Technical Evaluation of Ultra Short Film

Appropriate Techniques 

Throughout my ultra short film i have used various techniques, including jump cuts and parole editing. Jump cuts is a technique in which the camera stays in one stationary position, but the action is cut forward in time.
This can be seen in my ultra short film at (1:00) here we see the camera in a low angle, long shot but the action of myself getting up and walking away is cut 3 times. This connotes the speed up of time in this scene and mainly tries to get the ending shot of the scene to start and finish quicker. This is because the shot needs to be there for continuity but as i have cut the shot it speeds it up and adds to the style of the film.
The jump cuts in this instance are not only used to speed the shot up, but its also used to continue the style that I wanted to create throughout the film. The jump cuts have allowed me to continue this jolting style that was scene at the start of the film.  

Appropriate Transitions

During my ultra short film, there was multiple transitions that ranged from cuts, to screen wipes. The screen wipe, is a transition where one shot is layered on top of another, the existing shot then diminishes from left to right as the second shot moves through the screen.
At (1:39) we see the screen wipe that i have used, whereby one couple are standing at the front door and come together to hug, as the camera is tracking from right to left, the next visual then comes into frame from left to right, whilst the camera movement continues into this second shot. The second shot is again a similar set up as the camera continues to track from right to left, with again a character standing at the door and waiting to go in.
This transition is something that can be used for various situations, whilst it does have potential to have a comical connotation, in this instance, it was used to reveal the narrative. Whilst the scene leaves the audience asking questions, the transition almost acts as the answer and the big reveal as to where the main character has gone. The screen wipe acts as a very smooth transition to move the narrative along in perhaps a more technical way.

Appropriate Conventions

During the ultra short film there was many conventions that was used including cutaways. Cutaways are shots that visually show one thing but the audio or dialogue is coming off screen. Whilst this shot acts as a filler shot it also allows the scene to move on quicker but also gives the audience a chance to look at one thing whilst hearing another.
At (1:59) we see the camera pan from right to left as the main character walks into shot to go sit down, but the dialogue is off screen saying, 'through here, yeah.' This shot allowed the continuity of the scene to be shown but in a swiftly manner, i was able to move the scene along and get to the real crux of the scene whilst still able to have the technique.
This transition really helped me to move the scene along, because I needed to stick to the time constraints but also needed to make sure i had the continuity of the scene. It also makes the scene smoother as we could transition from walking into the house to sitting at the table during the conversation.  

Effective Pacing

Effective pacing is through the short film we see two clear distinctions of pace to portray certain emotions in different situations. They allow the filmmaker to add intensity or take it away depending on what atmosphere they want to create.
At (0:17) we see at the beginning of the short film they are multiple fast paced cuts to create an anxious, flustered atmosphere from the drugs that the character has taken. However at (0:42) the pace considerably drops as we go through the flashback scene. By using longer shots and slowing down the pace, this creates a very different atmosphere, instead of feeling very frantic it is more subdued and sad which is the main aim of the scene.
By having two different editing paces, it firstly allows the audience to see a clear representation of how drugs effect the person directly, but secondly it manipulates the audiences emotional state through the short film. As a filmmaker editing paces is very effective way of controlling the audience and making them translate their feelings to the characters to provide empathy.

Convey Information Effectively

Conveying information effectively simply means the visual and audio matches to correctly relay information to the audience in a clear way which is needed, especially in a short film from a narrative perspective.
At (0:29) we see the main character sitting down but then we actually hear a notification sound from the phone. This would simply convey the information that the character has a text message which becomes a pivotal point in deciding where he will go. Again at (0:51) we hear the same sound indicating another text message, to which we see the first one was from the girlfriend which intrigues the audience to see who the second message is from.
The short film conveys information correctly through the use of audio and visual, a short film does not have the time to convey a complex narrative which can be revealed by small details. This in turn, means that the short film needs to be more obvious when conveying information so that the audience dont have to think about the narrative and instead really invest their time in the emotional side of the short film.

Use Sound to Create Impact

Using sound to create impact is whereby the the audio evokes a certain emotion within the audience, or tries to create a certain atmosphere during the scene. Sound may also be used to reveal information within the scene.
At the start of the short film (0:04) we hear a slow paced heart beat sound, this created a slow, eary atmosphere surrounding the scene. However at (0:15) the heart beat sound effect had considerably sped up, which has changed the atmosphere of the scene but also the emotions that the audience are feeling. Here we can see the use of the heart beat sound effect being used to create impact in terms of the atmosphere that it creates.
The use of sound through this scene has not only allowed the intensity of the scene to significantly increase, but it has also heightened the emotion for the audience. The anxiety levels of the audience are constantly rising because of the heart beat sound effect.

Synchronize Sound and Vision

Synchronising the sound and vision is simply cutting to a soundtrack, this is when we cut the visuals to the beat of the music.
My ultra short film had a number of places where i cut to the beat but at 1:12 we see the technique being used more clearly. Here we see the character walking and waiting for someone to come, during the edit though the scene cuts multiple times, on every beat. This in turn does continue this theme of the short film being more 'jolty' and jarring.
Cutting to the beat allows the audience to be more entertained, through some scenes which may not necessarily be exciting by themselves. Whilst some scenes are needed either for continuity etc, cutting to the beat allows the audience to be kept engaged when watching these scenes.

Mix Soundtracks

Mixing soundtracks is where soundtracks are overlapping and the levels are changed so that one can be heard more then another, eg music and dialogue.
At (1:30) we see the beginning of a conversation between two characters happening, however we hear that the end of one piece of music fading out and a new piece of music fading in. Except the music stays at a lower level which allows the audience to hear clearly what is being said as opposed to being droned out by the music.
Mixing soundtracks enables for a clear distinction between emotion and reality, the manipulation of the audiences emotions stemmed from the music that overlaid the visuals. However when a conversation happens that's when the audience are brought back to reality and grasp the narrative.

Overlap Sound

Overlapping sound is when more then one audio track is used laid over the visuals of the short film. Overlapping sound can vary from sound tracks to dialogue or just a simple wildcat used.
At  (0:46) we hear 3 soundtracks overlapping each other, the first being a wildcat soundtrack of the surrounding background noise, the second soundtrack used was the voice over between the 2 characters telling each other that they love on another, and the last sound track was the music that continues to play in the background.
By overlapping the soundtracks it allows the filmmaker to create a certain emotion surrounding the scene. It allowed me to both show a clear narrative but further extend the emotion of the scene by using the voice over, however the music in the background heightens the saddened emotion that the audience are feeling at that very point.

Offline Edit/Online Edit

Offline editing is the process of going through the script and seeing what was filmed, deleted or changed etc. Opposed to online editing which is using the editing software to physically manipulate the footage into a finished product.
The offline editing process was the first job to do in the post-production stage, it consisted of me going through our shooting script and checking through what i had filmed and what we had decided to change on the days of production. During the online editing though is where i used the software to piece together the final product, i was able to use a number of effects and technical skills to portray a more emotional piece.
The purpose of offline editing is to be more organised when online editing. It allows the editor to have structure and to know what was shot and what was changed, making it easier for them to construct the short film. In terms of online editing this is the final stage in production, and perhaps the most crucial, it is where the themes, and emotions of the film can really come out which is whats needed to keep the audience engaged and excited.

On Screen Text

On screen text is the graphics and typography that are used mainly at the beginning of the film and at the end. They are the opening credits and title of the film and the ending credits of the film.
At (0:01) we see the title of my film come on screen which is all the screen text that was needed for the short film. Then at (2:25) we see the credits that scroll up the page featuring cast and crew that worked on this project. My on screen text was very simple mainly because i didnt want to distract the audience away from the actual ultra short film.
On screen text helps the audience to understand the narrative of the film, however during an ultra short film where there is not much spare time, it does need to be portrayed in a more quicker manor so that the audience can focus solely on the film.

Image Editing

Image editing is where the raw footage is taken and changed in various ways to produce a sequence, thus creating the short film.
At (0:05) we see the first visual of the ultra short film, in which the main character is sitting down in a slumped position starring at the TV, which is off screen, as the camera tracks inwards. The image though has been edited, as it firstly was cut down at the beginning and at the end because it didn't need to be the full clip length. But also the image has been colour corrected meaning image slightly has this blue tinge to it allowing the white T-shirt to almost stand out more.
The effect of image editing, allows the visuals to look more aesthetically pleasing for the audience, it gives the visuals a chance to look more professional and higher quality rather then leaving the colours raw. Also by colour correcting it means that the image feels warmer, or more distant and coupled with the audio it again manipulates the audiences emotional response to the scene.

Audio Editing

Audio editing is the editing of the audio that is used throughout the short film, this can vary from effects added to the audio or where it is cut and lowered in its levels.
At (0:27) we hear the heart beat sound effect fade out, in time with when the visuals fade out too. This then puts a stop to that scene and the intense emotion that the audience was feeling, the music then fades in to the next scene. This allows the audience to start investing their time into the narrative and start feeling new emotions towards the character as we unveil their struggles.
Audio editing, allows the filmmaker to further manipulate the audiences emotions and further allows them to decide when the scene should come to an end point and move on. Audio editing also makes the visuals feel fuller, it creates more meaning as opposed to having sound from the footage or just silence which would not engage the audience as much.

Preparing Footage for Editing

Process Evaluation of Ultra Short Film

Software Applications

The software applications is the editing software that was used for the post production of the short film. It is a digital, online platform where footage can be manipulated in various ways.

The software application that i used to edit with was Final Cut X, this particular application can only be used on Apple products, however it is one of the leading editing software's. Final Cut really allowed me to use more advanced settings in terms of colour grading and sound.

This software application has really allowed me to create a narrative with a high technical standard. Ive been able to use many different elements and tools from the software and create a film that was both narratively and technically strong.

Hardware

The hardware is the physical piece of equipment that is used to store and use software applications. Hardware, for editing, can range from an iMac, PC, or a laptop and even in some cases a tablet.

For our project we used an Apple iMac as our hardware, this allowed us to use Final Cut X  and to edit our projects on.

In terms of our ultra short film, using an Apple iMac meant the whole of post-production was easier. It is a very accessible system which allowed me to transfer the files easily from the SD card to the mac and from the mac to the editing software.

High definition/Standard Definition

Standard definition and high definition is the resolution that the footage has been filmed in and the resolution that the film gets edited in. The difference between standard definition and high definition also is the frame rate at which the footage is shot in, e.g. 25 fps, 60 fps. 

My ultra short film was filmed in high definition in 1080p at 25fps, i then further edited the film also in 1080p and 25fps.

The effect that HD has on my film is to get the best quality possible for the audience, they need to see a clear picture and have crisp audio to listen to. However in my case i rendered in 720p instead of 1080p, whilst this still is a HD file and not as a big of a file it doesn't have the same quality as a 1080p file. 

Tapes

Tapes are the types of storage for the footage, e.g. a SD card. It is a piece of hardware that stores all of the footage, visual and audio, and can further transfer it onto the iMac for editing.

I used an SD card, as my storage of tapes, as they was easily accessible for the compatibility between the camera to uploading it on to the editing software.

We used an SD card for our tapes, because it was the only piece of hardware that was compatible with the camera. It was also very easy for us to use as we could just slot it into the camera and then slot it into the iMac, with minimal problems.

Hard Disc

The hard disk is the hardrive of the computer, it is where everything is stored and uploaded too. This piece of hardware is where everything is saved, from the raw footage to the Final Cut file and the rendered video file.

For our ultra short film as we used the iMac's hard drive, we used the local hard drive storage. The macs hard drive is 1tb in size and stored all of my raw footage, audio edited file and the final .m4v file.

As we used a local hard drive which is an internal hard drive, as opposed to an external hard drive it becomes slightly more reliable but it is just easier and quicker to use. When using an internal, local hard drive everything is easily accessible, in comparison ton external hard drive which requires more cables etc. 

Data transfer rates

Data transfer rates is the speed in which the footage is uploaded to the hard drive. It is the time it takes for all of the raw footage files to transfer on to the mac, with different types of tapes taking longer then others to upload.

As we used an ultra 10 speed SD card, the data transfer rate was 90mb/s which is particularly fast. 90mb/s means that it took 1 second for 90mb of footage files to upload to the Mac.

This in effect just speeds up the process of uploading footage, it meant that i could start my editing and my preparation for editing quicker because the data transfer rate was fast. Some SD cards are not as fast which meant others would have had to wait a longer time for their footage to upload but it was quicker for me.

Exporting productions

Exporting productions effectively is rendering the ultra short film, it is the final stage of post-production and is where we chose what file format and what quality we want our film to be.

My ultra short film was rendered in HD quality which was 720p at 25fps. This meant that the file was reasonably small and meant that the rendering time was quick as well as the upload time to YouTube was also very short. Whilst it was not the highest quality i could have chosen it was the most suitable for the time period that i had.

By rendering in 720p it meant that the file size was small which was ideal for my situation. I needed a file that was HD quality but also it was something that could be uploaded anywhere very easily and quickly. If i did have more time I would have chosen to render in 1080p at the very least to improve the quality but that would have taken more time.  

File types

File types are the different formats that files can come in eg, .mov, .mp4, .m4v etc. These file types can also mean that only some platforms can open and watch them.

The file type that i exported my ultra short film in was .m4v. This file format is compatible with most platforms, it can be viewed by PC and by mac which is ideal for distribution, it also was accessible for YouTube too.

I chose to render in .m4v because it was accessible for many platforms, in some cases such as .mov files whilst they all work for apple, there can be problems when trying to access them with some PC software's. By choosing .m4v it allowed me to be quick with uploading and also i could transfer the file across many different platforms which is what i needed for this project.

Compression

Compression is the final stage of post-production, it is where the Final Cut file is rendered and compressed down into a smaller file. It renders the file into the desired resolution e.g. 1080p, and creates a file thats accessible to watch. 

I compressed and rendered my ultra short film into a 720p .M4V file which was a 312mb file. However when the file is uploaded to YouTube the file is then compressed again to make it compatible with YouTube. 

Whilst I compressed my file down to 720p .M4V it meant that it was quick to render and quick to upload. However this meant that i did loose some image quality and .M4V is not particularly compatible with every device, it would have been better to render in a .MP4 file. Furthermore, when YouTube has processed the video, the file again further loses some quality. 

Ultra Short Film

Rushes Log

Production Reflection

What were the main strengths of your production phase?

The main strengths of our production was how we all equally shared the responsibility to get things done and to a high standard. We showed great teamwork to come and film during some unsociable hours. We communicated well which enabled us to get our pre-production done quicker, giving us more time for production. Another strength that we showed through production was the ability at a good quick pace, whilst we didn't use many locations we did need various actors in various scenes, so we needed to be quick and organised to film certain scenes at certain times.

What challenges did you face during the production phase and how did you overcome them ?

The main challenge that we faced was simply to get all the actors to come at certain times, we wanted to really make sure every actor really suited the part. As such the people that we did cast were more scattered, so it did become a challenge to get everyone to help out at certain times. We managed to overcome this small problem by being really organised during our production days, thus allowing ot get all of our filming done on time.

What changes did you make from your planning? Why did you change these things? What was the impact of these changes?

From our pre-production planning we had originally stated we was going to use Seven kings park as one of our locations, we also stated that we would Iris as an actor but due to some difficulties we had to cast someone else more last minute, We lastly changed some of the actions that was on the shooting script, originally we was going to have our main character dancing as part of the montage, however after some deliberation we decided to change it to eating an egg. We changed the location because of some logistical reasons, it was also quieter to film at whilst still offering the same setting and atmosphere that the previous location would. We further changed the action in the montage because we felt that it wouldn't flow as well as we had hoped for. The changes that we have made didn't necessarily impact us greatly, we was still able to film everything how we wanted and even some of the changes actually made it easier for us to film the scenes. 




What improvements would you make to your production process if you were to do it again?

If we were to do it again i would have liked to film certain scenes multiple ways because i feel during post-production it would have been better t have more choice. I felt that some of our scenes were more limited because we only filmed some things once and only in a certain style.

Shooting Script