Problem Solving

 

Problem One:

One of the first creative problems I faced during the early development stages of my short film was deciding which character should carry the emotional guarded personality. Initially, I wanted to challenge common stereotypes often presented in romance films by making the male character the more timid and reserved individual rather than the female lead. I thought this would make the narrative feel less predictable and more unconventional for the audience and make it more interesting of a watch.

However, after considering the casting choices more carefully and observing the actors personalities, I realised that my female actress would communicate the emotional restraint and internal overthinking of the character much naturally. Her expressions, body language and ability to show subtle emotion visually suited the atmosphere and storytelling style I intend for the film. Compared to the male actor appeared more naturally emotionally open, which made everything work better for the dynamic between the two characters.

Adapting this decision early within pre-production helped strengthen the realism of the acting and made the emotional progression within the narrative feel more believable. It also helped me understand the importance of casting based not only on originality of idea but also on how naturally actors fit particular roles and characters. Looking back, although I initially wanted to subvert expectations , changing the character allowed the film to explore guardedness within the film more authentically.

Problem Two:

Another problem I faced during pre-production was finding a suitable filming location that matched both the visual style I wanted and the budget of the project. Initially, I wanted the opening of my short film to take place within a warm and modern living room with an attached kitchen, as I felt this type of environment would best represent the main character's comfort zone and familiar zone and familiar social space. However, while searching for Airbnb locations, I realised that many properties matching this aesthetic were outside of my budget, especially those that were accessible for the cast and crew.

It became a challenge to choose the location as it was important for the emotional narrative and I did not want to compromise on the atmosphere or layout of the location too much. I also had to take into consideration factors such as transport, availability of the cast and whether everyone would realistically be able to arrive at the location easily on the day of filming.

To solve this issue, I adapted my search process by focusing specifically on local locations rather than searching more broadly. This helped the search become much effective as it allowed me to find a location that remained visually similar to the mood board while also being more practical financially. Choosing a more local Airbnb also helped production run more smoothly on the filming day as the cast were familiar with the area and were able to travel easily.

Reflecting on this experience, it helped me me understand the importance of balancing creative vision as well as being realistic when it comes to production limitations such as budget and accessibility.

Problem Three:

During editing, one problem I faced was communicating the perspective of the main character throughout the opening scene of the film. Since the narrative is intended to follow through perspective of the female lead, I wanted certain moments to feel as though the audience was experiencing the scenes from her point of view. However, while editing the door sequence, I realised that I had not filmed enough shots from her POV during filming, which made the scene feel visually disconnected.

At first, this issue became overwhelming during post-production because I felt limited by the amount of footage I had and I did not have the opportunity or facilities to return to the Airbnb to reshoot the sequence. I was concerned that the lack of POV shots would reduce audience's connection to the main character's perspective.

After reflecting on the problem, I decided to approach the issue through sound design rather than reshooting. Instead of trying to recreate the missing footage, I used audio to imply the character's perspective opening the door to the make lead. I sourced realistic door opening an d closing sound effects from Pixabay and layered them carefully into the edit so that the audience would be able to hear the scene from the main characters POV.

This solution became effective because the added sound helped complete the sequence even without the visual POV of the scene. Looking back at this problem, it helped me realise how important sound can be within visual storytelling and how audio alone can change narrative and carry it. It also taught me the importance of planning perspective shots more carefully using production, especially when the film relies on internal narration.

Problem Four:

Another problem I faced during post-production was that I forgot to film the establishing scene, showing the friends and main character already gathered in the living room. Because of this, the opening of the film felt abrupt and as if it lacked context for the audience, making it difficult to understand the social; setting of the scene.

This issue was important as the opening environment is significant within the narrative. I wanted the gathering to feel war, familiar and emotionally safe for the main character, as it later contrasts the theme of guardedness. Since I was unable to return to the Airbnb for additional filming, I had to find alternative ways to communicate the environment using the footage and resources I already had available. To solve this issue, I used ambient background audio to imply the presence of people already interacting before they are shown on screen. This helped me create an impression of an active social environment and made the opening feel more natural.

In addition to this, I incorporated B-roll footage that I had filmed outside of the Airbnb window . Although these shots were not originally intended to be an establishing shot, they became useful in helping slow the pacing and introducing the atmosphere of the environment.

Reflecting on this problem, I realised how important establishing shots are to the context of a film. However this experience also helped me become more creative during editing and showed me how sound and B-roll footage can help solve continuity and pacing issues when additional filming is not possible.

Problem Five:

During the second filming day, one important problem I had was forgetting to bring the red string prop that was intended to appear during the final scene of the film. This became significant as the red string motif is one of the main symbolic element of my film. Initially my plan was to physically include the red string during the ending sequence so that the symbolism would become fully visible at the finale part of the film.

After realising the prop had been forgotten on the day of filming, I considered organising a reshoot for the final scene with the actors wearing the same costumes and recreating the scene with the red string included. However due to time constraints and continuity concerns, I realised that trying to recreate the scene could make the scene appear inconsistent and les natural compared to the original footage.

To solve this problem, I decided to adapt the symbolism during post-production rather than production. Instead of physically showing the red string wrapped around the characters in actual footage, I created more minimal ending. At the end of the film, the screen fades to black while a single re thread moves across the screen followed by a simple explanation of the red string theory and its meaning. At the end this solution allowed the symbolic theme to remain without disrupting the realism of the scene.

Looking back at this issue, I realise that limitation during production can sometimes force you to make creative decisions. Although forgetting the prop initially felt like a major setback, the final outcome did suit the reflective tone of the film more than what I had in plan initially.

Problem Six:

Another challenge I faced during production was adjusting to using a different camera than the one I used for the other scenes. On the second day f filming I used a Sony A7 II rather than using the Canon camera that my college provides. I was initially unfamiliar with this camera compared to the one Ive used from my college, even though this camera gave me higher quality and gave me creative control.

The main difficulty was managing the focus settings. The camera offered both manual and automatic focus options, as I had limited time to prepare before filming, I did not feel confident enough to rely on automatic settings. As of this, I decided to use manual focus throughout the day. This gave me more control over how certain shots appeared visually, it also became challenging during science that involved movement, as I had to constantly adjust focus carefully to avoid appearing inconsistent.

This did slow down the filming process because I needed to repeatedly check id the subjects were in focus before moving onto next shots. I had to make sure the characters expression were captured they way I wanted them to be as my film relies on subtle facial expression for the narrative.

Despite the difficulties I faced, this day became a valuable learning experience. It helped me think carefully about framing and the shot depth instead of depending on automatic camera settings.

Problem Seven:

While creating the poster for my short film, I faced a creative problem with the typography and colour choices  I used in the title. Initially, I wanted the poster to reflect the motif of the film (the red string theory), so I experimented with two different shades of red in my title.  My idea was to place one word in red cursive font in the foreground to resemble a red thread running through the title.

However, after creating a few posters, I realised that the font style and strong red colours unintentionally made the film appear more similar to a suspense or horror genre rather than the concept of my film. Since this would be the audiences first impression of the film, I became concerned that the poster might mislead them of what the genre of the short film would be.

As a solution for this issue, I experimented with different types of font styles to find the best balance between symbolism of the string and genre representation. Even changing the font helped, I realised that the main issue was the intensity of the colour. The original red appeared too dark and it created a harsher visual then I would have liked.

I initially resolved the problem by adjusting the shade of the red string to a softer and more muted tone while also keeping the symbolism of the red string motif.