This is long enough without a big introduction, so this is simply my evaluation of our narrative project.
Highlight the skills and knowledge you have gained and developed and show how you have gained them. Provide suggestions for improvements and how these attributes will inform your study in future modules this year.
Creating the story
As soon as I found out what our brief was I thought about possible ideas. I knew that the two minute restriction would be a big factor, so I thought about ideas that would work within this time frame. I decided that opening credits, trailers and cartoons all work well in a short space of time. However during our first team meeting we discovered that one of our team members (Ian) already had an idea that had enough detail and reasoning behind it for everyone to agree to work to that story. It seems Ian had the same idea I had about using a cartoon. He had been greatly inspired by childhood comics and I could understand how it would work, being a big comic book fan myself, it helped me imagine the story and how it would work.
Having an idea already thought out in some detail was a major advantage to our group. Instead of spending time each coming up with ideas, discussing them and eventually creating a working idea that we could all agree to, we already had something from the outset that we could use. This saved a lot of time and effort and meant we started things on a high note.
In future if I know the basics of what a project will involve I will start to think of ideas and go into them in detail. In the past I have thought about projects and have come up with ideas for them but I have never really gone into detail or written anything down about them, I think this is something I will do in the future.
Research
I didn’t do nearly as much as I should have on the research and this is a lesson I have learned for the future. I looked at a website about surreal animations
http://www.strangecompany.org/page.php?id=36
This was helpful to see what someone else had done with the different steps you should take and examples of their work.
I also looked at a Coca Cola advert that I believes to be a great example of a short, successful, surreal comedy
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O91TdFcDnCM
This video stayed in my head while I working on this project, as something to aspire to. I think this is important for the future, to see if anyone has done anything similar and if they have, to use it as something to look up to.
Method
Typically narratives are created by filming moving images on a camera. However after discussing the pros and cons of motion pictures we decided that would take stills and then use computers to create the backgrounds and to manipulate the images. This would mean that there would less equipment to carry, less restrictions (weather, time, travelling etc) and quality can also be an issue with motion pictures. We then decided to make it even easier for ourselves and eliminate a few more problems that could arise. We decided to film in front of a blue screen so we wouldn’t have to worry about locations and we decided that our story would be a surreal comedy, because by adding surreal elements it takes away preconceptions of how something should look or feel.
I think that filming with still was a great idea because many of the problems we discussed can ruin a project or create major setbacks, which can effect project quality. Filming in front of a blue screen was also a good idea because it was something that I had always been interested in but I hadn’t had a chance to work with before. Filming in one place, which we could book in advance gave me confidence that I have lacked during other projects which have involved uncontrollable and irregular elements. This meant I could be in my element whilst taking the photos because I could have done it with just myself and the actors but I also had someone (Morag) there to read out the next scene shoot, another photographer (Aaron) to discuss ideas with and to share the work with, Aaron was also in charge of lighting, which meant that I could say if I wanted something changed and he would do it, without me having to move and change it myself, then go back to where I would take the picture to see if it looked right.
For future projects I will think about what is going to be involved and what skills will be needed and if I am working with a group of people I will find out what skills they have and work to those. It’s no use doing a project involving lots of complicated lighting sequences if no one has any lighting knowledge.
Team
Team members:
Myself
Ian Sanders
Morag Upton
Aaron Sinfield
Dominic Saneria
As a group we met up straight away and started discussing the project. It was clear from the outset what the roles were going to be. Morag took up the role of director and producer, Ian took up many of the responsibilities of actually creating the final film. Dominic took on sound, Aaron would do the storyboards and idea sketches and as I had just received my computer I was assigned to do the initial research.
With people’s roles in place, Ian and Morag started working on the script, which was already pretty well developed. Aaron went to work on the storyboard, Dominic looked at ideas for sound and I started researching the programmes and method’s we would be using.
We started well but we hit a brick wall where it was unclear what some people had to do and where others just weren’t doing the work. Fortunately Ian and Morag picked up a lot of the slack and we managed to get the project back on track.
I think that we had a good team to start with, people with a good number of skills and attributes, that between them covered a large enough area to create a well put thought out and put together project. Unfortunately the motivation and organisation for some people (including me) wasn’t there and I don’t think we did as well as we could have, given the people and the skills we had to begin with.
I have learned a lot about teamwork. I have learned that it is important to know people’s strengths and weaknesses and to work to them. Personally I learned not to rely on other people’s skills to get the job done, I know that even if the project itself will be complete and to a high enough standard, that it doesn’t matter as much, if I haven’t put in enough time and effort to make it worth while for me personally.
I also learned that if I don’t have a skill that I should try and gain it. I can pick things up pretty quickly but I am held back by my fear of the unknown, in the future if there is a programme I don’t know how to use, I will try and find a way that I can use it myself and learn by trial and error so that I can get more involved in the project when it comes to using that programme.
The Film
Our film consisted of still shots of our main character hunting for his lost coin and meeting people along the way. Our character Mr Pickles (Ian) was shot in clothes bought from a charity shop (by Morag) to look out of fashion and warn. The other characters were shot against the blue screen and then their heads were replaced with pictures using a computer. With added music, text and sound effects we created a surreal comedy that had elements of an advert, a silent movie and a comic book.
I think this turned out really well, as always there were elements, which could have been improved but overall I think we achieved what we set out to do. I have showed the project to several people who all think it is very funny and that is what we set out to achieve.
In the future I would like to show the project to a focus group to get their opinions on it before we finalise it. This was something we had planned for but didn’t have time to do. I think having a viewing early enough so that we could make changes to the project would be a good idea because when you are in a small group, working hard on a marked project you tend to like what you’ve worked hard on and you don’t see problems with it because you don’t want to see anything that would result in more work.
Conclusion
Overall I think I have learned a lot from this project that will help me a lot with work in the future, whether it is on my own or in a group. I have learned to importance of regular and reliable contact with group members. I know to pay attention to people’s strengths and weaknesses and to work to them. I will remember to do research and planning as early as possible, and not to take anything to granted so plan for any eventuality.
Lastly I have discovered that the more programmes and general knowledge you have the better (seems obvious but it’s good to be reminded) and that if you push yourself just a but further than you normally do then you can achieve a lot more than you normally would.
