Past Students' Work

I think the strengths of this film were;
-  it didn't have much dialogue, which made it interesting, you could focus on the characters.
- the music suited the story well
- the themes and situations are typical of BSR
- it was a good choice of location 

I think the weaknesses of this film were;
- there were not a lot of closes ups
- the camera work could be improved
- there was not much mise-en-scene that was relevant 
- the titles should run with the film
- you couldn't hear the dialogue clearly as the music went over it

The mark I gave this film was Level 2 - 31 marks. The actual mark give was 34. 

I think the strengths of this film were;
- the music fits with the story
- the characters are typical of the BSR genre
- they had good titles

The weaknesses were; 
- the music was too loud
- although the titles were good, they went away too fast, you couldn't read them
- the shots were too long, there were lots of long shots of people just standing there

I gave this film a Level 2 - 24 marks. It was given 32 marks by the examiner.

The strengths of this film were; 
- there were lots of different shots of her doing the same thing, it made it more interesting
- the titles were good
- the mise-en-scene fit with the type of character they were giving the main girl
- it was a clear story
- you know who the character is from 2 minutes of the film

The weaknesses of this film were; 
- the shots were filmed late, so in some you couldn't see exactly what was going on
- it was bit repetitive
- the music didn't go well with the story

I gave this film a Level 3 - 47 marks. It scored 57 marks, Level 4 in it's actual examination.

The strengths of this film were; 
- the music suited the story
- the titles were very creative 
- the story was interesting
- there was a range of shots
- fits with the genre

The weaknesses of this film were;
- the costumes could have been better
- towards the end, the story got a little bit confusing, should have made that clearer. 

I awarded this film 53 marks - Level 4. It got a Level 3 with 42 marks.

The strengths of films were;
- the music at the start was good 

The weaknesses of this film were;
- the titles were too small and too quick
- the editing wasn't very well done
- the storyline was confusing
- the 180 degree rule was broken

I gave this film a disappointing 24 marks - Level 2. It was given 29 marks. 

The strengths of this film were;
- they had a nice variety of shots 
- the music went well with the story
- the titles were excellent 

The weaknesses of this film were;
- the storyline was a bit confusing at the start. 

I gave this film a Level 3 - 37 marks. It received the highest mark out of these examples with 58 marks - Level 4. 

I think the strengths of this film were;
- they had good shots
- the theme fit well with BSR
- the music suited the story
- the titles were very good
- they had good mise-en-scene
- there was a clear storyline- the lyrics helped this aswell

The weaknesses of this film were;
- the volume of the music changes drastically when the dialogues in, it should have been a subtle fade.   




One of the films I really liked was Suffocation. I liked the idea of it and how they had no dialogue, but it was still interesting. 

Camera work

The shot above is the very first opening shot that you see from this film. I like the idea of just having the character walking and only showing their shoes as it adds some mystery to who the character is. They had this continuous walking shot of them for about 15 seconds, so it gives the audience time to think what kind of character they could be and what they're going through in life. 

Appropriate opening sequence graphics

The gif above shows how the editors put in the titles for the film. I really like this idea as I think it is very creative. It incorporates the story into how they present the titles, instead of just having them on the side. As the books pile up, the titles appear. 

Interesting Title

The gif above denotes the film title. One of the favourite things of this film is the most simple thing. I loved how they connoted the title and the theme of the film in the way they presented the title. The letters came closer and closer together, until they were all squashed, connoting how the man's work load is piling up and up and he feels like there's no way out. Also the title itself showed exactly how the character feels, he feels suffocated, the audience can understand that as soon as they see the title.

Editing

I really liked this jump cut editing and how they put the titles next to him. The jump cuts make it much more interesting instead of just having one shot of him walking the whole of that road, they've cut it down and it looks better.

Realistic Representation

The screen grab denotes a woman getting the man's car. I didn't understand this shot as I didn't get who she was and why she was going into the car. It wasn't an actual representation of what a 'prostitute' would look like, a more typical prostitute would be the one shown in 'Damaged Goods'. I would improve this shot by adding a little bit of dialogue or maybe by changing the girls costume a little bit, she could have had ripped tights on. (I'm assuming she was meant to be prostitute)

The girl is wearing short shorts out in the dark and as seen in previous shots is wearing big gold hoops and red lipstick, things that usually connote a prostitute.

BSR Themes & Situations 

In this shot you see the man's wife looking at the two bottles then starts to cry. At first I didn't understand, but then it comes becomes evident that the man has a drinking problem and all of his 'Suffocation' at work, he takes out at home. It represents the typical BSR theme of 'drinking away your problems'. I would've improved this shot by making it clearer what she is doing exactly. It took some time to understand what is going on, when it should happen naturally. I would have her grab one of the bottles and smash it on the floor then have her cry or scream. 

I gave Suffocation a L4 with 53 marks. I awarded it this mark as I thought it was very creative and I enjoyed the story line. I thought the music suited the story very well as it was very sad and sombre, much like the man's life.  This was actually given a L3 with 42 marks, I was quite surprised when I heard this as this was one of my favourites. It got a good mark, but it was lower then I expected, this was due to the last few shots in the house because it was confusing. 



One film I thought could be improved was Bridges. I thought the storyline was interesting but the way they executed it wasn't done so well. 

Appropriate opening sequence graphics

The graphics in this film were done terribly. They were too small and went off the screen too fast, you could barely read them. I would improve it by making them bigger, stay on the screen for longer and I would also maybe change the font of the text so it matches the font of the title of the film as that was a font that relates the cultural aspect of the film. 

The font is joined much like how it is in Sanskrit. 

Music, Sound & Realistic Dialogue

In this shot, the boy walks up to counter, takes off his headphones and proceeds to have a conversation with the man at the counter. When he takes off his headphones the diegetic sound fades out. I liked this as when he takes them off, the music stops, which is what would happen in real life. But while this is going on, in the shop you can hear the sounds of different people and background noise, although this is realistic, it works against the favour of the film as it makes the speech unclear as the character can't exactly shout to be heard louder. Also when the character talks the man on the counter, the dialogue doesn't sound very realistic, it seems very practised and forced. If I were to shoot this, I would change it by shooting on a day that the store wouldn't be as busy and have a person I knew as the character on the counter, so the conversation wouldn't look as awkward. 

Camera work 

The camera work in this film was a bit odd, but given as it was filmed on a shop that was open and there were other customers it must have been hard. In this screen grab you can see a man who looks as if he's sitting down or leaning on something, and he looks quite short. But in the next shot, you see him standing near a rail and he's not leaning on anything and looks quite tall. 

The second shot the man is in, is shown above. I think this was due down to the rule of thirds in the second shot. As you can see, the characters eyes are about half way down the screen instead of a third, so it makes him look shorter than he actually is. I would improve this by making sure whenever I film a person, I always have their eye line on the top third, as it will keep their height consistent. 


Editing

In this gif, you can see the boy is walking up to the girl, then stops and then the film jumps a bit in time. It looks weird when he stops for no reason and then one second later, he's right by her side.I would put this error down to editing as they didn't show him walking to the girl, or her in the shot when he was walking before, so it looks like he has jumped forward in time. To improve this, I would have a shot of his shoes in between of him walking and you see him reach the girl. 

Realistic Representation 

This screen grab shows the typical costume of a young male in present time. The theme of this film was a cultural clash between an indian girl and white boy. As you can see, the way the boy is presented is a typical stereotype of a white male. He's wearing a hoodie, a beanie, a body warmer and jogging bottoms. He's walking into an Indian suit shop and he stands out even more and the cultural difference between the two is even more apparent. I liked his costume as they connoted the character of the boy well. Also a typical tracksuit, is to do with the mise-en-scene of BSR as that is what many of the characters wear in this genre of film, so it helps the audience establish what type of film it is.

Not much Continuity 

In this gif, you can see when the Indian man, tells the guy to back off, the boy puts his hands up and walks backwards, but in the next shot, you see his hands back in his pocket. It isn't continuous, you can easily tell, it isn't realistic and isn't happening. If I were to film this, I'd do a match-on-action shot and still have the boy walking backwards with his hands up until the guy kicks him out, it would look more real and interesting.