Reflective Analysis
Initially, for my chosen short film I was going to base it around drugs and how addictive they can be. I had planned to use alcohol, smoking and other drugs that are much more dangerous and addictive such as pills and cocaine. My sister and I had got to a nightclub and shot her as if by how much alcohol she had drank she accepted pills and because the two are opposite types of drugs they had reacted and she had ended up passing out and being sick. After filming this through snapshots and editing the first part of my film she wash available to do anymore filming and although i tried to elope the previous images into a new film it didn't fit right so i had to think of a whole different idea.
Thinking about how effective the use of abusing drugs was I came across an advertisement by Mitch Zeller, a non-smoking ad, and from a survey I saw how many peoples lives he had already affected by convincing them to quit though just watching his film. Watching this add made me want to try and have the same results for the viewers that may watch my film so I had to think of convincing emotional ways to get through to the audience.
For my short film I've also chosen to do an anti-smoking advertisement. The initial theme is how smoking is not just effecting your body but also others around you. Ive used techniques influenced by Koyanaasqatsi, directed by Godfrey Reggio, a documentary that includes the use of smoke, these techniques were useful when filming the cigarette smoke being breathed out however if I was to do this part of the peice again I'd put more attention to the detail of the smoke around my nephew. For health and safety reasons a real cigarette was not used, instead a water vapour pen that was not of any harm was a substitute, although it created afew puffs of smoke I was not as much as I was hoping for, therefore not having the desired outcome. Another problem that occurred when filming a child was the reactions, you couldn't tell them on que to be happy or upset. When I visited my sister, chayce was tired and poorly so wasn't in the best mood for filming. Although this came to be a challenge I found that it was rewarding in the sence that because he was upset he cried, this appealed to the audiences emotions and in my opinion made the peice more memorable.
Burning the paper lungs was what I felt to be one if the stronger scenes, I'd taken influences from The Queen is Dead, by The Smiths, directed by Derek Jarman. The burning of the flag was a British crime however he was never penalised as he loved Britain as a whole and was just using it as representation. In the time of his directing career he was unfortunately presented with the news of having AIDS, which he personally said affected his career but only having a positive impact, not only did he have this problem to deal with but also the loss of his sight, which he recreated in his film Blue, this was the hardest point in his life however having others comment in his talent shone through.
'The loss of sight for a director who's visuals were stunning, so rich and even obcene with colour is a disipontmant but an iconical moment in film'
I took away from his videos, the use of his personal experience and how it affected his filming which I could relate to when making my film, although not in such a drastic form, I went through the experience in trying to quit smoking whilst making my short film so I could understand what others would have to face.
If I was to do my film again I would add in more documentary techniques and when editing I would have picked a song without lyrics that couldn't distract you, however the music I chose was about someone giving up so I tried to connect it to my peice but I think I could have worked better on that. Another thing with the editing was I could have added loads more jump cuts from different angles, again taking that influence from The Queen is Dead, when watching it back they could have been edited to a higher level of standard.
