Evaluation

Introduction:

“Peer” is a drama film intended to tackle the social issue of peer pressure in young people today. The film displays a young character as he wakes up to realize that his initiation is due to happen on that day. Suffering from peer pressure, he contacts his friend to assist him. It is intended to portray his emotions to the audience to show the signs of how peer pressure is reacted to by a boy his age.

Direction:

The direction of the film in the opinion of me and others, seemed to be clear enough for the audience to grasp the story line. The script never appeared to disrupt the flow of the film, as it suited the general theme of each scene. Direction may however have been a problem during the filming of the final fight scene. This is due to me not clearly explaining my vision of the scene to the actors. This highly drops the standard of the whole project, as this is what all of the buildup and suspense was leading to. I believe that to better improve this scene, I could have showed my actors a scene from a similar project from which I would take inspiration. The rest of the film however, displayed an easily understood buildup. A text appearing on the screen just before the action began, would’ve also been a touch that would have give the audience a more in depth understanding of what the protagonist was being forced to do. The twist in the story was well shown, as a flashback appeared before the character (Kurtis) died. This showed that he was the same character that previously assisted the protagonist (Stephen).

When receiving feedback for the film, the most general answer was the understanding of the plot. This, I believe, is a comment towards the quality of direction in the film. Showing the plot in a clear and organised fashion is one of the key factors in audiences knowing what is happening on screen, which then leads them to be able to review it rather than question it. Another comment towards direction was how it was “well set out in terms of buildup”. This meant the audience understood that the whole beginning scene was a buildup to what was about to happen. I am pleased with the amount of positive comments on direction as I personally believe there were many errors. These errors consist mainly of the final scene, as I believe it was rushed and could have been completed to a much higher standard if taken seriously. I think the reasoning to this being rushed was equipment malfunction as well as the fact it was the final scene before production was wrapped up.

Cinematography:

The cinematography role in this project was shared between me and Kurtis. I thought that the whole cinematography role was executed greatly, as all of the shots were in focus and the project contained a multitude of angles. Exposure was managed extremely well, especially during the outdoor scenes, in which the sun was at its highest effect on the camera. A low ISO lead to higher quality images with less grain and increased the general quality of the project. Gaining techniques and inspiration from lighting tutorials on YouTube, both cinematographers were able to achieve a high quality aesthetic to the films imagery. The only scenes that could have been improved were the getting into the car scene and the pre fight scene. The first shot including the car (1:43) may have been too tilted for audiences to see it clearly. This may have been poor shot choice.

The second improvement opportunity for cinematography is the shot at (2:15) where I could have included a pull focus, to focus on the background character to clearly show him walking towards the foreground character. This would have not added much in terms of story line, but may have improved the audiences opinion on the cinematography skill.

The feedback for cinematography was even better than direction. Many comments consisted of the camera work being vast with the use of different shots. I believe the use of a lot of different shots added to the quality of the project, as it appealed more and kept the audiences eyes busy. Keeping the audience entertained allows a higher concentration from the audience. Another piece of feedback was that the shots were well lit and easy to see. Shots such as the bed shot in the intro, were very prepared in terms of lighting which was clearly noticeable.

Sound Design:

The audio of my film in my opinion, was the downfall. With malfunction of the audio equipment, I had to resort to using camera audio and foley. I do however, believe that these sounds were sufficient enough to use on the project. The foley sounds I used were sounds such as driving over gravel and the alarm sounds. I thought that sounds were blended perfectly to realism to create scenes that appear as they would with sound equipment. Effects were not necessarily required on many of the post produced sounds as I did not want to defeat the purpose of realism. There was however a delay effect used during the scene in which the talent gets up from the table and walks towards the door. This delay effect was used to portray the character reminiscing about what he has been told to do, as well as showing the peer pressure that he is suffering from during that scene. The sound was designed so it would appear that the character is hearing the phone call in his head after it has already happened. This was however, camera audio. I believe that with sound equipment, this scene would have an increase in quality.

To add the dramatic sound effects, I decided to include a soundtrack during most of the film. This is not only to keep the audience enticed with the film, but to add to the emotions of the scene with music. For example, the first track used is a calm and deep song. This displays the general calmness of the scene, with the added touch of emotion due to the lyrics “It’s getting harder to breathe”. The secondary track is used to display the change of emotion, as it develops into tension. This supports the visuals of the film, as the scene is a big build up towards the final scene. This soundtrack therefore ends up becoming the fight scene music when it drops. The final scene had a slight problem with audio, as I had to use camera audio. With the camera audio accepting all wind into it, it proved difficult to hear the dialogue from the characters. This therefore, unfortunately, lead to a major drop in quality in the last scene.

The feedback for the sound was generally good, with a few exceptions of understandable comments of constructive criticism. The main comment was about how there was no use of sound equipment, which does drop the reputation of the film quite a lot. This is understandable as I know myself that sound would prove a large help in terms of quality. Other comments consisted of the fact that the soundtracks suited the general flow of the film. This is what I was aiming for when searching for tracks to use. Another comment was that the foley sounds were almost unnoticeable, meaning they were edited realistically in post production. This is great to hear for me, as it was my sole aim when editing the sounds in post.

Editing:

The editing, in my opinion, was the saviour of the project. Editing is the role in which I feel most comfortable, as I have been able to gain experience with software during my course with it being my preferred role. The footage required heavy editing, as it had a multitude of faults within it. The first aim of editing for me, was the create a project that made sense and portrayed the plot clearly to the audience. this was due to the complicated story line. I wanted to display the twist in the story easily, by showing the characters before the drama happens. I used small edits in the beginning, effects such as standard cuts and match on actions. This then evolved into opacity edits during the emotion scenes. The edit in which the antagonist is seen lightly behind the protagonist, is used to portray his presence in the mind of the main character. This is yet again, designed to display the feeling of peer pressure in todays youth. The next edits I used that stood out were the matches on action and the fast cuts of the suspenseful breakthrough scene in which the two characters collide. These are created in order to show the quickness and anger of the protagonist, as peer pressure finally gets under his skin. the quick cuts display the speed, whilst the matches on action exaggerate the actions of the main character. I believe that there were no major problems with the editing phase, as it ran the smoothest of all parts during production.

Feedback for the editing was highly positive. Comments proved that my editing allowed the plot to make sense, with the premonitions of the victim character, showing that he is a friend of the protagonist which therefore shows the twist in the story. This, being my sole aim, was good to hear. I did receive a critique for the editing however, being that the final scene was too short and quick for the audience to gauge what was truly happening. This, in my defence, was the part in which the camera audio ruined the chance of using or elongating any shot during the final scene. This therefore lead to it being way too short. Another comment was that the editing increased the quality of the shots, with colour grading and such effects. I though that this was a main focus going into the post production phase, as I truly relied on the shots looking professional, in order to contemplate for audio as well as the lack of production quality.

Overall, I believe that the editing phase was the best phase due to how much it generally improved the projects standards. This was made clear also by the feedback given by classmates.

Production Values:

The setting of the majority of this film was in my house. This was chosen to allow the audience to feel that they are watching something comfortable and relaxed to begin with, only then to take that safety away by bringing the film outside. The safety factor was also added to with the introduction of a parent type figure, as well as it being set during the day. Portraying the actor wearing casual clothes was also a tactic to increase the relaxing feeling of the beginning scenes, as well as relating to the audience. The outfit relates to the audience as this is commonly worn during this set time. Relating to the audience is a technique highly used for character development. It allows the audience to feel like they know the character, therefore leading them to respect his future decisions. The including of a car was a high bonus for production values, as it opened up many new paths in production. It let me use impressive camera angles that added to the storyline. Shots such as behind the wheel, mirror shot and out of the window shot all provided for a jump in quality as well as tension on the story line. There was a drop in quality however, during the final scene. The protagonist had to stab his friend with a car key, which proved difficult to recreate without having an actual murder on set. This was a noticed problem during the feedback stage as many people mentioned it.

I believe that production quality in my project had it highs and lows, however the highs outdid the lows. I think that if I were to improve it, I would research more into props and wounds to further develop the final scene.

Conclusion:

In conclusion, I believe that I achieved the set genre and developed the plot well. I also believe that I executed my plans for the story, as well as making it clear to the audience. Shots were of high quality to contemplate well for the lack of audio in the film. I think that I excelled on both cinematography and editing as these were the factors that best improved my film. The film could have been better structured by either elongating the final scene, or by adding a totally new one to display the aftermath and give a different understanding as to what happened. If I were to produce this again, I would make sure to better manage my time and put more effort into the production. This is as I and my tutors believe I didn’t appear focused during production. To fix this, I would plan each day to ensure that I kept to my timed targets of completion.