In order to assess how much my skills have developed throughout the production process, I will compare my choices in the production of Nemor with the ones from the Preliminary Project.
Beside the skill development essay, me and my team decided to create some skill development interview videos, one for each member, in order to aid us in our creative reflection by promoting spontaneous answers, as well as providing a break from the essay writing, and a creative look into each of our personal experiences with the AS Media Studies course. We recorded these interviews together, and the footage was edited by me.
Personally, I feel that I have definitely gained many skills over the months of working on Nemor.
Firstly, and quite importantly, my research skills. This production has challenged me to find creative ways to gather unique information, such as reading through books and creating case studies that I could reference, rather than just a simple google search. Looking back at how I conducted the research for the preliminary project, the numerous blog posts that I had to create really helped me deepen my understanding of what it truly means to do research. This is a skill that I know will have an immense impact on the methods I use when doing creative projects in the future.
Secondly, my ability to improvise, and think of solutions to problems. Most notably, me and my team struggled a lot with building the plot and story of Nemor, as we started off with a pretty complex framework. While a framework can aid in writing a story, we spent quite a lot of time filling plot holes, only to be met with even more dilemmas, and we changed the concept more times than I can count. Over time, these struggles helped me become quicker at thinking up answers to such enigmas, which is an important skill to have as a writer.
Finally, my teamwork skills. Working in a team, even a small team of only 3 people, to create a media product can be very annoying at some points. From miscommunications, to scheduling conflicts, to everyone trying to implement their own, contradicting idea into the project, I had to learn to compromise my own creative vision and process to make room for everyone to shine. This is amazing, as typically media products are not created by one independent person, and require a mix of talents to reach their full potential.
Fashion and Makeup choices————————
The Entity – Preliminary Work
The bone-print dress, while it has a good shape, was not at all the right fit for the context of the character. The corset, shoes and necklaces also do not align. This mostly has to do with the fact that we did not spend much time properly writing the characters before shooting the film.
The Entity – Final Work
The black lace dress, with no further accessories, is a much better fit for the ‘natural’ context of the entity, and effectively contrasts the white snow. The hair is also colour-graded to appear darker, as if blending with the dress, creating a more ‘otherworldly’ appearance for the character. Overall the styling better communicates the paranormal nature of the character.
High Contrast on the Face
The Entity’s makeup is very bold, and so it is a large point of focus in the film. This takes the viewer’s focus away from the other character, or the story.
Less Contrast on the Face
In Nemor, The Entity’s makeup has less contrast, still existing as a part of the character whilst not taking attention away from the rest of the events.
Blacked out Hands and Neck
This additional design choice helped make The Entity’s appearance more cohesive, and made the character appear less human and more like a paranormal entity.
The Victim – Preliminary Work
The bruise makeup on her face is subtle, and while it worked out for the short preliminary project, it would not have looked well on the final project, as the bruises are a point of focus in the film.
The Victim – Final Work
The bruise makeup is more exaggerated, with colours that may have looked a bit too bold in real life seeming perfectly right on camera. My hair was also dyed to a slightly colder colour (from red to pink), to match the setting of the movie and create a cohesive look.
Outfit – Preliminary
In the Preliminary, I dressed in a hoodie, one of my dad’s jackets and a pair of jeans. There was not much thought put into the outfit, rather just something I would wear usually if I was going for a walk in the forest.
Outfit – Victim (p)
In the Final work, I wore a similar outfit for The Victim (p). Just, a casual illustration of what I would wear if I went for a walk in the woods. However, this outfit is not at all weather appropriate, which adds to the idea that I am not supposed to be in the forest.
Outfit – Victim (f)
For The Victim (f), I wore the same pair of jeans, as they are my most dirty pair of jeans, and a simple black sweater. The black sweater was chosen to contrast the snow that would inevitably end up on it, in order for it to be more visible.
Overall Comparison——————————————
Preliminary Work – https://youtu.be/jOZ4Y0QHDT0
Final Work – https://youtu.be/wbJE9RNxRgo
The preliminary work is filmed very shakily, and the actions are not quite clear, most notably, when The Victim grabs the doll, the action is very vague, and feels unimportant in the first moments. It is also shown from an awkward angle.
It is important to note that the tarot card plotline did not exist in the preliminary work, the plot was based on The Victim having been in a manic state, worshipping a fake entity in the woods, and the doll simply reminding her of her trauma.
The establishing shot of the forest with the entity flashing onscreen to the music is an effective way to introduce the new location / context, however I would have preferred it if we made it clearer that it was a memory.
From the sequence that follows, the preliminary work makes the way that The Victim and The Entity met clear, but what they were doing in the forest is not clear at all. The audience is left to infer a lot of things, and while we had the idea that the entity may or may not be just a figment of her imagination, and she got the bruises from running around the woods rather than from abuse. There are no scenes of The Victim falling over or injuring herself in any way, so this is very hard to understand without reading a description.
The final work, although admittedly not perfect, does a way better job than the preliminary work at portraying the storyline in a way that the audience understands what is happening, while maintaining the mystery aspect. We illustrated a clear sequence of events, using action-matched shots, while still having diverse angles and establishing shots of the location with no action. The stunt double scene was also essential to placing both The Victim (p) and The Victim (f) in the same plane of existence, in order to show to the audience very clearly that the events (excluding the flashbacks of the card games) are simultaneous. The final work also contains some sound effects, beside the music, to create an immersive effect. This is something the preliminary work lacks.
After editing the preliminary work, I also spent some time learning how to create certain emotions through visual editing, notably colour-grading. This is something I definitely struggled with when I was editing the preliminary work, as no matter how much I “played” around with the colours, nothing looked right. The process went very smoothly for the final film opening, as beside some additional experience, I had a very clear idea of what I wanted to communicate with the colour scheme.
Overall, there is a clear improvement shown in my skills when comparing the preliminary work to the final film opening. I believe I still have many things to learn, many topics to explore, and I am very excited to start working on a new project in the future.
Additionally, here are my teammate’s creative reflection videos
