Final Reflection on Your Studio Experience

 

Creating the short film ‘The Alchemist’ for this last studio piece has been a journey of reflection, learning, and creative experience. The beginning stages included brainstorming with my group and ending with the initial and final screening of the studio exhibition. The Alchemist explores a young woman’s attempt to advance their love interest with a love potion. It uses the horror genre as a framework to symbolise obsession, loneliness, and the consequences of specific actions.

I could not attend the exhibition in person because I had personal conflicts.  Having attended a previous exhibition for another piece, I know what this would be like. The exhibition would aim to see how people interpret subtle tension, silence and ambiguity. Seeing or hearing reactions would give me an idea of if we had successfully engaged the audience in a key concern of the studio, which consisted of storytelling but also room to create space for interpretation and introspection. The intention behind this piece is a quiet horror delivered subtly and aligns with the studio’s emphasis on emotional storytelling. Abindins’s (2023) reading discusses the performance of authenticity in media. We tried to ground the main character’s actions in a sincere emotion that grew darker as the film progressed. The slow-paced frames and lack of dialogue will get the viewers to fill in the blanks, which aligns with Lauren Marks (2000), who describes it as ‘haptic visuality’, a type of viewing where audiences can make their assumptions of an artwork instead of being told how to think. This statement, to me, shows how powerful storytelling can be.

Reflecting on the final video work product, I see the editing and sound work as the most successful parts. With the content I had to use, I made a reasonable effort to create a final product to the best of my ability. I layered ambient textures and foley effects (like grinding herbs, dripping liquid or even chair scraping across the floor) to create an eerie yet immersive atmosphere. I used sound to display the protagonist’s inner state without overly sharing it with the audience and giving away the plot twist. The humming and silences were used to help blur the line between internal thoughts and external reality and, hopefully, to produce unsettled feelings for the audience.

The most problematic elements would be certain aspects of the film where video content was limited, creating uncertainty as certain scenes did not fully display what was happening.  While I had prepared a detailed shot list and communicated clearly, serious gaps in footage and stylistic continuity hindered the final output. The footage lacked stabilisation, framing choices, and sound design components. An example of this would be the ending. I struggled to land it emotionally as I did not have much to work with regarding cinematography and video work filmed on shoot day. The cuts of that scene ended too abruptly; one attempt would have been to hold the final frame longer, but viewers would still find it unresolved. Having an abrupt ending was a challenge as it would be seen as a stylistic choice, but it also confused the audience regarding emotional arcs and storyline. The possibility of changes in lighting or a different approach to filming could have elevated the film and, therefore, enhanced the film without over-compromising interpretation by the audience. In conclusion, I found that the editing process was more about damage control to fix issues with filming and not so much about what I intended, which was creative assembly.

If I were to continue developing this video piece outside of the studio, I would do a few things differently. I would expand on the lore of potion-making to clarify the effects or why the protagonist chooses to do so. Another expansion would be building the secondary characters’ storyline as they are the object of her affection. Lastly, it would refine pacing and ensure that filming follows the script and shot list. The current film work hints at mythology, but much is left unanswered and open to interpretation. A longer video would allow more exploration into potion making, emotional states, and a deeper context delivery. Dean (2023) talks about digital storytelling’s cultural texture and giving emotional narratives a more resonant framework. Lastly, a better enhancement in colour grading and sound design would create a better visual language and atmosphere for the result. All these adjustments would improve the quality and delivery of the short film.

Working collaboratively was another learning experience. I consider myself organised and willing to contribute; this project tested what group projects can be like and how we all creatively delegate, adapt, and compromise. Some group members have different strengths and weaknesses with group work, as expected in any team setting; a key learning experience from this would be that collaboration does not mean everyone needs to do everything, but it also means that people have their roles while working towards a shared vision for our project. The biggest takeaway would be clarity in communication. Alignment in vision should not be assumed, and all group members should follow guidelines set for the team to ensure all work is consistent and on par with what is planned and aspired for.

This studio has allowed me to refine my skills in media making but also how to tell stories through metaphors and collaboration. I completed this course with more confidence in my ability to make emotionally resonant media that does not need to rely on norms but holds a deeper appreciation for the process behind the scenes of film and content creation. I move forward in both academic and professional contexts, and I will draw on what I learn when creating media to ensure my work is emotionally narratively compelling.

 

References

Abidin, C. (2023). The Matrix of Authenticity in Influencer Cultures. Cultural Science, 15(1), 14–29.

Dean, J. (2023). Affective Networks: The Cultural Politics of Digital Storytelling. Media and Communication Studies Quarterly.

Marks, L. U. (2000). The skin of the film: Intercultural cinema, embodiment, and the senses. Duke University Press