My first idea was a very serious storyline, about an alcoholic who was to wake up in a gutter somewhere, dirty and unhealthy looking. He was then going to walk up the road almost hobble. Perhaps going home, perhaps going to numb himself once again. I wanted it to be very moving, both sad and dark. But when I began filming for this idea it did not work well at all. The lighting was too bright, the setting did not work completely and I didn't know where else would, and I realised that my idea did not have enough depth to be long enough. After looking over my footage on the computer I also realised the music I had previously chosen didn't fit overly well either, and I didn't even know where to begin looking for music that would work well. So, after much thought, freaking out and brainstorming I chose to start completely over.
I am hugely pleased I made this decision. When I had the idea of doing stop motion, it seemed both daunting but I loved it too. I enjoy photography, and in my mind this seemed like an extension of that. After Annamarie agreed to be my one and only character, I knew I could do it. As I chose to look further into the genre of Teen Indie Film I wanted it to look rather choppy and the walking to not make sense 100% of the time, I wanted it to be relaxed and I think this works well. As there is absolutely no dialogue in my film it was important to me what music I chose. I went through many options, staring with soft, completely happy chirpy tunes. But as I began thinking more into the effect I wished to create I realised I wanted to add more depth to my protagonist. My opening is primarily character based and the music was one of the only opportunities I had to give the effect of 'perhaps things aren't what they seem'. I chose the song Suicide Policeman by the band Yuck because although the song sounds acoustic and soft in both Tune and Vocal style the lyrics, if payed attention to, tell a sad story about someone who is on the edge of suicide. "Brother if you're feeling low/ Tell me one thing I should know of your situation/ I could stand out in the hall/ I could be your suicide policeman.". I think this song is perfect for my film opening, as viewers may not catch on to this first watch. It also shows that perhaps this girl has someone looking out for her, someone is her "Suicide Policeman" and, perhaps, that is why she smiles. I also liked the outcome of the stopmotion. Once I edited it all together it did show movement well. It was just as disjointed as I had imagined, and gave interest to what could have been seen as a mundane storyline.
I think I could have redone some of the shots. Some of the shots in my film are slightly fuzzy or a little bit off, although I like the choppy look in some cases it began to look messy, but I did not have a chance to re-do these things. In some cases too, the lighting changes. It becomes brighter at one stage in my film and it must have been because my camera turned off it would have reset the Shutter Speed, letting more light in, and so making the images for the rest of the film look like a different day. But when this happened I did not notice how big the difference actually was, So I simply carried on taking my photos. This bugs me a little, but once again I was unfortunately unable to change this. During the editing stages I also experienced some problems. As my computer would not let me download Premiere Pro, I chose to create my film on Windows Movie Maker (this was also a result of lack of time, as I chose to completely re-do my film I had to use my time as well as I could manage). This lead to some restrictions in my editing process but I couldn't easily work my way around these issues either, I think I did well with what I had available to me. All of these changes I believe would have made my film look a lot more professional, I believe there are some moments where the quality is low in my film, and I wish I had done this idea first so I would have had more time in all areas!
After showing my film opening to a few people they have told me that they like it, that the music works very well, and the stop-motion looks good too. I am also pleased with my opening, It certainly went better then I had originally thought, I really enjoyed making it and like the depth behind it too.
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