I guess to start this evaluation off I should discuss what
really led me to making the film I made. I had never made a film using proper
film stock before, I was solely a digital guy. While the short time I had spent
with that film stock was interesting and a unique experience, I quickly decided
that it just wasn’t for me as I just couldn’t get the feel of it. I also
struggled to see exactly what I was filming. However, while the actual filming
side didn’t really appeal to me, watching old film reels did.
The film Decasia
was one of my first proper experiences with watching old film stock. I likely
watched old film reels before but none of them really stuck with me like that
film did. It was sad, tragic even to watch these memories burned onto a frame
deteriate in front of me. Looking past all of that though, and watching the
lives of people, many of which are likely dead, filled me with a surprising
sensation of nostalgia.
I have never been to the places shown in the film, nor have
I actually seen any of the clips in the film before, but I felt a connection to
what I saw. Perhaps it was the film grain? The old feel of it? The connection I
had with my Grandfather who has long since passed away? I’m honestly still not
sure, but whatever caused that feeling kick-started my idea much earlier than
expected.
I usually struggle to come up with ideas for films, but I
started to explore the idea of incorporating nostalgia early, and this was only
helped when we were shown Googie Architecture. The space age structures
instantly made me think of the video game series: Fallout. In turn, that made
me ponder over the genre of the game itself: Post Apocalyptic.
(For more on all of this, check out my blog post on
Inspiration. Film and Madness, Inspirations.)
These elements began to be placed together and I soon found
myself with a rough narrative. A figure alone in a nuked planet stumbles upon a
trunk filled with old film reels. He takes the film back to his bunker where he
sets up a projector and begins to play it. Most of the films feature children
and families from all over world enjoying themselves and each other’s company.
He begins to recreate what he sees on screen using stuffed toys and bits and
bobs he’s collected over time. Then, a different film starts playing of old war
footage. This snaps him back to reality and reminds him of the world he’s stuck
in. An after credits scene shows him exploring again, but this time he stumbles
upon another person, giving the audience a sense of hope that his loneliness is
at an end.
I was very happy with the base story as it used the elements
I talked about before. Most notably it used nostalgia of seeing a world
unbroken by war, and the post-apocalyptic setting to make that more apparent.
One of the only problems I had was the actual tone and mood. Fallout is often
tongue-in-cheek with it’s setting, and that wasn’t what I was trying to make,
but then I was shown the film La Jetee.
Everything about that film worked for me. The lighting, the
shading, the cinematography and the narration were spot on. Everything just
sort of came together, and I started to cherry pick the ideas from that film to
incorporate into my own. I didn’t feel the narration fit for my film, but the
lighting absolutely did. The tone the film invoked was also key for why I chose
to embrace its influence. It was dark, but also gave a false sense of hope when
it was appropriate.
(For more on all of this, check out my blog post on La
Jetee. Film and Madness, La Jetee.)
So with the film coming together, I was left with another
task: location scouting. I instantly knew where I would film the opening scene.
I needed a grassy area with a lot of space for the character to stumble across
the trunk, and what better place than the moor? I could get there relatively
easily with a bus and I soon found a nice spot to film. That was one place
locked down.
I had a location for the bunker that the protagonist would
live in, but I was reluctant to use it considering it was a cramp space. Alex
Burgess knew some bunker locations so him and me chased up on them, but many of
them were sealed up or impossible to enter unfortunately. We found an extension
of an old fort with a tunnel system that was fantastic for the middle scene,
but lacked the requirements for the bunker scene.
In the end I returned to the garage at my parents home and
decided that it would be the best location to shoot the film. I was also
looking to shoot the film as early as possible since I wanted to leave myself
plenty of time to recover in case anything went wrong. My mom and myself placed
a giant sheet over the garage door that would also act as a projection screen,
and covered up the window too. The garage was already filled with all kinds of
crap making it a convincing hermits den as well. We only needed to add cans of
food and essentials.
As filming day approached, my idea was altered. I realised
the film was becoming a little too long so I cut out the scenes where the
protagonist re-enacted what he saw on screen. I also did this as I was worried
they would come across as too comical and clash too heavily with the rest of
the film.
I booked out a big LED light and two smaller ones to combat
any dark scenes, a Canon 5D as I knew it did better in dark lighting and I
switched out the trunk for a large bag as it was more practical to carry with
the rest of the equipment. I had to delay filming as the Friday we were set to
film was far too hectic. We instead shot on Monday where I got another helping
hand on the shoot.
Tom Hayes, Alex Burgess and Caitlin Pyne all helped in the
shooting of the film and were massively helpful. Tom starred in the film as
acting has always been one of his greatest passions. Cait and Alex helped with
filming and lighting while I mostly directed. This was fine with me as it gave
me more space to think about the film and direct everyone to my vision.
Shooting on the moor went fine for the most part. All the
shots were completed, although we were delayed as the session in the morning
ran overtime. Meaning we were playing catch-up all day. We took the bus down
and filmed the moor shoot in about an hour and a half; Only a little overtime,
but I couldn’t afford to wait around as we needed to head to Tavistock. This
led to me cutting out the after credits scene as it wasn’t essential and I had
to cut some corners. Plus, we had already started to pack up as I remembered it
and the others were reluctant to shoot the scene.
The shoot at the garage took much longer as it was the main
bulk in the film, but I found it the most artistically awarding as I really
felt it captured some of La Jetee
with how we played with lighting in the dark space. At this point we mostly
abandoned the tripod due to the small walkways and adopted the fig rig. I’m
mixed on the results, as some shots are a little shakier than I would have
liked, but it made the shoot more efficient and it adds a nice effect to the
film most of the time. It was also difficult to keep switching the camera from
the fig rig to the tripod and vice versa, as it was tricky to remove. Next time,
I’ll try to use to use the tripod when I can and try not to cut corners there.
We wrapped up after a gruelling day but I was satisfied with
what we achieved. We had to shoot the tunnel scenes a few days later as there
was simply too much to do in one day. They went fine as well, but the spiders
kept me on edge and I really wish I had gone back to re-film some scenes as
they could’ve been better.
The edit was difficult. The film in total ended up being
over eight minutes, double the recommended time for the film, but I honestly
felt it was unavoidable. The stock footage in the film greatly increased the
running time, and it had to be put in for the film to actually make sense. The
other factor was cutting the film down too much risked ruining the pacing of
the film by making it too quick and not giving the audience time to digest the
scene.
There were also issues with sound, as I was unable to use
lots of recorded noises so I had to resort to foley, which turned out better
than expected, but still isn’t perfect. Lighting in some shots were off as
well. It’s consistent for most of the film but there are one or two scenes
where it it’s noticeable brighter or darker in places than it should be. I
attempted to fix this but it made the issues more noticeable so I left them as
they were. With more time in colour correction, I might have fixed it, but I didn’t
have long as I finished the edit the day before the hand-in.
However, I’m mostly happy with how the film turned out. This
was probably the most ambitious film I have ever taken on and it turned out better
than I expected. The tone and pacing fit, the sense of longing for the past is
present in the film, and I honestly enjoyed the finished product. I would
possibly reshoot some scene and tweak some more parts of the edit, but I’m
proud of what I’ve made for this module.
