Name: Ellesse White
Year: 3
Course: Media and Performance
Module: Video Project
ID: @00422439
Critical
Evaluation – Actor
"The purpose of acting is, or should be, to deliver
what the author has written to the audience who have paid - or switched on
their TV - that night." (Scales P, & West T, 2005, page 41)
The role
of an actor requires plenty of practitioner research, characterisation
research, and physical work. For this project my purpose and goals as an actor
was to deliver my lines effectively, to make an audience feel or respond or
react in a certain way. It is my duty to be able to tell a story, whether that’s
through the subtext of my words, or the way I deliver my words.
Upon watching the final product of the film, I think that I
gave my character just enough suspicion without making it obvious that I was the
villain in the plot. The majority of this had to be shown through my facial
expression and my eyes and from watching it I think I achieved that
successfully. It was a challenge that I thought about and overcame during the
filming process – portraying an evil character who is also meant to be a friend
within the group, whilst not giving too much away. I didn’t want to seem like I
was just being emotionless or expressionless during filming, however cameras capture
every slight emotion in the face therefore it perhaps worked for the benefit of
my character.
In addition, one thing that I am critical of myself on from
watching the finished product was the tone of my voice throughout certain parts
of the film. At some parts I felt that my voice was overlapped by the
background music. I also think the process of me being in a friendship group to
being a part of the escape game didn’t transition or translate very well. Although
it was a short film, I think that my character didn’t have enough lines
beforehand for the audience to understand that I was actually apart of the
whole plan. Despite this not being my fault, I think it could have helped
during some parts, perhaps by sounding less neutral. In contrary to this, I did
think that the final scene when my character shows who she truly is came through
well. I personally was able to see a contrast between my character from the
first half of the film, to the end of the film. I was able to portray a darker
image by switching up the tone of my voice and acting more arrogant, as this
was my characters big moment!
Portraying a character that is completely different to who
I am as a person is a challenge in itself, because I had to be able to capture
the essence of truth and channel that through a fictional character. To achieve
this, I used theatre practitioner Konstantin Stanislavki’s system. Using this
system requires the actor to ask several questions about their character, such
as: who am I? Where am I? When is it? What do I want and why? How will I get
what I want? And what do I need to overcome?
‘…he takes the approach that the actors should really
inhabit the role that they are playing. So, the actor shouldn’t only know what
lines he needs to say and the motivation for those lines, but also
every detail of that character’s life…’ (BBC Bitesize, no date)
Using the naturalism system worked for my character
because, Lily Moors is a very internal and thoughtful character, she seems to
always be thinking or planning her next step ahead of others. Answering those questions
for my character really gave me a more depth understand of exactly who it is
that I have to become. This also helped me to portray a character that
contrasts completely with me in an honest manner.
Considering that this project is for film, using the
naturalism method is suitable, as film acting requires less physicality, and
more emotion in the face as cameras pick up even the slightest of movements.
As an actor I took a professional approach to developing my
character and this started in rehearsals. Having learnt my lines before each rehearsal
during pre-production, I was able to really get into my character without having
to worry about things such as remembering lines. I was able to completely let
go and delve deep into the mind of my character and this gave me room to make
mistakes and try out lines from my dialogue in different ways to see which
works best for me and the director.
Overall, I think that my performance for Escapism was good,
and I was able to portray a character who is totally different to me in
personality. My character was quite complex, but having created a detailed
character background, I knew absolutely everything about Lily Moors, and
therefore had no issues portraying that. My character knew what was going on
before others and also before the audience and being able to play a character
who knows the destiny of her fellow friends was a challenge yet successful. I
took the pre-production process seriously and did a lot of work independently,
which prepared me for the production process and ensured that I gave my best
performance at all times. In addition, all of this work that I had previously done
followed me through to the post production process for additional work such as
ADR, as I was able to continue delivering my lines in the same manner as I did
during the filming process, without loosing the feel of my character, and this
was because I knew exactly who my character was, and I knew her motives, her
desires, her trials and her overall objective.
Blog Link:
Bibliography
Scales,
P. and West, T. (2005), So You Want To Be An Actor?. London:
Nick Hern Books Ltd.
Naturalism
and Stanislavski. (no date), BBC Bitesize
Available at: https://www.bbc.com/education/guides/zxn4mp3/revision/1 (Accessed
23 May 2018).
Critical
Evaluation – Sound
A
sound recordist ‘is the person who records audio during filming and also
records wild track or natural sound, when needed. Recording excellent sound
requires both professional knowledge and experience. He or she must know where
the camera is pointed at all times and must be sure to record sound that goes
with the picture.’ (Hampe, 1997, page 155)
For
this project, my role as the sound operator during pre-production was heavily
independent. To prepare myself for the production/filming process, I created a
chart that labelled each individual sound that would be used in each scene
throughout the script. I created categories such as ADR, Foley, Sync, and
Special effects to organise it neatly. I knew that I had to be prepared for the
post production stage, so preparing before hand equipped me for the future.
‘Sound technicians…are
responsible for checking and preparing all the sound equipment for shoots,
carrying out additional practical tasks to minimise unwanted sounds on set, evaluating
the acoustics of a particular studio or location, and positioning recording
equipment in the right place at the right time. Furthermore, they will tweak
sound levels and monitor audio signals during filming.' (All About Careers, no
date)
Considering that I knew we were working on a tight
schedule, as the sound recordist I made it my priority to ensure that I had
everything that I and others needed for the film. I kept myself organised
throughout the whole process and helped others as much as I could when needed.
The theme of this script is very dramatic; therefore, it is vital that the
sound is atmospheric throughout. ‘Any use of music and sound calls upon emotional
and perhaps uncontrolled effects for audiences.’ (Coyle, 2003, Page 70). This
project required a lot of Foley sounds to be recorded during post production,
and I was prepared and fully equipped with what I had to record.
During the production process, the sound recording ran
smoothly for me, considering that we were in the same room for the majority of
the time, and any other rooms that we did film in were very quiet places. The
only issues that I faced during production was managing the boom and the dials
on the zoom at the same time to stop the volume levels from peaking. This was especially
hard during moving scenes. Sometimes it was hard to juggle the two together,
even when it was a static scene as I had to be mindful on the boom pole whilst
making sure that it doesn’t appear on the camera.
‘Sometimes
there is a person to help the sound recordist. With a simple one-camera,
one-microphone shoot, there is usually no need for a sound assistant. But as
the number of audio inputs increases, the sound recordist may need some help. A
sound assistant may operate a microphone boom or fish pole to get the
microphone close to the people who are speaking’ (Hampe, 1997, page 155)
With this in mind, I got one
of my classmates to help carry the zoom whilst controlling the dials when I had
to move around and follow a scene.
Perhaps what I could have done differently is ensure that
there is someone to control the zoom dials, even on a static scene, rather than
trying to do it all by myself because at times the volume still peaked because
I wasn’t fast enough to turn it down without it being so noticeable that it
would affect the final edit. This would have prevented that issue, and although
nobody else picked sound as a role, having a spare hand at all times to control
the zoom or even hold the boom pole whilst recording could have ensured that
the volume didn’t peak at all.
The sound during the final
edit at the screening overall was good, however I noticed that certain shouting
parts did peak too slightly, so the editor lowered the volume so that it wasn’t
as noticeable, however I noticed it.
The post production process ran smoothly when I worked
independently and got my parts of my job done, however working alongside the
editor proved to be challenging, as I was constantly being told last minute
that sound would need to be re-done (although I had provided the footage days
ago.) This happened on several different occasions, even on the day before the
deadline date, and at that point I had to email the producer and director to
inform them with the issues that I was faced with.
Furthermore,
another issue I noticed during the screening was that the sound was choppy.
This however would be an editors issue, as it appeared that the editor cut the
sound between each piece of dialogue so it sounded choppy and inconsistent.
There weren’t any cross fades between the dialogue and the wild track, so
throughout the majority of the film I noticed that some parts of the dialogue
had more background noise than others, and again this made it seem like the
sound was inconsistent. However, I provided the editor each day with sound logs
with details on which sounds were usable, but the final edit appeared to be
rushed and it may appear to be a sound issue, although it came down to
inaccuracy during editing.
Overall, I know that I provided good sound for the
project, however I don’t feel like it translated well during the final project.
During this process I made sure that I had my work complete in time and way in
advance so that it is easier for everyone, and I made sure to get any extra
sound footage done when needed if it was last minute. I performed to a high
standard throughout this project, but if I could change one thing I perhaps
could have been more assertive when working with others, to ensure that I am
not putting a strain on myself. Doing this perhaps would have sped up the post
production process for sound, and it would have given me more time to work on
things rather than last minute and on demand. I made sure that the quality of
the Foley sounds was of a great standard, and I achieved this by working
efficiently independently and with others.
Blog Link:
Bibliography
'All About Careers' (no date).
Online. Available at https://www.allaboutcareers.com/careers/job-profile/sound-technician
(Accessed 22 June 2018).
Coyle, R. (2003). Sounding Rural Australia: analysing
documentary sound tracks. Metro Magazine,
(138), page 70.
Hampe, B. (1997). Making Documentaries and Reality Videos. Henry
Holt and Company, LLC.
