A Level Critical Reflection

This is my critical reflection for the A Level portion.

A Level Poster + Website

This is the final version of my poster to go along with my short film.

Here is the link for my website.

inbloomthemovie.weebly.com

A Level Short Film

Here is my short film for A Level:

Editing "In Bloom" Day 1

Today I continued editing for "In Bloom" and got it mostly done. Like I had mentioned earlier, I resorted to editing on the iMovie app on my iPhone since I had other way of getting to use the program. I was a bit hesitant to use it since I thought it would be more complicated and the screen was smaller, but the application was extremely user friendly.

I had a ridiculous amount of clips to pick from and sort through because I shot nearly every single part of the film from various angles, so it took me more than a few hours to get a rough edit but it was super gratifying. I am happy with the way the story is told predominantly through visuals and how easy it is to follow even though there is no dialogue.

All I am missing are the title, credits, and a couple final transitions. I am planning on finishing these last touches tomorrow and doing research for my website as well as beginning to create it. Once I decide on how the title/credits will look, I will look into ways of carrying that theme into the poster and website to create a brand for this short film better.

Here are some more stills of my editing process on iMovie:

Filming for A Level, "In Bloom"

Today was a super productive day for me! I finished the shot list I had begun making earlier for my short film, "In Bloom." Even though originally I wanted to create a screenplay for A Level, I only made a shot list because there is no dialogue in this short film and is told only through visuals. Contrary to my film opening for the AS portion that relied heavily on auditory elements such as conversation or news over the radio to tell the story, "In Bloom" will be told entirely through the visual element.

After I finished the shot list, I printed it out and color-coded which shots where outside, inside, or where to be added digitally (such as credits and title.) This aided in making the filming process as efficient as possible because I managed my time much better and did not miss any shots that I needed to take.

This short film relies heavily on color to move the story along and show the evolution of the character and situation. The film goes from monochromatic shades of white, grey, and black to colorful, vibrant, strong colors, so the shot list helped me film the colorful ones in order to have the best amount of sunlight and brightness.

My wonderful friend Ana was my protagonist in this short film, and we had a really great time bouncing off of ideas on how to get things from different angles and make the film as aesthetically pleasing as possible. One thing I was unhappy about in my film opening was how I focused too much on the audio element and sort of neglected really trying to tell a story visually so that's what I kept in mind today when filming with Ana.

In the end, we got all the filming done. I filmed on my iPhone and actually started editing on its iMovie program since my computer doesn't support it. I plan to get editing done within the next couple of days so I can dedicate time to the website and the poster.

Here are some pictures from today:
                                                                                               

 

Writing the Screenplay for A Level

So now that I have decided what I want the general story to be for my A Level, I am beginning to write the screenplay for my short film for when I film this weekend. Instead of just creating it on google drive now and imitating a design I had researched of what a screenplay looks like similar to what I did when writing the AS portion of the portfolio, I am now writing on celtx.com because it's easier to write on there because it structures it out for you. The website also has ways to create a shot list, and other ways that help you visualize your movie so it is pretty helpful. After writing a very general idea, I got to work on the shot list. Here is what I have so far:

Research for A Level

So the A Level has two other components besides the short film and the creative critical reflection which are the website and a postcard advertisement for the short film at the film festival, and I definitely don't want to undermine those tasks as I work on the major task of the A Level, so while I am currently unable to begin filming, I'm going to research the other two small aspects of the project.

I began by researching short film websites and how they can be used to properly market/form a following for the movie. I found this really interesting article on The Guardian that brought up the point that websites now a days require a lot of convergence with social media in order to be effective and competitive in the industry. This is making me wonder how I can construct a website and poster that works for the contemporary industry for my short film and how it could relate to the "film festival" it enters.

I also found an interesting article on Raindance that gave interesting tips on making your own short film. I found that the pointers given by the writer were very relevant and grounded. For example, they reiterate the idea that a short film should still have all the the exposition where the characters/setting are presented, a conflict (small, in order to ensure it can be resolved within the time frame of the film), and a resolution. They also suggest writing for your limitations and budgets which is something I want to keep in mind.

I finally saw some short films in order to gain inspiration and see how to tell the story as best visually as possible. Some that really got my attention were "Apricot" and "Just A Love Story". The second one I mentioned was really nice because it took place in one setting but it was unique and new (an elevator.)

One short film I had already seen that I have in mind for the type of tone I want the short film to be is "Crush". I like how the characters don't speak and instead there is music and voiceover to describe how they are feeling and carry the story.