Critical Evaluation

Reflecting upon your portfolio submission in the light of the research undertaken as well as a practical description of how the proposal would be achieved.

My project idea revolved around Werewolves, and I think that a definite upside to choosing this as my main research is that there is so much reference in film and television that I was in some ways spoilt for choice. The representations of Werewolves in film and TV varied through time, genre and age range so I had to hone in and know from the get go what area I was interested in for my sequence idea as I had to think about how I would create it to the best effect.

A downside is that though there was a lot of visual reference there was barely anything when it came to finding academic resources for the area I was researching, for example the origin of werewolves in terms of location and first recorded sighting. Though all of this information can be found after digging around on the internet, it’s all folktale and varies from page to page as Werewolves are creatures of myths and legends. This meant that my research was more imagery and film/TV based than text when I needed a balance of the two.

As well as working on an individual research idea we also worked as part of a group to help creatively realise an uncanny idea. The basis of the idea for my group was pulling a heart out of a chest. The idea though seemingly difficult when viewed on television and in movies was very easy to achieve. In that sense it gladly made me realise that what you see on TV is never too hard to recreate in your own back yard. On the other hand if starting the project again I would improve the idea by adding something more to this premise, such as making the man eat the heart, or have him plunge straight into his chest. As in comparison to the other groups who used green screen for their pieces’ it made ours look a little one dimensional and bland. In the future I know that I should try and be as creative as possible no matter how impossible the idea sounds. This is something that I slowly started to realise as I built my research idea and the proposal for the film sequence it would be implemented in.

I have already talked about how my academic research was light due to the nature of the topic; therefore if I was to restart the project I would consider picking a topic that was more solid. At one point my research was a mixture of Costume in the 18^th Century and Werewolves. If I had chosen to go in the formers direction then I would have had a balance of academic and visual resources for reference.

The other negative point that links on, is that I have had to remember that both life in the 18^th Century and Werewolfism can't be the front for my research and therefore, there were points where I needed to step back and give slightly more attention to the detailing when it comes to the Werewolves.

A plus side of choosing to study Werewolves as part of my research is that it is an original topic. Though there may not be a lot of academic resources on the topic there is a trail of myths and legends spread throughout online articles and books. Luckily this subject matter is one that I have had an interest in over the years so I have found it enjoyable to find little bits of information that can be used if I were to make the film sequence. One example is that during my research I found that Werewolves are found mainly in the European Countryside. This has helped me in my decision for the location of my sequence to take place; The Derbyshire countryside, which may not be as European as the French Countryside but still, looks the part.
Another plus side of my research idea is that because of the time period it is set in I have had to research to find the right type of location I could film in as well as the costume for the main character as authenticity is a big part of what I am trying to achieve. So by researching these other small elemental details surrounding life in the 1700's it has helped me plump out my research topic as in many ways both subjects are intertwined.

During the production process of the workshop project there were a range of issues as well as successes that have taught me a few things.

The first issue that comes to mind is that we only had three people in the group, which at times became quite a hindrance. When it came to the day of production the producer had elected himself as our actor as he couldn't find someone else to do the job. This meant that I had to be the Producer and the Director, talking to the Cinematographer about the shots that I wanted as well as directing the actor and keeping an eye on the set to make sure everything was in place. Though keeping my eye on every task was slightly stressful because of the short time frame we had to film, in some ways working in a smaller group had its advantages. It meant that not everyone was crowding around the camera to see what had been done as space was limited with the extra people and equipment, it also meant that nobody was sitting around redundant.

From this I learnt that it is possible to get everything done no matter how difficult it seems at first, as long as you know what needs to be done so you can do it as efficiently as possible.

No matter how simple the idea turned out from the original proposal a definite success is that it did work; the act of having a man take his heart out of his chest. This was the main principal of the idea in the first place. The only negative point I can take from this is that it was a lot simpler to achieve than I first imagined and especially whilst watching the other groups I wish we really could have creatively achieved having a man take his heart out of his own chest (not going through a button down shirt). Also though I did make a fake heart out of foam and plastic tubes, it was just for experimental purposes, therefore it felt almost like a cheat that when we used a pig's heart for the actual production. Though the foam one may not have been realistic it would have been interesting to see how it would have looked on camera or how we could have manipulated it in post to look more realistic.

There are a few films that I used as the focal point for my research; Van Helsing (Sommers 2004), Underworld (Wiseman, 2003) and Abraham Lincoln Vampire Hunter (Bekmambetov, 2012) being the main few.

Van Helsing being a supernatural hunter is one of the main themes of the movie, the basis of my film is about being hunted. In my sequence the main character Annabeth is being hunted by the man that killed her father, and then as the movie goes on (Though this isn't part of the sequence I am focusing on) she trains to become a hunter and get revenge on them. The idea for the training sequence was implemented from Abraham Lincoln Vampire Hunter. The secondary character in Van Helsing; Anna Valerious (Played by Kate Beckinsale) was my main point of inspiration for the transformation of Annabeth from damsel in distress to huntress.

The tone of my film was inspired by Underworld in the sense that it uses a blue/grey colour pallet the whole way through. This is juxtaposed with film noir style of camera movements and storytelling like that of Sin City (Rodriguez, Miller, Tarantino, 2005). As part of the Audio Visual element of my film sequence proposal I talked about how I would be imitating this look. As well as that, other parts I talked about i.e.; the fluid camera movements and the x-ray type long shots, are all elements noted in Film Noir, and I thought it would really suit as my story is a little dark and dramatic with many plot twists and unexpected conclusions.   

Theories discussed in sessions have focused solely around the uncanny, and with this in mind is why I have chosen to include a supernatural being as part of my piece. Out of the large range of beings I could have chosen I elected for Werewolves. Films such as Twilight (Hardwicke, 2008) have really hyped down the traditional personification and elected a more over exaggeration one of Vampires. Shows such as Charmed have removed the fear and ugliness that witches traditionally used to be more commonly known for. These points are what swayed my decision to use a Werewolf, though the two previously mentioned were part of the original consideration.

I haven't learnt any practical skills from the workshop sessions that I have then decided to use in my piece. Though what I have done is use the things I have done and seen as a point of inspiration for creatively realising obstacles. For example as part of my filmic sequence I have described that Annabeth's father gets his neck ripped out. I now know that achieving this wouldn't be too hard. As one solution; I could use a carrier bag painted the same skin tone as the victim’s skin, then have it filled with fake blood, thus allowing it to burst free and splatter when opened. This is just one of the ideas I have in mind but without the sessions I would have thought achieving something like that would have been difficult and expensive.  This is the knowledge that I know will also useful when it comes to me making other projects in the future.

I didn't have a particular age group in mind when I started building the idea of filmic sequence based on the research I was gathering. Though because I knew that it was going to be part of the fantasy horror genre I knew that it wouldn't be watchable for people under the age of at least twelve. In terms of the audience it is aimed towards, I believe that the genre will draw in its own audience, as fantasy horror is a niche genre and that with the added bonus of Werewolves will help to narrow down the people that would view the movie. What I really don't want to happen to the piece is that it is taken into the fold of this generations’ fandom whereby it carves away at the edges of the roughness I want the feel of the movie to give off, ending up like movies such as the Twilight franchise and slowly also The Hunger Games (Ross, 2012) franchise. Overall the sequence I believe should gain an emotional response from the viewers in terms of the shocking scenes and the violence of death. This all automatically puts Annabeth on a pedestal for surviving the ordeal and seeking revenge, making her a strong lead that should gain a following from mainly the female viewers.

I have integrated my learning experiences and how I have questioned the creative process throughout this evaluation. I have also looked at both the workshop and the research finished products from an objective and subjective view point, highlighting the strengths and weaknesses of them both and have spoken about my work in contexts of how it will be perceived by the audience on a viewing basis and on a social context basis. Therefore as a final point and to summarise, when it comes to the story of both elements, in terms of the workshop project, the original proposal tells the dark story of an unhealthy man but in the end there was no real story arc to what happens. The perception that will come from the audience is more of an observatory one which wasn’t the original agenda. My filmic sequence on the other hand I feel tells a complete story, leaving a slight hook at the end that keeps the audience wanting to know more. It would have been nice to achieve something similar for the workshop piece but overall both strands have taught me about how to best creatively realise a project idea.