Practical evaluation

For the practical side of the course I thought hard about what I wanted to do and what genre it would fit in. I have been interested in the supernatural and the well documented examples of people with supernatural abilities and have done some extensive research of my own into the subject. This research lead me to a number of media texts including a video from YouTube explaining several areas that I hadn't considered and the film Chronicle, a found footage film documenting three friends who develop "superpowers" and how the power soon proves to be more than they expected.

This was the sort of film I wanted to create (had I been given the resources for a full 90 minute feature) with a more serious atmosphere and a wider array of powers. So I had the subject but still needed the genre. I didn't want to make a typical superhero action film akin to the X-men franchise. I considered the idea of a superhero film for adults or at least young adults. I started looking for genres that would fit, only finding that something along the lines of an action thriller would fit. I looked at a number of films such as The girl with the dragon tattoo; Elysium; Hummingbird and Hanna. The backdrop of the film Hanna seemed like the best direction to go with the hunter being hunted only with my idea the hunter would not yet be aware of why he/she is being hunted until they come face to face with the unimaginable situation.

An advertising poster for the movie, capturing it's essence in
in a single image

I had the full Idea but now had to think of the hard bit. How would such a film be opened, as film technologies get more and more advanced films get gradually longer on average with most being around one hundred minutes long and more. I wanted to introduce a what could be a complex story with complex characters without introducing too many characters if any at all. This would be (in my opinion) a great way to break convention. In my shot plan I did mention a number of characters would be involved but when it came to filming the idea solidified inside my head. Just two minutes of life. Telling a story through title cards, building tension and creating an enigma from the start. Filming took longer than I'd hoped at about four hours I had to consider every angle of filming. I had to make something as mundane as the morning rush hour seem at least a little more interesting and harder still was the idea of making an empty street look interesting. I filmed several areas in the local area from busy streets leading into and out of the city center to the quiet public foot paths and parks and the city center itself. I looked at a number of obscure lo

Editing the project was the hardest hurdle to get over as it's all well and good to have a great idea down on paper and even on film but another all together to put that great, original peace of work together to form one solid chunk that both you and your potential audience of fifteen to thirty something year olds will enjoy. To do this I had to keep each clip no longer than ten seconds long or risk the audience becoming increasingly bored by two minutes of footage consisting of only about four or five clips. Editing in final cut was a riot as while it got the job done I can't stand Apple and all that associate with it.