Our main concept or idea for the drama was to have the story evolved around a father who has been diagnosed with bi-polar, and her daughter. The relationship between the two is strenuous, up and down, as much like the father. The aim was to portray how the pair were dealing with this disorder, how it affects them and the consequences of what can happen. The opening shot, seen on the right, creates a perfect striking scene that draws in the audience's attention immediately. Fiona laid on the floor crying, combined with the emotional soundtrack, offers a strong opening that keeps the audience wanting more.. later on in the piece, we return to this same shot so that the audience are aware of how she came about to be in this current situation.
The underlying soundtrack to the piece fits it perfectly in my opinion. How simple, yet emotionally effective it is to convey a clear message to the audience that hopefully they, will be feeling the same sort of remorse and sorrow that the characters on screen are feeling.
Being the director, I was in charge of most of the shots, however Natalie being the cinematographer, and Rhys being the producer, we collaborated and worked as a team to accommodate the best shots for each scene.
The bedroom scene that follows the opening shot of Fiona laying on the floor, I feel is visually pleasing due to the light we managed to create and adjust accordingly. No verbal communication has yet been used, except from body language and facial expressions. Before we began shooting, we made it clear that the piece was just as important with strong body language and facial expressions, as with dialogue. I think overall we pulled it off (or the actors did for that matter), however in some circumstances our male actor maybe isn't as 'believable' as he could be.
The main issue i have with our piece is the sudden jump between each scene. It seems to me as if the scenes are almost 'plodding' along one by way, as there is no obvious cut or transition between them. Maybe this is just me and there is no problem at all, however i believe a transition such as one or two black-outs, or a clear shift in the atmos may have helped.
A couple of the scenes or shots were out of focus, however Joeley was forced to use them as we only had one of that specific shot available. Without using it, we would have had to sacrifice a whole scene.
More strengths about our piece I believe are that we have a large amount of shots in some of the scenes, especially the scene in which the argument is taking place. Lip-syncing the sound to the image proved to be really difficult for James, however he did the best he could and upon first viewing, it seems near-perfect.
The closing scene features James stood on a bridge, over-looking the railway tracks. Originally we wanted a river underneath as it felt more original, however the river we had access too was surrounded by too many trees, which meant the shot was not visually-pleasing are hardly useable at all. The shots we got from this scene I feel are strong and effective. The static camera angles and the up-close and intimate shots give the audience a sense of raw emotion. The rain benefited our piece greatly as it added mood and atmosphere.
Finally, the cut to black as James is standing there contemplating on whether to jump or not, I believed proved to be a well-executed ending as it allowed the audience to think of 'what of happened next' in their own terms.
In conclusion, I feel our piece sets out and achieves what we aimed for; a piece that conveys emotion, and portrays the strain and it's effects on the father and daughter. In some instances, the camera shots needs re-taking, and perhaps the scenes are tedious in moments, however overall, I'm happy with the overall piece and we all collaborated very well as a team.
NOTE! - Sorry about the images, for some reason it won't allow me to re-position them at all, so they look ridiculous.
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