Creative Critical Reflection A-Level

Link: https://youtu.be/DU3YoYTU6LU

Minimalist Short Film Package

Link to Short Film: https://youtu.be/wtZIcVYwd_I

  Website: https://minimalistshortfil.wixsite.com/shortfilm

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Reflecting

This project is finally over and I’m pretty proud of what I made. There were definitely some ups and downs but I learned a lot and put in a lot of work.

I started off really rough since it was incredibly difficult to land on a decent story. Once the story was found, a microscopic villain named Coronavirus decided that my original idea did not deserve to get made. I made a pretty impressive pivot and I honestly believe the idea that I came up with during corona season is probably way more personal and I had way more fun than I would have ever had making a different film.

I have never tried to make a film all by myself and it was a pretty enlightening experience. It is pretty unique to have complete creative control over your film and there is no time wasted trying to explain your vision to other people.

I like to get fancy with camera movements or blocking, but since I was alone I had to add a little more flavor to the film by messing with other aspects, mostly sound and graphics. I would have never made a film that included a time-lapse, stop-motion, and changing aspect ratios because I am pretty vanilla about those kinds of things. I usually don’t like to distract from the film with obstructive editing techniques.

Aside from editing, I did also balance out my inability to move the camera with extensive production design. I spent a couple days creating a perfect set. It wasn’t too difficult because it was just designing the set to fit two extremes: an empty room and a cluttered room. That being said, moving heavy furniture for days on end is a strenuous workout.

My biggest issue, as always, is sound. I simply do not have the patience to create a good soundscape. My ears are really not designed for it. I added a lot of music to keep a fast pace, but aside from that, I just let the white noise play. My microphone that I plug into my camera also broke, so I was left with many clips that had no sound. I could not be asked to do foley because it is impossible in my house. It is very difficult for my family to understand that even if they are talking softly or lower the volume on the TV, my sound recorder can pick it up easily. 

The title cards are probably the thing I am most proud of. I spent a couple hours designing my “minimalist” font and cutting it to the beat of the music.

Ultimately, I am proud of what I accomplished because it was literally all me (though I didn’t create the music), so this is a product of my own creativity and hard work.

Website Design

I created my website. Wix is supposedly the most user-friendly website builder, but it is incredibly annoying to try and maneuver.

Website it available at https://minimalistshortfil.wixsite.com/shortfilm

The top of the page is a still from the short film with a title above it and a caption that the short film was made by me.

I also added a screenings tab and a gallery of still photos from the short film. The screenings are there so people can know where and when to go watch the movie in a festival/theater. The gallery is to give viewers a taste as to what the movie is going to look like (even though it is all-over-the-place at times).

The bottom of the page is just a wee little logline describing what the short film is about and then a little about me and what Minimalism means to me as well as detailing the fact that this was made during the pandemic.

Postcard Final

I found a really good slideshow that showed great examples of conventions for postcards for film festivals.

I learned some great stuff but it was mostly common sense. I checked out some of the sample projects that my teacher posted and noticed many people followed the exact same format.

I decided to go with the same thing, but with a 'minimalist' twist. Making this postcard was probably the easiest part since the premise of the film is to have as little detail as possible.

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The Minimalist Title Cards

I wanted to get real fancy with the title cards because I had a really good idea. I am going to have the title cards change from a complex/fancy font and dumb it down to basic shapes.

Unfortunately, I could not find a free 'minimalist' font, so I used basic shapes to create my own font on Canva.

As you can see, there are two different fonts and the jagged, broken one is the one I created. This came out exactly how I wanted it to and will make an incredible addition to the film and serves to tie the topic of the film to even the titles.

I'm starting to edit the title card now and it has a very Birdman feel. I would show you, but exporting would take too long.

Editing

Editing time has come around and I am very organized. Finding disappearing files is an absolute nightmare, so I always keep everything in one folder that is broken up into more folders.

When I go to import into Premiere Pro, all the files will be sorted the exact same way and help me stay organized while editing.

After editing a bit of the film, here are the problems I have encountered so far:

• I have to stack many layers of clips, which causes a lot of lagging
• I created an adjustment layer to switch up the aspect ratio. This adjustment layer is constantly moving and I have to make sure it doesn't move and overwrite other clips.
• Sound is basically out of the picture. While reviewing some clips. I noticed the microphone was not working. I think the microphone I connected to my camera is broken.