REFLECTIONS

Reflection on the module

At this point in my studies, I think that It would be appropriate to recap on the things that i have learnt whilst I have been preparing my film.

During the beginning stages of this module, we were asked to think about what it was that we wanted to achieve for our final project, this involved  group sessions where we were encouraged to take turns discussing our ideas and our practices for bringing life to these ideas. we were encouraged to think about  the size of the film, the budget, the actors and the crew, the equipment, how it would look etc.

Over the next couple of weeks , we were shown examples of films and  visual accounts of practices which may be useful for us when carrying out the planning and pre- production of our 

works

films such as Run Lola Run (Dir. T. Twyker 1998) and Boy and Bicycle ( Dir. R. Scott 1956 ). I found the latter very interesting, it was filming on next to nothing , moneywise on very obvious locations but there was an depth and richness to it that belied it's modest beginnings. there seemed to be an emotional quality  and a visual style that was both surprising and insightful

We were asked to study shots from " Olympia" by Leni Riefenstahl  in regards to  framing, the composition of certain shots. In fact what we were asked to do was to draw them, so as to be an exercise in storyboarding, but quite frankly I found it very frustrating as my illustration skills leave a lot to be desired. It did get me to reflect on how it can be very hard to communicate what you  can see in your head , even with the skills to draw it to present to your crew.

Overall, I have found the exercises presented very helpful. One such occurrence I remember because we were told to not let our surroundings us, we were encouraged to look at what was around us and use it to its fullest abilities. I know that this certainly rings true for my film, because it got me thinking about possible locations and ways to make my film as economic as possible, as I was basically working on a budget of next to nothing. I would have to use all the resources available to me, which lead me to really think about the narrative of my film and how I could build the notion on the " lack of money" into the film itself. I have realised that I may have to wear many different hats in terms of this production to be able to get the desired result.