Following my critical presentation, I have spent the last few days reviewing my feedback and trying to improve my piece and move it to a place where I am satisfied with what I have created. This has been quite difficult, as I faced a brief period of a few days where I simply could not come up with any ideas. This frustrated me to no end, which only made the situation worse. I decided to stop worrying about it and focus on other projects for a few days, and when I returned to my piece and reviewed my feedback, I felt refreshed and motivated to continue. Soon enough, I began to piece together the elements that had previously avoided me and my final piece began to take shape. Below is a list of changes I have made to my piece since my critical presentation.
I changed the circles, replacing the garish colours with tonal reds. Using a smokey texture on Adobe Photoshop, I made nine versions of the same image - each one with a higher saturation value than its predecessor. I imported these into Adobe Premiere and replaced the film burn tracks I had created before. Using the keyframe animation technique in unison with the Rotation tool, I animated these images so that they would rotate in the opposite direction as the "Twirl" effect I added to my footage. This created an interesting dynamic between the two; it was as though the two were battling, creating a very tense effect. I am very pleased with the way this has turned out - it is much more Hellish and I would even go as far as to say that it is better than my original idea. I would prefer if the images were footage of smoke instead of still image, but I feel the effect works well nonetheless.
I removed the painting, which I feel improves the piece substantially as it was not conducive to the minimalistic and abstract nature of my film. However, this left me without a rhythmic disruption, and so this was my next step in the development process.
I disrupted the structure of the piece, which I hope will subvert the expectations of the audience. I first had to choose a suitable place for the disruption to occur. I chose one minute 50, as I feel that when the audience reaches the half-way point of my film they will have adjusted to its rhythm, and so by 1.50 the disruption will be especially effective. Choosing what the disruption would actually be was relatively difficult, however as soon as I had chosen a time it became clear. The 'middle finger' shot was one that I had not been entirely satisfied with, as it had not been framed very nicely. After taking on feedback and experimenting with removing the frame, I decided that I definitely preferred this shot without the frame. However, I did not want to just cut away the frame smoothly and instantly, and this detracted from the chaotic nature of the piece and seemed a little lazy. As such, I made the frame flicker in and out of existence before holding in its absence, and then swiftly re-introduced it before the next cycle began. I feel that this is very effective as it is a frontal shot, and when the image is held it seems as though the gesture is directed to the audience themselves. I feel that this will be a shocking image to disrupt the structure with that will evoke negative feelings within the audience, which is cohesive to my theme of Hell.
I added a sense of climax, which I feel gives the ending of the piece more significant. To do this, I spend up the rotation of the circles using keyframe animation, meaning that each circle spun slightly faster than the last. This is a subtle effect that becomes obvious towards the end, as all of the circles are spinning at different speeds, creating a Hellish, vortex-like effect that I feel is very effective. To end the piece, I removed the last shot of the back wound as I felt this slowed the ending down, and faded the circles out in time with the soundtrack. I also added an animated blur to this transition so that it was softer and more ethereal. I am very satisfied with the result, however I do feel that the last circle spins a little too quickly - yet, I increased the speed by the same amount each time, and to divert from this would be to break the rules I have set myself as a structuralist.
I added titles and credits, as requested in the brief. As my film was exactly three minutes long, this addition has taken my piece over the allowed time. However, Debbie assured us in our class that titles and credits would not contribute to the time when the pieces were being marked.
A screen grab showing the developments I made in Adobe Premiere Pro
After making these improvements, I feel that I have truly developed my piece into a version that is the closest to my original vision. I feel that the changes from that idea that I have made, such as substituting the close-ups of environmental shots, have been entirely beneficial and have avoided making a piece that was too literal. I feel that, whilst there are some elements that I would ideally change given the resources, I have reached a point where I am relatively satisfied with my work. I have achieved this by continuing to develop my work and introduce new ideas based on the feedback I have received and my own judgement. I feel confident to present my work to my class and lecturers in an assessed presentation on Thursday, December 19th.
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