Evaluation

My short film followed a story of two sisters separated by their parents’ divorce. Based on
my survey results, I can’t be certain if this storyline was clear and easy to follow, because
one person said yes, and the other said no. I was also praised for certain aspects of my
editing but the conversations could have been a bit better. I was also told that the framing
of some of the shots was a little off. The conversations between the parents and the kids
were filmed and edited that way because my grandma was only available for a certain
amount of time, and I also had to film the actors myself because my dad was not available
on the second shooting day. I originally planned to have some wide shots but I had to adjust
to fit with the actors I had available at the time. I was also praised for the dynamic between
the actors, and I think the fact that the two actors are sisters in real life, and they have a
similar dynamic in real life to the one in the film. People complimented the stop motion and
how it related to the lyrics of the song. My feedback suggested to have a camera holder
because the stop motion was shaky at time, which I do agree with, but I think a different
solution from the camera holder would fix the problem. I could maybe find a way to secure
the background image would help the picture be less shaky, as I did use a tripod to secure
the camera.

In my opinion, I think I could have used a little bit of ADR when Jessica says “Let’s go get
some chocolate from the shop around the corner”, as her voice is kind of drowned out with
the sound of the boiler and the song playing in the background. There were some shots
where I didn’t use a tripod where I probably should have, but I am proud of the zoom ins
and outs, especially where the grandma shows up at the door. I admit that I did take some
inspiration from Edgar Wright’s style of filmmaking. I noticed that some of the shots looked
quite blurry, so I should work on that for my FMP. I am proud of most of my editing choices,
specifically the fading colour changes when Jessica looks through the window into the
empty house. I also liked the cutting back and forth with the “You Better Run”. I’ve always
wanted to make a film featuring that song where we keep cutting back and forth between
two different scenes.

In terms of my promotional material, I created a new Instagram account and website. I

created a poster out of the first shot of the film, with the swing, except the poster wasn’t in
black and white. The I think the poster is effective in promoting the short, as the two swings
suggests that there are two kids who should be using it, and the bright purple title card that
translates to ‘my sister’ in French. I also put the poster as the header on the web page, and
put a vague but still interesting description of the short underneath the actual film, as well
as in the YouTube description. I also included a cast list. However, I wouldn’t say that my
promotional work is completely professional, so that is another thing I would like to work on
for my FMP. I didn’t create a trailer, because I didn’t think a trailer would work for this
particular film, but I will most likely create one for my FMP. The overall film doesn’t make
complete use of the research I did at the beginning of the unit, but I’m not sure where
exactly all the statistics would have fit into the scene, because I wanted to tell a more
specific story about this particular family and the bond that the two sisters have, and how
the separation takes an emotional toll on the younger sister who has never been at home
without her best friend before.