Short Film- Self Critique

 

https://youtu.be/JIC-eONzS7Y  

    After finishing our short film, I definitely was able to identify what changes I would make. Having made this film with no professional equipment or actors, we really had to work with what we had. Also having made this film with a group of students prompted differences in schedules and having to shoot scenes on their own time. This made some of the ideas I had for scenes just not work out because I couldn't be there to implement my own creative ideas. I'm very proud of what we came up with and how we used our brains to work together but if I had more time and more professional resources, I feel we could have made it even better. Some categories that stuck out to me range from camera angles, lighting changes, more of a "climax" in the story, and implementing some dialogue that is significant to the story but not the main focus. I think the idea was strong but in a more professional sense, I would have gone in some different directions. 

    Starting with the cinematography, I would have maybe made it more melancholy to watch and implemented more scenic scenes of college kids going about their everyday life. This would capture how every college kid is going about their day but the film would go into more detail about their struggles. I would also play with the weather more in editing. This could include filming when the weather was super nice in the first couple of clips but as the days and the film goes on, the weather gradually gets worse. This would affect the audience's mood to symbolize how the college students are feeling. I would have made every scene be shot from a lower, unmoving angle to make every scene feel heavy and impactful. The idea of having an unmoving camera almost captures audiences' attention more because they feel if they look away, they could miss something important. As for the climax of the story, perhaps implementing a scene with actual dialogue toward the middle could make the story even better. An example of this idea is Taylor Swift's "All Too Well" short film where it was a music video with impactful dialogue scenes sprinkled throughout to add to the story,

    Overall, this is the first short film any of us have made and it was a great start. We all had different ideas we tried to include but not all ideas were used due to lack of time, professional equipment/ actors, and other factors. Personally, I was able to watch the finished product and identify what I would have done differently if I was acting as a professional director/ auteur. We were all really stepping out of our comfort zones with this film, as we all acted in it at one point, so I'm really proud of the work we produced. I see the potential for even greater ideas and editing for future short film products that may come about in any future career.