Transition from first draft to final film
The original "Unresolved," varied a lot to the final film. This includes the shot's that were used, the dialogue, and the story elements that are revealed.
When I made my first draft, I asked my teacher if he could watch it and tell me where I need to improve. He commented on how the camera moves position a lot between takes, where it's meant to stay in exactly the same position. He also told me he thought the story was not clear enough, and that he found it confusing. Taking these comments into consideration, I went back to the drawing board. I focused on how I could change my script, to make the story less confusing. I decided to design two news paper articles which explains a bit about the back story of "Edward Stevens." In other words, who he is.
I also re-filmed quite a few scenes, replacing the predominant two-shot that I used with shot's of the detectives hands and eyes. This lack of camera angles is another thing my teacher commented on. He did like the acting however.
I got rid of lines of dialogue, simply to make the film opening shorter as it was 30 seconds over the recommended 2 minute mark. I also changed the lighting, making it darker in the climax where the detective is shot dead and brighter during the interrogation scene. With my new opening (with the newspaper articles) I added a soundtrack, to immediately make the film opening more interesting and entertaining for my audience. For the soundtrack in the climax to the video, I changed the music. I preferred the music I had in the final film, and felt it captured the mood of the action better. This is why I decided to change it.
I feel the transition from the first draft to the final film was successful and that I incorporated the comments made on how to improve it not just from the teacher, but from other students and my own change of heart. Something I did find difficult was keeping close to the two minute mark, and feel I could have added shots to make the final film even more interesting/clear if I could have. However all the shots I had were shots I needed and could not get rid of, and so I did the best I could with what I had and believe I have yielded a successful media product.
