Comparative Film Practices: Evaluation

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.