This week I focused on editing what content I had of my film into a project. As an update on my last post, the actor getting COVID unfortunately put everything far too behind schedule; I was very aware of the limited time I had to complete this project, so instead of rescheduling filming as I had originally planned to, I decided to follow my teacher’s advice, and change my film to suit the content I had.

Because of this advice, I’m now in the midst of editing my film to instead be a sort of mockumentary on my own experiences while making this film. For example, my original plan was to make my film about the monster character’s I’d designed, but now the film will detail the process of making this short film, and instead of the comedy centring on how the monsters don’t fit into human society, it will be primarily focused on the stress of being a university student trying to create a short film.

While losing my actor and having to reschedule was a difficult experience, I’m ultimately enjoying exploring the new evolution of my original idea, and have learnt a lot from the experience, such as the reminder to always check messages multiple times before travelling to film.

I found set design a similarly difficult situation as props were hard to find within a student budget, but likewise, I’ve learnt skills such as budgeting, and how to source and utilise unconventional means of gathering props.

Below are some initial lighting and set tests I did before filming. I found that when the room was darker, it emphasised a Halloween aesthetic, but also helped to hide more unappealing aspects of the set I couldn’t do much to change, such as where the kitchen was located (darkness helped to keep it out of frame to the unknowing eye).

(I added X’s over some parts of the image to indicate to myself what I needed to hide in the final film after I was satisfied with what my test looked like).

I also experimented with some editing choices, and used this resource (https://www.simonsaysai.com/blog/how-to-freeze-frame-in-premiere-pro#:~:text=One%20of%20the%20easiest%20ways,around%20like%20any%20other%20clip.) to learn how to create a freeze frame in order to increase my film’s wit and comedy.