Rebecca Bennett Directs Pretty Little Liars

Introducing Me

Directing | Project Evaluation

When starting this unit I was very worried about having to direct two videos. I was mainly worried about having to tell people what to do and being in control of multiple cast and crew members - it's quite daunting. However, I have learnt a lot about directing and how to be a good director through our lectures and workshops. Having the opportunity to have lectures and workshops with director Steve Finn has really helped when learning about directing and gaining the confidence to do it. Steve Finn gave us a lot of helpful information about how to cope with the responsibility of a large group of people, while also staying calm and keeping everyone equally calm.

I didn't think directing my drama video was as bad as I thought it would be as I stayed calm and collective which in turn made everyone around me calm. It was quite scary having around look to me for instructions but I realised that they don't mind waiting and I could take my time when deciding what to do next. I gave the actresses clear instructions on what I wanted the whole scene to look like and they followed the instructions well. Also it helped that my crew were willing to help come up with ideas when I was struggling, so that was nice to have. This was the first project that I used professional actresses in my video and it was quite a stressful process finding them. I'm really happy with the actresses that I chose for the parts and they all did a really good job.

This was also the first project that I used the lighting kit and, as I said in my drama evaluation, I found it quite difficult achieving a natural look to the scene. This is something that I want to work on for the next unit and practise a little more to get better at it. When working on one of the third year projects, I learnt quite a lot about the lighting and how to cancel out shadows, which is something that I definitely needed to do in the first scene. For the next unit I would like to have  improved on my lighting skill, and I will definitely practise and experiment with it. I felt comfortable using all of the equipment in other student's films that I worked on, and I'm very confident with following others instructions.

Since my last project, I have improved in my planning and my directing skill, as well as my editing skill. I definitely feel more confident with these key aspects after this project and I'm really happy with the outcome of both of my videos. Even though directing isn't something that I want pursue as a career, I have still learnt a lot about it and I think I'd be confident to direct again. I hope to continue all of these skills through the next unit.

Drama | Project Evaluation

When I first started thinking about my drama video I had an idea of what TV series I wanted to choose, but I wasn't 100% sure with my decision. At first I thought about picking 'One Tree Hill' but because it's my favourite TV series I thought that it would be quite hard to direct it myself and put my own twist on it. My second choice was 'Pretty Little Liars' (PLL) and I thought this would be a better TV series to pick as I had watched some of the show, but I wasn't mad about it at the time. I'm really happy with my choice of PLL and I'm also really happy with my choice of scenes.

When picking my scenes, at first, I was nervous about the amount of dialogue that was in the script but I wanted to challenge myself and I knew that the scene wouldn't be too complicated to direct myself.

 

When shooting the first scene, three of my actresses came to the location on time, but the fourth one ended up not attending which was disappointing and slightly stressful. This meant that I had to adapt the script quickly with help from my actresses and quickly write one of the characters out of the scene. Overall, the first day of shooting went really well considering we were missing one of the actresses, and the three actresses that did turn up worked really well together and were all really good at portraying their characters. I'm very glad I produced a storyboard and shot list for the drama as I used them both quite a lot during the shoot. They were useful to have when deciding what shot to shoot next and how much of the shot I wanted. The second day of shooting also went really well with a different actress. We shot the second scene and although the day was planned last minute, it still went smoothly and we managed to get everything shot.

 

So when editing the video I started by placing all of the clips down onto the sequence and I used the storyboard to help me with this. One of the things that I wasn't too happy with is the lighting in all of the shots. I found the lighting during the shooting process really quite difficult to perfect and make it look natural and looking back at the footage I know that lighting is something I need to practise and work on. The sound design of the video was quite difficult as I didn't want anything to overpower the dialogue in the scene, but I needed something in the background that could help the video flow. The background music I found and used in the first scene works really well with the scene and gives the audience something to listen to while listening and taking in the lines of dialogue. The second scene doesn't have any dialogue and I didn't want to have music in the background in both scenes, so I decided to use ambience sounds. I added some birds chirping, dogs barking and outside garden ambience and I kept the sound natural and realistic. 

 

One of my favourite things about the video is the fact the dialogue flows nicely and the music works well with the scene. I also really enjoyed working with the actresses and they portrayed the characters really nicely in both scenes. The scenes work well together and the shot sizes match the lines of dialogue nicely. 

One of my least favourite things that I wish would've worked on longer is the lighting of the first scene. It's very over exposed in one area of the shot and it's also very orange which is quite confusing to me as I put an ND filter on one of the lights. After adding an adjustment layer to the shots, the lighting doesn't look too bad but if I were to do the project again, I would spend more time on working out the lighting.

 

Throughout the whole process of producing my drama, I have realised and learnt that finding actors, and also choosing suitable scenes are quite challenging. Having a bigger cast number meant that it was harder to find enough actresses, however everything worked out in the end which I am very happy about. I've also learnt that directing an already existing TV drama is harder than it sounds as you have to make it your own and stay away from doing similar shot types, while keeping to the same storyline. I really enjoyed making this video, and I liked putting my own twist on the scenes I have chosen. 

 

Self Portrait | Project Evaluation



When I first started thinking about my self portrait video I didn't know exactly what I wanted to achieve and I wasn't sure where to start. Once I had thought about my location [the beach] I knew roughly what I wanted to do and what I wanted the outcome to look like. The day of the shoot was miserable and the weather was not ideal. However, looking at the final outcome, the weather gave a good effect to the shots, and it added an emotional tone which is something that I wanted to achieve. I'm very glad I produced a storyboard and shot list for the video as I used them both quite a lot during the shoot. They were useful to have when deciding what shot to shoot next and how much of the shot I wanted. Also because the weather was bad we just wanted to get the shoot completed and having the storyboard with me gave us a focus point and we got on with the shots I wanted. However, due to the weather being bad, there were a few shots that I didn't manage to film, so when it came to editing the video I had to change the order of the shots slightly and work with what I had.

 

So when editing the video I started by placing all of the clips down onto the sequence and I used the storyboard to help me with this. I'm really happy with the colour that I added onto the video as it's very similar to an Instagram filter and that was the look that I was trying to achieve. The sound design of the video is very full on and I'm really happy with the outcome of it because it helps the video move along nicely. Due to the restriction of using music and dialogue in our self portraits, it was very hard to find something that would keep the audience interested. This worried me at first because I wasn't sure how I was going to make the video interesting and engaging without music or dialogue. Once I had added the sound effects and beach ambience, I realised it didn't need music to make the video come to life, it just needed a few extra sounds to make it seem more realistic. The sound effects work really well with the video as they are synced nicely, but also they help create a nice atmosphere and ambience in the video which help create the tone I wanted.

 

One of my favourite things about the video are the quotes that are shown throughout it. I like the addition of these as they create the personal tone and they help show what type of person I am and what type of quotes I live by. The way they are presented is really nice and it flows nicely with the tone of the whole video. I also really like the part where I'm taking photos on my phone and the video stops momentarily as if time stops. It works really well with the video and adds a nice effect to the tone of it. 

One of my least favourite things that I wish would've worked out better is the beginning of the video where the music from my headphones come on. I like the part where the music stops as I press the 'pause' button, but I don't like how it just fades in at the beginning of the video as it's quite harsh. Originally I was just going to have the music playing with no ambience - the ambience would've come in once the music stopped. However, this didn't work as I had wanted it to so I adapted it, and I'm still not 100% happy with it but it's better than my original plan.

 

Throughout the whole process of producing my self portrait, I have realised and learnt that there are other experimental ways to carry a video rather than adding a music soundtrack in the background. Having ambience sounds really help make the video realistic and bring it to life which makes the video interesting and enjoyable. I really enjoyed making this video, and I loved experimenting with it through the editing process.

 

Fine Cut | Drama Development

The second time Simon saw my drama video, after the rough cut adjustments, he gave me some extra feedback.

He told me again that he liked the smoothness of the scene and he said it flowed well. He watched through and mentioned that he thought the shot sizes were placed nicely and they work well together. He also mentioned that he liked the extra shots of the house and the doll and he said they made the scenes better than before. He enjoyed the sound design and thought the chosen sounds/background music were a good choice. He suggested looking through the scene again and just experimenting with the shot sizes once more just to make sure the scenes flow as they should.

After this I watched the scene a few more times, tweaked the shot sizes and decided that the video flowed nicely and it all looked good.

Fine Cut | Self Portrait Development

The second time Simon saw my self portrait video, after the rough cut adjustments, he gave me some extra feedback.

He liked the addition of the screenshots, but he thinks it could be more effective if I experimented with the sound element. He suggested to try and get rid of the sound design during the screenshot moments and see what they looked like. He also mentioned trying to find a phone camera sound effect just to make it more realistic. With the sound design, he wanted me to add a few more sound effects like walking on the stones and the book closing just to bring the video to life and make it more realistic.

I tried removing all of the sound during the screenshot parts of the video and I thought it made the video better and it worked really well. I found a sound effect for taking a picture and reduced the volume to make it subtle and not that noticeable. This sound effect helps create a better atmosphere and brings the video to life. I also added sound effects of walking on stones, however the one I found was too slow, so I had to speed it up when editing and I also reduced the volume to make it less noticeable. For the closing of the book, I found a sound effect on YouTube and synced it up with the footage and thought it worked well with the video and made it more realistic.