Project Evaluation

"LOVE ACTUALLY" SCENE RECREATION DIRECTED BY SOPHIE EMMERSON- EVALUATION

The Early Stages:

Looking at Directors:

What was successful?

When researching different directors something that I really enjoyed was looking at a television show or film that I had enjoyed and finding out who had directed it, but then looking at what else they had directed and finding out they had directed something else that I had really enjoyed. For example I always knew that Richard Curtis was famous for his Rom Coms but when researching his work I discovered that he had a link so to all the famous British Romantic Comedies from the 1990's onwards, whether it was directing, producing or screenwriting; so since researching him I now like to think of him as the Auteur of British Rom Coms. So looking through different directors was definitely something I found successful as I learned so much more about people that work in film and Tv than what I knew before and I really enjoyed analysing what they do and how they create different effects and keep their styles throughout all different shows and films, for example Paul Whittington always using hand held shaky shots in his Tv shows.


What went wrong?

The only element that I would say 'went wrong' during this process and that I found challenging was deciding on one director alone. I listed all of my favourite directors to start with and then researched some of my favourite television shows and films and found out who directed them and looked at if they had directed anything else I had watched and looked at their other work, if they found it interesting i listed their names too. I ended up with thirteen names and found it extremely difficult to narrow it down to three to research and then just one to study. I ended up choosing the directors that  had seen the most Television shows or films that they had directed as I felt most confident in my knowledge on their style.

Conclusion:

I found the process of researching different directors very interesting and exciting and I know that when I have time I will look through the other directors that I was interested in and try to watch some more of their work to try and broaden my viewing horizons and get inspired by more directors.

Directors Statement:

What was successful?

The part that I found most successful with the Directors Statement was definitely writing up my vision. I had ideas and had developed my script ideas at this point however I had not fully written out my vision so I really did find it enjoyable writing through all my ideas and linking some of them to Richard Curtis as he is such a successful director and I wanted to follow some of his techniques because they inspired me and created really strong moments in his films however I also wanted to put my own stamp on my project to make it unique to me so while planning my Statement it was a chance for me to think it through and decide how I was going to do that.

What went wrong?

The part that I struggled most with when writing the Directors Statement was finalising ideas surrounding colour. I knew that I wanted to use red because of Curtis' beliefs about hiding colour to symbolise feelings of characters and themes in scenes but that was about as far as I had got. I then started to create a colour palette but found that I was just adding colours to create a general palette without any true meaning and I'm a very visual learner and also believe that everything has a meaning so I wanted the colours to all have meaning but I was finding this tough. I started to think of solutions and I find diagrams easy to understand and read as well as put together so I thought if I created a Venn diagram to help me interpret the different meaning of colours then I could mix them to create different effects and tones and therefore they would be there for a reason. This was a great help as not only did it end up helping me with creating the colour palette but it also helped me to analyse the themes I wanted to show and why I wanted to show them as well as when.

Conclusion:

In conclusion I found writing the Directors statement an extremely useful part of the process as it enabled my to use a range of skills from analysing the director and their techniques to finding out what my own style is and how I will put my own stamp on my piece along with learning to add meaning behind every creative decision that I made. Also looking back on my Directors Statement now I managed to achieve nearly everything that stated I wanted to in my vision so it mad me feel very positive about my production as a whole. The statement was also something useful to me during production; I printed it our and did take a copy of it on set and read it through both days before shooting just to reinforce my aims in my mind.



Pre Production:

Casting for adults:

What was successful?

In the end I was really happy with the actors that I had cast it was just a long process to get them. I knew however that I wanted to work with professional actors and not just people that I knew because it would create a more professional production environment; which it did, but also give me the opportunity to have a real experience at directing because if it was people that I knew acting I would have felt different about telling them what to do but because thy were professional I knew that I would have an authentic production and the best chance possible to develop my directing skills.  Casting was also a great opportunity as I had to be precise about what I was looking for in actors and what the character breakdowns were. I found watching through auditions and looking through headshots really exciting and helped others in the class look through their auditions they had received too as the actors are what is on the screen and creating the action so if I chose the wrong actors for the scene I knew that it could ruin the mood and moments in my video, so I found watching through auditions exciting as I could slowly see my vision coming together. Another part that I found successful was having a variety of people applying for the role and having to tell some of them that they were not successful as this was something that I thought may be quite daunting and scary to tell people that they did not get the role but it was actually much easier than I thought and I view it as successful as I now have many actors that were not suitable for this role that may be suitable for future ones. I ended up casting my actors from drama societies that acting in theatre and on screen and I was very happy with my final casting decision.

What went wrong?

Although I got the perfect actors for the role in the end casting was definitely something that I found the hardest in the whole pre production phase. I wanted to get the right actors for the role so I was not willing to accept the first people that applied. I started by creating an account on Mandy and using the filters to find local actors that looked the part. I looked at their showreels and if I thought they were the fit for me I emailed them. However I got some replies that made me a little unhappy, for example one reply was from an actress who informed me that she did not like to be approached as she felt it was rude to say that she looked a certain age range and that she decides as an actress if she fits the part. This made me put myself down because as a director I felt that I had upset someone and that they would not want to work with me. I did receive another message from the same actress a short time after apologising and stating that she would be involved if she was free, yet I thought it was best to leave it there because I did not want my directing experience on shoot to be compromised if she stated again that she was offended. It was very unfortunate that this did happen but it taught me that not everyone is going to want to get involved and that as a director you have to focus on the people that are interested and passionate s it was a good learning curve for me. Another challenge during casting was to actually decide who was getting to get the role because I ended up receiving many auditions that I enjoyed so it was tough to make the decision on my actor and actress but I just had to keep focussing on my vision and what I wanted the characters to represent.

Conclusion:

In conclusion I feel that casting was the hardest part of the unit mainly because I was so passionate about using professional actors and I wanted them to be perfect and find them straight away. Because of this I feel I had too many expectations which then caused hurdles to appear but once I opened it up more and informed more people such as the drama societies it allowed me to find the right people for the role but also gave me experience of seeing a variety of auditions and gave me many actors contacts and I have been in touch with some already about summer projects that I want to complete. Even though I had the unfortunate experience on Mandy I would never let it put me off using the site again because I also received a few brilliant auditions from there so I would not let it limit me in the future. Despite this I did really enjoy that casting experience and it was not as scary as I thought it would be, in future projects from no on I will only use professional actors.

Casting for Children:


What was successful?

When it came to casting for children it was a lot easier,  this was because as I explain in my pre production blog I had already made a contact in the last unit with the owner of a children's acting agency so it meant when looking for children instead of having to ask around like I did to start with in the last unit I had someone to go to straight away who was extremely helpful with finding me the right children to play Bernie and Daisy. I also felt that bit secure using children from an agency as it meant that they really were interested because they had been committed to join the agency. I would definitely use Carousel Managements (http://www.carouselmanagement.co.uk/)  again in the future when casting children as they were very helpful and informative.

What went wrong?

Not a lot went wrong with casting the children, apart from the general worries about working with them because of the strict government guidelines that have to be followed but once I had cast them through the agency I felt a lot more positive as I knew that it was sorted and I had already planned my schedule so that their working hours would not go over the maximum two hours that they were allowed to legally work.

Conclusion:

In conclusion using the agency was very helpful and I would definitely use it next time I am casting children because they were extremely informative about the children's needs prior to productions and while I was in the casting stages they sent me images and showreels of a variety of different children that would fit the part.


Location:


What was successful?

When looking for the location I was pretty clear on what I knew I wanted and needed for my vision to come to life. I was very lucky in that I had family and friends that lived in a couple of properties that were similar to what I was looking for and they were very good in letting me have a look around to decide what would be best for the film and what would look the best but also what would work in terms of parking space and noise pollution. I visited both properties and decided on using a bungalow that had the right set up for what I needed and also the rooms were quite large which meant there was room for kit and crew to stand during production so i was very happy with my choice of location.

What went wrong?

The only issue was that ideally I want to try sourcing locations from people that I don't know in order to gain more contacts and try to network a little more but I did not see the point of looking for somewhere knew when I had the perfect locations available to me.

Conclusion:

In conclusion finding the location was quite simple and successful for me as it worked well with my vision and the furniture was all suitable too for my production. In future though as I previously discussed I would like to use more externally sourced locations but that was not needed in this occasion .


Pre- Production paperwork:


What was successful?

The most successful part about the paperwork for pre production was probably how organised I was with it. I knew that I would already be stressed on the actual shoot so I decided that I needed to have all the paperwork as organised s it could be in order to not be looking for random pieces of paper during the shoot; all my paperwork is uploaded onto my 'pre production notes' blog. Something that I found very useful was using the script breakdown sheet as I created four folders; one for each of my scenes, and then filled out the breakdown sheet and placed it in the front of each one. I then placed all the relevant paperwork into each folder for each scene and this was a lifesaver during the shoot because rather than having to search for paper a the start of each scene, I had all the relevant completed paperwork together so not only did it save stress but also lots of time and it gave me a better idea of what I wanted for every scene.

What went wrong?

The main issue with the pre-production paperwork was completing it all and finding the time to because I knew that I wanted it to be detailed due to my pre production paperwork in the last unit not being very detailed and then it being very stressful on the shoot day to decide what I wanted so I knew it had to have a lot more depth but that takes time so that was the only real drawback with pre- production paperwork. Luckily I did allow myself lots of time to complete it though and I had all the storyboard and shot lists ready a week and a half before production which meant that I had time to think it through incase i wanted to change any of my ideas. I would also of liked to have done my floor plans slightly differently for lighting as it took me a long time to create them and then I ended up changing them completely in the test shoots before so in future I will take blank ones and create them after the test shoot to remember how it was set up then for the real shoot.


Conclusion:

In conclusion I did feel that the pre production paperwork was something that I completed well and I am glad that I gave myself enough time to complete it I will definitely do that again in future. I believe there can always be more though so i have to be careful otherwise I might end up adding too much detail when it should just be brief; for example with shot lists there should be a certain level of detail but I still need to always aim to keep it brief otherwise it will take longer to read and go through at the production. I do feel that I am quite good at getting all the notes and paperwork complete as I enjoy to feel organised and I would rather be too ready for something than not prepared at all.


Preparing for the shoot:

What was successful?

A couple of days before the shoot I sent out an email to everyone involved in the production with the schedule, the risk assessment (in case they wanted to view it)  and the call sheet with all the location and finalised timing locations on it. This felt successful as it allowed me to make sure that everyone, including myself was fully content with the production days and what was going to happen and it also was communication between myself with my cast and crew which meant that there was clear communication between us. Then a couple of days before the shoot I phoned Kathryn and Matt (the main two actors) to check that they were all okay with timing and location and where to park. I also asked them if they had any questions and they both seemed happy and said they had a clear understanding of what would happen so this made me glad that I had been clear with them so it was a success.

What went wrong?

The problem that i did face when setting up and preparing for the shoot was getting test shots. I was filming 5-8pm both days so in the morning of the first day I got to the location at 11am after getting my kit and checked everything over. I then went through the location and put all all the props including the christmas tree and also setting up the LED lights. This all took longer than I anticipated and I had scheduled in to get some test shoots to check lighting and sound and record buzz tracks before actors arrived for each scene however because it took longer to get the props out it meant that i only had fifteen minutes to get the test shots whereas I would have liked to have spent longer getting them and making sure they were right.



Conclusion:

In conclusion preparing for the production went well there were not many hurdles other than running out of time for test shots but that was not too much of an issue, I just know for my next production I would plan to do test shots a few days before so that it's not worry on the day on filming. Contacting all the cast and crew before filming though was really positive and helped to allow every to know what they were doing.



Production:

Setting up:

What was successful?

Setting up the kit did not take us too long because we had slowly been doing it throughout the day and we had just done some test shoots so luckily it did not take long. Also all of the actors turned up fifteen minutes earlier including the children which was brilliant as it meant it gave them time to prepare (get into costumes) while the crew where setting up the kit. This also gave me extra time to get all the consent forms and artist contracts filled out whilst actors where getting ready so that when it got to 5pm we were ready to start working straight away.

What went wrong?

Because I had two actors for Karen and Harry, two children acting for Daisy and Bernie as well as their parents as chaperones and then the crew and the home owners it meant that the set was extremely busy with lots of people walking around. This was something that I had not really considered; I knew there would be lots of people there however I did not really think it through for how busy it was going to be. I sorted this out by asking everyone not involved directly in the scenes; the chaperones and the home owners to sit in the kitchen as that was the room that we would not be using. I gave everyone drinks and refreshments and the parents of the children along with the home owners chatted and seemed to be happy so I did solve the situation, it just meant that when we were filming I had to ask everyone to be quiet for a couple of minutes each time so that we did not record back ground sounds.

Conclusion:

In conclusion there were not many problems with setting up and it was very handy that everyone was early as it meant we could start on time otherwise we would have been fifteen minutes behind schedule. I was also happy with how I resolved the issue of having lots of people there, but in future I would either find a slightly bigger location if I had to use that many people again or I would do the same thing again but add extra time in the schedule as it took time to make sure that they were all okay and to ask them to be quiet before we filmed every shot.

Timing:

What was successful?

Timing was something that was tricky to keep to during production, I did allow extra time for everything which was good and the actors were all really confident with their lines which saved lots of time so that was great for the schedule, we were also able to take a longer break than scheduled on the second day of shoot as there were only the two actors there as we managed to get all the children's shots done on the first day of shoot which meant the second day was a lot more relaxed and we could take our time a bit more so that was successful.

What went wrong?

However timing was probably the biggest pressure throughout the shoot especially on the first day. This was because when the children turned up with their parents on the first day one of the parents informed me that their child was now busy on the next day of shoot so they would not be able to make it and the other parent informed me that their child have to leave the shoot slightly earlier on the first day as they had other commitments. This was very unfortunate as I felt like I constantly had to keep an eye on the time but at the same time I did not want to rush the shoot I wanted to get it right. It was the biggest stress during production as every time that I entered the kitchen to make drinks one of the parents reminded me that they had to leave shortly but I tried not to let it affect me as I wanted to stay as calm as possible to focus on my vision. Luckily we did end up getting all the shots that we needed with the children done in the first day within an hour and a half it just meant they were a little more rushed than I would have liked them to be.

Conclusion:

In conclusion timing was probably the biggest problem during the production stage. I ended up keeping to my schedule but it just meant that the first day felt very rushed and fast paced compared to the second day which was the complete opposite. It was very good experience though for working in the Television industry as two days are never the same. In future I will just make it clear that actors must be free for the shoot times and if they cannot make a day of shoot or need to leave early they should inform me before arriving so that I can arrange back ups.


Getting the shots:


What was successful?

Because of the detail that I went into in my shot list it meant that I was able to get all the shots that I wanted to except a few, so this made me really happy because on my last production my shot list was very rough and I did end up making it up as I went along whereas with this project I felt a lot more in control and I was very passionate about getting it the way I had planned to get it. There were also a few extra shots that I managed to get on the second day of production because we had a bit more time so this was a benefit.

What went wrong?

There were a couple of issues with getting the shots that I needed to get. My project was set in the early evening and then night time so I planned to get some exterior shots of the property to use. However because we ran out of time before the shoot I had planned to get them at the end of second day of filming but then I completely forgot and did not remember until I was reviewing all my clips in the post production phase. This then mean that I had to go back to get the shot two weeks after the production took place as I really wanted an exterior shot and it was also suggested in my rough cut feedback that I got one so it was important to do so. Another challenge during production was that on the first day my cinematographer has to leave the shoot for around fifteen minutes but because we were running slightly behind time due to the children having to leave I decided to pick up the camera and shoot a few shots because I did not want us to get any further behind.

Conclusion:

In conclusion I did manage to get majority of the shots needed I just had to go back for the establishing ones which was not too much of an issue and I did not mind filming a few shots because I really did not want us to run over or not be able to get shots because of the time limitations but it was all learning experience and in future I will make separate shot lists for all the shots that I am likely to forget.

Directing the acting:

What was successful?

Directing the acting was something I was nervous of but I ended up loving it! At the start of each scene I would block the action in the way that I had planned it in pre production and then get the actors to run it through. They would then rehearse my blockings a few times and get used to the action, it was really beneficial that they gave me feedback and suggested easier ways to get around certain sections as there were problems that I had not thought of. For example for scene two when the actors are stood by the door taking Harry's coat off it was quite a tight space so we had to re block it slightly in order for it to work successfully. I carried my script with all my directions on round with me at all times because it was so useful to refer to but I did feel quite confident on what I had planned. I used my experience from Steve Finns workshop of blocking actors and tried to relate it to my production by giving the actors tasks to keep the motivation going. For example in the bedroom scene I gave Kathryn many tasks such as applying hand cream, brushing her hair and taking off her shoes to keep her occupied and this differed to Curtis' version of the scene as his was more focussed on the dialogue whereas I wanted to have a bigger focus on movement to make it feel more real.

What went wrong?

There were not any big issues with directing the actors, the only ones were either with the children because I had to explain what they had to do in a simpler way but I did this by trying to get them to actually do the action without even knowing. For example I needed some shots of them playing with toys and a buzz track of them talking so I gave the children toys and I told my crew to keep an eye on them and if they start to chat and play to record them so that it was just natural. This was a challenge to start with as I did not know how to explain what I wanted to the children but it ended up working out really well as I had shots and an audio track of them talking which I was really happy with. The only other issue that I faced was with the actors and getting them to slightly tone down their acting, I wanted the project to be acted very simply and to feel very real so I reinforced this to the actors however there are some moments where they do overact slightly and over pronounce their words slightly and I did not notice this until post production.

Conclusion:

In conclusion I really enjoyed directing the actors, especially because they were professional it was a fantastic opportunity for me and they did comment after on how it had felt very professional and "not like the average student film." This made me very happy as I had hoped that they felt their directions were clear and the experience made me realise how much I actually enjoyed directing as it was something that I thought I would not like.

Directing the crew:


Directing the crew was also something that I really enjoyed as I knew more about this than acting but I had also pre planned all the shots that I wanted to get which made it a lot easier for my crew. While the actors were costume changing before each scene I quickly briefed my crew on any changes that I wanted to be made from the test shoots that we had tried out earlier. They were then able to set up all the kit ready to go without any confusion and this created a really good working environment. One of the actors, Kathryn, even described the crew and I as the dream team as we knew where everything was going and my cinematographer even stated at the end of my shoot that the directions had been really clear and there was no feeling of stress for the crew, this of course made me feel very positive as it felt a successful shoot especially when the crew back that up. There were not really any issues with the crew because we all felt very prepared and they were a massive help to me, other than we did struggle to get the lighting right as i was using gels to create a red and blue contrast for the colour scheme and at times it did feel that it was a little too strong but we soon resoled this by diffusing it slightly and bouncing the light off corner of walls near lamps so that the lighting had a motivation.


Production Management:

Production management is something that I felt went well, I had provided refreshments for everyone on set which consisted of rolls with sandwich fillings and an assortment of cakes, biscuits and chocolates. I also made sure that everyone had a drink and provided lots of teas and coffees, we had small breaks throughout both shoot days so that actors and crew could use the bathroom and I kept asking throughout if everyone was happy and if they needed anything.

Working on other peoples shoots:

Working on other peoples shoots was a great opportunity as it meant that I got to work on all different sets. I ended up working on three other productions; Get Out, Lucifer and Shaun of the Dead and my roles consisted of being a runner, a gaffer, a boom operator and an extra. I wanted to work on as many as I could in order to gain experience from different perspectives and it was very beneficial in seeing different ways that people work and picking up of different directing skills as everyone directs in a different way. One of the biggest benefits was getting to meet different actors for each shoot and getting to know them and then them giving me their phone numbers. This will be really helpful in the future as I now have twelve actors details from who I met on shoots that were all willing to help in future projects. 

a test shot

lighting set up

test  shot

taping down cables

Post Production:

Reviewing the shots:

What was successful?

When starting the edit the first thing that I did was placed all of the clips into bins for each scene and then into sub-bins for characters so that I was really clear on what shots I had. I then watched all of them through and generally I felt extremely happy with how the footage played out. Nearly all the shots were in focus and I had got plenty of coverage for each scene. I decided to add cinematic bars to my shots to give it a more film like feel and it did look very professional one they had been added so that made me happy.

What went wrong?

There were a few hurdles when reviewing the shots such as when listening to the buzz track for the bedroom the mic has a shake in it which creates a muffled sound in the background therefore I was unable to use it but luckily I had spare buzz tracks for different rooms. Also when watching through the shots I realised that some of them when filming the photos on Karens dressing table were a little shaky so I added a stabilizer to these. I also noticed that at some moments the acting was a little over the top so it looked as if the sound was out of sync but there was not anything I could do about this.


Conclusion:

In conclusion I was very happy with how my shots came out other than the odd few but they were issues that were not going to affect the video too much, however going forward I would tell the actors to tone it down slightly as it did come out a little too much at some points but I realised too late unfortunately.


Adding graphics:

I then added graphics at the early stages to map out the different moments as I had connected four different scenes I tried to link them up using the graphics, I did find this hard though as I wanted the text to slowly reveal itself and then change colour at the end so it did take me a few attempts and it looked very rough to start with but I did get there in the end. I used key frames to mask the path of the text and then I added a cross fade effect so that the colour slowly changed and I of course used had the word 'love' in red to add some colour symbolisation in. Overall I was really happy with the end result for my graphics.


Adding music:

When it came to adding music I had already researched what I had wanted to add so I just had to download the audio files and then import them, I did did use copyright music because I felt that it worked with the story well and could not find any royalty free music that had the same effect however I will have to keep it private online. I really did struggle with adding the song 'Both Sides Now' because in the original film I feel the song drowns out the scene a bit when Karen is stood on her own in the bedroom so Mike suggested that I could have it fading out. I played around a bit and starting adding some surround reverb to it but this sounded as if it had a huge echo to it. I adjusted the settings slightly so that it was portraying an 'open theatre' and this felt right as it had a small amount of echo so it felt dream like which then fitted well with adding the children's chatter over it to reinforce Karens love for her children and how they are always on her mind even when her world is falling apart.

Rough cut:


What was successful?

After showing Mike the rough cut he stated that were some successful elements to it such as there being good production design and the colours and shots working nicely.

What went wrong?

First of all Mike mentioned how it felt very episodic and how the scenes did not feel connected so to help me with this I should add the establishing shot of the house. I had recorded this at this point however it was very bright and I wanted it to portray evening, I initially thought i was going to have to re shoot to exterior of the house but I had an idea of masking around it and getting rid of the bright sky to swap it with an evening sunset. Initially I did not think it would work as the sky looked good but the house looked really bright, but then I colour graded the house down and took the whites out and this ended up giving me a really good looking shot of the house. Mike then gave me some snow overlays to add to the shot to help it look more like Christmas. I then needed to add some colour balancing and Mike taught me a quick way of doing this by taking the pen tool and touching it on something white in the scene, I went through and did then for every shot and it ended up giving me really well colour graded shots. I received extremely useful feedback which enabled my to stretch my video that bit further.

Fine cut:

What was successful?

this time there were a lot more successes than in the rough cut, Mike commented on how the moments with the music fading out with the children chatting was now quite touching.

What went wrong?

We noticed that the writing in the card with the stabiliser on wobbles slightly, I did try to adjust it but it made it worse.  He also said that it would have been good to have a few close ups in the scene where Karen is on her own, I did record these but when reviewing them they did not feel serious enough and they almost felt too sad which was not the affect I wanted to give off so I chose not to use them.

Finishing touches:

I watched my video through on the big projector screen and made some final touches such as changing the audio gain ever so slightly at some points as well as slightly adjusting some shots that were a little out of sync when the characters were sat around the christmas tree.

Creating the ident:

Myself, Matt C and George decided that we would put ourselves forwards to make the ident. It was a process that was harder than I thought it would be but still enjoyable. We sat together and came up with the idea of having a second of everyones clips play through and then have a large graphic stating 'Directions' over the top that slowly moves forwards. We emailed everyone in our group and gave them a few days to send us their favourite shots. Unfortunately a student that was meant to be helping us had to drop out so this did add an extra pressure hut we had given ourselves time. The next issue that we then faced was not receiving the clips, I did ask for them by a date and did not receive many so I sent another message asking for them ASAP. Luckily then we did receive majority of everyones favourite clips and we were able to place together the ident. It was a little stressful as it did then feel a bit last minute due to not receiving clips but we got it done in the end. There were a few changes that we would have made such as adding a more interesting graphic and maybe feathering the clips a little to give it a more cinematic look but unfortunately we did not have the time, but it was still good fun to make and work as a team.


Conclusion:

In conclusion I feel that I really enjoyed this unit as a whole. Directions is something that I have been interested in for a while but I always thought I would find it too much pressure, however this unit has inspired me and made me release that it is possible to direct as long as the director has a clear vision and treats cast and crew with respect because they are helping my work come to life. I really did have great fun during the production days and it is by far the most organised and planned I have ever been for a shoot and the most fun I have had on a shoot. Even though there were moments of stress and time pressures I did not let it get on top of me and always tried to remain calm even if I was screaming on the inside. There were a few problems such as issues with getting the music right and the colour grading right but I got there in the end with them and I do feel really happy with how the final film came out. I know that creating films is like a science and it will never be perfect it is more about the learning curves that I tackled along the way and there were plenty but it's left me with a film that I have marked my own stamp on and that I'm satisfied with.

I feel that I have stayed very closely linked to my directors statement the whole way through the unit and have really revealed those themes of family and a mothers love for her children by making slight alters to Curtis' version to have Karen looking at pictures of her children and hearing them in her head as they are the centre of her world. I also decided to cut the music to give Karens movement more of a motivation and to add the children's chatter in the background with a slight reverb to show that she feels isolated and alone but needs to be strong for her children even though she is greiving the marriage she isloosing. There are obviously elements that I would change looking back such as getting the actors to tone it down slightly during production or to get a few more close ups of Karen but overall I feel pleased and I do feel that I have put my own stamp on it to create my own directing style that is just beginning.



my video: