Drama 2000word Evaluation

7/30/2019 Drama 2000word Evaluation

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2000 Word Critical Evaluation - Drama

The finished film is a lot different to how I personally imagined it, I felt in the beginning

when we were brainstorming that we had a lot of promising ideas in terms of the types of

characters we were going to introduce such as a parent/carer figure and another one or twoone line characters. In the end however it was all scrapped and so now it felt a little empty.

That being said the film had some definitive strengths, for example the way we were able to

take advantage of the festivities happening around Sheffield City Centre. This includes shots

of Christmas trees and lights, which all brings thoughts of family, cosiness and warmth to

mind. This is juxtaposed with Lola, who is scared, alone and lost. This worked out really

nicely, especially filming at night as originally we had intended for the whole piece to take

place during the day around town and on a few lone roads. Filming at night also meant less

attention from passers-by.

The market; there is a nice shot of Lola going through a type of Moroccan themed tent which

to me feels like shes exploring a new world. This happens when in daylight so its not asfrightening as she thought the night before. This shot was completely unplanned and the

mise-en-scene of it worked really nicely, it felt as if the day was Blooming in comparison

to the cold harshness of the night which only offers unforgiving fluorescent lighting.

Lastly the haunted sailors soundtrack that plays during the creepy pirate scene is very

effective as it gives the audience a peek into the mind of Lola. This was the only soundtrack

piece and in terms ofits positivity its a nice and unexpected break from the atmospheric

track that just runs throughout.

When considering the films weaknesses, the first one that comes to mind is Lolas Journey

route. She seems like she is more aimlessly wondering around as opposed to looking lost, we

should have used carefully selected places that hint towards her destination as in hindsightparks are never found around the heart of a city its closer to the housing areas. In the original

brainstorm we only had Lola in town for a short while, as she mainly walked past signs that

directed her towards the park. Though this may have spoon fed the information to the

audience I think it would have been more effective as the piece is very simple and hides

nothing from the audience in the first place.

Another weakness is the lack of pace of the piece. You are meant to feel scared when Lola is

in the alley alone and when she gets assaulted by The ChavsI didnt get that reaction. The

initial idea of them insulting her and taking her drawn picture of the park seemed more

emotive.

Lastly as the piece had very little dialogue and we were relying a lot on Sound to help paint a

picture of emotions for Lola. We didnt end up with what we had in mind for a range ofreasons, the short soundscape we had I felt was very effective and though I pushed for there

to be more; when more was created it didnt quite fit as well as the original. Originally we

had in mind to have Lola speak internally about what was happening, or hum nursery rhymes

but when we tried to fit it to this piece it didnt work.

The process of making the work seemed to take a lot longer than it has done in previous

group work. It felt like every week we would sit and come up with a new idea or arc to the

original idea then after all being in agreement, the following week we would add or take


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something away or just change the idea completely. It felt like the creative process of the idea

was very one sided, and there was no room for suggestion or constructive criticism.

We never really understood the story of Lola and what her Condition was and we kept

trying to answer the same questions again and again. I have learnt from this that it is

imperative to know your story inside out, that way if suggestions are made for change after a

final draft has been made, it wont be so easily swayed as you already know your story/idea

so well that you would know if it would fit into its world.

Once we did have some form of a semi constructed idea it was hard to plough through the

production process due to a lack of scheduling/synchronisation within the group and with the

actress. Understandably we all have other commitments out of university so it was hard to

pick days to film when everyone in the group was available. Even so, there was nothing done

to try and work out a shooting schedule, we just went from day to day deciding the next day

to film. This was very unprofessional especially for our actress who we also had to just

confirm with from shoot to shoot, and if she wasnt free then production would be delayed.

From this I have learnt that even if there are a load of variables in place that make it difficult

to make a solid schedule then you should at least be able to make one based on when the key

members are needed such as the Cinematographer, the Sound Recordist and the Director and

not the whole group if it came down to it. As well as this I think we should comprised a list of

the days our actress was available in advance as there were times when the whole group had a

few days/times in mind and the actress could ironically not make any of them.

Lastly I think that I have definitely learnt that if someone isnt doing their role then someone

needs to step up and just take over instead of letting the problem grow especially if that roleplays a big part in helping the production process move forward.

My role in the group was Art Director, and the only problem that came with this role was

having too little to do. At first during the two minute piece there was a lot to do in terms of

dressing the Actress and the set. But then because we were continuing the story my role fell

short as we were originally going to carry straight on from her playing in the den, meaning

there was no need for a costume change. The story slowly changed during production so the

costume was fixed, and because we were filming outside, I couldnt dress anything instead Iwould sometimes suggest places that might look nice to film i.e.; The Christmas tree in town.

Regardless of how minute my role became I still did what Art Direction I could; advising the

Chavs in styling their clothes (Hoods up/down, hands in/out of pockets) and selecting the

book that Lola finds the park as well as others for background shots. Also because our actress

Fiona had a lot of piercings and a few obviously placed tattoos I kept an eye to make sure

they didnt turn up on camera. Overall I did have fun being Art Director but would have liked

for me to really dive in there and really dress and design a set.

As my role wasnt too foreboding I turned up to a few editing sessions and all the sound

editing even though I knew it wasnt within my role in the group. As I can understand how


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you sometimes just need a fresh pair of ears or eyes when you have been sitting and starring

at a mac all day and it all seems the same.

This time around, after learning that Too Many Cooks Spoil The Broth from previous group

work where ideas were always flowing even during production which meant shooting a scene

sometime three different ways, I kept my opinions and ideas to a minimum. The downside

that came from this is that I didnt feel as connected/invested in the project as maybe some of

the other people in the group did. I still did my role and then some to a high standard but I

think the challenge in group work is finding the balance between always offering a

suggestion or alteration and only inputting a word or two when necessary.

In many ways our approach to making this film in my opinion would relate most of all to The

Long Day Closes (Davies, 1992) which is a movie about an eleven year old boy who uses the

cinema as a form of escapism from his new life and the perils that are attached to it. The

Long Day Closes has very minimalistic dialogue like our movies does. The film uses sound

to help portray emotions and transitions which is something that we tried to make our movie

do, most notably when it came to the pirate scene where we had the impromptu spooky

Sailors Song. This is mainly the one I can pick upon because as previously stated one of the

weaknesses in the movie was our overall sound design. That being said, minimalistic

dialogue isnt the method that I would pickwhen making a movie, as orchestrating a movie

that relies heavily on visual and sound design is really difficult to do. Therefore in some

retrospect I am glad we managed to produce something to a decent effect that is so normally

hard to achieve with intention.

Another film that can be seen as a similar contrast to ourLola isAlice (Svankmajer, 1988).

Based on the novel Alice in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll, this Czechoslovakian version of

the well-known tale choses a more surrealist approach to tell the story. The almost creepy

stop motioned characters is once again similar to the Pirate scene where the models, though

clearly harmless felt evil and claustrophobic, as if they could jump out at you at any moment.

Not only that but the story of Alice closely relates to Lola because of the whole question of

whether everything is happening for real or if it is a dream. Alices adventure though

seemingly perilous questions a countless amount of time whether or not it is all a figment of

her imagination as the ending sees Alice wake up in her bedroom to find her rabbit is missing.Again with this surrealist version of Alice in Wonderland there is minimalistic dialogue from

the main character. This again further relates to the similarities between her and our character

of Lola.

When It came to Art Direction I feel that I took a lot of advice from The Art Direction

Handbook For Film (Rizzo, 2005, p.200) namely the section about Keeping Ahead Of The

Camera where it says;During the shoot, focus is on set. It is the job of the art director to

remain far ahead of the shooting timeline [] Communication is the key to resolving any

issue. I chose this quote because there were many instances where I was right behind the

camera with the Cinematographer and the Director too keep an eye on our actress as she had


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many piercings and tattoos, which I had to make sure never turned up one screen. If I did

notice them I would mention it to the Cinematographer/Director who would stop the take as I

had a word with the actress to try and conceal them. The text made me realise that continuity

and character realism isnt just due to the editor and the director or script writer but up to

everyone and their individual departments as no one person can catch it all.

A few movies where the Art Direction really stood out to me include;Heathers (Lehman,

1988), Alice in Wonderland (Burton, 2010), Kill Bill (Tarantino, 2003), Breakfast atTiffanys

(Edwards, 1961). Though these films may not have a lot, or any similarity to our movies they

made me aware of what characteristics can be highlighted depending on what your character

wears. I have also realised through these movies and slowly through many others, what an

effect Art Direction can have on a movie, whether that be in a comedic sense, or to help

create a dramatic effect or if it is just aesthetically pleasing to the eye.

Overall the role of Art Director has taught me a few tricks and important facts that I will

carry on through to all of my future projects, where Art Direction will play a major role.

Bibliography

Books

Rizzo, M; 2005, The Art Direction Handbook for Film, Burlington/Oxford, Focal Press

Movies

Alice, 1988, Svankmajer, J

Alice In Wonderland, 2012, Burton, T

Breakfast At Tiffanys, 1961, Edwards, B

Heathers, 1988, Lehman, M

Kill Bill, 2002, Tanrantion, Q

The Long Day Closes, 1992, Davies T

Documents

Drama 2000word Evaluation