From Geoffrey himself...

So I wondered if I was actually any use at all on set as a director. So I asked Andrew Heard, who plays Geoffrey in Four Walls, if he could give me his opinion on what I was like on set and what he found it like working with me. This is what he had to say;

"Working on set with Ben was really straight forward; he knew exactly what shot he needed from all the angles before we'd started and had obviously planned in advance. He told me exactly what to do, even for a very small part, which I'd perceived as insignificant, and there was very little question as what was needed to be done. He'd planned the shots, some in and out of focus for effect, he'd planned the style of how the character ran and told me the emotions the character was feeling, even if I couldn't perform them to his standard. Overall it was a very informative experience, with the man that is Ben, and a great insight into his project and the amount of effort which is put in, not only by Ben, but obviously anyone in that business. It wouldn't have been as easy without his planning."

Well, I was rather flustered when I read what Andy had to say. I didn't think that I planned it that much, in fact I thought the project wasn't planned as much as it could have been. I thank Andy for his work, and for his small, but great performance in the production.

Audience Feedback

So we showed most of people's work to the class last and here's the feedback I got from it;



"Really effective narration - good choice of varied shots. Good ident logo! :)"

"OMG- I really love it. It's amazing. Jake's acting is very convincing. Ident is very professional. Well done dear."

"Cool Ident. Really good shot selection, framing. (Steady and flowing) Love the way it flashes back. Good narration and awesome titling. Like how Jake is allways in focus and the lady opposite was out of focus. It's so good, well done! :)"

"Jake's character is scary but I like him! Love the plotline, very intriguing, keeps the audience guessing. Very effective dialogue. Love it! :)"

"The dialogue was really effective. The close up of Jake's eyes was really good, daunting."

"I didn't watch this because I have an aversion to my face and voice, but what I can say is that the script is masterfully written and assumes the voice of a real hollywood film. Titles are really slick."

"Good range of shots - the extreme close ups were especially effective. Got the audience asking lots of questions. Good use of make-up. Want to watch rest of film to find out why he's covered in blood. End was a little sudden."

"Oooh the ambience! Very enigmatic. Your protagonist is very mystic. Ok, it's really good, like the fast shots & the lighting, everything gits really well, other than some of the dubbing needs a little syncing & some noise."

"It was poo! I joke, twas very good! I think the voiceover was really effective especially over the title credits. Really want to find out what happens next! Liked the ident - looked really professional Well done!"

"Intriguing! Wants to make me watch more. Only thing is that the sound dubbing is a bit obvious. Other than that, I liked it. Well done."

"Really good. Love it :D Blood was pink!"

"I love yours. I like the eye close ups and how you didn't show everything. Is it 2 minutes? It seemed shorter but maybe because I was enjoying i! Is it you blurred in the background over the head? I liked that effect. Could you of had the title at the end after it goes black? Anyway I loved it."



I also got some feedback from a film night the Media department held at the school to show work of Yr 11 diploma students and also Yr 12 work.



"Jake has nice eyes. It was well good."

"Really good close-ups - Draws you in too with a good story."

"I was really good."



Overall I'm really happy with the feedback. Everyone seemed happy with it. The constructive comments like the dubbing being out of sync I agree with, but couldn't change them because of time constraints. People seemed to really like the idents, which I found quite surprising, as I created three different versions after the original as they were deleted off my computer all the time for some unknown reason and therefore the remakes became gradually worse and worse, but I was still happy with the final one, and especially happy that it pleased so many people.

The comments about people wanting to watch more, for me, means that I've done my work well in creating a compelling and interesting introduction to a movie. Which is what the introduction of a movie is all about, surely? All in all; I think my work is done here.

Editazzling

I have recently discovered that technology sucks. The computer was using crashed every 5 minutes because the footage I shot in was apparently too big to render. Even though I edited it down from full 1080p down to 720p. But throughout all this shanigans I got through it and got to my eventual final cut.

The audio wasn't the best quality, so me and Jake Brownbill had a dubbing sesh where we covered the audio for both of our work. The only things that I'm not happy with are;

• The first Geoffrey shot covers some of the narration of Jason, which was because the audio messed up between us recording it and me placing it into the final project. I don't know why, but it still worked okay.
• The dubbing isn't on the right lines for the first shot of Jason's mouth, which was also to with the audio messing up.
• The chest shot is a bit wobbly, but I can live with it.

I haven't changed these because of time constraints, and would be incredibly fiddly, or add more stress in AS life.

Overall I love my intro. And it loves me too.

Ryan Reynolds In A Box

Watched Buried the other day, and it got me thinking even more about what I would want Four Walls to end up like. Somehow I got from thinking about Buried and how it relates to Four Walls for me, by Paul Conroy (Ryan Reynolds) having different objectives and calling people, and I thought that this is what I want Jason to seem like; he has objectives. But unlike Paul Conroy, Jason has control over how the conversation plays out with him and Detective Spencer.

Buried is a 90 minute film that takes place entirely in a box. This may seem like a really boring concept, but it's one of the only films that I've had a real sense of the character. I think that keeping the story within a confined space without flashbacks or other techniques that take the audience out of the box make it difficult to not notice the character's traits. I think that putting two characters in a room will lower the audience's attention to what the character's motives are and focus more on the conversation between the two characters.

But because Jason is going to be in control for the the first two acts, it may be that the script is more of a monologue with some arguments placed to bring tension between the characters and to bring the build-up to the climax.

Because Jason has schizophrenia I want it to make it hard for the audience to know what his motives are for his actions. Also that his motives and emotion change quite drastically throughout, not so much as that he goes from crying to ecstasy within a minute. But so much that he goes from being quite aggressive, to very introverted. Or cooperative to ignorant. Changes like these will add to the fear in Jason and also make it very unpredictable as to what will happen next. I should be careful not to make his emotions repeat throughout the script though, cos no-one likes a boring movie.

12 Angry Dudes

So I thought to myself, 'what if Four Walls was made into a film?' How would the story fold out, and how well would it work with it just being about 2 people in a room. So I started to go into more detail in watching 12 Angry Men. I started to pick out things that make it a story that works so well with it only being about 12 men in a room.

Throughout most action films, there are three main actions scenes, becoming more and more 'intense' as the film plays out. In 12 Angry Men, there are three main scenes that, throughout the film, become more and more intense as the amount of Jurors turn towards making the defendant 'not guilty'. I think that that is the best way to go through Four Walls, with the points on what Jason has done and revealing more about his character throughout the film.

The three points I've decided would be;

• Revealing how and why he killed Geoffrey
• That Jason knows about another killer that the police are still looking for
• Jason escapes from the room and the detective is left alone to chase Jason back to the forest in which Jason killed Geoffrey.

I think that these points would give a gripping story that would keep the audience interested as it has a very simple plot but the characters seem very contrasting. This story is similar to 12 Angry Men as the storyline goes from one extreme to the other. Jason being captured to being free and it is left to the audience's imagination on what he is going to do to the detective and how the detective deals with the situation.