R-02 FILM EXTRACT: Film evaluation

Tuesday 3 March 2009

Film evaluation

Film studies – evaluation

Inspired by the chase scene at the beginning of the zombie, thriller movie – 28 weeks later (Boyle 2007), we decided to reproduce another zombie chase scene. We wanted our short film to produce a similar amount of tension to the original footage, as well as emphasise the action that is happening within the sequence.

A post apocalyptic/thriller movie needs to create a sense of suspense for the audience as well as emphasise the action on screen. I achieved this through the use of quick editing as well as taking full advantage of point of view shots in order to create a strong sense of tension as characters close in on other characters. I also dimmed the lighting of all of our final footage in order to enforce the gloomy mise en scene of a post apocalyptic movie.

I am especially proud of the editing I did leading up to the gunshot. By mixing shots of the gun with the character walking towards the protagonist, I was able to communicate the possible fate which the character might face. Creating tension as the audience watch the character gets closer to there potential doom. The only problem with this technique was that at the end of the sequence, a similar technique was used to show the final death of the character. The shots switched back and fourth to the character and to the zombies closing in on him. I felt this style of editing was being overused in our sequence and didn’t provide enough variety to interest our audience.
I tackled this problem by merging a third shot with the first cuts, leading up to the gunshot. We had shot a point of view shot that closed in on to the back of the protagonist. Originally this shot was there to emphasise the idea of something following the protagonist. I found this shot was more effective when placed in-between the shots of the gun and the character moving in on the protagonist. Not only did this help create more variety in my style of editing but also helped to foreshadow the event of a chase. (This occurs at the end of the clip). I also made use of a zoom, special effect which makes the camera appear as if it’s pulling away from the center of the shot. This intensifies the action within the footage and helps to present the zombies in a more fearful light. I also slightly changed the colouring during the point of view shots to help give impression the audience where looking through the eyes of something inhuman. This effect also helped to construct the threatening mise en scene of the footage as it drew to its climax.

One piece of feedback we had received after people had finished viewing our footage was that we should have spent more time shooting the protagonist alone within the setting. After reviewing our final piece, I would have to say that I agree. The quick editing in the footage does create a sense of urgency which is ideal for a thriller, but it has also made the piece quite short. By adding more shots of the protagonist alone in the setting we could have built up a web of intrigue that would have caught the audience’s attention and also helped to build up the conventions of a typical thriller. By including shots with a longer duration in our piece, we could have also helped to create breaks within the action of the piece, allowing for suspense to rebuild.

If I were to do the project again, I would have liked to spend more time working on the soundtrack to our short clip. Unfortunately due to requiring extra time to gather footage, less time was spent on making the best possible soundtrack. The sound which was created was befitting to the mise en scene of the piece and helped present a mood to the audience. However if we had worked the soundtrack closer with the editing, we could of produced a soundtrack that shared a relationship with the visuals. For example – our footage included a shot of a boot stamping down on the earth. We could have placed noise there to help highlight the importance and impact of that shot. We also could of included diagetic noise into our footage, such as footsteps and breathing. These would have also helped to build suspense alongside the cuts between the gun and the character moving towards the protagonist. I would also have liked to spend more time concentrating on the costume of the characters so as to add more to the mise en scene.

posted by AS Film Studies Students @ 07:03

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