Reflecting back on the short film that I've completed, 'Obscured From View' was difficult to produce because I was working off something that nobody knew anything about. I was making a short film off something which didn't have a fan-base already - and it's difficult to get something known or liked as easily as if it already had a fan-base. For example, if this had professional actors in it, was directed by someone famous, or it had a genre, it'd be easier to produce as there'd already be examples as of how to do it. There were no examples of films about unknown parts of London, or nobody had an idea in the least bit similar to mine.
I changed the colour, made the overall image darker and added more shadows to the images, with the intentions of making it mysterious, tantalising and surprising. I decided that there needed to be fades to make the transitions between the shot look smooth, as I wanted a calming effect on the audience. I added text such as titles (Erthquake font for the title text) and one useful font website that I have used to get fonts is DaFont.com. I decided to edit the soundtrack last of all because without the storyline, text and tone of the image, I found it hard to get a feel for the film, even though I had a rough idea as to where I was heading.
In retrospect the short film had the effect that I set out to achieve, which was engaging peoples' interest, fascinating them and inducing strange effects. I haven't shown this to anyone who lives outside of London as of yet, I've shown the completed piece to my friends and family so far, but they live in London they have been to the scrap yards, they've seen all the buildings, objects and views in the video before. Despite that, it still drew their attention and a couple of shots surprised them, but there needed to be more creative shots and techniques employed, to confound them - as there were some shots where people watching it were wondering what the point of the shot was, what the word that was on screen read, or they were expecting the shots to come up.
There was an excess of text on the screen, as it distracted the audience from the actual shot. When I was shooting, I wasn't sure of what fashion I wanted to execute the shots, but speaking as an editor, I needed a variety of shots to work with - and the lack of variety showed in the film. I wanted the audience to feel like exploring London; I'm unsure as to whether or not I have achieved this effect, but some of the shots looked interesting. Perhaps I should've shot different parts of London or been to art exhibitions to get ideas of what I could shoot. It has been commented on that some of the shots looked professional, such as the time-lapse sequence, the focus pulls and the sunset shot at the end, but there needs to be a wider variation.
I've had remarks that there's no real storyline to the short film; I've found this quite a challenge to make a storyline because I'm not trying to make a story, rather, document and capture something: exquisite, from my own perspective. I feel that the structure and shots in the short film are equally as important because I need people to understand how I view London, what angle I see it from and cohere to how I see it.
Criticism that I've received is there's too much concentration on the shots and not the techniques. Secondly, the panning was shaky (I used the 'steadycam' effect on Final Cut Pro to amend this, but it was to no avail) which made the audience feel dizzy. This is something that I've realised, but I decided to keep it because the shot was well framed. It's made me realise that I need to plan and practice before I go to shoot and edit, for practicality and to think about how I can build upon the shots so that it doesn't just look like a slideshow. I've connected the shots together through text and images so that the audience will know it's in London, but the structure isn't that progressive as there's no change in the pace of the film.
I didn't want there to be change in the pace, I wanted the flow to be smooth, relaxing, gradual and slow. It was, but to my sister who's 15 years old, the pace was prolonged and the shots were uneventful, she's remarked that "there should've been more people and interviews". There should've been something human to it that people could relate to, but at the same time move the story along. Let me contrast that criticism: my mum and my friend complimented that they felt interested and very calm after watching it, which is what effect I had intended the audience to feel. My short film is intended for an adult audience as they have the patience and don't need so much adrenaline to come from watching a film. My sister found the subject of the film intriguing and thought provoking, but the pace of it didn't evoke any emotion out of her. I've realised that the pace of the film elicits more of a response from adults than it does children.
When I was editing the film together, my teachers also said that the shots need to slow down so that they get a chance to look at it. I felt too that in order for people to observe the beauty in London and feel emotion for the shot, it needs to slow down, fade in and fade out as well as cross fade.
With regards to the soundbytes from the VOX pops that I did, I feel that I chose them wisely and that they accurately illustrate what I feel about London. I added echos to the end of the soundbytes so as to make it sound reflective and emphasis on what they say.
There've been numerous compliments about the soundtrack and loads of interest as to where it originated from. I used 3 copyrighted tracks (which I haven't credited in the end credits) for the unseen London:
- Spirited Away OST - A Road To Somewhere
- Event Horizon Soundtrack - Main Access Corridor
- A Series of Unfortunate Events - Curdled Cave
Additionally, I used a plethora of sound-effects and music from Soundtrack Pro. I went for ambient, sci-fi, environmental sound effects and calm, strange but menacing music. I slowed the 3 tracks down, reversed one track, and split the track in half so as to mix them up and make them unrecognisable to the original sources. There was no copyright to the music used the the beginning and end, the actual recording was produced by me, a street performer sung the music - he hasn't been signed on to any labels, but I'm unsure as to whether or not the lyrics and actual song is copyright. I will credit the street performer who I recorded singing, out of respect for what he was prepared to do. He'll be credited in the copy of the short film that I plan to give to Southwark council and the London tourist board.
I have yet to show it to my teachers and people who I don't know, but the criticism that I've received from my friends and family has been evaluative - especially from my sister (who studies Visual Arts and Design) and my mother (artist, who used to work on TV and film sets). Although I worked solely by myself on the short film, I needed assistance with getting access to the wine-bar at the top of a skyscraper, as I wasn't old enough to enter by myself. I also had assistance from a couple of friends with holding the boom, so that I could operate the camera. At certain stages in the planning and editing, I'd ask my mum and sister for feedback, because I knew that they could criticise whilst giving a balanced view.
Although my short film isn't nearly as strong a candidate as other, professional short films, I plan on submitting the piece to Virgin Shorts or for the London Film Festival next year, to see where it gets to. I'll need to edit it down and it'll give me a chance to build upon the alien shots to make it even stranger, as well as getting to the point sooner on in the film rather than later.
To achieve alluring shot movements, I need to experiment with panning and practice panning, to achieve steadiness in order to supplement the shots rather than detract. During the production of the film, whatever visually attractive elements that I saw in the landscape, I'd shoot, but I should've had more of a variety and should've evaluated the shots, thinking about them deeply before I add them to the film.
Overall, I had a strong idea. On a personal level, I love my short film and I'm sad to be departing from it. Editing has taken patience and energy, and I feel I've managed to capture the essence of the alien parts of London, with astounding shots, colour and lighting. I can apply the editing techniques and framing that I've used to make 'Obscured From View' and utilise it in my next piece. On a professional level, I need to develop structure and techniques within future films that I make, focus on how to further relate shots and tell a story within them, to maintain the audiences' interest. Making this short film has made me realise that I want to develop more ideas and themes like this one. It's a subject that I'd love to further expand upon and reference in my future works.
