DIRECTIONS; CRITICAL EVALUATION

Now that i have finalised everything within the project, including finished the script, research requirements and filmed and edited my production, i can evaluate from a critical perspective, what worked well and what didn't work as well.

What worked well:

Vee on the phone

-The thing that interested and engaged me most about Ariel Schulman and his work, was his use of modern technology and his aspiration to produce work that is far different from directors before. Within Nerve this was evident, in my opinion, within three main points -Screen recordings -filming through a MacBook webcam and -filming through mobiles. However as with this project, we had to make the work our own and direct it in our way, and so i chose to film the action through mainly a DSLR camera. I believe this worked well and allowed me to use a different range of shots to imply the emotion and internal struggle of a character. For example in my opening scene when Vee is on the phone to her friend, in the original it is a Skype conversation filmed through a MacBook Pro, i believe that the way i directed it can make the audience relate more to the internal struggle that Vee is going through, she is afraid to tell her mother of her ambition to move away from home and through a range of close up shots and low angled shots I tried to express this, and because of that i believe that this is something that went well within my production.

-The use of sound effects is something i have never used before in any of my work. Within Nerve i used a range of sound effects including - laptop slamming -mouse clicking -Nerve music. I believe this went well within my production and the sounds sound natural and fit very well within the action on screen. Sound effects make the drama on screen more intense, modify normal sounds to be louder than expected, or higher or lower than expected can surprise and audience, engaging them more with what they're watching. Also, the sound effects helped within my editing and it paired well with cutting/ending a scene with a black screen, the main example being when Vee slams her laptop down.

-I believe that something else that went well within my production was good coverage, in each scene i made sure to have a range of long/wide, medium and close up shots in order to represent each room Vee was in for a number of reasons (for example in her brothers room to show his medals and in Vees room to show the wide window - a metaphor for her longing to move away)

example of a screen recording

-The use of screen recordings i believe worked well for me, though it was done in the original, i didn't use it to the extent that it was used in the original. I believe i effectively made screen recordings match the other action on screen.



What didn't work as well:
-This project was about becoming a directing and making those directorial decisions when it comes to our production. I believe i was organised and decisive, especially in pre-production when organising cast, locations, costumes etc, however i believe that one thing i could definitely improve on, when being a director or working on any shoot, is making sure that all of the shots i need for continuity are done. Within this production i did this a lot however there are certain scenes with continuity errors (i.e. a character standing in a different position or looking toward the camera), some of them aren't too noticeable but personally i like my work to be very tightly edited and clean cut, so its something that i defiantly want to improve on for the future.


For example, in the two shots here, Vee is standing in a different position in each one so i had to cut it shorter to make it work



-Sound design was an issue for me when filming, i had issue with mics and had to use just the DSLR recorded sound, this wasn't ideal but i made sure i was close when filming sound and so the sound doesn't actually sound too bad. However i'd prefer to have used some separate mics to record sound, it makes the dialogue and location sound more crisp, giving it a better sense of realism.

Nerve from the original film

-Within the real feature of Nerve, there is an in depth design on the game that is played, i couldn't create something as detailed as that and so i was worried that it wouldn't have the same effect in mine as it did in the film. The way i did it, was to use sound paired with fast paced shots of Vee in her room, so rather than showing the video, i just played the audio from it and instead focused on Vee's reaction to it. Whilst i think i did it okay and also think this demonstrates the way i have directed it in a different way, I believe it would have worked a lot better if i had more shots, because of the lack of shots i couldn't do this scene as fast paced as i wanted too and for that reason i believe it didn't work as well as it could have

Overall from this project, i have learnt a lot about producing and directing a short film, mainly id say the thing i have learnt the most is the sheer amount of components that come with directing, so many decisions that are all integral to the end product. Moreover, something else i have taken from this project is the important of sound. Sound design is integral to making sure a film flows correctly and regardless of if the framing is good and the shots are good, if the sound isn't then it just won't feel right. Thinking about how i can record sound and how i will integrate any sound effects into my film was an important part of my production and something i will now always consider in future projects.