Final Evaluation

The Idea
The genre of the short film was a hybrid genre of action and thriller which was chosen due to the
popularity in these genres within box office statistics from 1995 to 2019. This statistic is
important because it shows the history from 24 years. I found this as I wish to research which
genre was most enjoyed by audiences last year so I can base my film around a successful
genre in order for my film to be as successful as possible. The reason we didn’t choose the
adventure genre was because it was easier to brainstorm story-determining ideas that we could
develop into what would create the foundation of the storyline. The story is about how Sam is
influenced in his school years into a negative life of criminal activity and the consequences he
faces. The story will begin with a flashback in the morning triggered by the diegetic sound of the
alarm clock as Sam gets up out of bed and walks to the shower. Then showing Lucas eating at
the table and Sam comes rushing down the stairs, showing his last-minute, rushing mannerism.
The door opens and the brothers walk out one after the other. The boys walk together to and
into school together, splitting into their separate groups. Sam slowly exits school with his mates
and goes into the shop and puts items in his pockets. Sam comes sprinting out the doors and
the shop keeper chases the boys along with Sam. After being chased, Sam walks through the
door and arrives home. Lucas is waiting in a suit as Sam rushes to get ready, quickly
transitioning to Lucas rushing Sam out the door as they are going to be late to their interview.
When they arrive and depart into separate rooms, both interviews are shown with Lucas’ going
as planned and Sam’s going terribly. They shake hands with the interviewer and leave the
interviews with one being successful and the other being abortive. Once they arrive home, they
sit down to talk about their interviews, but Sam suddenly gets a call on his phone from a
discreet number. Sam gets up to leave and walks out the door regardless of Lucas’ objections. A
car enters the scene and pulls up outside the house and Sam then approaches the car to talk to
them and take a large bag, this instigated the downfall of Sam. The thugs in the car speak to
Sam about the package they giving to him and the costs that are at stake while on their way to a
discreet location that they are dropping Sam off at. They drop Sam at the location and a
montage begins which mainly consists of around 6 people exchanging money for drugs. The
montage stops and a group of boy’s approach Sam and steal the bag of money he’s holding.
Sam calls the dealer and tells him that’s he’s been robbed which intensifies into a threatening
argument that leaves Sam overwhelmed and distressed as he begins calling Lucas to tell him
he’s in trouble, Lucas orders Sam to come home and he starts walking back to the house. Sam
turns around to realize the dealer and his group of thugs are onto him as they start to grab him
as a consequence of losing the bag full of cash. Sam manages to get up and get away, however
the thugs chase Sam through the woods, one of the thugs pulls out a gun and accurately aims it
at Sam while he flees, and once the trigger is pulled – we can see that Sam is fatally injured as,
in slow motion, he drops to the floor deceased. We then see a car pull up on the side of a road,
and Lucas getting out of the car – initiating his revenge for Sam’s death. As a group we each
shared which genre we enjoyed the most along with the research we had found which is why
together we had chosen a hybrid genre of action and thriller. The story fits with the conventions
of action and thriller films as it includes micro aspects such as lowkey lighting, jump cuts,
montage of shots and tension music to name a few. I had learnt this from my A4.A and A4.B
research where I had analysed the films. Genre is important to the audience because it allows
them to differentiate between the styles and types of narrative, allowing them to decide on what
they enjoy.
Through the film, we used different iconography to show the genre of the film such as the
different props and lighting in the film. This use of iconography helped link the conventions of
the film to the genre of thriller. The use of the gun helped to show the genre as this is the most
common prop used in films not just of this genre but of also other genres that can be also hybrid
genres like action, adventure and crime - a few examples of this is Irishman, The Expendables
and Die Hard. We also made the film more conventional to the genre by using the different
types of mis-en-scene, camerawork and editing which assisted us to show the genre of thriller
as all the different practices we used are conventional – some examples are close up shots to
show emotion, dark colour in costumes to connote to death and mystery and finally sequence
shots. These different techniques used were all used to create different effects/feelings for the
audience viewing it, such as cinematography was used to show different shots in the film and to
show off different emotions that the audience can understand. The close ups were to show the
characters emotion in the situation that they were in, which would then most likely be mirrored
by the audience as they can see how the character is feeling and this will leave the audience
feeling the same as the emotion. Also, by using mid shots in my film, helps to share the scene
and will help the audience understand the situation from an outside perspective, almost as if
they are there watching from a window. They are also used to show body language to an
audience to show how a character is feeling or what they are thinking, it could also suggest a
prediction in what is going to happen in an upcoming scene.
We decided to choose Brotherhood because the story made the most sense and the story had a
moral of family loyalty and what the possibilities are if you willingly choose the negative choices
that are presented to you in life. It also made sense because the characters have an existing
chemistry that could easily be presented as a brotherly relationship for the film on camera.
Pre-Production
In my pre-production, I used different techniques to help me see how the film will look before we
even started the filming process and how I will keep all members of the staff and cast safe
throughout the process. The different stages I went through and developed as a team were the
three ideas, idea development, storyboard, location recce, risk assessment, equipment list and
a production schedule.
We started with 3 different concepts, all different genres to see which of the 3 ideas we liked the
most and which would bring more of an audience too. I found from investigation that young
adults and adults like thriller and crime films most as it gives them something to be absorbed in
or gives them an adrenaline rush, due to the suspense or the situations that are taking place. So
due to this data, we decided to mature the idea ‘Brotherhood’, which was a hybrid genre of
thriller and crime. We established it and started to choose what typefaces we would use as a
title and the storyline, casting, props etc., and how this will all make the film conventional to the
genre of crime-thriller. This information helped me develop my idea even further, by choosing
how props will affect the audience and how the diverse non-diegetic soundtracks will help to add
to the meaning of the scene. We picked this, as it is both the genres that the audience likes the
most, meaning that more people will enjoy the film. This was important as it helped me choose
between the 3 ideas that we had and slim it down to one that we can advance more into a
storyline with detail.

We made a mind map of the ideas which created more smaller ideas that would be added into
the film or changed slightly to make them better.
We started with a creating a 6-page storyboard that consisted of 25 shots, so that we could
visually see how each shot will conn etc. and flow into the next throughout the film and also
represents how fluently the film will run, using this assisted us to produce an image early on in
the production as to how my film will look. In this I drew out how each shot will look, with a brief
description of what is going on in the shot and what camera angles are used and what type of
editing technique I will use to join the next shot to this one. After looking at this, I then developed
it further by adding in a further, thorough explanation of what is happening in the shot. For
instance I included in the explanation, what type of shot I will use and the interval of it, what type
of angle I want the camera to pan towards or away in, what is going on, how the lighting will
appear and what sound/scripted language to add in - this helped as once I came to film I
inspected these sheets and recognized exactly what to do and precisely what shots to use when
using my camera. This helped me keep see the genre of thriller early on as all the camera shots
used and all the types of audio and sound are conventional to the genre of thriller. The animated
storyboard helped because we could refer back to what the footage should look like and could
constantly compare the footage to the animated storyboard to ensure this is as accurate as
possible. This is different to the regular storyboard as the pictures were more accurate to what
the footage should look like, we brought this with us to filming sessions to ensure that the shots
were as perfect as they could be to make the client happy.

We had three storyboards, the first draft, the final draft, and the animated. We mainly referred
back to the animated storyboard to compare our shots, however, the written storyboard was full
of detail and we could refer back to it when we wanted to get a deeper insight into what a
particular scene could become.
The paper edit sheet was also important because it made the process a whole lot easier for the
editor as it indicated what transitions, sound effects ect. needed to be used at what specific time
and why it would make them more meaningful to the story.
The script was also an important pre-production process as we had two separate drafts, one
was the original and the other one was the final, improved draft that we would take with us to
every filming session so that we knew our lines clearly and we could change anything that didn't
sound good enough or that we didn't like the look of.
Location recce was an important pre-production process as I needed to find the perfect
locations for the short film and to get permission for filming there. For this I used my own house,
Holly dale recreational grounds, and Ravens Wood school which we all had permission from a
parent, groundsman and head of year who said it would be fine to film there, I then used this
location recce to see how the area fits to my film and what I would need to do in terms of
making the set look more appropriate to the genre. I had to also factor in travel and how casting
and crew would get to the site. Apart from the school scenes, which would have been filmed
during school hours - meaning cast were already on site, the other scenes would have required
picking up in order to get to the site on time with correlation to the schedule to film. This wasn't a
problem as we could organise to get there on time before filming to make the pre organised
filming hours more efficient. We found the location, had got permission and then could film
regularly, which was better for everyone as it allowed us to film a wider variety of clips to choose
from and get a better final cut. It was also easier to make it more conventional to the crime
thriller genre because as we had loads of options to choose from which meant we could choose
the most conventional clips and most effective clips.

We used Google Earth to get a satellite view of the locations we planned to use to show the
proximity of the area.
In order to film a short film, you need a lot of equipment, such as lighting equipment and
cameras etc. To make sure all the equipment is on set and accountable for, an equipment list is
needed. as it shows everything that I used onset and how it will affect my budget. The
equipment list was successful as it helped us see what the different equipment we needed -
from filming equipment to props, to editing software's, it also showed me the cost of the
equipment so that we could factor that into my budget. Most of my equipment, I already owned
myself like a portable charger or was already owned by the school like camera's which meant
that cost was low as I didn't need to purchase other equipment, only the props for iconography
purposes like counterfeit money. This helped me in my pre-production process as I could see
the equipment that I already had and other equipment that I needed to purchase such as the
replica pistol.

We put the equipment in a table to have a description of what it is and why we would need it,
also a price of the product so it would be accounted for in the budget.
It is also important to have a production schedule as it lets the client know what they can expect,
an edited copy and then what date the final product will be sent to them. It also helps us as the
film makers know what time we need to get every aspect of the job done by. The time scale is
packed together as the film needs to be sent off to the client and also sent back for any other
final changes the client wants done, it also means that I can send the fil off to the target
audience faster which will ultimately mean that more of an audience will view this and like it
which means the end product will be more successful upon release. This was definitely
successful in the pre-production as I kept to the schedule all of the time which meant I could
show my client the film earlier than scheduled - this meant that the production stage was mostly
on time and done in the correct manner as the film didn't pass the scheduled and agreed date.
Coronavirus affected our schedule however as we were not able to meet to film important
scenes for the film due to social distancing safety measures, meaning that the schedule for the
completion of the film was delayed. This is one of the very few deadlines that wasn't met for the
client as it was out of the team’s control and we plan to resume filming when the lockdown is
relaxed/lifted. The equipment list helped a lot because we always knew what we had to take
with us and what we were missing if we felt we didn't have everything with us. However, this
was never really a problem as we always had the equipment list with us when filming, and pre-
prepared the equipment we needed for filming the night before so that everything is accounted
for and ready for the next filming session instead of risking missing some of the equipment and
having to sacrifice crucial time of filming.,

The schedule was organised into dates and was separated into different scenes to make it
clearer to understand what was being filmed and when. We also had a group chat that would be
used to communicated with each other if we had to reschedule to a later date.
The proposal was also pitched to the client to ensure that they were satisfied with the plan that
was going to be put in place from the filming schedule to the editing process. It involved every
aspect of the process of building the film and putting the pieces together, not missing out any
aspect of the film to keep the clients well informed and also to get their most accurate opinion of
what they think of the plan. We also had constant meetings throughout the process to inform
them of any changes that were put in place and why these changes were more beneficial to the
production of the film as there wouldn't be much point of changing and wasting time if it wasn't
to be more beneficial. It also helped us because they would give insights on what would be
better for the film which helped avoid any possible mistakes that would affect the end product of
the film. It also gave an outside perspective on the film and the potential it would have.
Every single one of the pre-production plans all helped with the production of the film
immensely, this comes down to helping me keep to a time scale, and helping me see if I had all
the correct equipment and how large or small an impact it will have on the budget of the film.
Also the use of having it all drawn out on a storyboard meant that the filming process could be
completed quicker as all the shots that would be used were on the sheet so it that when it came
to filming we could easily what shots we needed and how long they needed to be.
Production
The production of my film went very well, everything was on time and nothing missed a
deadline. All the cast and crew were very good in the respective roles they play and helped
create the film in no time at all. The film was my first film produced and it was a success.
In terms of new skills that I learned, there were many that I learned in the creation process of
the film such as how to film using the same filming device and the importance of it as it needs to
stay at the same quality throughout the film. It also allowed me to film without having a distorted
view that would deteriorate the quality of the end product. I also learned to film multiple takes of
a shot/scene and after select the clip that best fits the flow of the scene and the foundation of
the film to help the film run more smoothly. I also learned how to edit all the taken clips together
to make them fit naturally throughout the film. Not to mention, it also helped me develop my
creativity as I could change shots or effects in the film during production to make it fit the
previous shot in order for it to look more naturally put together.
Throughout the film, the film shows the genre of thriller by using different conventions that link to
the genre, such as the use of all mise-en-scene, cinematography, editing and sound The film is
conventional to the genre as the props, costumes and editing techniques used in it link to other
thriller films. Such as the prop guns I use in my film to make the audience feel on edge from the
possibility of fatal injury to any of the characters as this becomes a possibility as soon as this
prop is introduced. This is similar to most thriller films where weapons make an appearance - in
films like John Wick and The Expendables where it is common for guns to make an appearance
to keep the audience on edge for what possibilities may hold with the anticipation of the future
moments. It is a popular use as the audience loves to feel the anticipation of the uncertain
future.
Thriller is one of the most popular genres that people enjoy due to the constant build up from
suspense and also the adrenaline rush they get from it. If I could change any elements, I would
have to change the amount of characters I would have in the film so that there is a larger variety
of acting and a larger script for more dialogue used meaning the audience can understand
better how the characters are feeling from the way they speak and what they are saying, as well
as how they act towards a situation. I would also change the setting to a more urban city area to
make the story more realistic to something like a short film like Crop Circle, which serves a
realistic feel as it is set in an urban south London location.
The production process of the film ran very smoothly, the pre-production helped massively as
the storyboard and description aided me and the group visually see how my film would turn out
to be before we even started the filming process. When it came to the filming process, I just
looked at the shot that I was doing, and it also helped me edit the shots together as it says what
type of editing technique and what type of sounds to implement into the shot. The pre-
production helped me keep to allocated timings that the client and I had previously agreed on
which kept my client happy as everything was done before the deadline and so that they could
review it over and request any types of changes to be made.
After all my filming was done; I transferred all my footage onto my computer and started using
Premier Pro to edit all of the gathered clips together. The editing stage was more difficult
because I hadn’t edited previously, however we did have help from other group members to get
this completed quicker which definitely helped. So, this stage took a little bit longer than we
originally thought as we wanted to get everything near enough perfect, making the end product
look immaculate. We also had to reshoot some extra scenes such as the dealing scenes to
make the film flow better and make editing easier. I used different techniques and effects in the
films, I used fading in and fading out of the names and the title overlapping each other for
dramatic effect. I also used vocal enhancers, so that the speech in the clips was clearer and
could be heard better, this helps the audience know what is going on such as when Lucas and
Sam are speaking to each other about how their interviews went.
I also used fades in order to fade out and in the music at the beginning for the introduction so
that it could correlate with the introduction as smoothly as possible, instead of just cutting the
music the moment the intro comes to an end to avoid a choppy and forced feel which would
likely displease viewers due to lack of fluency. This helps with first impressions of the film and
also helps it run smooth with no cuts in the sound or repeated sound that would ruin the
introduction. This also helps the audience follow the film as the audio all fades out when it isn't
needed, and it makes it clear what is happening such as when suspense is building or when
there is tension in a scene which creates interest for the audience.
Conventions
The film was conventional firstly because of the use of props to incite iconography and to clearly
represent the genre of thriller. Props like money, drugs and money that all feature are
iconographic because they feature majorly in films of the thriller genre such as Die Hard,
Limitless or Nightcrawler to name a few. Another convention of thrillers is the addition of
violence which can be seen in the scene where Sam is being robbed and beaten up by a group
of thugs with physical violence, and also when he is shot in the scene by the thugs chasing Sam
through the woods. Violence is a conventional feature in thriller films because it gives the
audience a feeling of adrenaline towards the situation and also empathy for the victim because
they have been mirroring his feelings through close up shots throughout the film, which is also
another feature of the thriller genre. The close-up shots are conventional because they show the
viewers how the characters feeling towards a particular moment or situation through either facial
or physical expressions to show emotions. This is done by the director to form a relationship
between the audience and the protagonist so they can see the storyline in a similar perspective
to the character. There are also dull colours used throughout the film, which introduces
connotations of mystery. Colours such as dark grey (car) and black (costumes) for example are
used very commonly throughout the film to give these strong connotations and indicate the
genre clearly.
Micro aspects
One of the micro aspects that were used was the use of costumes, we used dark clothing in
scenes that showed Sam being negatively influenced such as the 'dealing' montage. This was
done to help show the audience that Sam was going down a negative life path as well as the
customers who also wore dark clothes to show this further. Lucas is also indicated to be the
better brother who is more successful through costume in scenes where he is wearing a suit
which connotes to success and wealth. This is also contrasted to Sam in scenes where Lucas is
wearing a suit and Sam is wearing a tracksuit as tracksuits connote to gang violence and crime,
the opposite of what Lucas' clothes connote. This is seen commonly in other films like Suits
where there is a contradiction from the way the two characters present themselves. In the case
of the series Suits it would be Harvey Specter and Mike Ross. This is conventional because it
puts emphasis on how Sam is going down a bad route more clearly because the audience has
someone to directly compare him to.
The cinematography we used was also approached in a way that would clearly show the
audience the situation but also keep them on the edge of their seats. Some of these shots are
close ups and long shots. The effects of close ups are to show the emotions of the character to
the audience and create empathy from the audience towards the character as they feel the
same feelings as the character. It can also be used for dramatic effect when combined with the
slow-motion edit, which is seen in the last chase scene. The dramatic effect is included to build
the anticipation for the upcoming scenes and will make the audience concerned for the
protagonist because they know the sad 'reality' of what the result of this scene will be.
The camera that we used was an iPhone 8 camera which was high quality and stable enough to
film the film on to make the end product look good quality for the client. The camera was stable
most of the time, however, was unstable at other times and some scenes had to be re filmed in
order to assure 100% quality and accuracy of the best final product we could produce for our
client. The footage that was captured on the iPhone camera was backed up through iCloud
which was helpful because it eliminated the worry of risking the footage and losing good footage
that would have potentially been used in the final cut of the film. It also assured the group that
all footage was accounted for and wasn't missing from the camera roll when it came to export
the footage to the Adobe Premiere Pro editing software when it was time for the editing process
which kept everything on schedule.
We edited the footage through Adobe Premiere Pro which was without a doubt the best editing
software we could have used to get the highest quality end product for our client. It gave us
loads of options that we needed to make our film unique to existing films of the thriller genre
whilst keeping innovative and also keeping to the genre. We were able to add in non-diegetic
sound effects like the gunshots which were realistic due to the high-quality audio which made
the overall film have a more realistic film. We also included a non-diegetic soundtrack at the
beginning credits and title scene that was in sync with the movement of the text of the names
and also the title Brotherhood. This soundtrack, which was Pop Smoke - Welcome to the Party,
was used because the lyrics of the song incited that not only is this the beginning of the film as it
says welcome, but also that this is a crime thriller film as it mentions drugs and money which is
included in our film. The title screen of the film is also in sync with the drop of the song which
builds anticipation for the audience. The transitions were also very smooth and weren't jumpy
which made the end product look smoother, this was also due to the smooth footage and
filming, but the editing stabilised this.
Analysis of Production
The production process did not present many challenges, however there were a few in terms of
the filming stage. Re shooting scenes was difficult at times because it was difficult to get the
same exact angle or find one that is better suited, but this was easier to cope with from aid of
the storyboard because we could calculate which angle would be best suited for the scene.
Also, the iPhone footage was a bit blurry due to the fact it was a phone and not a camera made
for shooting high quality photos and videos. We should have used a filming camera for this
issue to be resolved but the phone camera still came out to the best quality it could be. Apart
from those minor issues, the whole filming process went very smoothly. Also, the use of the
storyboard helped make the process of filming easier as I used it to see what should go where,
what the angle should be and how the shot should look. The other pre-production parts helped
me complete the filming process quicker as it had all of the detail on the pages.
The most successful element of my short film was the shots including the chase scene, from
where Sam is being chased by the thugs and gets shot at in the woods. The short scenes
leading up to this helped build suspense and tension as we can see the character get stressed
about losing the bag of cash and what this means for him, which leaves the audience worried
for him as they don't know what could happen to the character yet but know something bad is
about to happen. This helps to create an affect that would leave the audience with either
sympathy for the character as then something is obviously going to happen to Sam or no
sympathy for the character, as he lost the money and got himself into an easily avoidable
situation to begin with, even when his brother tells him not to.
If I were to film another short film again then I would most likely keep to the one genre of thriller
again, so that I could create a tense atmosphere for the audience, by getting them to know the
character of the film and not the antagonist. This would be affective as the audience would then
care for the character more and will start to mirror emotions such as the character being worried
or scared, the audience would feel the same way for them creating a rapport. Also, by using
different shots and effects it would help to build suspense so that the audience can see
something is going to happen and it will give them an adrenaline rush due to the events
happening in the film. This is one of the reasons people watch thriller films, due to the
adrenaline rush they get when watching them. By doing this it makes films more affective and
they get a larger viewing to watch it.
The reason I chose to focus on one genre is so that I can create more of an affect in the film, by
using different shots, editing effects, sounds and props. By using all of this it will help the
audience focus on the genre and they will start to feel sorry for the character and the situation
they are in. Thriller films gain larger audiences due to people liking to have the thrill of feeling
the characters emotions which are usually frightened or worried for the character, so by the
focusing mainly on the one genre it would do this by adding in long build ups to keep the
audience on edge and make them feel the fear the character feels.