Short Film: Receiving Feedback

As mentioned in my previous post on the topic of my next short film, I said I’d write a little about the feedback process. I asked several trusted friends/ colleagues whom I value the opinion of to provide me with some feedback mainly regarding story. It’s quite easy to get lost in what you’re making and what might be obvious to you, potentially won’t translate to others who have not seen the project before or know what it’s about. I sent them what was then my “completed” animatic, alongside a Google form with a few specific questions I had (as aforementioned: mostly related to story, though there was also space for them to write any other notes/ comments/ suggestions). I did not give the synopsis to the people I was asking for feedback from, neither did I tell them anything about the story or themes or anything for that matter! This was so I could get the most true opinions.

The process was extremely useful, though always scary/ nerve-racking when sending something out like this, especially when it’s a fairly personal piece of work and also very rough- I didn’t spend a whole lot of time on the audio and as for the visuals, lots of it was quite Frankensteined together! Despite a few comments on people unsure of the geographical locations (due to the way I had cobbled the animatic together), the general themes seemed to have come across, as did the gist of the story. Though feedback is always difficult, as film is very subjective and you bring your own meaning to the films you watch because of your own lived experiences. So something that reads in one way to one, might read another way to others.

Saying this, there were some sections/ ideas that did need clearing up and clarifying further as they didn’t quite come across in the way I had intended. The animatic has been re-edited pretty dramatically since receiving the feedback. I feel this current cut tells the story I want to tell and in a much clearer way. Most of the scenes are there, though the order has changed and some bits have been added (and some redacted). It was a little difficult at first to change aspects of it and/ or cut scenes which I liked, but you just need to do what is best for the film and trust that it will be a stronger piece because of it. And I’m sure once I have shot the footage, it will likely change again and then again after I have started animating it. Films often shape as they grow, because some scenes or shots might not work as well in actuality even if they worked well on (metaphorical) paper.

I’ve now started shooting some of the reference material, so once I’ve made more headway with that, I’ll put another update on here… Another storyboard panel below as I appreciate this post is pretty wordy!