Evaluation Of Short Film Continuity Edit

This is an evaluation of my short film 'Affiliation' (continuity edit). Throughout the evaluation, i will be analysing the effect and purpose of the single camera techniques and editing techniques used in the film to drive the narrative and help the audience experience a certain emotion.

I will start by evaluating Scene 1, the first shot is a panning close up of a pocket watch.

The reason we wanted to show this as the establishing shot was because of the amount of information this single shot contains. It informs the viewer of the time of day, which aids the viewer's perception of time within the film and this builds the foundation for reality, and from the very beginning, the viewer will be relating all of the other aspects of the film to this very shot.
Throughout the film, the shots are constantly changed on the actions made from actors, when someone walks off shot we are shown where they go and if someone looks at something that holds importance to the narrative, the audience is also shown it.
Doing this makes the cuts feel more fluent and it does not disrupt the viewer's sense of space as I was not wanting to through the viewer off, I wanted them to feel tense and anxious.

The first exchange of dialogue between Benjamin and Pete, we are shown the first cuff link which is blue. The reason behind Benjamin having the colour blue to represent himself with is because of his personality. Benjamin wrote to have a very peacekeeping mindset and doesn't like to judge someone straight away, making him a very neutral character so blue fit him best.

Spencer's entrance is initiated with a loud bang, quite literally as we hear a slamming door before we see his feet walking into the bar space. The shot of Spencer's feet is full of incredible cinematic detail, first of all, the shot is a very low angle which makes Spencer seem as if he's looking down on the audience. This subtly creates the idea that Spencer is extremely powerful and looks down on everyone else, just through where the camera is placed the audience is made to feel small and weak.
The next shot of Spencer pans up from his waist to give us a medium shot of his face, this furthermore creates the idea that we are looking up to Spencer and are less powerful than him.
He then proceeds to speak to Pete where there is a shot-reverse-shot sequence between the two.

One thing I wanted to make sure the audience took in was that Pete was not apart of the affiliation and he is completely separate to the rest of the characters. Pete is the outcast and the weakest, and we needed the audience to think this about him so that the twist further on in the film was more powerful. I subtly told the audience this throughout the build-up through the use of very specific shot angles and types. Take the bar, for example, i wanted Pete to always be stationed behind the bar so there is this physical essence that shows the divide between the characters and him, all dominant characters are in front of the bar and Pete stands behind the bar for the majority of the film. Also, the majority of the shots of Pete are extremely claustrophobic as he has very tight shots but the other are shown in long wide shots, I did this to represent the confidence of the characters, as Pete feels most uncomfortable about the situation of the evening. He does feel safe in his own bar so this also sways the idea of dominance and represents Pete in a way where he seems to be the least dominant of the group. Going back to the idea of the division between the bar which adds to the perception of Pete the weakest character is that he is always isolated on the other side of the bar and this tells the audience that unlike the others he has got no one to help him or protect him.

I wanted to establish a strong relationship between the characters of Benjamin and Spencer, doing this makes the actions that are yet to be seen to make more sense and also make the climax of the film a bigger pay-off. They are seen side by side, and even do some things in synchronisation to one another such as taking drinks. When the two are in the same shot they appear strong but when there are not shown united by the same shot they appear weak. This is more impactful further into the film when the tension has risen and when the two are separated they both are seen with guns aiming right at them, doing this gives the idea that they work together and together they are strong but separate they are just as weak as the rest of them. Doing this also distorts the idea of who is the most dominant because both a constantly being seen in a way that makes them seem extremely dominant but then juxtaposed with a shot that makes them look incredibly weak.

The whole film, in my opinion, is a showcase of strength between each character. The bottle of Joes is there to create synergy between the flashback but also to help increase the impact of Anthony's entrance. There is a shot where we see Benjamin and Spencer drink the drink and they are disgusted by it but it is known as a high-class drink in the film. Them drinking this can showcase their strength to some level since they can stomach the drink which indicates that they are more strong than Pete as he is never seen drinking it at all.

Then when we see Anthony consume the remaining contents of the bottle in seconds then proceeding to smash it on the floor which ends up kicking off the tense dialogue between all the characters. But it is interesting because of Anthony doing this shows the physical or mental strength he has over the rest of the people in the pub making the tension even more strong and furthermore moving the viewer to the edge of their seat.

The pacing of the film is to help the drive certain emotions to the audience as well as creating a suitable pace for the specific moment of the film, the pacing stays very calm for the first act of the film but as it begins to get tenser the cuts become more frequent. In addition to these different angles are cut to which can be related to the impact of Anthony's presence in the pub as it completely shifts the idea of what Benjamin and Spencer thought the evening was going to be like. The audience is meant to be linked to the character of Benjamin and the shots of Benjamin are always level to his eye, this builds a connection between him and the audience whereas the others are seen in the and lows angles, constantly shifting so that the audience finds it hard to get 'to their level'.

I would also like to mention how the scene transitions to the flashback increase the importance of the Bottle of Joe's as the transition revolves around a shot of the drink. The audience will interpret the importance of this and see it as a traditional drink for the affiliated gangs and plays a role just as important as other props that link the characters such as the cuff links.

When Anthony appears he is stood positioned in between Benjamin and Spencer, this shows in a visual way how he is coming between their friendship. Tearing a connection between them and building on the idea that he is breaking them down so that they aren't together, and the audience will interpret this and feel more worried for the characters as there is more division between the forces.

When Anthony places the cufflinks down, we see an extreme close up of them, and they are the only thing in focus and this is to show what Benjamin is so concerned about and what exactly at that moment his main focus. The next shot we see Benjamin looks over to the board of cufflinks, using eye match cutting we hand over more information for the audience so they can piece together themselves what exactly is going on. Having the audience figure this out the same time as the main characters help build a connection between them as at this point, we know just as much as them so the rest of the film feels much more anxious and stressful. When Spencer asks what is going on he is the only one in focus at the beginning of the shot, this shows how he is isolated from the recent event and doesn't know what is happening and the focus pull to Benjamin can show how Spencer is caught up to the rest of them. the focus representing his knowledge of the situation going from shallow to deep. Anthony and Spencer are enemies so this could be seen as another slight insult to Spencer's blindness by doing certain things that need to be visually taken in, this shows the fight for dominance in the scene as Anthony is constantly attacking Spencer, which started from 'Long time no see' and rising up to the climax of the film.

When the guns are being pointed and the characters all find themselves in a standoff, Pete presents the power he has which makes for such a good twist, this character has been presented as weak but is then shown to have more power over Benjamin. It is revealed by a close up of Benjamin's gun panning to show Pete just over Benjamins left shoulder.

 One reason the camera shows Pete like this is to link with the classic image of having a devil on your shoulder, which is to represent dishonesty and mistrust which is exactly what Pete is showing. The visual representation of all the characters makes it hard for the audience to decide on who they want to root for as they are all bad people but some are the better of two evils, or four.

The close-ups of Spencer are all little visual hints to show the representation of Anthony and Spencer's ideas of power. Spencer believes that "the mind is a much more powerful weapon" and Anthony is challenging that idea of his by pointing a gun to his head, showing visually the contrast in ideologies of the characters. The shots of Spencer are closer than in the beginning because it is to represent that he is trapped and has nowhere to go, this affects the audience by making fear run through the audience for Spencer as he no longer appears as confident.

When Benjamin sees that Spencer has been the 'bad guy' the whole time and not Anthony we see the change in focus once more between the two, just like before it was to show the knowledge of the scene it is used to show the support that the two have from one another. When Spencer says 'what was necessary' he goes to be the only one in focus, showing that he is completely isolated from Benjamin and has lost his trust but most importantly, his help. This shows the loss of Spencer's power as he becomes one of the weakest characters.
For this shot, we had to have Pete (LUKE CURRY GLASPER) wear Anthony's coat and hold the gun as I worked the camera as I was the only one who could do the shift in focus and work the camera for that shot.
As Spencer begins his big speech near the end he is shown in a low angle, this is to convey that he is trying to force his dominance for one last time, making the audience feel small for one last time. We visually show this by Spencer standing up to become level with Anthony, this can be very literal in the sense that he is taking his 'last stand'

and to show that the interpretations of him and Anthony aren't so different now. They are shown as opposites at the beginning but near the end when all the secrets have been brought out, Spencer is just as dishonourable and Anthony has been made out to be. 
There are many ways the story is wrapped up in a poetic way. Anthony adds to the importance of the cuff links and by placing Spencer's on the bar after killing him. Then we get an extreme close up of the shot glass and the purple cufflinks.

I wanted to make sure that the colour of the cufflinks was seen so that it can be linked to the character who wears them, it is a royal purple to show that Spencer had this idea of him being the monarchal leader of the city. Also that he sees himself as more important than everyone else and that it links to the chess references that are said and shown throughout the film and that Anthony and Spencer were the kings of the board. When the film is drawing to a close we see that Benjamin gets his pocket watch back out, this is to show that it is the end, it seemed fitting that the start of the narrative was represented by the pocket watch it seemed fitting that it should end using the same.

The low key lighting that is prominent throughout is also a vital part of the cinematography in that it conveys the sense of darkness and mystery, trapping the viewer inside this claustrophobic and gritty environment. 
In conclusion, the film was made to constantly mess with the feeling of comfortability for the audience, shifting tone and feel throughout the film to make sure that the audience never feels at ease and constantly making the character's emotions relatable through the use of specifically chosen cinematic techniques. I was absolutely delighted with how it turned out in the end, almost a year to make this short film from start to finish and I am glad that I had such an amazing bunch of people to be my crew. 

Affiliation Trailer Evaluation

The following is an evaluation of the trailer I made for my short film 'Affiliation', the purpose of a trailer is to advertise a film and attract an audience towards it. I believe that I made the film seem attractive in the ways of which I edited it together. Also, I used the most cinematic shots of the film in the trailer so that I could showcase the level of artistic choices that were made and what the end result was of having this professional cinematic approach towards the film.

The trailer is an extremely short one, coming in at a total duration of only 51 seconds. The reason behind it being this short was because the film's plot is meant to be a mystery and I did not want to broadcast too much information from the trailer and give away the narrative. So i limited myself an how many shots I could use and I only used shots that did not contain any vital plot points. This decision to keep the storyline a mystery is very effective as it creates the desire to watch the film to see what happens, the only real plot point that is seen is at the end of the trailer but it is cut when Benjamin jumps out of his chair and aims his gun. This is to amplify the excitement of the film thus leading to a better advertisement as it draws people in.

I edited the trailer alongside the song 'God's Gonna Cut You Down' by Johnny Cash as I liked the tempo and style of the song as it matched the films perfectly. It starts off with a very basic beat but as it gets to the chorus of the song the musical elements are vamped up and the song feels more intense from what it was believed to be at the beginning. Which matches the plot points of the film itself, it starts off like a normal, boring evening in a pub but as the story progresses the tension rises and adrenaline is built.
There are some lyrics that are slight hints to certain points in the plot too. For example, the biggest hint is the cut to Benjamin turning to look at Spencer when the lyrics sang are 'what's done in the dark will be brought to the light' this was done to emphasise who the real villain of the film is. Which is something that was purposefully done in the film to constantly disturb the audience's perception of story roles and leaving them constantly asking, who is the protagonists and who is the antagonists?
I used a few jump cuts in the trailer to keep the tempo of the cuts matching the song beat, using this type of rhythmic editing keeps the viewer in tune with both visual and auditory elements and making the trailer more immersive and interesting.

The cufflinks are a vital part of the story, so throughout the trailer, we are shown them from different angles and they appear in almost every shot. This repetition of the cufflinks helps the viewer congregate an idea of what the story may be about and also adding to the excitement and anticipation to see the film.

The real question I ask myself at the end of each production does it fulfil it the purpose, I believe that i made this trailer to the best of my ability and it fully serves its purpose. It showcases the most beautiful shots from the film, it creates this uneasy tone whilst also creating excitement to see the film. In addition to all of this, if there was anything I would change it would be the title at the end, I wanted it to look vintage and simple but it does not match the style of the trailer but I would like to say that I believe the transitioning cut on beat to the title makes it seem much more impactful so I don't think it ruins the trailer but if Ic ould change anything it would be that.

Evaluation of Short Film Non Continuity Edit

For the Final short film that I made three edits in total; The trailer, The non-continuity Edit and the continuity edit. My main goal for this was to rearrange the editing so the timeline of the narrative did not happen chronologically, but kept sense throughout.

The first thing I did was to show the climax of the film at the beginning, to plant the audience in the action straight away leaving the rest of the film to explain the previous events that led to it.
I changed the way some scenes were edited in so that it was more different from the continuity edit, right after Spencer is shot i cut to a title card with the background narration from Benjamin being heard. "I remember how it all started".

This establishes to the audience what type of film they are watching and that they are going to be given an insight into what just happened.
I showed the flashback first to give a smooth run of the film at the beginning then leading to the present day, doing this i believe kept the story in tune with reality and understandable for the audience.
One thing i chose to leave in this cut was the death of Spencer, meaning it was seen twice in the film and doing this is to see if the audience can feel two completely different emotions to it and react differently to each time they see it. At the beginning we see it but we are confused and we don't understand what exactly is happening and why it is, but then as the story progresses the second time the audience sees it they should feel something completely different emotionally.

Most editing techniques were kept the same for this edit as there was nothing i could really change if i wanted to drive tension to the audience and since it worked extremely well for the continuity edit I did not want to change as it did not give the same payoff and the same effect on the audience was not made.
One thing i did change was that the screen went black on Spencer's dialogue to show that the audience i right where they began and they are fully caught up on all the information.
i do believe that having the audeince know the ending and fill in the information as the film goes on can be fun for the audience as they are enticed by the action but I do not believe that effect was made in this film, in all honesty, I did not like this edit of the film. The story was made, wrote, storyboarded and filmed to a specific sequence of actions as we analysed that the decisions we initially made could not be rearranged to achieve the same goal.
I also noticed that the pacing seems slower because there is no build up of anticipation in the film because we know the outcome and therefore the viewer initially doesn't connect emotionally with Spencer as they know he is going to die, also for the character Anthony, his revaluation that Spencer is the bad guy doesn't seem as powerful because the audience instantly associates Anthony as a murderer from the very beginning.

There was one shot which i did actually like and it was the ending shot. It is a slow zoom out revealing the aftermath of the evening, but its how the cut shows Benjamin completely alone and his late friend are now dead on the floor. The lack of emotion is shown by this shot, hollow and empty, which reminds the audience for one last time that all the characters are bad and there are no real heroes in this story.

Continuity Edit- UNIT 21

UNIT 2- Learning aim B

For Learning aim B, I have been assigned to chose and analyse a specific job role in a sector of my choice from the media industry, I will be looking at the film industry and the specific role of being a director.

The reason behind choosing the film industry is because I have always had a huge passion for cinema and I admire how one can project their views and creativity onto a screen. I believe films are very influential and can play a huge role in people's lives and it is a dream of mine to have a film that I made be screened in front of an audience and have them glued to their seats and entertained.
Over the years, I believe my interest in film has blossomed into what it is today and that is through the people I have met who share the same love I do. People who showed me what it means to be a filmmaker, this list goes from teachers, lecturers, friends, family and even work-mates, all helping me to strive and to not give up. Since secondary school I have been involved with film making, For my GCSE's I had the task of making an advert for a product of my choosing, and although I was pleased with the grade I received there were many lessons I learnt with the production process and I carried this information through to my terms at college where I put them to good use. In Theses college years I have been tasked with many units which were all related to many different sectors in the media and I had the opportunity to channel my creativity into a wide and open environment where I was able to experiment with different job roles, to come to the decision of what I want to do with my career in media.
I have done this I believe becoming a director is the end goal of my career.

The Film Industry

I am going to analyse and explain the structure and scale of the film industry, also evaluating the impact it has on the world economically and looks into the people that have important roles in making that impact possible.

Here are two of the major players in the film industry:

• Warner Bros 
• Disney  

Warner Bros
Warner Bros was founded in 1923 and has many operations in Film, TV and video games. In the early days of the company, W.B was particularly popular for their productions of the film with synchronised sound, also known as 'talkies'. W.B is extremely popular in modern times for their productions of very successful films such as The Harry Potter films and the Dark Knight trilogy.

Walt Disney Studios
Disney is one of the biggest companies in the world, having been around 1923 Disney has been dominating the global industry. We all know the face of Disney, which is 'Mickey Mouse'  which was originally called 'Mortimer Mouse' in 1928 when the idea for the cartoon was thought of. Disney made the leap in animation when their first sound film came out in the late months of 1928 named 'Steamboat Willie' which was an immediate hit with the world. Disney once more Changed the face of animation once again a few decades later when they made a partnership with Pixar Studios and brought out the first ever computer-animated film released in 1995, 'TOY STORY'. This film made over $300,000,000 worldwide. From then on there Disney and Pixar knew they had an incredible business relationship that was sure to strive and in 2006 Disney bought Pixar Studios and made it a Subsidiary Studio of the Disney company.
Disney is very influential in many sectors of media and many other types of businesses around the world. From Film, TV, Gaming, water park, theme parks and even owning hundreds of stores globally. Safe to say Disney is not going anywhere especially since in recent years they have teamed up with Lucas Film and Marvel Studios.

How is the film industry-financed?

Here are some of the most common ways of how a film is financed;

• Government Grants

A number of governments run programs to subsidise the cost of producing Films. For instance, until it was abolished in March 2011; in the United Kingdom the UK FILM COUNCIL provided National Lottery funding to producers, as long as certain conditions were met. Many of the Council's functions have now been taken over by the British Film Institute. States such as Georgia, Ohio, Lousiana, New York, Connecticut, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Utah and New Mexico, will provide a subsidy or tax credit provided all or part of a film is filmed in that state.

• Tax shelters

A financial arrangement made to avoid or minimize taxes.

In British tax shelters, the same copyright can be sold again to a British company and a further $10 million could be raised, but the UK law insists that part of the film is shot in Britain and that the production employs a fair proportion of British actors and crew. By using British tax shelter methods, many American films like to shoot at Britain's major film studios like Pinewood and Shepperton and why a film such as Basic Instinct 2 relocated its action from New York to London. These are commonly referred to Sale and Leaseback deals; they were discontinued in March 2007, though those initiated prior to December. 31 2006 were grandfathered in.

• Debt financing

Debt financing is when a lender such as a bank, gives the borrower money in exchange for a promise to repay that loan on time. The bank makes a profit by charging interest on the loan. Loans place the risk of failure on the borrower as the lender expects to be repaid regardless of whether the film is successful or not.

• Individual Investors

One of the hardest types of film financing pieces to obtain is private investor funds. These are funds invested by an individual who is looking to possibly add more risk to their investment portfolio or a high net worth individual with a keen interest in films. To present your film forward for investments, most investors want to know they're going to make a profit, so the filmmakers have to have marketplace analytics, audience analytics, a bondable schedule and budget, plus a distribution plan. Most investors will not even entertain anybody unless they have put these things forward first.

Legal and Ethical Consideration within the Film Industry

There are many legal and ethical considerations within the Film Industry. 

I have taken the liberty of breaking them up into categories and presenting them.

RIGHTS OF THE EMPLOYER AND THE EMPLOYEE

• Employers have a responsibility to their workforce to provide Health and Safety for all. In the event that an employee makes a claim against the company, the company must have the current employer's liability insurance policy which has to match the current law system or they will face a fine. This is the result of the 'Employer's liability Act 1969

• Public liability insurance, while not optional is useful, especially if you work in the media industry. You, your crew or equipment could potentially cause damages to the public if you are conducting your work in a public area. This would cost you around £50 a year in the UK  but it would protect you from lawsuits.

• Employers have a general duty under section 2 of the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 to ensure, so far as is reasonably practicable, the health, safety and welfare of their employees at work. This is the basis of the Health and Safety system that protects the rights and well-being of all people in the workplace. This also covers people who are not employed by a particular employer but have a legitimate reason to be on their property. Without this system, we would be at the mercy of cruel tyrannical bosses who treat people as they pleased like in the 18th century.

Equal opportunities 

Any employer must pass these onto their employees in the workplace and they should all understand their rights in the workplace.

Parliament has a number of acts that deal with discrimination, they are;

• Sex Discrimination Act 1975
• Equal Pay Acts 1970 and 1983
• Disability Discrimination Act of 1995
• Human Rights Act of 1995

These laws are in place to make sure that no one is discriminated against in the workplace for your gender and/ or race and you receive the same payment for your position and the rights to opportunities for advancement as everyone else.

Ownership in copyright, intellectual properties, and trademarks

In film and many other industries if you are employed by a company or studio and you come up with an idea that doesn't mean that idea will always stay yours. A classic example of this would be Walt Disney, who whilst employed by Universal  Pictures, created Oswald the Lucky Rabbit, however when he was fired he lost the rights to Oswald because Universal owned the rights to the character.

At the same time if you create an IP (Intellectual Property, Intangible property that is a result of creativity, such as patents) and sell it to a company you essentially sell the copyright to the company which means from the moment the deal is done they own it and you don't.

Sometimes you may be brought to court on suspicion of plagiarism. Which is the act of taking someone else's work or ideas and passing them off as one's own. Plagiarism itself isn't a crime but it can cause copyright infringement. There are many ways to avoid plagiarism make sure that you do your research that your idea has not yet been thought of and you have a unique idea.

To protect your work from pirates and thieves who may want to make money off your ideas without your consent, the government has a system in place within the law called copyright and intellectual property. 

• IP refers to creations of the mind: inventions, literary and artistic works, symbols, names, images and designs used in commerce. Usually, copyright will belong to the original creator. Bear in mind you will require some evidence that you were the original creator like dates on the original drafts of the script.

• COPYRIGHT- As explained before you require evidence of your ownership of an IP and that's where copyright comes in. Copyright is essentially the proof of ownership, if you create an IP independently you will own the copyright to that IP, however, if you create an IP at the behest of a corporation then they will own the copyright.

Whenever you see a Copyright symbol © it is there to indicate you that somebody legally owns the rights to that piece of work.

Creative Structure of the film industry

There are many ways one can get employed in the industry, one way being they can start their way from the bottom of the chain and work there way up as described in Learning Aim A. The other way is to build a network of contacts of people involved with the industry and you can get in through recommendations.
The BFI have a section on their website 'Jobs and Opportunities' where there are thousands of different jobs to found in film, the BBC, ITV and Sky have programs set up to help people get involved and get working in the industry. 

UNIT 2. LEARNING AIM D

My lecturer and I conducted a mock interview so i could get a taste of what it would be like to be interviewed for that job role, it was interesting to see what type of questions I'd be asked.

Throughout the interview my lecturer filled in these question boxes with my answers to see what i said when posed with each one.
I believe I handled the interview well and my Lecturer said i did too, i have been in many interviews through the years so i do believe the experience helped me a lot there.

The one problem i found that i had to sell myself but i think I'm quite modest so therefore a felt it was difficult and borderline awkward when trying to explain my capabilities.
I know that confidence is a key characteristic that one needs to have in an interview but especially in the media industry, so i know that in interviews that will come up in future i know that i should go more in depth about my personal skills and make sure that the employer knows that i will be a great part of the team.

I did think it was vital to mention that i had a lot of team working skills and experience making films behind me because of the nature of the industry, working and collaborating with people all the time so one needs to be a team player. Also i let her know that whilst i am comfortable with being in a team i can still produce work on my own and independently with it still be at a high standard.

At the time of the interview i do believe i could have been dressed a bit more appropriately for it, i wore a hoodie and i know that from an employers point of view it makes you look as if you have no respect for the job role and that you can't put the effort in, so i know that in future i don't have to show up in a three piece suit but i need to remember that i am presenting myself, so if i look well dressed then it tells the employer that i am respectful, confident and collected.

Here is the Audio clip of my Mock Interview.

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