https://drive.google.com/file/d/11KOgIwC1Bd9LgAOix9VSco6KZd58NEEj/view?usp=sharing
Assignment 4 Reflection: ‘Vulnerable’
The film my group made for this assignment is titled “Vulnerable”, it is a horror short film about women feeling unsafe walking home at night, and it follows one woman’s journey from the pub to the safety of her home. The film was made as a reflection on the way in which women often feel unsafe walking home at night, usually as a direct result of the perceived threat of a male attacker. This fear is so powerful that women can feel immensely unsafe in their own neighbourhoods, fearing physical and sexual abuse. We wanted our film to convey the message that this is not okay, that it is an injustice, and we wanted this film to be an opportunity for thought and reflection from both men and women on this very important issue.
The making of the film was a very long process, we had two shoots in which we gathered all the footage and sound we would need to create our final piece. These shoots were long and tiresome, especially as we were shooting at night after long days at work and university. The shoots were difficult as there were only four of us (crew members) and one actor; it definitely would have been useful to have more crew members but every time we contacted someone to help, they were unavailable. The equipment we used was fairly compact during the first shoot, we had two cameras and a tripod, one sound recorder and shotgun mic, and two very compact and portable lighting kits. However, the second shoot was much harder to organise as the equipment we were using was much larger and clunkier; for this shoot we were using two cameras and a tripod, as well as the sound recorder and microphone and two larger lighting kits. This was often very frustrating over the course of the second shoot, not to mention physically exhausting, it was definitely a learning moment as we quickly realised that next time it would be important to organise for extra crew members to assist us during our shoot. The lighting was a hard aspect of the shoots as it was very hard to get the lighting correct for the shots, however this also worked to our advantage as the genre we were aiming for was the horror genre.
An aspect of film making that is synonymous with the horror genre is the use of low light, and in this way I think that the use of low light and shadows in our film was a great help in creating a suspenseful and scary atmosphere for the audience to experience. The sound in our film is also very reminiscent of classic horror films as well in the use of suspenseful, loud and disturbing music, we utilised loud music that built up as well as elevating the volume of the music for specific frames that we intended to be very disturbing and unnerving. Overall, I think the sound in our film was successfully utilised as there were times during editing that I genuinely felt were scary and frightening solely because of the sound itself.
My role in the production and postproduction of the film was to record sound as well as to edit the sound for the short film. I found the recording of the sound quite hard, as in the first shooting I recorded everything at too low a gain to the point that it was unusable; I improved on this in the second shooting however as all the audio clips were much louder and clearer. The editing of the sound was also a challenge for me. I am not very experienced or proficient with the adobe audition software, and I found it quite hard to learn to use it, but with the guidance of a group member I was able to learn to use it better. At times during the assignment I felt lost when it came to the sound design, I found it difficult to mix the audio for the film without a final edit of the footage. The thought of making and spending hours on sound for footage that was more than likely to. Be subject to change filled me with anxiety. I realised however, that when dealing with work that is media related, these obstacles and challenges with timelines and changes are just part of the ride that I will need to become better at managing and accepting that. While my main role was sound, I did also find myself helping a lot with cinematography as well as camera operating, which was a good opportunity for me as I enjoyed practicing creativity with those elements as well as being an active part of the team in an aspect other than sound.
The process of making the film was difficult as everyone in the group have very different personalities, sometimes this could lead to conflict and confrontational situations that were often times very uncomfortable. However over the course of the project we learned to work with each other better and we learnt how to navigate everyone’s needs and hopes for the project. Overall this group assignment helped me develop my skills in cooperation and working with others in stressful situations in order to produce a shared product. I feel as though our short film was a successful venture into the horror genre and that we achieved the goals we had set for ourselves. The film features suspenseful and unnerving music and sound, dark, brooding and scary shot composition, and a dark and disturbing, yet uncompromisingly serious plot and message, which are all aspects associated with the horror genre. I feel as though the film can bend this genre at times too though, venturing into the documentary realm, as the film touches and documents real life matters that thousands and thousands of people grapple with and suffer from every year. Overall the making of this film was a very positive experience for me and all our work has yielded a final film that I think we can all be very proud of.