The Final Verdict

It's usually stressful when the first time you see a film you made is in front of your peers. It is also not a good sign when upon completion of the screening, instead of feeling proud you feel empty, like your confidence in your abilities just got knocked down several pegs, and just plain depressed. Watching the films go past before ours, one intriguing, one badly paced but with interesting ideas, and the other not a narrative triumph but a technical one, looking truly professional. Particularly against that last one, that went first, our film looked like a 13 year old's first film in Windows Movie Maker by comparison. In of itself, the film is merely a disappointment. When compared to just how far some of our peers have come in terms of advancing their abilities, I was simply left cold and downhearted. That was how far we should have come by now, and this is all we have to show for all that time.

First, the positives. I felt the script, although not great, showed promise, and with reworking and a full film after it, could be quite good. Paul, once again, should be highlighted as a great camera op who did everything I needed well.

And that's it. Now for the larger category, the negatives.

Really, I feel the blame lies partly with all of us. No one person can be said to have ruined the piece, we all simply failed in small ways that stacked up when put together. I should have been told who was going to play the lead, and they should have been told that they were the lead. We should have visited the locations in advance so that we could plan scenes around them, rather than trying to make a scene work in a location. I would have suggested many, many changes had I communicated effectively with Nicole and Sam so that we could have met during editing. We weren't all on the same page creatively, as borne out by the fact that the moon isn't established as early in the kitchen scene as it should have, and was planned to be in my storyboards that ended up being changed so much to fit the locations that they became pointless anyway, the way that the handgun shot being put into the opening montage was played as if it was normal when it should have jarred the audience, and the fact that the dialogue wasn't conveying what it needed to. To be fair, I should have caught that on set and demanded retakes, but the "get a take and move on" production style that I really should have prevented precluded that. I would have suggested redubbing some lines, since a lot of the dialogue takes place off screen and thus would be easier to do, but then Sam admits he isn't an actor and so the usefulness of that exercise is in doubt.

In the end, I feel about this film the same way I was taught to think of historical events in History classes back in school. There wasn't one reason why something happened, it's almost always a mess of context and coincidences and little events happening together to make the big event possible. The same here. The fact that the dialogue was performed by non-actors who hadn't learnt their lines (in the case of the lead, he hadn't been able to), the fact that the audio was accidentally recorded at 96kbps MP3, the fact that the superimposed moon shot was replaced with the easier "cut to a JPEG of the moon" technique, the editor not being on the same creative wavelength as the director or writer, all of these things and more are just little issues, not too big of a deal in of themselves. But, when they come together, all part of the production, they lead to a disappointing mess of an outcome.

Going forward, I think the lesson I've learned most is "know people". Know whether they're reliable, whether they'll do the necessary planning and preparation you're expecting them to do or not, and if not, make damn sure they do do it. If the production seems to be going too fast to the point you're not confident in the takes you're getting, it's the responsibility of the director to slow down the production. It doesn't matter if, as in the case of the second location, there's only limited time to shoot. Don't rush through and finish, do as much as you can well and just arrange another shooting day. Unless you know an editor so well that you don't have to, get into the edit suite with them come hell or high water, because you could have the most beautiful and well-written film in the world, but if you're editor isn't up to scratch, all of the rest doesn't matter.

Next term, I don't feel up to directing anything bigger than one-man films, but I would like to continue writing. I'd also like to edit, in direct contact with the director of course, so that both the director's vision and the writer's intent is present in the final product. Even if it ends in disagreement, it's a better outcome than pleasing no-one.

All in all, this project is one of those times where you don't want to dwell. Move on. Make something that doesn't suck. I have one such project in the pipeline that, while not going into production for a long while yet, will at least be developed over the summer holiday. One shred of comfort to be taken from this experience is that, no matter what happens, it can't end up worse than this. Or maybe it will. And then I shall take up drinking profusely.

The development of the extra-curricular project will be covered in its own separate blog, thus this is the end not only of this project and this term but the year as a whole. To end on less of a depressingly downbeat note as the above paragraph, I shall take Holly from Red Dwarf's advice and end on a song.

When I'm stuck with a day
That's gray,
And lonely,
I just stick out my chin
And grin,
And say, oh...

The sun'll come out, tomorrow
So ya gotta hang on 'til tomorrow
Come what may
Tomorrow, tomorrow, I love ya tomorrow,
You're only a day away 

Lyrics © 1977 Martin Charnin