Film – Experimental Film
Using the same concept statement that we received in English, our goal for this project in film was to relay that statement through a visual, abstract way. This was an individual project that lasted approximately a month and a half. We began with pitching our ideas to the class and later filmed and edited the clips to make our final product.
behind the scenes editing of this film
From pre-production to post-production…
After I pitched my idea and got feedback from my classmates, I began brainstorming to figure out how many scenes I wanted and which shots I would need to get to fulfill that. We had two rounds of dailies, which was when we would submit our raw footage, unedited, to watch together as a class so we could be critiqued and fix any mistakes in directing or the actual filming (lighting, use of a tripod or not, camera settings). Turning in dailies really helped to improve the production process because it allowed me to reflect and see what worked and what didn’t, as well as get a response from an audience to see if they felt that my concept statement was being portrayed well. I had to take out a scene in my film because there wasn’t enough time to film it and it wasn’t necessary for my film to be effective. Mr. Taylor taught me a lot for editing the clips in Premiere Pro since I had a lot of editing to do. We got time in class to work but I spent most of my time editing at home, since it was intensive and required that I pay close attention to detail. Unfortunately, I was not able to finish my film by the due date but I’m glad that I took my time with editing to perfect it so I would be putting my best effort into the film. In the future, I will manage my time better, which I learned from this film because I spent too much time filming and as a result was not able to complete it on time. I think it turned out pretty well and definitely improved my editing skills in Premiere Pro!
This film really pushed me out of my comfort zone and I think it was the perfect way to start off the year. I had never made an experimental film before this one and probably never would have if not for this conceptual unit. Admittedly, this film was difficult for me because I’m not used to filming anything that doesn’t get right to the point and I was stressed that my audience wouldn’t understand how my film was portraying my concept statement. The last thing I wanted was for my audience to be confused and not like the film. Although I know that I’ll like my narrative film more than this one, I am still really proud of this final product because I feel that my hard work in editing and long hours of filming really paid off. I am grateful to have experienced making this film and I’m thankful that Mr. Taylor helped me make this film so much better than it would have been had I done it by myself.