Practical Screencraft: Evaluation

Overall, I feel pleased with how the assignment turned out. When I look back on previous works compared to this one, I believe that the film made for this assessment is one of the better pieces of works I’ve been involved in and collaborating was a very good idea. I doubt I could have pulled off a film that I’m as content with if I was on my own. I took on the role as actor for it with my collaboration partner as cinematographer and camera operator. We were both intrigued by how the ending of ‘The Graduate’ was shot and I feel that we managed to capture the look of it very well. I am very proud with how the last shot came out in particular. It not only is framed the same as the source material but the camera movement matches it too, therefore capturing the feeling of the shot complete with the same music. I also feel accomplished by the use of sound. We edited it in a way to make the audience think the music is non-diegetic, like ‘The Graduate’, until the headphones come off and reveals that it is diegetic. A nice twist on the original film. Having our film book ended by Simon and Garfunkel music helps remind the audience what it is based on and adds to piece.

On the flip side though is that I’m not too sure how the video analysis worked out. In my opinion, I believe that I spent more time bringing up examples yet never actually using them or pointing out why I brought them up. However, I do like that I managed to analysis the ending of ‘The Graduate’ from the perspective of an actor as well as talking about other elements of film I enjoy such as use of sound and cinematography. One thing I had to do was shorten the analysis for several reasons. One was because I felt I spent way too long talking about ‘Skyfall’. There was a lot to talk about regarding what ‘Skyfall’ did similar to ‘The Graduate’ however it detracted from the original task at hand and that being analysing the ending of ‘The Graduate’. Compared to my previous attempt at a video analysis, I believe that I this is an improvement. My voice over sounds more professional as it is scripted as opposed to my previous improvisational style more reminiscent of a director’s commentary. This was made more in the style of an analysis and I feel that I managed to convey that. 

Combined, I think that both halves of the film fulfill the assignment brief. I analysed ‘The Graduate’ by looking at what stuck out to me and how the film makers used these techniques and then applied them into my own film. The biggest struggle was the idea for a film which, I previously mentioned, I had to collaborate on. Being in the same boat as someone else allows for strong collaboration that can bring about new ideas to consider filming. We had ideas that can be used depending on the weather as we ended up not using our original idea due to bad weather. I had seen ‘The Graduate’ prior to this assignment however looking deeper at how it was put together gave me a stronger appreciation for the film and comparing it to ‘Skyfall’, a film that I know inside and out, gave me the ability to ground it and analysis it easier. In summary, I came out of this project fulfilled and pleased with how it went. We captured the feeling and the look of the film very well and will look back on this film as one of the better films I’ve had a hand in making.