Pratical Screencraft 2: Summary and Evaluation

I used “Night of the Hunter” as the basis of exploration of my specialist subject, and also to explore the idea of the modern day thriller and remakes.

So going into this project, “Night of the Hunter” stuck with me. I remember all the subtle lighting techniques and how every shot felt like it could be framed and hung on a wall. I loved it, so when we had to select a scene for this module I knew exactly which one I was basing my work off of.

So I started by exploring the idea of “Night of the Hunter” being set in modern day (Film and Madness, Remaking Night of the Hunter.) I asked myself. “How would this film be done today? What would a director want to do differently?” While this was relevant to give me an idea, I had to look at the film from the perspective of a specialist subject. So I chose Editing. (Film and Madness, Why would an editorcare about Lighting and Composition?)

I examined the factors we had covered in class like composition and perspective (Film and Madness, UnderstandingPerspective and Composition Through The Shining), lighting (Film and Madness, theImportance of Lighting and Shading).  I also made notes of choreography (Film and Madness, Basic Choreography), and some notes on After effects (Film and Madness, After Effects.) After all of that research, I felt comfortable enough talking about the clip, but I now had to knuckle down and actually film something. I put together a storyboard (Film and Madness, Storyboard), which gave way to the groundwork for the film. It also acted as a great reference sheet later on. I also went on location ahead and took some practice stills (Film and Madness,Test Stills), of the area to see if I could recreate the images in my head. It was a great success as I was able to rework anything I wasn’t happy with on the day.

As for filming, that went very well. The actors were on time and the whole thing was shot in two hours with only two reshoots the next evening. There were a few issues however; one was some of the shots needed a bit more lighting to them and going back, I would have gotten out another LED light. Another issue with the film is one particular shot that is far too shaky. I had to take the camera off the tripod as I was fussy with the type of shot I wanted to achieve, but there was too much shake because of wind. Sadly, warp stabilizer was unable to fix this during the edit and I had to use the shot. Next time, I’d probably try to keep the camera on something stable.

Overall however, I’m quite happy with how the project turned out. I kept myself to certain deadlines and I was able to finish my work a whole week early.

Words: 488

Sources:
- A Slow Journey Into Madness. (2015) Remaking "Night of the Hunter." [Online] Available from: http://aslowjourneyintomadness.blogspot.co.uk/2015/12/practical-screencraft-2-remaking-night.html [Accessed: 9th December 2015].
- A Slow Journey Into Madness. (2015) Why would an editor care about lighting and composition? [Online] Available from: http://aslowjourneyintomadness.blogspot.co.uk/2015/12/practical-screencraft-2-why-would.html [Accessed: 9th December 2015].
- A Slow Journey Into Madness. (2015) Understanding Perspective and Composition through the Shining [Online] Available from: http://aslowjourneyintomadness.blogspot.co.uk/2015/11/pratical-screensraft-2-understanding.html [Accessed: 9th December 2015].
- A Slow Journey Into Madness. (2015) The Importance of Lighting and Shading [Online] Available from: http://aslowjourneyintomadness.blogspot.co.uk/2015/11/practical-screencraft-2-importance-of.html [Accessed: 9th December 2015].
- A Slow Journey Into Madness. (2015) Basic Choreography [Online] Available from: http://aslowjourneyintomadness.blogspot.co.uk/2015/12/practical-screencraft-2-basic.html [Accessed: 9th December 2015].
- A Slow Journey Into Madness. (2015) After Effects [Online] Available from: http://aslowjourneyintomadness.blogspot.co.uk/2015/12/practical-screencraft-2-after-effects.html [Accessed: 9th December 2015].
- A Slow Journey Into Madness. (2015) Storyboard [Online] Available from: http://aslowjourneyintomadness.blogspot.co.uk/2015/12/pratical-screencraft-2-storyboard.html [Accessed: 9th December 2015].
- A Slow Journey Into Madness. (2015) Test Stills [Online] Available from: http://aslowjourneyintomadness.blogspot.co.uk/2015/12/pratical-screencraft-2-test-stills.html [Accessed: 9th December 2015].