MEDI 119 (Larping About: Critical Evaluation)

Larping About: Critical Evaluation.

I have very much enjoyed this project despite constant problems setbacks and technical failures and I feel that I have learned a lot from my mistakes. I have a far better understanding now of how to produce a movie and the time constraints of this. Although it’s been hard and at some points the technical faults have been near soul destroying I have learned and adapted and remained flexible.

I think that although it was a valuable lesson I will not be doing another casting call using a social networking site again and feel maybe I was being a bit to experimental with the so called new media phenomenon’s, perhaps they aren’t quite as useful as I originally thought they would be but I would like to maybe try more traditional methods next time. However I thought it would be best due to the nature of my original script considering I needed a cast of hundreds...

I am sad that I wasn’t able to stick to my original script although I feel it was extremely ambitious to begin with.  However there is some storyline left of the many fast rewrites and improvisations that were needed in order to actually have a finished piece. As I have said in my project report my original location was far too specific and the location that I found matching it would have needed a budget of more than nothing to transport everyone to and from location as it was remote and not even on any bus route.  Having said this I don’t think it is vastly deprived by the downscaling of locations.
The overall tone I originally wanted was an epic fantasy story that eventually you found out was all in some bodies head. Although I had to make it much more light hearted and fun I do feel I kept this element to some extent.  I am happy with how the tone of the piece turned out and think it’s very funny. It’s also a very nice representation and advert of my hobby and although not intended I am quite proud of this as it’s a hobby I care a great deal about.

I enjoyed the actual filming and I think that the footage that I got was fairly clean and crisp so I am pleased with this. It was a good day to film and we were blessed with the weather conditions. It was hard to co ordinate a cast and make up and sound and things but I feel I got the hang of things fairly quickly mainly because it was a lot of fun. I did enjoy filming the outtakes because they never differed from my plan and this pleased me.  All of the cast had a good time and were happy to be there and I think that shows.

The technical issues were mostly to do with the lack of working tape decks available, I had them eject the tape at random and turn themselves on and off for no reason among other things, this meant I had a hard time getting all the footage off. In the end I had to ask a friend that knew lots about fire wire to come and help me. Luckily most of the footage was saved thanks to the use of fire wire cables however it left no time for a reshoot.  If I could do things differently I would have definitely re shot at least the storyline parts. I feel it would have vastly benefitted from more footage since the storyline footage I shot that I was able to retrieve didn’t last as long as I thought it would in terms of time.

I feel pleased with the responses that I received at the screening and subsequently via YouTube and Face Book from strangers, course mates and friends alike and everyone agrees that it’s funny.  The fact that I have had such a positive response reassures me and although in the screening I have seen far better videos than mine I feel that I have also seen far worse and would place mine at least middling. I do feel that whilst it could be better both technically and in terms of better depth of storyline that it is at the very least entertaining and humours.
As I stated in the project report my main actor was going to do a voice over but due to a sports injury was not able to make it to a sound studio for me to record him. However the sound track I feel is right for it and I don’t think that given the option I would change it now.  I have made a lot of prototypes with different music but have ran into problems because of copyright mainly so I decided to go with some music that was under creative commons and therefore free to use for non commercial purposes, all of the tracks are the same band so it sounds more unified and works as a whole. I spent hours alone on making sure the music fit perfectly and faded in and out at just the right time. I am very pleased with how the music works with the film and feel that it is tied together with the sound from the location that I opted to keep making it feel more real, since I wanted to avoid the movie just being film set to music.

My group was very enjoyable to work with and I am pleased to have been part of it. I hope to be able to work again with its members in the future as they are very supportive, creative and flexible and I think all of our movies are good. We had lots of technical issues in the group and problems with actors and occasionally lack of equipment but we all worked together well and helped each other.

This experience has taught me to remain flexible with everything movie related as things never worked to quite to plan yet I am pleased with the results. Although it’s not what I would have originally wanted to do, I still feel that it has evolved quite well and although as I have stated there would be a lot I would do differently looking back I am still proud of how it turned out.

MEDI 119 (Larping About: Project Report.)

Larping About: Project Report. 

The first stage of the work for this movie was location scouting and a casting call. I chose to be experimental and use a social networking site for my casting call as I felt that it would be able to reach a wider audience than more conventional methods and although it did... It didn’t spark as much interest as I thought it would. So sadly I was left on the day of shooting with a number of actors far fewer than the hundreds I needed for the script. Also I had to vastly downscale the location as on a budget of nothing it would have been extremely hard to get everyone to the original location picked.

This lead into a very quick rewriting of the script and although the storyline was good it didn’t cover 5 minutes which found out much later in post production. This meant with time constraints I had to find a way to work the story in with the little footage I managed to be able to get. The actual filming went fairly smoothly due to good weather and a decent camera. However there were a lot of difficulties keeping everyone quiet on the set and co ordinate with what was meant to be happening. I feel that it went well and that I was flexible and everyone added something to the piece and in the end it’s all very playful and fun and lively. I used a mixture of Tripod and handheld filming and I think that they blended together alright.

The hardest, longest and most intense stage of this was the editing for me since I have never done anything like this. It took weeks and weeks and there were so many issues due to faulty tape decks that in the end I had to ask assistance from a friend of mine that is handy with fire wire technology to be able to salvage my film. Because of the problems it took a couple of days intensive editing to be able to be ready for the deadline.

I didn’t expect that post production would take so long and I think this was a major problem since it left me very little time for a reshoot and trying to organise one to fit all the actors and add more in proved so difficult that I couldn’t go ahead with one before the due date.

I was going to have a voice over but the voice actor’s mobility problems owing to a sporting injury prevented him from making studio time so I instead opted for a soundtrack. The music used in my sound track was chosen specifically with my film in mind and is copy write under creative commons and so is free to use as long as it’s not for commercial use.

On the whole I feel I could have organised the time better and would do so in the future now that I have a firmer grasp of the time constraints of each segment of this. I do feel that however I did well given my lack of experience with handling the tasks needed to implement my project.

Video Link

MEDI 119 (Public Feedback)

So with the aid of Youtube and Facebook and of course the screening for my flim I have been able to gain extensive insights to what others think of my movie.

The people on my course I feel responded well and laughed a lot. I am pleased they saw the humor as L.A.R.P. is not a very common hobby and I was worried it would be pitched over thier heads. Some people from the course have also told me they liked it and thought it was good so I am pleased. The feadback from my course mates has been very positive.

The thing that has most delighted me is getting positive feedback from people on facebook and youtube. Especially a few people that I don't know or thought would be critical.

I am pleased that I have recived very positive feadback.

MEDI 119 (Movie Madness)

Ok so the past two days have been intensive editing. I have sorted arranged and polished everything to as glossy as sheen as I can get it.


I have had problem after problem with it. The tape decks breaking and not reading the tape, the data not capturing all at once etc etc etc. If it wasn't for a friend with some firewire cables and more know how than me this probably would not have gotten off the ground.

The movie's main actor was meant to do a voice over but that was no longer an option since he had knee problems and so could not make it to a sound studio. Also the music was mean't to be provide by a friend but because of his own work load with a course a band and a job he was unable to. So I used some music that was copywrite under creative commons since it is ok to use it as long as it is not for comercial gain.
I really love the band and downloaded a free demo so all the tracks on the film are from Dancing Willow and sorced from here.

The movie itself is a bit sloppy but considering I have never done anything like this before I am very, very pleased with it. Its very tounge in cheek as is somewhere between a story and a documentry. I think it shows my hobby in a very playfull light.
The way the movie and music work together is what I am most pleased with since I have spent hours alone on making sure it cuts, fades, flows and fits correctly with the action.

I don't know at this stage weather or not I would add a voice over given the option as I am very proud of it as it is.

So without further ado Larping About.