Christmas Project+Crit

Over the Christmas holidays we had been set the task of making a 1 minute film that presented a personal approach and explored the 'unseen' dimensions of Christmas. I was immediately interested in exploring the objects we associate with Christmas but struggled to generate an idea. The last few projects I had worked on had all been non fiction and I was keen to try and make something fictional especially to tie in with the types of films that I personally enjoy during Christmas.

I started by making list of all the objects that represent Christmas traditions and any memories I associate with them. I based this on stand up routines by David Mitchell and Michael McIntyre that question why we choose to accept certain odd traditions in the name of Christmas Spirit.  The common ones most comedians touched upon was keeping full grown trees inside the house and Christmas crackers. I had originally thought about making a talking heads style documentary about the memories people associated with certain Christmas items. With this in mind the next day I was walking up the stairs my necklace was making a sound and my friend asked me if I was carrying a sleigh bell with me. I realised that it's not just objects we associate with Christmas,there are sounds and smells as well. 

As I was going up the stairs recently a friend pointed out that they could hear me from a far away and asked if I was carrying a bell. It turned out later that it was my necklace that he had heard. I was interested with this idea of misconception and thought about how I could use it in my film. I made a mind map of what a sleigh bell could represent and soon made the connection that the sound of a sleigh bell is most exciting to a child because they associate it with Santa Clause. I thought it could be interesting to flip the convention of parent's trying to make Christmas time as magical as possible for their children. The story I came up with,in case it is unclear from the film, shows a mother preparing Christmas desserts and when she turns away the desserts are gone. She then hears a bell and assumes it must be Santa,when really it turns out to be the children.

My biggest regrets with this project was how late I came up with the idea and as a consequence how poor the execution is due to the lack to time to get the right resources together. I only had my kitchen available to me to film in and my mum and I were the only people in the house over the holidays. To get round this I chose to try and film the first scene in one shot so that I could move the props as necessary and still be able to hold the camera. I did also record spot sounds to try and tell elements of the story through sound instead of using dialogue in the film. I think the use of sound works well because its the only way  The reason I am disappointed is because I had hoped to capture a greater sense of 'enchantment' in the final outcome. I was quite keen on having the mother looking out of a window as this is quite commonly a way characters engage with supernatural elements in films. I took inspiration from films such as bird man and 'Hop' for this. I didn't however manage to find a suitable window in time. I had also hoped to show more elements that relate to Santa,such a perhaps a red coat or something relating to reindeer,because right now I feel the pay off is quite underwhelming because there's not enough imagery there for the audience to suitably suspend their disbelief. In the crit,Laura and I talked for a while about the possibility of remaking the project because she agreed that the concept could be a fun one to watch if executed properly. I mentioned all the resources I would have wanted to get together if I had had the time. Firstly, I think the story would have had an added sense of mischief and charm if there had a been a group of children playing a trick on the mother,secondly I would have looked for a more appropriate location to film in so that I could decorate it to look more obviously like Christmas,instead of having a Christmas themed iPad screensaver, and so that the mum would actually have enough to space to look out the window and engage with the idea of Father Christmas having taken her desserts. I think poor time management had stopped me from producing something I was really proud of. Laura also mentioned that whilst I am doing better with drawing little pictures to plan my idea I should still not be afraid to draw proper storyboards instead of writing lists of what I want to film,just so that I am clear in my head about visually what I want and that it is easer to block and plan scenes, otherwise often you realise you should have shot things a different way in the edit when it is too late.