Contribution Evaluation-Connor

I can up with the idea for the film, originally called "I'm Uncomfortable", as a film dealing with social anxiety and what it feels like to be a women getting harassed my men. After numerous meetings with our tutor, the film evolved into focusing more on sexual assault, the different perspectives of it and the attitude of someone that commits it. I've never put more thought and attention into a film before, wanting to make it authentic and be respectful to the subject matter. I conducted a lot of research for the film, watching interviews with victims and perpetrators, reading pre-existing studies on campus sexual assault and asked close female friends about any uncomfortable experiences they'd had with males.
Whilst doing research I looked out for actors. It was important to me that both actors had a clear understanding of what the film was going to be about. I also wanted the two to meet before the shoot so they'd be more comfortable when filming scenes where they're physically close together. If they weren't comfortable with each other, I feared it would damage their performances. Luckily the two actors I found were incredibly approachable people and quickly built a rapport between them and with me. They were also both very collaborative in creating their characters. I'd not written any dialogue for the film as I found improvisation more authentic and in tune with how the characters would talk. This presented itself a great opportunity for me and the actors to work out dialogue scenes together, finding various ways as to how their characters would approach certain situations.
The 3 original shoot days went really well. We got a lot of coverage and the cast and crew acted highly professional but also got on well. For a film with such a tense subject matter, there was a good mood on set.
After Rhea had cut some scenes together and I'd reviewed some of the footage, I felt the rest of the film wouldn't edit together as smoothly as I'd wanted and didn't give the effect I'd of hoped. I arranged a day of pick up with the actors and crew which again went well. We acted efficiently, doing 9 shots in the day, a few takes of each, the most being 13 for a single take.
Due to some miscommunication, I ended up editing the bulk of the film with some help. As I've never really edited before it was a bit of a challenge but having a clear outline of the film helped a lot. Throughout the edit I tried various structures, mainly switching the last 3 scenes around a few times to find the right rhythm for the film and seeing how each version played of a different feeling.


I think the final film conveys what I originally sought too convey, the uncomfortable feeling of harassment. I strongly feel the performances are genuine and powerful and the majority of the camera work is effective in telling the story.
Even though I'm happy with the final film, there is some things I'd like to have done differently. Given more time and money to pay cast I'd of planned a week of rehearsal to film the film entirely in one take. I think the fluid movements of the camera would give the audience less of a chance to suspect anything, leaving them more shocked towards the end of the film.