Completed Film

I think that One Two Many, the roundabout 5 minute short film created by myself and Josh, wasn't quite the completed product but surpassed all expectations that we had. I think that it's just about safe to say that the film doesn't have any obvious flaws, however there were some decisions made in pre and post production that may have been changed or weren't correctly implemented, that may have improved the short as a whole.

One of the strong points, if not the strongest point of One Two Many, is how aesthetically pleasing it is. The location used for the short film was not only perfect for the storyline, but was brilliantly spaced and lit, which made for great viewing and also genuinely saved some time and effort in post production. In fact, I'd go as far as to say that the toilets we used as the setting, are the heartbeat of the piece and have become a crucial factor in the success of the piece. After presenting our short film to a small group of media students, we used an evaluation form for feedback, and it became evident that the overall census agreed that the mise-en-scene was the film's strongest point.

The bright, eye-catching colour scheme of the toilet immediately catches the eye of the viewer, and the ample space allowed for the film to be shot without looking cramped at any point. As mentioned earlier when going in to post production, the lighting was so good that the only change made was to slightly reduce the vibrance to better suit the storyline. The only trouble we really came across with the location was the fact that a lot of the surfaces were reflective, which made it tricky not to have some part of either me or Josh seen during the 5 minute period.

The sound is both the highest and lowest point of One Two Many. During filming, the boom mic was used without the actual boom, simply down to practicality, however this became an obvious mistake when editing as clipping can be heard when the mic is moved abruptly, and as we weren't able to achieve the height intended with a boom, the vocal levels between the actors were very staggered. On the other hand, the additional sounds used in the piece seem to go unnoticed, which means they'd successfully imitated a sound needed without drawing the attention of the audience which is most definitely the desired effect, for example, the background music in the club and the urinating are both post production sounds. Moreover, there was a lot of feedback commenting on the effective use of music within the piece. During pre-production, we vowed to make sure the piece had great music as music is an area within film that doesn't seem be overly focused on, however, when it is it can be incredibly effective and change an audience's perception of a piece. Music is heard from the off with One Two Many, and directly correlates with the camera shots, as well as the realistic placement of the films title at the beginning.

In order to fully understand exactly how short film works, we did research ahead of writing to judge how to go about writing and planning it. Short film is best known for it's ability to completely step outside the realms of conformity, and near enough do whatever it likes, down to the fact the same rules don't apply as to feature length cinema. Short film is known for being experimental or avant-garde. However, we were able to gather some conventions within the genre of British comedy and so took that approach. The most prominent convention is the structure. It became evident that in, not even just british, comedy that there was a formula, and so we made sure that One Two Many complied to this. My very basic approach to the formula is this:

Introduction. Set-up (Characters). Unveiling the plot. Twist in plot. Climax. Aftermath. Punchline.

I hope that makes sense.

I feel that I most definitely played a major role in he creation of One Two Many, which in most cases would be fantastic and should be emphasised, however in my case it's not such a great thing. When beginning the project, I had the option to work on my own, although due to past experience I opted to work alongside a close friend instead. We most definitely work well together, and I did not by all means take on everything, especially in pre-production where we both developed the idea. The problem is, I personally have always had trouble working in groups, simply down the fact that once I have an idea in place, it's almost like I won't stop at anything to make sure it happens, and although in this particular project there were improvements, I still have a lot to work on. I'm pretty much a control freak. Saying that, with all things considered, this wouldn't have been able to happen without Josh and I working alongside each other and I'm very happy with the final product.