had told him about Meryl Streep and to what he said in the audition room.

He simply smiles as he realises what Robert has done.

FAde Out:

The End

Edit Plan

(Completed by Richard Bolter)

Edit Plan

Opening – Montage – actor Audition tape – simple colour, correction make it not look flat, keep the spectator focused on the centre of frame. Jump cuts, simulate the simplicity of audition tapes. 
work with the movement of the actor.  If they incorporate hand gestures and movement into their performance.

Apartment scene – This should all accentuate the claustrophobic area of Charlie’s loving arrangement, Showing the struggles of a starving actor. Colour correction and all aspects of colour should be done to try and hide and disguise the student accommodation. Possibly a heavy yellow or orange tint to make the location seem more run down and “grimy” then it is. This would be pulling inspiration Whiplash.
This scene is also going to incorporate a match cut possibly, meaning some changing and resizing of the image may be necessary to make the match seamless. 

Audition hallway – This should possibly open with an establishing shot of the building the audition, however we could also directly link these two scenes with the door closing. This scene should start being focused on Charlie, and shouldn’t switch over to both until Charlie take full interest in who sits next to him. He should be engrossed in the script. Each shot should block out who is speaking until Charlie takes an interest. This could start to explore the idea of one person starting to take over the narrative and the power struggle of personalities.
         The colourisation of this scene should be slightly different from the previous scene to try and create contrast, however depending on location, it could still look “grimy” to try and show the quality of the auditions Charlie is going to, as well as the overinflated ego of the producer.
                  When Robert the producer does enter the scene, he should slowly take control of the scene to reflect his over bearing personality. He should control the scene until he exits. This however will depend on performance, as the producer should be more controlling and confident. This would hopefully shine through the monologue about Meryl Streep.

Audition green room – The flow of this scene should be entirely dependent on Robert the producer, he should be in complete control. There should be a focus on him and how in this situation he holds all the power.
                  The colour should somewhat match the previous scene, however it should possibly be more orange tinted since it would reflect the harsher lights above, as well as represent the harsher environment and tone of the producer.
                   Charlie should have the sense of confidence as he walks until its quickly taken away from him. This could be represented again through the power struggle, and how to focus will drastically shift more to the producer.
                  This should be the fasted edited sequence except for the opening montage, the increased tempo would reflect the stress and intensity of the audition environment and the speed hopes and dreams can be crushed.

Audition leaving – this scene should be as few shots as possible, with long takes to represent the crushed feeling and how hopeless Charlie is in this moment. Possible jump cuts as Charlie moves further down the hall to how distressed this encounter makes him.