Self Critique of Assignment 1

Project # 1
January 26, 2011
"Weekend"

Story= The main character wakes up, walks into the hall way, drinks some juice, and brushes his teeth. Then, he reads a book, moving around the room to different areas, eats, then reads some more. After finishing the book, the character brushes his teeth, then goes to sleep.

Intent: My intent was to show that even though the character is in a physical place, he is also enthralled with the book, completely in "another world." What I wanted my audience to get from the piece is that sometimes people will ignore reality and spend entire days holed up in their rooms, "escaping" from everyday life. Place's don't just exist in reality but also in our minds.

What got me going on this idea was the thought of place as a narrative device, and how places that mankind has created throughout history have affected us. We get absorbed in fiction and it defines our life, to a degree.

When I finished my piece, I felt that I had fulfilled my concept. I discovered that jump cuts can be a very effective catalyst for story progression, and editing makes all the difference when it comes to pacing.

I feel that the main strengths in my piece is my editing and concept.

There are a lot of problem areas that I need to address in my reshoot:

1.) While I did experiment with the editing and it does work well in some parts, the overall piece need more visual excitement.

2.) I need to lose the title, for a few reasons. One, it distracts from the overall piece. Two, since it's presented in such a way (crappy piece of paper with shitty handwriting), it gives the audience an expectation of, well, shit. And, three, it deserves a better title.

3.) I need to trim down the reading scenes, and find a way to make them not boring. I mean, you're watching a character read a book. Not exciting stuff. Find a way to make it better.

4.) Needs a hook.

Honestly, I feel that I didn't do a bad job for my first EVER attempt at film. But that doesn't excuse mediocre work- I will take the critiques I get in class and reshoot my piece, making it even better the second time around. It's a lot of fun, to be sure, but I need to work even more.