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The question we were asked most throughout this project was, ‘What are you about?‘. I found this question hard to answer. I joined this course to learn more about the Film and Television industry and to progress my skills further to help me break into the industry, however i didn’t quite know what part i wanted to go into. So i took this opportunity to use this question to help me get a better idea of what i was about. I decided to center my project on something i already had skills on but included all aspects of the jobs needing to be worked on to complete the final outcome making me the leader of my own project, start to finish.

My project was to use a short novel i had written not too long ago which consisted of around 55 thousand words and to turn it into a trailer for the story if it is ever turned into a visual. This consisted of script writing, story boarding, directing and editing, giving me varied experiences of a range of roles.

I looked at shows and films that inspired me directing and cinematography wise like Hannibal and BBC Sherlock, looking at how the selected scenes were shot to get the dramatic touches it possesses, complementing the script.

I also researched into screenplay writer Jim Uhls, especially being a fan of Fight Club it was interesting to see the visual transformation he went through to take the novel and re-invent it for the screen.

Another interesting read is Cinematography Storytelling, which helped me understand how to tell my story to my highest effort, giving plenty of run-through’s of many famous films, especially with the visuals it used as examples throughout the book.

When it came to filming my examples i only had a set time, mostly because of the weather when it came to my outdoor shots and my subject (my sister) was only available to me for a short while.

I feel the filming went well, experimenting with the lighting and shadows to give a dramatic and mysterious element the story and characters possess. Most of the shots are accurate to my drawn storyboard, except for the cigarette shot (K) which was originally going to be a close up of the object only, however getting the focus perfect was very difficult, but i think the end result with Carmen’s  lips, exhaling smoke and unfocused backdrop of the city compliments the character.

For my presentation i went through my blog and explained what my project was about, ending it with showing my short film of test shots. I had some good feedback giving me ideas to improve  my video, one being doing a voice over of what was going to be said over each shot, however due to time i couldn’t do this but i certainly took it under consideration.

The film i showed was a rough copy which i didn’t think was high enough quality making it hard to see the storyboard and some of the footage.

First Attempt:

I feel compared to my final version, the quality isn’t as good especially the storyboard being so hard to see. I also think the set up to my second one is better, taking the viewer through the storyboard and stopping to show the clip, even if sometimes it is a bit fast, however while using After Effects it would not let me slow down the pace so i had to make do.

Despite it taking me a while to fully get into this project i feel accomplished with the outcome. I have explored many of the roles necessary for production including script writing, story boarding, directing, camera operating and editing giving me a project i can call mine. I hope to carry on this project and film the full trailer or even a short film based on my story ‘Carmen‘.

What am i about? My portfolio was mostly about script writing and story boarding putting me into that specific group. Even though i enjoy writing and found it a challenge recreating my writing for the screen and learning from other famous script writers from my research, i still find myself questioning if that is what i want to make my profession, being such a big fan of directing and being in charge of the production.