Drama Evaluation

Documentary: The idea behind our Liverpool documentary is that we will be doing about the oldest Chinatown in Europe. This means we will have to research about Chinese culture and Chinese food as these are the two specific areas we will be focusing on. As it is a documentary we will also have to explore the structure of documentaries and look at documentaries that have already been done. We decided to do Chinatown in Liverpool as it is the oldest in Europe which would give our documentary a unique twist. To go forward with our idea we had to arrange interviews and even visit Liverpool Chinatown prior to the residential visit so that we could get Recce photos which would help us put a shot list together. I think the feeling that our group had as a whole was that we wanted this to be quite factual and classy shedding a positive light on Liverpool Chinatown; we also wanted it to be very stylistic and to be very aesthetically pleasing. In this project I had been chosen for the role as sound editor, I was excited at this prospect as I hadn’t done this role before and I felt I could learn something from it.  Drama: In the idea for our drama we initially wanted to have a bit of a love story, this would include a girl who isn’t very confident who is attracted to a boy, but doesn’t know how to approach him. The female character would confide in her older brother about her feelings and also ask what she should do; This would introduce the character of her older brother who acts as a parent to her as her actual parents are dead. In the development of the idea we decided to scrap the love story and focus more on the idea of the female characters parents being dead and her relationship with her older sibling. Her older sibling being very confident would contrast well with the female character being very shy. The female character is going through a tough time and was angry which we would find a resolution through her older brother trying to make her happy.So after development this is the idea we went for and I think that this was a solid idea and we followed through with it well. Documentary: I think this film is strong in terms of a documentary and getting our point across. I think that the shots are very sharp, clean and show Liverpool for what it is. The detail shown in the shots is very important as it can help people who are watching understand the narrative and the interview. The use of neon lights is also very effective, as in the dark light they are very bold and show strong imagery, aesthetically this looks really nice. I think the colours in Chinatown show up very well in our documentary they are also very bold and strong as the we see the use of gold’s, reds and greens, The editing of this piece is strong and runs very well using the interview as the centre piece and narrating the documentary and telling us all about the history of Chinatown, by doing this it keeps the edit smooth and also keeps the movement of shots nice and smooth, it is also kept together nicely by some music which helps cuts flowing. I think if there is something that could be worked on in this piece it is the use of pull focuses although I think that we have some lovely pull focuses which help the piece aesthetically I think that we could perhaps not use as many I think they may have been overdone and used a bit unnecessarily.   Drama: I think the organisation of this drama project went well I think that was very strong, the reason I think that is because arrangements had to be made for the actors as that they knew where to be and what time and I think the producer; Ellen pulled this off well. As a whole the production side of it ran pretty smooth we all knew our roles which meant we could just get on with it. As a group I also believe that we worked well to keep everything together and turn up when we needed to be there which made everything a whole lot easier, Although I say that everyone worked well I think that Edgar could have turned up a lot more as on numerous days we were left without a camera operator, this was quickly rectified though as Nathan would step in for him. I think that if we were to improve anything it would be find a more reliable camera operator as it is a fairly big role and if we didn’t have Nathan to step in, it could have really let our team down. Documentary: I think our documentary went very well, with not to many problems. In terms of planning and equipment we more or less had everything sorted as Alice and Chris both had DSLR’s which made it a whole lot easier when it came to booking equipment out. We had a lot of group meetings at the start which helped us to go forward and make sure our roles were established and we knew exactly what we were doing. In terms of problems that we had I think securing interviews was something we struggled with. On the first day in Liverpool we had a walk around the Chinatown and we found that a lot of people who worked and lived there were very reluctant to speak to us or to give us and interviews or information, but after much hard work we found a willing volunteer. Drama: The drama ran very smoothly due to good organisation, but I think that problems we did have were in booking out a DSLR and also finding a location. Originally we wanted to shoot our drama on a DSLR but this was short lived as when we went to book out one we find they had all been booked out. This was a bit of a problem as we really wanted to shoot on a DSLR, but this meant we had to turn to using a Z1. As a group we just had to get on with it and I think the Z1 still produced everything we wanted. In terms of finding a location we wanted to use a house and this seemed to be a big issue to find as people were busy and unable to get round to letting us use their house. In the end we eventually found two suitable houses we could use. Documentary: Over the course of this project I have learnt a lot, especially to do with editing sound as this is something that I only had little experience in. Doing something like this has helped me open my eyes to a lot of different techniques that I hadn't even thought of using before. This project has also taught me to play around a lot more as it helps to gain experience with soundtrack pro and now I feel a lot more competent with it, I also feel as though I have gained a lot of confidence for it and found it to be quite enjoyable, as I found it so enjoyable I would possibly consider going down this route in the future. I think that process of researching beforehand was very helpful and give me a lot of tips and ideas when it came to soundtrack pro. Creatively I have learnt a variety of new skills that I will be able to take into future projects. The skills that I have gained are that of cleaning up the sound and also syncing up sound. I think that this task was very good as I was thrown into something I was very confident at and I think this has helped me to gain a lot more skills in sound editing. In terms of creativity I think the group worked very well in all parts of the project, when coming up with the idea everyone was putting ideas out and even in production and also post. This is good work ethic and it shows that everyone is confident in their own abilities and willing to help each other with ideas and also with the skills side of things. Drama: In the duration of this project I have learnt a lot about sound recording, although I had previously done sound recording I didn’t have a massive knowledge of how to use the Marantz, after playing around with it and testing out different types of sound I knew what I was doing, as previously I had used sound recording equipment I had a fair idea of what I had to do. So if I was to say I learnt something from this project I would say that I just gained knowledge in terms of using sound recording equipment. When it comes to creativity I would say I have learnt to become a bit more vocal about my ideas and I’m willing to say whether I think something could added to make the piece better. I also think that doing sound recording I have become more creative in trying to find a wild track and trying different methods to get what I want in terms of sound. Drama: As an overall piece I would say that as a group we have produced a very strong documentary in terms of specific things it looks good and runs smoothly. The storyline is also very simple and works really well to get across the emotion that we wanted to portray. The drama from and aesthetic point of view is very nice to look at and is very easy on the eye from and audiences point of view. These are all very much the strong parts of the drama. I think that weaknesses in this drama and things that could be improved are that the storyline could be improved a little bit, although I think it is very nice and shows a great deal of emotion I think it has the potential to be something even better. I think this could have been possibly done if we had a budget, this would have meant we could have found more suitable locations as I feel some of our location do feel a bit student like, although can be improved I think our drama still gives off the impression that we wanted to go for. Documentary: I think as a team this worked very well and believe this to be the case as it ran so smoothly. I believe there is a number of reasons why such as the group enjoy working with each other and aren’t afraid to say when someone is doing something wrong and everyone is willing to give each other advice and if they are a bit more knowledgeable on a certain area they are more than happy to show them how it’s done properly. This is a key trait to working in a team as it means that everyone develops their skills as everyone can always learn something new from someone else. Everything also ran smoothly as we all stuck to the roles that we were assigned to, this meant that everyone was doing their bit to the best of their ability and knew what had to be done. Although we all had our own roles we all chipped in with different ideas, which have helped contribute to the final piece as it feels everyone has had a say and nobody can dispute the final piece as everyone did get their own say. Organisation was also key in getting a good final piece as everyone needed to know where they had to be and what time. This was a big task for the producer as we were going to another city and a lot of things had to be filled out, such as health and safety forms and call sheets. The producer also had to arrange interviews and if communication was to break down we could have went to Liverpool with no interviews and no idea on what we were actually going to base our idea around.  Drama: My group on this drama project worked very well, I think it worked well because everyone wanted to get a good final product and this meant we all wanted to work hard to get it. This included us turning up all the time and frequently discussing the project and coming up with different ways we could go forward and get the best product possible. As I have previously said organisation was played a massive part in this, although i think being organised is key to other projects doing a drama is such a big deal when it comes to finding actors then arranging where they have to be and then if they’re only available on certain days you have to find ways of working around them and I think that is what has made our project so successful and also everyone’s willingness to contribute.

Sound List

This is the sound list that i used on location

 Sound List

Park Scene 

Swing blowing in the wind

Dog barking

Wind

Kids playing

Birds

Wild track of the park area

Sound of the gate clanging

Trees blowing in the wind

Pages in the book/Flicking through

Music from the headphones

Street Scene

Cars

People talking

Car horns

Wild track of the area

Dialogue

InteriorScene

Washing machine

Tap running

Clock ticking

The boiler

Walking up stairs

Television Programme

Glass spilling on table

Dialogue

Cutting of scissors/Collage

Tap Dripping

Door slamming

Door opening/Shutting

Feet on wood floor/carpet

Food being chopped/ cooked

Oven Sounds

Wild track of interior

Chairs being pulled out

Table being laid

Knives/ Forks 

On Location

This location was for the kitchen scene, we used a separate house for this scene as this is all we could get.
doing the sound for this was also pretty straightforward, i got a variety of kitchen sounds whilst i was in there, this can be used in post. 

In this scene there is dialogue so i had to get in very tight to get the dialogue when it was being shot, this meant i had to be very careful when holding the boom pole and mic.

This shoot was also very straightforward  we had to do a few takes but that wasn't a major problem.

On Location

This location is for the bedroom scene, on this shoot we got multiple angles covering most of the bedroom giving us plenty to work with, in terms of sound i just recorded everything i possibly could that would cover the atmosphere for the bedroom, this included doors slamming, even the sound of the bed as she sat on it. 

This shoot was very straight forward as everyone knew what the wanted, everything was done to precision and this shot also only took about an hour. 

 

On Location

 On location we shot at Encliffe park when shooting this is went around the park getting wild track so that we could be edited in post and put in the background as atmosphere. 

This shoot when very smoothly the actors proved to be very good, which made us very confident as we moved forward.

This shoot only took about an hour or so which was good and meant this give us time to do other things, such as plan out the rest of our week so that we could arrange more shoots.

Group Role

My role in the group is sound i have previously done sound, but this is my first time this year. 

I want to make sure i get it right so i have booked out a Marantz so that i can have a play around with sound and get to grips with it a bit more.

In this drama it is important that i am spot on with the sound as sound will play a massive part in the final piece, the reason for this is that the sound will almost take a lead in creating a tension and atmosphere. 

Script

It is key that i know the script so when im recording sound i know the locations and what sounds i will have to get.

FADE IN:

EXT. ENCLIFFE PARK - DAY.

ABBY an unconfident, awkward 19 year old

Abby is sitting on a park bench with her headphones in, reading a book.She is sat cross legged or with her legs up.

DISOLVE TO:

EXT. TOWN - NIGHT.

ALEX a confident, outgoing 21 year old man, brother of Abby and also a parental figure to her, works as a ticket seller for a club.

Alex stands on a street corner offering out leaflets. Two girls walk past him and he starts to try and sell them tickets.

ALEX

Alright, girls! Tickets for tonight.Only 5 pounds for a wrist band.Come on don’t leave me hanging.

The girls begin to talk to him. He puts his arm round one showing them the tickets.

EXT. ENCLIFFE PARK - DAY.

Abby picks up a book. She opens it and there is a message inside – Happy 18^th Abs! Love Mum and Dad – she feels over the writing with her thumb.

INT. ABBY AND ALEX’S HOUSE – THE KITCHEN.NIGHT.

Alex is cooking dinner. He is chopping up carrots and stirring something in a pan. The door shuts and he stops what he is doing and rinses his hands on a tea towel.

Abby comes back from the park. She walks in the door and throws her bag on the floor. Alex turns around and is wearing an apron with a buff man on the front.

ALEX

Ah the hopeless wanderer returns!

Abby looks at it in disgust but doesn’t acknowledgethe greeting she then puts her bag on the table. She then goes over and picks a chopped carrot off the side and eats it. She walks over to the table and sits down on a chair.

ALEX

Dinner’s nearly ready if you wanna set the table. Beef stew - who’s a clever Alex!

ABBY

(under breath)

Greeeaaat.

ALEX

Also, I noticed the state of your room earlier, probably want to tidy that after dinner, you messy urburt!

Abby stands in anger. The chair shoots back behind her. She slams her hands onto the table.

ABBY

You’re not Dad! Stop pretending to be!

Abby storms out of the room, slamming the door behind her. Alex just stands there looking at the door.

ABBY’S BEDROOM

Abby storms into her bedroom. She slams the door behind her and flops on her bed. She lays there for a moment. She then looks at the pictures on her wall of Alex and herself from years ago. Her eyes then move to another picture of the two of them with their parents. She touches the image with the back of her index finger. A tear falls down her cheek.

THE KITCHEN

ALEX

Sooooo are you feeling better today?

Abby doesn’t respond. She just sits and plays with her cereal in the bowl. She doesn’t look up. Neither of them speak. The television is playing in the background. Alex looks over at Abby.

ALEX

Time of the month?

Abby gets straight up, knocking the table as she does so. She grabs her bag and flings it over her shoulder. It hits a glass of water on the table spilling it everywhere.

ALEX

(apologetically)

Ahh, Ab come on, I was only joking!

Alex’s movement follows her round the room as she leaves.

 ALEX

Fuck sake.

Alex hits the table and runs his hand through his hair in frustration. He then sits with his hands clasped over his mouth until he sees a photo of Abby and himself,covered in the spilt water. He lifts it off the table and dries it with the edge of his t-shirt. Staring at it for a moment he then has an epiphany.

ABBY’S ROOM

Alex runs in and pulls a box from under Abby’s bed and hurriedly looks through it until he finds some glue. He grabs some scissors off her side and leaves the room in a rush.

FRONT ROOM

Alex pulls a photo album from a cupboard and starts quickly flicking through it. He is cutting and sticking paper very quickly and placing them strategically on a large piece of white paper.

Once finished, he lifts what he has done and takes a good look at it.

INT. ABBY AND ALEX’S HOUSE – HALLWAY.NIGHT.

Abby walks through front door and throws her bag on the floor of the hall. Alex doesn’t say his usual ‘hello’. He just carries on preparing dinner in his apron. Abby stands by the door for a second,confused with the lack of communication from Alex, then carries on upstairs to her room.

ABBY’S BEDROOM

Walking into her bedroom, Abby goes to her mirror and puts her hair up – she is visibly tired emotional. She notices a something on her bed from the reflection in her mirror. Turning around she walks over to it. It is a big canvas of loads of pictures of them as children together and happy, there are also pictures of them together with their parents when they were alive. Focusing at the bottom of the page, there is a blown up image of the two of them when they were younger on the bench at the park.

KITCHEN

Alex is plating up the food in his apron. He hears a sound of Abby coming through the door; he turns round to see her. There is a short pause where they both stand there. Alex shows a faint smile and a shrug, and Abby finally shows her emotion, she runs into his arms. They stand in an embrace. 

Apricot

Apricots a short a film, it is beautifully shot and the storyline is very good. I think that our short drama could take inspiration from this as it is a love story but it is done with a lot of class.

This short film is also acted really well and is not cheesy at all, i personally think this is a great short film and we can take a lot from it and see this as something to aim to.

Drive

Drive is a film featuring Ryan Gosling, this film is
is very much sound lead, this is a very good way
to show feelings and actions without actually
saying anything.

I believe that this is something that can be replicated
in our short drama, i think this is a good idea as it means that the actors don't have a lot to say which means that our piece can be driven by emotion and not what the characters actually say.