Evaluation: Influence

A Personal Incident that inspired the idea was a conversation that I had with a university graduate told me that he has two children that he cares for and has also chosen to carry on with his studies the main for this is the fact that his father wasn’t around for him and he didn’t want to have to neglect his studies and nor become and absent father, the main point is if we are to change things happening in society we have to start by making the right choices in our lives that will influence the next generation.

Inspiration in the use of camera came through John Singleton DVD commentary of the film ‘Boyz ‘n’ The Hood’, he spoke of his use of long tracking shots and establishing the camera as a character rather using static angles. 10 minutes a short film that also used plain tracking shots helped in understanding this technique and found that it gave a piece of film a raw edge and realism when it was carried out without using a track. As a group we had to consider what we wanted to achieve in the camera work and we found that having the camera handheld but stabilising it as much as possible would be better for the short film as it would also be more realistic as the characters would be walking, so harsh unsteady movements would easily take away from the message and we knew that we didn’t want to achieve a perfect clean cut images that are seen in large budget films.

‘About a Girl’ and ‘The Idiots’ inspired the breaking of the fourth wall both films do so in such an effortless way that addresses the audience but in intimidating way. About a Girl moves to giving the audience the feel of a documentary as the scripting and delivery is put across sharply and raw to the audience it doesn’t give the impression that it’s scripted. ‘The Idiots’ Las Von Trier on the other hand breaks the fourth wall as a way of breaking the Dogme rules and most importantly to create a connection with the audience and the character as they directly address us straight on with their thoughts. This is why I saw it as an important factor to point out that the actors should be speaking into the camera just as they would to a friend.

Music that we choose to use, reflected on the music used in the film, ‘America Beauty’ as its composed to emphasise an atmospheric atmosphere to the audience, it also keeps a steady phase failing to have a dramatic climax of which is often used in films. This is important as I pointed out the music used can’t be to influence the audiences emotions towards the character. We also sought refugee and gained help from Callum Payne who was able to help us compose the final piece of music, so I was able to pich the idea and direct him in what we needed.