In Class Writing: Silent Film Reflection

After making a silent film with one group and watching another group’s work, I can honestly say that I am impressed with everyone’s final result. I think that both groups had original ideas and are captivating to any audience that might watch them. Even though “Back In My Day…” is not finished yet, I think that demonstrates amazing group effort and group reliance. What I mean by this is that not one person took over the project. Everyone had a specific role in the production, filming, developing and acting process.

            As I reflect on my group’s work, I really appreciate how much energy and optimism everyone put into our film. In addition, it is apparent that the boy’s group put great amounts of energy into theirs too. I think the boy’s group really manipulated the use of space that was available to them. I also think that they successfully used classic silent film movements. For example, when John would duck whenever Jack would try to hit him, it reminded me of other old silent movies. It even brought a lot of comedy to their serious plot.

Further more, I think that the boy group used interesting props, and used a balanced amount so that they didn’t take away from their movie. The use of the cupcake and the fact that it started the fight made the movie very silly. I really enjoyed their silent movie because it invited the audience in to laugh.

            In our group, we had a very good work ethic. Like I stated in my previous blog, at times my group was able to get easily distracted and we would often goof around. For example, I was guilt of this whenever I was in the wheelchair, or hen we first tried on our props. However, we all knew when to stop ourselves and focus on what we were doing. This work ethic made the process extremely fun and productive. Needless to say, wee all had great chemistry with other on and off stage.

In addition, I believe that we also used our props to our benefit. I think that when Lisa had the idea to throw her bingo card, that turned and ordinary prop into a joke and made the audience want to laugh.  Another little but smart detail we all unanimously did was whenever Dayna rang the Bingo Bell; we all were effected in someway by the loud sound. We also all shook in some way or had other body motions that depicted our age. While Dayna acted perky and sat up straight, the elderly people were all wither sweet or grumpy and were in constant pain.

I think that both of the movies came out extremely well. I hope that I get the opportunity to make another movie with either my same group or get to know how the other actors work when producing a film. I learned many things through this process, but one important factor that stands out to me is that if you and your fellow actors are prepared and organized, the process will flow very smoothly.