Tear It To Shreds Please!

 


  I love getting criticism. Actually no, truth is, I used to suck at receiving criticisim for a real long time and I still struggle. What I do love is being able to improve my work, and that usually means, getting second opinions. I made a line edit of part 1 of the opening so I could show it to anyone that'd be willing to watch. Especially since I've decided to cope with the footage I have, I want to make sure the main message of the opening still stands. Here's some of the feedback I got.

    I showed it to my actor Wade first and he liked it! "You made it sound worse than it was." he says. Truth is, I didn't know how to feel about the first edit and I expressed this feeling to Wade before he watched it. He suggested I make the sequence of destroying the paintings a bit faster. The only problem with this, is that I'm scared the credits written on the paintings won't be legible. When I expressed this concern he brought up that I may have to sacrifice the potential impact for the sake of legibility. 

    Then I sent it to my good friend Isa (an alumni who took AICE media) and they loved it! Unlike Wade, Isa had not read my blog and was completely unaware about the goal for the opening and any planning that went into it. So I was able to get a completely raw opinion. Their two main critiques were to fix the mask a bit so Male can't be seen walking behind Wade and that the opening seemed rather final for an opening. I agree with the finality of it, but I feel with  Tai's scene which I have yet to edit, it should alleviate that problem. Fixing that mask and not murdering my computer is gonna be difficult but not impossible so I will be doing that!

    Lastly, I showed it to Sabrina, another alumni who took AICE Media and their response was not at all what I was expecting. They sent me a 3 page handwritten analysis on the opening which was SUPER HELPFUL. While they did give many pointers on technical issues that could be fixed the main points I spent the most time thinking about were the elements she asked about that I hadn't thought of initially. The shadow can be seen at the beginning of the opening which I though just helped show the artist is in the spotlight. However, Sabrina asked if there was more to that shadow, maybe an alter ego? Or maybe it's their consciousness looming over them. She also asked if the artist cutting up the paintings was a break from reality. I always thought of that part of the opening having happened in real life along with the artist hurting themselves, but we only see the paintings, because that is what the artists mind fixates on. I like Sabrina's interpretation though and it fits the message really well. The artist was so consumed with their work that they've lost their grasp on reality and have therefore, lost themselves. Lastly, Sabrina mentioned that it's interesting how the artist rips the producer credit. It subtly hints at the art worlds part to play in their downward spiral. While it did cross my mind the way the credits being torn would be shown, I didn't realize how well it tied in with the message of letting your artwork consume you, because even those around you fuel that unhealthy connection through praise or penalty.

    It's funny how decisions I gave less thought to in this production ended up working so well with the final product I'm trying to achieve, and I'll definitely be more mindful of those subtle details moving foward.