Candlelight Film and Post Production Pack -- Experimental Media Final Assignment

 Experimental Film

Candlelight

Theme: Optimism

The concept behind the Idea: 

I explored the concept of how continuous negative thoughts and feelings can affect you.

Process Before The Film:

Before the assignment was given, I attended multiple lectures in which the lecturer explained different theories and showed different videos to make sure I understood the context of each of them. The process of the film took me around 2 weeks before the assignment began as I had to do research for the theme and the theory I would follow, and then come up with multiple ideas. After planning and leaving multiple ideas I came up with an idea that could show how overthinking and constant worrying about others could affect you. I started planning on this idea and decided to use Expressionism theory for my film as I did more research on it than the other theories as it interested me. I also decided to use candlelight as a main symbolic part of the film to showcase the expressionism in my film.

Challenges (Difficulties in Filming, Sound Development Editing):

However, the execution of the idea was an issue as I first decided to find actors who could act in my film. After asking multiple people I had 3 people on board for the film but however, 2 days before the filming began the two actors backed away due to their own commitments. I was left with one actor and now had to make a plan B to ensure the film went according to the idea I had planned. 

Fortunately, a class fellow of mine decided to help me with one of the shots that were supposed to be blurred out.

Next, I had to find a location to take the main film shots in and since I was not allowed to film at a different location with a male actor, I had to shoot at a location near my house. The actor who was the main character rode his bike to my location which was far from his place and after guiding him on how the film will take place, we began the filming. 

The whole filming process took 3 days since I had to take some shots by myself. I also made sure to make the background sound effects by myself and I also decided to add background music to put emphasis on the prominent parts of the film. 

However, the hardest when it came to filming the main issues was the lighting. Since I was working with natural lighting for the whole film I had to manage the shots according to that, but due to several retakes we lost the natural lighting so I had to use artificial lighting for the 3rd and 4th last shots.  

During the second day shoot I had to take running shots that would be used for first person Point Of View and for that I carried the camera on the tripod to make sure the footage was not extremely shaky. When it came to editing those shots I decided to instead of colour-grading them I would decrease their exposure and contrast a little bit. 

Moreover, editing the film was difficult as the Premiere Pro I was working on was causing a lot of disturbances and glitches but I managed to edit the film. To show the gloominess in the film I decided to manage the exposure and contrast of the footage even if the shots were not the first point of view and decided to use a cinematic lumertic preset effect on the film. The third day of the filming was not that difficult as I had to take some shots to use at the end of the film and along with this also wrote and recorded the voiceover.

Meaning Behind The Film:

Candlelight is a film about my experience with overthinking and negative emotions and believing if everyone is against me. I decided to use my experience and turn it into something positive. The film begins with our main character's feet stepping into the frame but then there is a blurred-out frame that shows how our main character looks at the world. 

This blurred-out frame symbolises how the negativity that the main character feels has affected him, it has made his world blurry. The next shot shows the close-up of the main character listening in to the conversation of the person on the phone thinking that the conversation is about him when in actuality it could be about something else.

The shot below expresses his point of view and how his assumption about being the topic of the conversation has further darkened his world visually. 

These shots below express how assuming that the actions of others are to hurt you can lead you to a constant state of fear. As the man walks towards the main character, the main character assumes that the man is going to hurt him and due to that fear, he begins running away. 

The house in a couple of shots later can symbolise a dead end for the character and the candle with its light on can be linked with expressionism as it expresses its meaning and relationship with that of the timer. The candlelight makes the character realise that he needs to change himself. The timer sound effect on the candle symbolises that it is giving the character a chance to finally change his thinking and his perspective of the world. 

The blowing out of the candle expresses the character's choice to change. And as soon as he does it a white light shines on his face expressing that he has welcomed optimism in his life. 

The film ends with a voice-over on a bright shot done by me, and along with that a quote that says "Not Everyone is after You. Be Optimistic."

Behind The Scenes:

Self Evaluation: 

During the different lectures, my concepts of the theories were getting jumbled up but after doing self-research I finally understood each of them. I decided to opt for Expressionism theory as I had already done some class assignments on it and it was quite intriguing for me to implement my film idea on this theory. After self-research, I got more understanding of the theory and how I could implement it in my film. 

During the assignment and after the assignment, I realised I do not work well with people who do not understand the concept and the idea of the film and also those individuals who do not understand their role to me during the filming process. I also realised that whatever ideas I have in my mind can not be executed the same way as it is in my mind. 

Moreover, since I am a creative individual this assignment made me realise that I can showcase my creativity in any way I could but the idea that I am executing needs to be unconventional as that is what Experimental Media means. This assignment also made me realise that sound plays an extremely important role in the film. Before the experimental media class, I had not focused enough on the sound of the films I used to watch but after the lectures, I focused on the sound development of the film equally as the visual part of the film. 

Overall, my strengths are creativity, time management, camera work and editing the project, but I also have many weaknesses. Some of my weakness is working in a team, and handling the filming process if the project time duration is narrowed down to either a week or even five days. 

Final Film: Candlelight