Natapong William Collins 972377@henleycol.ac.

uk

Evaluation
In the brief:

At the beginning of this final unit, I was all given a brief for what we had to do for our production.
The brief was very open to our own interpretation and was very open to the range of videos I could
make. The brief simply states that I am “required to produce a visual product which meet
professional standards”. It goes on to talk about the use of a client or entering the finished film into
a completion would be favourable. There was not many rules I had to follow but there were some
guidelines that had be followed. The main request was to not reference drug use, include swearing
and strictly no nudity. With this in mind I began my rationale. In my rationale I reflect on my past
units. In the past I have really struggled with juggling work and my production and have been
affected because of this. One of the main point that I talk about, is about me working on this final
production with my peer Jordan Streete. I had never properly worked with him before, and I found
that his experience and efficiency in editing would be a great mix with my strengths. In the past I
have set up camera, lighting and also acted as a cinematographer for Jordan in past productions and
so it seemed like a logical move to work together on the final project to create a film where we could
both be more focused on our own specialism. I can edit competently but I am nowhere near the
level that Jordan has advanced to and so with him editing I can stick to Cinematography and sound
and have more time for my work.

Due to me collaborating with Jordan, I wanted to take the time to work on Foley and Lighting for this
Final production. In the past couple of units I have not had time to create Foley sounds and have the
time to properly set up lighting, due to editing and work taking up so much time. So for this
Production I have made it my mission to really try and get these two key elements into Jordan and
I’s film.
Natapong William Collins 972377@henleycol.ac.uk

For Project concept, Jordan and I both made a decision to make an Action/Drama. For our last units
we both made very different films. Jordan made a drama about a deaf man trying to get medicine
for his sick mother; my film was an action/drama about a man getting revenge for the death of his
girlfriend. Between our two films we had learnt a lot about the Action/Drama genre based media.
We decided that we wanted to expand on this except this time try and really target some very
meaningful and darker themes. We really wanted to create some complex characters who are in the
lowest places in their lives. This was to create not only empathy for the characters, but to also allow
them to have a very clear character arc and development throughout the film. A subject that I really
want to cover is alcohol and substance abuse. I have a close family friend who was an alcoholic for
30 years of his life and now after 2 years of sobriety he can finally see all the things he had done, and
how bad his addiction really was. There are still so many people in the UK alone that are struggling
with alcohol and I believe that telling a story about a man who has lost everything but when it really
matters he gives his life to save his last friend. I really want to show a journey of someone in pain
and how they got through their pain and end up taking the bravest and scariest road to save another
person’s life. I really wanted to illustrate the brutal realism of how a real fight would go. Many bar
fights end quickly and so I really want these very short and raw fights that illustrate how easy it can
be to really hurt someone. These fights are also supposed to show vulnerability and also that the
character aren’t invincible.

What I did well: Visual Story telling

My specialism for this Unit was camerawork. Under that umbrella, I worked as cinematographer for
our production, so I also focused on lighting a considerable amount to. For the production I really
wanted to think more about camera angles, after doing my previous production “Warrior” where I
could only tell a story through visuals. So when it came to the storyboards I wanted to be a bit more
involved. When it came to more complex shots, I would tell Jordan what I wanted and then we’d
figure out how we could
accomplish the shot. The day from
shooting, Jordan and I shot the
first scene where Noah shows up
at Arthur’s house. I shot the
establishing shot (Shot 1) with a
10mm lens, which shows the
entire room. This was to make
Arthur seem small and isolated.
When Arthur opens the door,
Shot 1 shows him opening up the door to
his old life, in the form of his
friend Noah. The over shoulder shots show Arthur and Noah beginning to step back into their old
Natapong William Collins 972377@henleycol.ac.uk

lives (Shot 2), however when the camera

is looking at Noah he is framed a lot
further away from Arthur, showing the
distance that he has had apart from
Arthur (Shot 3). This is to set up the fact
that Noah has no idea what position
Arthur is in and the abuse he has put
himself through. This is a character
moment that is played out throughout
Shot 2 the whole production. Noah’s growth in
this film is coming to grips with Arthurs
pain and substance abuse, he has to come to a realisation that Arthur needs help and that Noah let
him down, and left all alone when he needed him the most. This is something that I am very happy
with and that there are traces of this storytelling through the camera work. However that is not all.
The scene continues with Noah’s first realisation, which happens when Arthur states “You missed
her funeral” which has Noah’s face flood with guilt and then he the camera is shot at a high angle
which isolates Noah in the frame entrapping him.

Shot 3 Shot 4

One other big scene where I really played a lot

of attention to the visual story telling was mid-
way through the film, when Arthur and Noah go
and find Ziko. In the main confrontation I used
Lighting to show the anger and mind set of the
characters. I set up two lights, one which was
red and another which was white. They were set
up on separate ends of the location, to create
this split effect across the characters face where
I could easily change the power and brightness
of the lights to the character faces, and
completely change the emotion of each
character. This first shot here, perfectly
illustrates this with the Ziko character being mid
frame, engulfed in white and, outlines in red
(Shot 1). This shows the character is calm yet
slightly frustrated with the person he’s talking
with. When Arthur enters the frame, the
lighting completely changes. I block Arthur so
that he is facing the red light to make sure that in the frame, his face is mainly engulfed in red (Shot
2), and showing is uncontrollable anger. This is a very distinct and sharp cut to show that this
Shot 1
Natapong William Collins 972377@henleycol.ac.uk

unbridled rage is dangerous and it’s all coming out at once. The red isn’t just showing the rage but
also signalling that a character is in danger and also the blood that is being spilt in the process. This
then leads to a two shot which includes Arthur and Noah, where they are both engulfed

Completely in red. This entire argument

completely cuts out and leaves the two
character coated completely in red (Shot 3).
This is to show the two friends are both at odds
and are both very enraged. After Arthur leaves
the frame, we see Noah walk over to an injured
Ziko. Ziko is still half covered in red light (Shot
4), showing his pain and Noah is all in white
Shot 3
(Shot 5), showing how he has calmed down,
however his body is outlined in red as if his anger is lingering and present but he has to try and save
Ziko and so his anger is at the back of his mind.

Shot 4 Shot 5

What I did well: Shooting Styles

There are three main fight scenes in Jordan and I’s film. Each fight scene I wanted to have a distinct
style for each of them to make sure that each sequence was unique. One of the big problems with
fight scenes is that either the fight scenes have no escalation or they are straight up boring and all
feel the same. This was my main reasoning for trying to make these fight scenes very different from
each other. The three main fight scenes that I’d say are in the film are:

THE BAR FIGHT THE ZIKO ASSAULT THE WAREHOUSE RAID

The Bar fight was the first fight scene we filmed. There were several things that went wrong
Shot 3
including a limited cast, but we made it work. This Bar scene I very much wanted to feel
claustrophobic. The tension is raised by suspicious people scattered round the bar, the slow
movement of the camera and the two main characters being on edge and constantly look around.
This first fight scene breaks its tension with a sudden take down from one of the guards. The shots
are switch from quite long lenses to very shallow depths of field, to illustrate how Arthurs safe
space, his place of solitude is now jeopardised. I think overall this scene works quite well, however I
think I would criticize that this bar fight is a little too short and in fairness this was due to time
Natapong William Collins 972377@henleycol.ac.uk

Constraints and the lack of people we had on

set that day. We only had one actor, who
played the 3 different thugs and so we
couldn’t have anything too elaborate. I also
think that the lighting and focus is a little off in
this scene as well as there are some sharp
differences between the dialogues scenes, and
how that was lit compared to the bar scenes.
Well Lit Also with the focus, we were shooting with
low shutter speed and ISO and so working
with a shallow depth of field it was very hard
to keep the focus sharp and crisp, but I do
think the softer focus does fit well with Arthur
character and gives an effect of his drunk state
(Shot 3).

Dark

Shot 3

For the second fight we filmed I used a lot more smooth shots and smooth movement. I did this to
create an eerie atmosphere. It is the absolute opposite of the bar scene. There’s barely any shaky
cam, the shot hold for longer and it is also dark and masked in shadow. The opening shot in
particular is one that stands to me and Jordan as it was a combination of shots that we had planned
to shoot. However, since we had a gimbal, I was able to operate it and create this completely new
shot, that create this tension that is very unexpected. It shows our main character hunting the thugs
instead of the other way round. Apart from the camera style being completely different the lighting

And setting is also completely different. Later on

the piece there is a scene where the two main
characters activate their contact lenses, which
then changes the colour pallet entirely into this
very brief Infra sequence, which shows the
characters stalking the bad guys and moving to
their next objective. However then the pallet
Natapong William Collins 972377@henleycol.ac.uk

changes again into a red and white lit sequence. This red/white light set up is used to create this
motif that I’ve talked about earlier but, I found this scene alone to be one of the best paced and
structured scenes in our film.

In the last fight of the film, the film is using the mix of this blue LED lights from inside the warehouse
to create this cold, manmade atmosphere. The camera work is a mix of both previous fight scenes,
with more shaky cam kind of style used for the beginning scene when they go up to the office. This is
before it switches to a very wide 10 mm lens where the camera has these smooth long takes that are
more of the style of the infra red sequence. I thought this would be a great way in incorporating the
styles together and creating a new unique style of camerawork that is made up of the two camera
styles of the previous two fight scenes.

How well did I follow the rules of the competition?

For Raindance Film Festival, there is not a set out list of guidelines for this. The reasoning for this is
due to all participants and entries have to be over the age of 18 to qualify. This means that all film
entered are an automatic 18. Due to there not being specific guidelines for the content of the films
themselves and more about their, distribution and completion I decided to use the guidelines set out
by the BBFC, as they are a trusted and respected organisation. When researching the BBFC 18 rating
however, it allows for any content of any nature to be screened, however a person under the age of
18 cannot rent, screen or watch the film, due to the explicit imagery. I believe that Jordan and I’s
film is more aligned to a 15 of which has a few more restrictions on it then an 18. However Jordan
and I feel that are film does not over exaggerate or glorify violence or lingers on specific explicit or
violent things. It does show dangerous activity, and does show death, the use of knives and guns. It
also shows the murders of several people, however, these deaths are not overly gory or explicit and
so I believe to be within the guidelines of a 15. Even with strong language, there is no mention of
race or creed and profanity is used less than a dozen times.
Natapong William Collins 972377@henleycol.ac.uk
Natapong William Collins 972377@henleycol.ac.uk

How does my film follow conventions?

For this production Jordan and I decided to create an Action Drama. One of the main reasons for this
was that we had both created films for our last unit as one of these genres. For my last production I
made an Action film and Jordan made a drama. We thought that combining what we’d learnt and
creating a mix of intense action with some in depth and complicated characters, we thought it would
be a great blend of genres. Many of the common genres of Action are the action sequences, with
one of the cheapest and common action sequences being fight scenes. Fight scenes are prolific in
the modern blockbuster and their use of blocking and camera angles are common conventions of
action cinema. For my codes and conventions research I research more of technical conventions of
camera movement and how it used in different genres. For the action genre I found that the use of
blocking and over the shoulder shots was a common convention in fight scenes, with a clip from
punisher being my main line of inspiration. In the punisher TV show, there’s is a bathroom fight
scene that is a clear demonstration of this. In the scene the camera operator starts with an over the
shoulder shot which allows for the first punch to be thrown

This over the shoulder shot is a good way to mask the punch as the direction the punch and the way
the arm is angled by camera, allows this fake punch to look like a hard connecting jab. This can also
work in reverse. If the camera in these two shots were to be reversed and it was the back of the
women’s head that we saw with an over the shoulder shot, it would be just as effective. This is due
to the punch still be blocked by the character and so the punch still looks like it connects. For
example this an example of this very shot in my own production.

The mise en scene in this scene is very important in this scene in particular. This is by far the most
stylised sequence and is inspiration taken from an action movie called John Wick. In a scene, about
half way through the film, John (The main character) goes to a club called The Red Circle. He is going
to kill a target that had killed his dog. In this scene the lighting is used very cleverly. In the club there
are 3 sets of lights. Red, Blue and green. Blue symbolises John and him winning. Red indicates that
the guards are winning. In this scene below, you see a guard walk from his red light into John’s blue
Natapong William Collins 972377@henleycol.ac.uk

light. He is then killed instantly. This is the same for John, when he steps out of his red light he loses
and get disarmed.

In this film, all hitmen wear suits and smart wear. This is to show that the guards in the club can put
up a fight and actually go toe to toe with john gioven the oppurtunity. This is contrast to all the
people who are not in suits such as the people in the towells bathing in the hot tub are completely
underprepared. John in a way is dressed in his armour whereas his target is in his trunks, exposed,
vulnerable. I have treid to spin these into my on productions. Firstly with lighting I tried to create a a
lighting set up that captures our main character rage. When Arthur knocks Ziko dow he is completely
dosed in red and doesn’t hold back. Whereas Ziko is mainly coated in white till he is beaten within an
inch of his life. Noah is cast in red when confronting Arthur due to him nearly killing thos helpless
man that they need to interrogate. However whats different between Noah and Arthur, is that Noah
can walk back into the light, he can come to his senses. This is a convention and motif that I wish I
could have continued to create this repeated pattern that the audience could follow. Although I
think it is very clear to the audience , due to to the heavy contrast of the red and white, I think I
could improve on this by having this colour motif continue in other scenes.
Natapong William Collins 972377@henleycol.ac.uk

The blocking of the shots is very improtant to maintain the illsuion of the choreography. In punisher,
they also move the camera during the fight to create new blocking points so that character that have
moved around and the camera travels to a point where blocking for a the fighters looks its best. It
can be seen in the punisher and our own. From the photos below It is clear that when the hook is
landed that the fist covers the face of the main cahracter and then water or food colouring is spat
out from the mout to sell the effect of the punch. After this punch is hit the camera tracks the main

character and the goon. The camera then goes

over the shoulder of the goon so that the hit from
the main character is more effective. This is
something I tried to replicate in the final fight of
Jordan and I’s film. When the fight begins the
caemera stays on Arthur and tracks him, before
panning towards Daemon where they meet and
the fight begins. When the first punch is thrown I
am shooting on the right side of jordans torso
which would act as a cover for the punc that he would recieve from Daemon. The first hti is a
blocked hit from Arthur which is used to then sell the punch from Daemon. There is also a cut on this
punch. What quite a few action films do is cut to the action, so when someone hits another person
they will cut to a different angle to either help hide a missed punch or to try and make it seem like
the punch was more powerful. However this is more of an editing technique that fillmakers use to
help sell choreography.
Natapong William Collins 972377@henleycol.ac.uk

Did I do my topic research justice?

My topic research was based on the fact that I wanted to really shed some light on alcohol and
substance abuse. For this I looked into Alcoholism, substance abuse and all the health problem that
comes with it. I hoped that from this I could shape a character that would be a representation of
someone who had lost everything and someone who needs help but won’t accept it. This wasn’t the
only thing that I researched though. Due to Jordan and me wanting to make an Action/Drama
production we knew that army or a character with military service was always the best option. We
decided we were going to look deeper into PTSD and how this can affect someone. With the mix of
these topic we found our characters. We did a mixture of online research and book research where I
went deep into analysing the health issue that come substance abuse, what alcoholism can lead to
and the illness that can arise from it. For my book research I looked at three different books; “This is
ALCOHOL” by Nick Brownlee, Alcoholism: The Family Guide by Samantha Harrington-Lowe and The
Special Air Service by James G Shortt.

In Alcoholism: The family guide there is a specific part of the book that was really useful to me. In
Chapter two – spotting the problem there is a whole chapter dedicated to trying to spot the signs of
an alcoholic. I thought that this would be a great way to add some characteristics to our main
character. This could be a great way to actively represent an accurate alcoholic, with things such as
blood shot eyes, due to alcohol damaging the capillaries in the face. Another things such as odour, is
stated to be an effect of the body trying to flush the alcohol out of the persons symptoms, and this is
through, urination, saliva and perspiration. Cuts, bruises and scars are a sign stated in the book as
being drunken acts of violence and clumsiness and this could be a clear indicator of the main
characters destructive nature. When it came to actually constructing Arthur I found that many of
these things got swept under the rug. This was mainly due to the affect that Jordan was reluctant on
adding any more small details just due to the main traits that wed already added to the character.
Things such as alcoholic hallucinations were pushed then these smaller details. I believe that with
this considered we took some of the most interesting effects of alcohol abuse and we were able to
come up with a nice mid-point where, the character was in believable pain and yet was easy to keep
sustained continuity wise, as things such as the bruises on Arthurs arm would have taken too long
and also been too difficult to keep continuity
Natapong William Collins 972377@henleycol.ac.uk

This is ALCOHOL was the next book that I had researched a lot of the same things that are in the
Alcoholism book. There’s wasn’t much new content in short but stuff such as blemished skin and
weight gain would be nice additions to add to the character but the main problem is trying to show
this as there is no real time to show a change in weight and their would definitely have been a
difficulty trying to blemish skin every time Jordan and I would shoot a scene with the main
characters and It would have been too tricky and difficult to try and replicate, especially with how
hectic our film shoot ended up being. For the most part this meant that a lot of the research I did not
get used.

The Special Air Service is an illustration heavy book so the main take away that I took from it was the
uniform and a great Idea that Jordan had was using one of the uniforms to be Arthur’s costume. We
could age the shirt and make it look like they are the only clothes that he wears and shows that he
spends most of his money on alcohol. We thought this would be a very subtle way to show Arthur
priorities and how bad his addiction is. I also learnt some things about the special Boat service and
their trials in which you have to pass to get in to the next stages of recruitment. Unfortunately this is
all mostly background information that we cannot use.

With some of my online research I found more important information. One of the main things
Jordan and I wanted was to have our characters be part of a Special Forces unit where most
members were killed, and that this was the main reason for Arthurs Alcoholism. Jordan and I found
about a secret elite force called The Increment who were part of some of the most covert operation
in history. We decided that this was the unit that we wanted our main characters to be a part of. I
then also found out about the UKN who are a secret covert surveillance unit who worked with The
Increment and this is how we created the Maria character.

With the Interview with Gary Mills, I

was very disappointed due to the
amount of information that I found out
from Gary and didn’t actually manage
to implement it into our production.
This is probably one of my biggest
regrets. Gary talked about blackouts
and how his brain would make him
forget certain nights with a blackout to
disguise the damage he was causing
and so he never blamed what happened
on the drink. Small details like his routine of going to the pub in the morning and then going through
a circuit of pubs to hide how much he was drinking. He would usually have 3 beer before tills were
even open. This was something that I was able to sneak in, with Arthur seeming to only go to the
Pubs in the morning. However what would have been good would be to see a passage of time and
really run through Arthur’s routine and see how horrible his life style is. However there’s was never
going to be enough time for that so, none of these things came into our production.

This is where I found that I really didn’t do my topic research justice. I am happy with our final
production and I think it came out good, but if I were to improve it would to allow Arthurs character
lifestyle to be experienced by the audience and really allow the abuse that he is causing his body to
sink in as I don’t believe, this alcoholism was given enough screen time to really show the effects,
however Jordan’s acting did show a lot of the vulnerability that especially during the argument with
Noah after the Ziko attack. He really creates this man whose emotions all surface at once, like he
can’t numb the pain anymore and it really creates a brilliant scene.
Natapong William Collins 972377@henleycol.ac.uk

Short Film Characters Changed

When we started out with our first idea generation, we had very simplified characters. Simply an
alcoholic and an old friend. However what came from that, came two very complex and different
characters. What was a basic Idea became two characters who paralleled each other, who are both
living examples of people who go through grief and how different people cope with the pain of loss.
These are a set of characters who completely fit with the Action/Drama genre. They were both quite
simple characters before Jordan and I began our research. After looking into alcoholism and
substance abuse I found that the people who are alcoholics are self-destructive and isolated. We
tried to add in this vulnerability to Arthur which is similar to the DI Alec Hardy from crime drama
“Broad-church”. He is emotional, angry and vulnerable and he has a hard time letting people in
which is something Jordan and I think we have imbued into the character. These are real people,
who have lost everything, and they have to accept that they only have each other. There was also
Maria who started as being a male, and just being a convenient plot device, became this strong
women character who shelters the main character as if she was a mother figure to them, protecting
her young. After doing some focus groups and surveys, many people asked for a strong female
character and so we made the decision to make this surveillance officer that Arthur and Noah come
to for help a strong women figure. We tried to show this by making her the only person who can
reason and talk to Arthur.

This becomes jarring then when it comes to the villain. I really wanted to give Daemon an interesting
motivation but there was no real time in the film to explore or film it. In all fairness the heroes are
the heart of the story and the villain is a plot device to complete their arcs as characters.

Problems I faced
There were several problems that Jordan and I faced, before and after production started, we had
countless problems with locations. At the beginning of the unit I tried to get in contact with The
Queen Victoria in Henley. However after several weeks there was no reply or answer. The pub
location was crucial as one of our films main locations was in a pub where our main character spends
most of his time as it is his safe space, where he can drink and try and forget. Jordan and I both went
down and investigated the location. We found the location to be shut and so we had found out that
the Victoria was up for sale and that no one had been in the pub for weeks. This meant I had to try
and find a new pub quick as we were due to film in less than 2 weeks. This was when I went to
resource productions and their new Berkshire Film Office (BFO). The staff and I sent email back and
forth to try and find a location that I can film in. I had to fill out a location scout form for a pub in the
Berkshire area. They then found that a pub they referred me to before was privately owned so I
could message them directly. I used the contact number that was online, on several different site.
However this number was invalid, so I had to message back BFO to tell them that there was no way
of me contacting them due to an invalid number and no email address. They got back to me with a
phone number that I could call the landlord directly. After calling the Landlord I secured 2 days of
shooting at the location free of charge.
Natapong William Collins 972377@henleycol.ac.uk

One of the largest problems was actors pulling out, this happened several times during our
production. We had cast our Otto Schmitt and had got him to audition. We were all set to shoot,
however when we gave him the script, he told Jordan and I that he couldn’t commit to such a big
part due to his A level exams coming up, he could afford to be filming all the way through Easter.
This left us with a huge problem. We no didn’t have one of our main character and we planned to
film in less than a week. This meant that we had to go to our contingency plan and get my friend
Liam. We found that he would be the best choice to play Otto due to him saying that he was quite
free throughout the Easter holiday and so we thought it best he play Otto and we cast some else as
Ziko as it is only a one day shoot character. So we had to get our friend who lives near Henley to fill
in the role of Ziko. We cast our acting friend Owen who lived nearby to do the one day night shoot
so we could complete the scene.

How did I develop my skills - Compare my production

The specialism I chose for this final unit was cinematography/camera. One of the main things I
learned for this unit was adopting a new style of filming and composition for this production. This
will be the first production where I also use external lights to help create my frame and overall
aesthetic. One of the main influences I drew from was from Broadchurch. Broadchurch’s
cinematographer has this unique style of moving the camera and also framing the camera. There is a
heavy use of shallow depth of focus and negative space. These all help to create this feeling of
isolation. This is something I’ve tried to adopt and make my own. In quiet moments I slow the
camera down, and when there’s action I keep the camera moving.

With these two shots, I found some similarities between them both. The one on the left is from
Broadchurch and the other is from Basilisk. As you can see how both shots use a handheld style for

this shot in particular. This is to show that we are walking with the characters and it makes the shot
feel more personal as if we walking alongside them. They both use a shallow depth of field to show
the main focus in the frame and then a distant character in the foreground out of focus. They both
are well done shots and I am proud that I was able to make my own version of this shot. I do believe
the execution of the shot is done better by Broadchurch. I really think the slow motion allows you to
really register the pain of the character and that the slow motion is a reflection of how they’re
feeling. What I do like about my own is that the weather is reflecting Arthur’s mood, which really
creates this sense of sadness, and these blue hues really sell that.

For my next production there are some things that I would like to do differently. For my next project
I would like to create a smaller scale story and really focus in on character. I don’t want to have to
rush character development so that the main character can fight a big bad. I feel that a lot of the
research got swept under the rug and I didn’t want to create this awareness for alcohol and
substance abuse that I wanted. However I am still proud and happy with the final production that
Jordan and I were meant to make. I would want to carry on improving my Foley sounds and also
Natapong William Collins 972377@henleycol.ac.uk

adding in night more naturally as I believed that was a weakness on my part. I would also probably
get a smaller class so that not so many people are likely to drop out.