My Film

Gender Dysphoria 

Evaluation

This video was particularly challenging for me to make due to multiple reasons;

The current circumstances (lockdown) made it impossible for me to use in person actors other than myself, so I had to improvise, being the sole actor and choosing to convey certain messages, such as not being accepted by peers, in different creative ways. I did this by sending out a message to as many people as I could with a brief script of things I wished for them to say and send an audio clip of to me. This proved very effective for me and I really liked the emphasis that it put on the theme of mental instability. However, to improve this and the audio of the video as a whole in the future, I would gather a larger variety of audio clips to use rather than using the same ones as much as I did to keep the viewer engaged. 

To further improve, I would invest in a higher quality camera in the future as the video quality was not great and quite pixelated as a result of poor camera quality and having to blow up the footage size in premier pro. However a positive is that I pushed myself out of my comfort zone and attempted to use a variety of shot types such as close ups to emphasise the main subjects feelings; not masculine enough and therefore not good enough. 

I attempted to stick to a colour theme of contrasting reds/pinks and blues to emphasise the stereotypes between genders throughout the video, I feel this was particularly strong at 4.25-5.28 because the character being positioned directly between the red and the blue, not only draws the viewers eye directly to them, but also symbolises being stuck between womanhood and manhood, lacking both femininity and masculinity. I also used mirrors a great amount in this video to link to the mirror phase and how that form of self identification can lead to a conflict in how you see yourself. This links well to my chosen theorist because one of the three focal points of his theory is the symbolic order as well as his theory constantly linking back to the concept of lack and that beginning in the mirror phase.

I used artificial lighting for this video and a mix of hard lighting and lowkey lighting throughout. This was to do a variety of things such as cast shadows of the subject, specifically when they are trying to look more masculine. This was an attempt to show the shadow looking more masculine than the character themself to link to lacans 'ideal-I'. I also used a change in lighting at 2.37 to show that the characters spends all hours of the day obsessing over the idea of masculinity. To improve, I would use more consistent lighting throughout, and have portable lights allowing more control over the lighting. I would also attempt to use different, possibly experimental lighting such as a projector to allow a more fitting mise on scene.

I believe my editing techniques were mostly effective in creating the message I wanted to create. I used transitions to further emphasise the progression of time due to the characters obsession as well as split screen techniques to show an equal level of discomfort, despite the significant change in appearance. To improve, however, I would use techniques such as a whip pan to show the development in the characters appearance over time. I would also overlay footage to convey the message that no matter what the character did not feel fulfilled.

Overall I like the outcome of my film, however there are multiple improvements I would make if I had the opportunity to remake it. My main strengths here were planning, control over the camera, creativity and solving problems. Where as my main weaknesses were organisation skills, props and lighting.