Final.

Hey folks!

Had some nasty problems with my “superb” computer so I really haven’t had a chance to update my part of this blog, until now. Last post on deadline day, as always I need to do everything in a hurry, as I just leave it till the last moment, typical student, what more can I add…

Alright lets start this, so I can run to the post office and hand in the letter with the assignment, as at the moment I’m enjoying my holidays at home and I’m 1900km away from Aberystwyth…

Special.

As you might have already read, this week was special! Indeed it was, as on Monday we attended our last screening this year, and not just a casual screening, but screening in “Arts Center Cinema”! Yes, we saw our and lots of other student films on the big screen. I think that this was one of those rare occasions when I was really waiting for Monday, not just because I would soon go back home, but this was a perfect conclusion of these last two months where we had done lots of practical work from which we will only gain in the future, and now we finally had a chance to show our arguably the best film to a wider audience.

The others.

At first I would like to comment on other group films as during the screening I experienced various emotions, ideas , so I managed to establish opinion how well everyone is doing and progressing and from that conclude an overall course efficiency.

I tried to watch the other group movies as a filmmaker, so it means not just in “I like this.”, “I don’t like this” way, but “How did they do that?” , “How well did it work?”, “How could they make it better?” etc.. I don’t want to be very specific on this one, but I can say that I liked some of the films, the ones that were, more or less, balanced in both categories “Picture” and “Story”. The most common problem was that groups could find the balance, between these to aspects(picture and story), some managed to work out a very well made picture, that looked very effective, but in terms of storytelling, character motivation etc. mostly these films started to “choke” and in the end usually there was one question in my head – “What just happened here?”. Other problem was completely different, story in terms of character build up, motivation and everything was worked out very well, but it was shot in the way that it was really hard to emotionally “get in touch” with the characters. But overall, I have to admit, all groups did very well, and we are still learning here anyway, I think that at the next year it will be even better!

A Night To Remember – Our film.

Got some harsh words for this one, of course I was surprised about that, audience enjoyed our film so did we, so in subconsciousness we were waiting from our tutors something like “Very well done lads!” and smiles, but soon the reality stroke us, I don’t want to repeat same things that Ali and other group mates already mentioned…. but, yes, we were cultivating hatred of women in our film and in all honesty I think that a very important detail here is that director for this film was Nicci (woman), so in case if she doesn’t hate her own gender, then I find quite amusing…  But at the end of the day, we still received a very positive feedback from fellow students and positive feedback is positive feedback, it’s always good to hear it. Ah, yes, we still got the runners ups for “Best Editing” in MPP awards, credit to Ali and Iwan(Ivan if you like) once more, they did a great job!

The end.

This course, for this year is officially over now(it was over on Monday already), I enjoyed this time very much and I’m really looking forward to the next year and hopefully it will be as exciting as this one. Thank you for reading our blog and especially if you were reading my posts, and see you soon!

Ilvo Kristapsons

A Night To Remember

Planning and Script
I was in charge of the script for our final film, and so it was a big task for me to come up with the goods, after our viewing session on the Friday, Ali and myself came up with some ideas for a film, at first we had thought about doing a zombie film, but Ali was against the idea as he thought it had been done to many times and would have taken a long time to do the make-up on the day. In the end we came up with a story about a man who takes a unproven drug and cannot remember his actions after taking it.

With that plot set, I was left in charge to prepare the script and based many of the murder scenes in the same style as seen in the film “American Psycho” which is a thriller/comedy.
We used Luke as our actor and told him I wanted him to represent a sadistic killer and gave him some interesting dialogue to say. I wanted to have many comical moments, and felt this was achieved as there were many laugh out loud moments even if vulgar, but the audience seemed to have liked it.

American Psycho Trailer

On the Sunday night, my flatmate and I tested out some face paints seeing if we could make the cuts and bruises look real, and think we did a good job in doing so.

Luke testing the facepaint!

Come Monday the group really liked the script, but some didn’t see it as a comedy, but with a few tweaks during the one hour discussion with our tutor, we managed to change some parts of the script and add some classic punch lines after each murder took place.

Actors
Yet again Luke was our main actor in our film, and did a great job as always, and performed his role how I interpreted him to represent the character, and have nothing but praise for his acting skills. Every time we have written a script, his name is the first down on the list, and would like to work with him again in future projects.

Filming
We started filming minus two crew members, as Sam and Scott had a meeting with Dr Medhurts, so we had to get started pretty quickly to make sure we got everything done on time. Due to there absence for the first part of filming, Ilvo and myself took it in turns in doing the camera work until Sam came to take over, and the film benefited with his arrival. Nicci was in charge of directing the film, and came up with good ideas, but wasn’t too confident in her role but as always, Ali was there to help out.

We filmed at my flat (yet again!) and started off by introducing all the characters with shots of the flatmates all in the kitchen looking busy. We had Seren ironing her clothes and Sara cooking, and Ali peeling a apple while talking to Luke about the drugs he got hold of. The main reason for this scene was that we wanted the viewers to establish what tasks the characters were doing, as they were all eventually murdered by object they were using; Ali murdered with the knife, Seren hit with the iron and Sara head knocked into the cooker. When the film was screened not many people picked up on this, which was quite disappointing.

Editing
I find editing the most enjoyable part of the course, and wish to be a editor myself in the future. I am confident in using AVID as I have spent 2 years in college working on this software, and find it amusing when I hear the whole group slating it! But as the group have gotten familiar with the software I think its started to grow on them. This week Ali was in charge of editing with Scott and myself on hand to help him. The editing proved to be excellent and Ali did a good job with effects and cuts used, especially the ghost trail for the effect that the drugs have been messing with his mind, and also the slow motion that was used when Seren got hit the face with the iron.
Also I must praise the music and sound effects used in this film, our group DJ “Scott” picked a good song for the drug taking scene, and even made his own sound effect for when Luke finds Ali dead in the bathroom, which worked very well, as it built tension for that scene.

Reception
This was our group’s favourite film, and was praised from fellow students, as they found the film to be highly enjoyable and funny. But for some reason the tutors didn’t share this view, and unfortunately received some criticism on a few points,which was a great disappointment to us.
We felt the opening scene had a purpose to the movie as each character played a important role for the conclusion of the film. Since the film has been on Youtube, it has received over 250 views and positive feedback has been left on the video.

Conclusion
I have enjoyed my time working with this group immensely, as we all share the same sense of humour and was fun working with each other, and wouldn’t hesitate for a moment to work with the same people again. I found the module to be a lot fun and a big help in gaining experience. I have learned some new techniques from different members in the group, which I would never of thought of using in films.
I found the Friday screenings to be very useful, especially in the feedback we got from tutors and fellow students.
The only downside of the module is the amount of time we had to film, as it was obvious in some of our work that they were rushed and maybe another hour could be added to improve the content and quality of the final production.

Some Production Shots

Luke testing the facepaint!

Ali on the toilet! haha

Ali and Luke during a scene

Scott, Ali and Ilvo

Sam testing the iron.

Me doing camera work

filming

filming

Iwan Davies

My opinion on the module

As a hole i have thoroughly enjoyed this module. Its shown me new techniques and tought me a lot about visual story telling, Mise en Scene, different kinds of camera work and also editing. The editing side of this course I found quite hard to begin with as the program we were using is Avid. I have never seen this program before and had know idea on how to use it and quite frankly still don’t. All I can say about Avid is YOU SUCK! and FINAL CUT ALL THE WAY. I think I share the same opinion on avid as most of my group except for Iwan who was taught on avid in college. The tutors were quite helpful as at some of the workshops we attended we had a script but not a very good one and the tutors really helped us make one that worked and gave us good ideas we could work with. I quite liked doing the de-briefing on a Friday I thought it was good being like the tutor and really analyzing peoples work right in front of them although I did feel quite pressurized doing it but was a good experience. One thing I would change about the module is that I would have longer to shoot the films. Yes you can film something ok in 2 hours but you always had to be really pressured into getting done in the 2 hours and we tended to miss some shots out cos we were rushing which when it came to the edit it caused problems and of course for the de-brief on Friday. Another thing if i was in charge would be to get rid of Avid but that’s my own opinion. I would defiantly recommend this course to a friend and recommend them to do this module. I’ve had a good second semester a lot better than the first one.

cheers

Scott Rollinson

This is the end.

Hiya my time on the media production workshop has been AWESOME! That module was exactly what I wanted to come to Uni for, to make films n edit them together n progress as the term carries on. I defiantly enjoy the practical side to this course more than the essay writing and taking notes in lectures.

Day one: I can remember turning up with Iwan and Sam on the first day not knowing what to expect. Then Ali stood up n said he wanted to direct that week n he chose us three to be in his group then Nicci came over n asked to be in the group n Ilvo was late but he joined at the end of the workshop n that was the start of “THE GREAT GROUP H”.

The Chase: Well……… this film sucked! I was one of the actors and quite frankly I hated it. Running around, falling over wasn’t cool. shots were too long. didn’t take enough shots. Shots didn’t fit. The shooting for this film was terrible n then the edit oh dear, there is one scene with me in it and I’m stood still at the start of the shot n then some dodgy effect as i jump over some bushes where it reverses n then carries on. I thought the twist we were going for was ok but i was still unsure as to how we were going to properly show it. In my opinion 1/10 maybe even 0/10.

The Promotion: This one I decided to act again which wasn’t as bad except the part where it was FREEZING outside. but I think we did a bit of a better job got more shots, shots from different angles and it also had dialogue. We had a bit of a laugh while filming this one as me and Sam kept getting the words wrong and adding stupid dialogue when the camera wasn’t turned on. I must say the edit was much better than the week before *cough cough* I DID THE EDIT *cough cough*. I still don’t think it was that good of film tho but I defiantly saw an increase in the level we were working at. 5/10

The Return Of The Ex: This film was our first one using “our secret weapon” LUKE the drama student that lives with Iwan including Seren who also does drama and lives with Iwan. There acting was awesome, shame we cant say the same about Nicci’s (sorry Nicci). It wasn’t bad acting from Nicci it just wasn’t as believable as Luke and Seren which made Nicci’s acting look a little bit worse but then again she isn’t an actor an they are. I think we had some good shits but I think we needed a more variety of shots like a few close ups of the tap running n close up on faces. Most of our shots on this one are midshots which are ok but we did need more variation. I did sound on this one and I think I did a pretty good job because we had to pick up the tap running noises and also we had a scream in there too which I think I got the levels right for it. Yet again I did think we improved.  7/10

One Night Stand: On this shoot I was the cinematographer and Ilvo directed. I wanted to get more close ups and a wider range of shots. The opening shot was handheld which was quite interesting as I have never done a handheld shot before but I think I pulled it off ok. I wasn’t too sure on the story line for this one we took some shots which explained to story better but they weren’t put in during the edit for some reason. All in all was an ok film didn’t really understand it. 6/10

Gamble: This film was quite cool to shoot I didn’t really have a job to do so I did a bit of behind the scenes which hasn’t turned out well on my phone as you cant hear a thing and the quality is terrible. We used Luke again for this one and I think he did an awesome job. Again I feel with this one we needed more variation of shots. We were ok with it at the start of the film while he’s playing the fruit machine where there is cut aways of him hitting the start button and the wheels rolling in but then I think we got a bit lazy. Dialogue isn’t too good either in my opinion its just a bit to on the nose when he finds out he has spent all the money. The opening shot where we follow someone in to a room then we start to follow another person until we finally get to the main character I thought that was really good and also the shot where we zoom into the last pound he has n then zoom out and hes in a different place but we still have a shot of the pound in his hand. I thought that was a really good transition of changing places. 7/10

Help me!: This film is one of my favorites that we have made. Wiked use of music and effects when hes feeling depressed. Drunk scenes using hand held worked well with the music on the top. I quite liked the fact we were all in it too except for Ilvo seeing as he was doing the camera work. I think this one would of got a better review off the tutors than the one we chose to get assessed but as a group decision its not our number one favorite. There is defiantly an improvement with this film. More variety of shots just a better film all together really. 8/10

A Night To Remember: This film was loved buy our class mates it got a right laugh but the tutors did not agree. I was a little worried at first as this was gonna be our first comedy and in the past in college I always found it hard to make a comedy so I was a bit worried and the fact when I first read the script it didn’t sound like a comedy at all. But it turned out pretty funny. I was on sound and music which I really enjoyed doing. We had lots of different shots. This was the group’s favorite film but I don’t think it will do so well with the tutors. 9/10

Just to end I’m gonna miss this module as I’ve made some new friends, picked up some new skills and to be honest just had a laugh doing it. Like I said before this is what i came to Uni for.

P.s. Woop woop I finally wrote a long blog.

P.s.s. I still cant upload photos or videos, It doesn’t work for me.

Scott Rollinson

In Conclusion…

So, we’ve come to the end of our film workshop and hasn’t time flown?
Week 1: The Chase
Week 2: The Promotion
Week 3: Return Of The EX
Week 4: One Night Stand?
Week 5: Gamble!
Week 6: Help Me!
Week 7: A Night To Remember

I remember the first Monday of our Film Workshop, We had to put ourselves into groups and luckily for me I chose a great group. Ilvo was late and had to join out group but this benefited our group largely. As a group, wee had no idea what the tutors expected from us and I guess that is why our first film was so….bad?
Week 1: The Chase
Our general idea behind this film was to have a basic chase film but with a twist. We tried to make it look like two boys were chasing eachother, but they were actually racing to the pub. Well, we failed. The shots didn’t fit together and the things that we did actually film were random and pointless. Our editing wasn’t up to much either so all in all I’d have to rate the film… 3/10.
Week 2: The Promotion
This week wasn’t our best either although it did have some better qualities than the first film. It had an actual narrative which was good, also some dialogue. The camera angles flowed much better in the edit than The Chase and the dialogue was more realistic and believable. The film still wasn’t anything special, but an improvement. 6/10.
Week 3: Return of The EX
This film was the first film that had Luke, our actual actor, in it. It had a strong dialogue, good camera work and good lighting. The downside to the film was MY acting. I’m definitely not an actress! This was the first film that I watched back and though ‘Hey, we can actually make good films.’ The chemistry between Luke and Seren was great to watch. Our films were slowly improving 7/10.
Week 4: One Night Stand?
Obviously I am going to biased about this film. I wrote the script and had a definate idea in mind, including actors (My Boyfriend, Matthew Jones) and myself and the main actress. Although I am not a natural, I was the only female in the group and I thought that I could convey the message better than anyone else.
I liked the editing, the great use of black and white for flashbacks and the cross dissolves. I also liked the actual narrative (As I wrote it myself!). This was cringey to watch as it was me on a big screen snogging my boyfriend! haha! I just generally liked this film. 8/10.
Week 5: Gamble!
This film shoot didn’t go well. We really did not have any energy. I was on camera, which was very simple for this narrative. Although I did share with Iwan and he got a nice shot from an ATM up at Luke’s face. This was the second film with Luke acting and he was even more natural in Gamble! This film had a good story but it was a bit boring in my opinion. We could have done much better with the editing and the lighting on set was tricky with over exposure a big problem. Ok altogether, 7/10.
Week 6: Help me!
I loved this film! I thought it was one of our best! I loved the story, the way we captured drunken scenes by using handheld camera, the way the whole group was in the film and the use of music. It also had a nice ending, where everything worked out well! 8/10.
Week 7: A Night To Remember
This film was loved by peers and loathed by tutors! But, film-makers make films for the people, not for the critics. The film had drugs, gore and humor and I was initially worried about this. We had never made a ‘funny’ film before, but the comedy was subtle which made the film a little less in your face. I enjoyed covering our actors with paint and the scene where Luke takes the drugs is superb in my opinion. We put a great effect over the shot and also made him look sweaty with water and cut the scenes together very well.
I was the Director of this film and HATED it! I hate telling people what to do and I didn’t have a good enough grasp on the script to make the film good. I think this was a good film to end on and looking back I can really see our progress through the films.

I have thoroughly enjoyed this experience. I’ve learnt a lot more about film making, I now know how to set the exposure, set white balance, change the volume from the boom and I’ve learnt more about AVID editing suite. I’ve also made great friends, all the boys have been loads of fun to work with and I’ve learnt lots from their filming techniques too. It saddens me that it had to end!
Nicci Beacham xo

My Journey

The Chase
Well, the first stage in week one of our production, we were formed as Group H, consisting of myself, Ali, Scott, Sam, Nicci and later on Ilvo, was to come up with a script for “The Chase” in the hour that was allocated, and came up with the idea of two people racing each other to the pub to get a pint. The filming of the “The Chase” was highly enjoyable as it was our first film, and we did not take it too seriously. The day consisted of Scott and myself running around the campus basically looking like idiots. I felt the day was a good exercise for the team, as it helped members of the group bond with each other, as some of us didn’t know each other before the day. The final outcome of the film after editing was a disaster! The whole team agreed it was a very poor film and this was also agreed by our lectures.

Behind the Scenes of The Chase

The Promotion
In the second week I was in charge of the script, and came up with an idea about two co-workers who were rivals in the office fighting for a promotion. Rod looked over the script and criticised a few things about the idea, mainly the fact it was hard to find a place that looked like a office, so in the hour we were given, we came up with a new idea about two workers running round the sports cage arguing about a promotion. Like the first week, our film wasn’t the best again, and was probably because we didn’t have enough time to come up with a new script. The only positives we took from that day was that it was better than our first film!

Return of the Ex
During the third week there was a massive improvement in our work, Ali came up with a script about an ex lover haunting his current girlfriend; we all agreed this was a good script, and with special effects we could make a good film. The next day we edited our film and we found out we were unable to use the special effect we had planned to make a ghost transparent on screen, and instead had to use fade, which still proved successful. It was our first film which got a good feedback, and I think the whole team was happy with the final outcome.

One Night Stand?
The next film was “One Night Stand?” and was written by Nicci who also starred in the film with her boyfriend. The tutors liked the film and praised the on screen chemistry between the couple, and told us it was believable.

Behind the scenes of One Night Stand?

Gamble
As we started our fifth film “Gamble” I could tell there was a tremendous improvement within the team, we started to feel more confident in our roles as film makers and this was evident as our film was praised for its camera techniques and the shots we used.

Help Me
Coming to Week 6 we were told that our final two films were being assessed, so we had to come up with a good script, and again Ali agreed to do this for a film called “Help Me”; the whole team liked the idea as it was pretty straightforward and was easy to film, the only criticism I had was the ending, as I felt it should have had a more intense and dramatic finish, but the chosen ending still turned out successfully.
I feel the team worked hard over the 6 weeks and everyone in the group contributed well to every film and thoroughly enjoyed the experience, and we all learned a lot to prepare us for our our final piece in Week 7.

Iwan Davies

Week 7 The editors cut!

Week 7 and the final video finished, this has been by far the most productive week we have had. The group has worked together really well over the past weeks and from the look of the final video this is no different. Iwan and I brainstormed some ideas on the Friday of week 6, we first of all looked at a zombie film, but as this has been attempted so many times we decided to look towards a different horror genre (A Night to Remember was born). Iwan set to the script over the weekend creating what we thought was the most impressive one so far with a lot of potential. On the Monday however, the group had split two ways on which the genre would go, a comedy or a horror?! Rod spoke to us on the potential of the slasher that we were eager to create and told us that it would be wise to go for a generic horror story without the comedic styles that we desperately wanted to convey, although we wanted to do this, the shooting turned out differently.

The Opening Design and Layout

The kitchen scene!

In the editing suite, it was clear from Nicci’s instructions and the footage supplied that we were to create the black comedy which is what we initially wanted. The film footage was very similar to the horror genre, but the script and the actions allowed us to construct an original film. The first scene we created was in the kitchen and Luke arrives back, I chose to have him speaking while I picked different shots of the individual house mates to convey how they were feeling. The individual shots were also used to create irony in the film as they were using what they would later be killed with in the story (Seren with an iron, Sara with the cooker and Ali with the knife). This was a clear choice for me as the film needed something special at the beginning.

Effects and Cuts

SFX

There are a couple of moments in the film when the character requires some effects to change his appearance. The reason for this is to make the character appear to be on drugs, as this is an essential part of the plot I used a blurred effect with a ghost trail to look like he is seeing things in slow motion. We chose to do it this way so that we could allow the audience to see what he was going through, so they would also able to witness the drugs take on the user. When Luke wakes up after consuming the drugs I decided to have a lot of jump cuts, the camera doesn’t move but Luke does inside the shot. Having the jump cuts gives the impression that time has passed, and using this way of displaying it was really effective.

The Struggles With Avid!

As everyone knows on the course we have to use the infuriating software that is Avid Express Pro, this program is used by the industry and comes highly respected, the only problem is, is that it doesn’t seem to do as it is told! I have learnt to use Avid pretty well now and I have used it for nearly every film. The problem with Avid mainly is that everything seems really complicated and complex as nothing is obvious to the eye. The problems this week was finding the effects in the correct place. The effects are very difficult to use and apply in avid as there is a complicated way to apply and change the effect which never makes sense! The other complication we found this week is the slowing down of a clip. In all other software it is extremely simple and you are able to do it on the actual timeline, but with this program it needs to be done from the original material making you redo the section. Oh Avid how we have a love hate relationship with you!

Anyway that’s all for now, Ali Watson

From Beginning To End!

As the final week has now ended I have decided to look back at our group and see how we have (or haven’t improved) over the 7 weeks we have been working together! The first thing we were asked to do was to get into groups of about 5 or 6 and think of an idea for a film to do with chase! The group merged together straight away as most of us knew each other one way or another! We sat in our group on a monday afternoon in the room and thought of ideas to do with the theme Chase!

As you can see we thought of a lot of ideas all of them still scribbled into the pages of my book! The film itself on the first week was awful and this was agreed by everyone in the group and also by the peers, as it was our first week filming, we didn’t bother taking it seriously and just wanted to have fun while running around the campus enjoying the fact we could do anything! (This reflects in the quality of the video!) The following week we decided to take a much more serious aproach with Iwan directing and working on the script which was later pushed aside for a new one as we were unable to get an office! This one was called ‘The Promotion’. This film was an immediate improvement on our first peice of work, although it was sloppy and we still didn’t manage to impress it was better in many ways! Over the next couple of weeks we improved a little bit more each time, ( with Return of the Ex and Help Me) but the film we showed the most promise in was Gambling. This film conveyed a lot of talent in our group as we did everything that we needed to do and on time! The lecturers were pleased with this and praised us for the unique style at the beginning, following from one character to the next to reveal the main actor. This was a  shot that was decided by the group during the beginning of filming, fortunately it fell to our advantage. The final weeks film I thought showed that our team was able to work under extreme pressure and were able to come up with a film that was funny for the audiences who saw it. ‘A Night To Remember’ was written by our very own Iwan Davies, we developed the idea together and then I left it to his creative juices to come up with the finished product. Iwan thankfully bought what was needed to the table and it was an extremely good script, and as soon as we began to shoot we descovered that with a few lines and certain techniques we were able to turn it into the black comedy that it was set out to be. This weeks director was the lovely Nicci Beachum and she did a great job even though she hates being in charge, whenver she needed help the group was there to help and that way she managed to keep everyone on task. Sam, Ilvo, Scott and myslef were running round with the camera and set list making everything the way Nicci and Iwan envisioned, dressing the characters and doing the gruesome make up that set the tone to film! From working with the group I have seen the vast improvement in all of us over the weeks and I am very happy with what we are now able to achieve.

I hope this hasn’t been too boring but you can always look at the pictures! 😛

cheers, Ali Watson

Week 7 A Night To Remember

This is our final film – Loved by Peers hated by Lecturers!

This week’s film is rolving around a central character who goes on a ‘trip’ of a life time. he takes drugs and blacks out waking up the next day in a state of confusion! He can’t remember what he did staright away, but what will he find in his flat?…..

Misogynistic!?!?!?

Today we had a screening in the cinema in the arts centre of everyone’s film! I had been quite thrilled that we had all got the chance to show our work on the big screen to everyone else to see the reaction we would get… unfortunately this excitement only lasted 4 minutes and 2 seconds, (as soon as the film finished), because of the absolute slating we got afterwards. I have always believed and will always believe that making films for people is based on the foundation “to entertain” apparently this is not the case anymore! The film we produced ‘A Night To Remember’ is a black comedy revolving around one man and the ‘trip’ of a lifetime, as the drugs take effect he blacks out and kills his flat mates. To make this film as humourous as possible, the group and I took it as light-heartedly as possible and brought in as many jokes as we could to make the audience (our peers) laugh. The way the industry makes films is to aim their work at a certain age range which is exactly what we did, to make our audience laugh we included what can be seen as slightly sexist jokes, but as we only had 2 female actors, it was the best thing to do with only 2 hours of filming time! The work we produced had tremendous reviews from our peers from all over the campus in different departments and also from the friends and family at home when they viewed it on YouTube (which has also exceeded 200 views in under 5 days) . As the work has received such good feed back from people I thought it was going to be well received by the lecturers and was going to be seen as a decent piece of work, but what seemed to happen today is the complete opposite. To ridicule a group’s work as being misogynistic and then not allowing them to explain the terms in which it was perceived was a wrong way to go! The criticisms of the whole event was creating an experience none of us wish to repeat as we did not get a single word of praise from any of them! Now the other point that I would like to put across is the fact that the pointless shots of  the characters at the beginning were neither pointless or a waste of time! As I have been told in the past by the same team is that we need to put shots of certain people or props that would later be used in the film, this has been used in film making as early as D.W.Griffith, and then to be slated for using such a technique is rather confusing, the dramatic irony is flowing through the film which unfortunately isn’t perceived by any other generation other than that who the short was created for!!!!

Cheers, Ali Watson