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Dawn till Dusk


THE BRIEF: Advanced Film Production Module - Assignment 1: 'For this assignment you will need to shoot, edit, grade and sound design a short film detailing the journey from dawn to dusk.'

Dartmouth Park
Considering that 2014 was the 100 year anniversary of the end of the First World War, I wanted to create something that tied in with that theme. Although I wanted to concentrate on the First World War, I also wanted to remember every soldier who fought for our country in the many wars previous and since. I researched many of the cenotaphs and memorials around the Black Country, and decided to visit and 'catalogue' each one.

FILM DESCRIPTION: Dawn till Dusk is a short 2 minute film that takes the audience on a journey around the Black Country, visiting all of the War Memorials in each borough over a period of time. The phrase 'Dawn till Dusk' is taken literally in several ways: the period of time; the beginning and end of the First World War; the narrative - a letter from a son to his mother during his time in the trenches.

Mitchells and Butler's Brewery
Dawn till Dusk was filmed on a Canon EOS M over the period of 3/4 days in the morning, afternoon and evening. The locations included:
  • Dartmouth Park Cenotaph - West Bromwich
  • Wednesbury Memorial
  • Langley Memorial
  • Victoria Park Memorial - Tipton
  • Smethwick Memorial
  • Mitchells & Butler's Brewery Memorial - Smethwick
  • Oldbury Memorial
  • St. Giles Memorial - Rowley Regis
I decided to begin and end with Dartmouth Cenotaph as this is the closest memorial to where I live, and I thought it appropriate to end full circle.

I had several issues whilst filming - the most prominent being time. As dawn was at around 6/7pm it took a long while to wait for the sun to come out, and as I catch the train to University everyday it was difficult to find time where the times of day could juxtapose together without too much of a difference in the colour of lighting.

Smethwick
I had some trouble in the filming of the memorials themselves due to wet and windy weather, and - as I was filming the week of Remembrance Sunday - quite a few of the memorials were in the process of being cleaned.

Originally, I recorded a performance of 'The Last Post' played by myself on the trumpet to accompany the piece. But after reading the brief again, I realised that no musical instruments were allowed, and therefore opted to have a voice-over instead.

 You can view the music version here: https://vimeo.com/111122771
The password is: DawntillDusk

The over-voice was a letter was written by my mother and was read by Dave Morgan, Joshua Dowse and Josh Clark. These voices were then laid over one another to represent the many soldiers who wrote letters home to their families.

The ending voice-over is an excerpt from the poem ‘We will remember them’ which is read by Gordon Turner. I recorded this over a phone call in order to achieve an old-fashioned ‘radio’ type sound.

Although there are several issues with the sound and colour-grading as pointed out by my University Lecturers, all in all, I am happy with the final result and feel that the film communicates the theme of ‘Dusk till Dawn’ well.

You can view the finished film here: https://vimeo.com/111227931
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