Lily Bennett - Film and Video

From the start, I wanted to create a narrative piece where I could use my editing and filming skills as a key element. I wanted to do this, because of the simplicity of my music video. My initial idea was about a dysfunctional family dinner where the mother and daughter have an explicit relationship (heavily inspired by “the strange thing about the Johnsons”) and the food is disgusting, where all the characters would be played by me. I wrote a script and filmed a couple test scenes to see if I could edit them. Although the concept and ability to edit scenes worked fine, I wasn’t pleased with the excessive dialogue and thought the story fell flat. Because I had chosen the genre of ‘horror’ for my narrative project, I believed that this initial idea (although a good concept) wouldn’t work in my favour. When planning my new story, I built off this concept and transferred some of my favourite elements into my new story. I was determined on using multi-rolling in my film (mainly because of lockdown, I couldn’t use other actors, but also to show my editing skills).  

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I was heavily influenced by the film ‘US’, so I took inspiration from the narrative and created a new story. The new story would be my final film, which is about a doppelganger who comes to the house, kills, replaces and dumps the body of the homeowner. However, to make this more interesting I wanted to make the structure of the film non-chronological. Doing this would create the response I wanted from my audience: actively working out the narrative as the story continues. I think changing my initial idea to my final narrative better reflects me and the films I want to create, that keep the viewer active and interested in the storyline.  

In my portfolio and coursework, I have been able to develop ideas and collect all the resources in preparation to create my final film. I have been able to show off and explain my inspirations, as well as link them into my work and films (which can be seen throughout my coursework on my wixsite).  

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When creating my film, I used various software, tools and different techniques, which I have gone into further detail in other sections of my wixsite. The main software I used were adobe: premiere pro was the software I used to edit my video clips and create my film, and photoshop is where I created my video thumbnails and edited pictures for my wixsite. I went into detail about all the hardware and tools I used to shoot my film on my: “equipment list”. When filming, I used tape to mark out where I wanted to place my tripod, to frame the shots correctly. I also used techniques inspired by some of the directors and film makers on my “contextual information” page. I believe I could’ve further explored techniques used by Edgar Wright in my filming to prominently show how aspects of his films have influenced my work. 

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I made the decision that I wanted a blue-grey colour tone throughout my film, which I have tried to make prominent through costume and lighting, as well as contrasting warmer colours being used. Composition was really important to me and my film, mainly because I had to shoot multiple scenes twice in the same frame composition to create the doppelganger effect I desired. When filming on the beach I had a good idea of how and where I wanted to shoot scenes, because I visted the area to scout locations and settings before I started filming. However, I hadn’t previously visited at the time that I did when I was filming, luckily the sky and time conditions were benifitial for my piece and worked effectively even though it wasn’t planned. 

Looking back I have been able to realise ‘what went well’ and ‘what could’ve been improved’. The elements that I belived went well were: the edit, the story, and the final outcome. I’m pleased that I was able to finish my video and complete a lot of my coursework. Reflecting on what could’ve been better, I wasn’t pleased with the exported quality. Because of timing issues I had to cut down scenes, which led to structuring/ ordering rewrites that could’ve been better if I had more time. However, overall I think my work has been up to a great standard and quality under the current circumstances. 

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Throughout this process I have learnt a lot more about the films and film makers that inspire me, as well as how I can embrace their influences into my own work. This project has also been beneficial for adapting and improving my time management skills, especially because of the restrictions lockdown had upon my film. If I could remake this project I would’ve liked to have used actors, and focus more on making the narrative work for a shorter time span. However, I believe the final outcome of my film is a great piece that reflects me well.  

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In conclusion, I am pleased with my film and coursework’s outcome. Although it could’ve been better and I would change things, I am proud of what I have been able to accomplish under the tight restrictions of lockdown.