The Mirror In Me - ID# 449
Shepard High School
Dramatic Narrative
Entry Description
A teenager named Melora purchases a mirror from a second hand shop only to realize that things around her aren't quite right anymore.
Copyright Info
Recent Teacher Comments
- 4/28 6:47 pm - What works: Great storytelling. Nice establishing shot to start the film. Great use of shooting into frame. Cool mirror shot in the car to go along with your theme. The acting was believable. Solid use of the bubble texts – this works much better than a cutaway to the phone. I also appreciated that your bubble texts were a bit different than most moviews. Good use of sound in general – I especially liked how you used sound phones to move the narrative along. The mirror special effects throughout are very cool, effective, and professional. I appreciate the great variety of types of shots (medium shots, close ups, wide/long shots). I also appreciated the professionalism of the ending credits. What needed work: Your audio would have benefited greatly from more thorough use of J and L cuts and dissolves in editing. There is a hissing sound in a lot of shots. I know this is often no ones fault – a way to help with this is to either put the mic closer to the speaker or to add the DeNoise effect in Adobe Premiere. Visually, I would suggest adding more light to your shots while filming, and then darkening them in post. Some of your shots are grainy, and this is likely caused by too high of ISO/gain. Final thoughts: The special effects are so cool and do so much for the story! I would suggest putting as much time and effort into editing the audio as you did editing the effects, and your films will become that much more professional and dynamic. Overall, really great work!
- 4/28 9:34 am - Works Well - Good compositions and lighting. Great use of special effects for the evil reflections. Overall nice job of planning continuity and telling your story visually. Realistic blood. Needs Work - The story was interesting and fun, but seemed to be missing some clarity as to what the real danger was. There wasn’t a strong connection to the text conversations aside from the cat info. Was there an implication that the girl made a wish to go to homecoming with someone? Lastly, the sound of the mirror cracking was anticlimactic. The sound might have been realistic, but this isn’t a realistic story and some exaggerations can be made for dramatic effect. Remove the credits in the beginning and keep the credits at the end.
- 4/27 9:40 pm - I enjoyed watching this! This is an interesting concept and your story moves along at a great pace. You include some great editing, especially with the mirrors! You did a good job with audio. Your dialogue scenes have good clear audio. Your SFX are also great and they help add to the story! There are places where you could use J and L cuts to help clean up the noise in cuts between clips. Most of your shots are pretty well lit. You do have a variety of camera shots. One thing to keep in mind when filming is head room. In some of your shots, the top of the character’s heads are cut off. Even just adding a little bit of space right above the character’s head helps a lot! It doesn’t have to be a big amount added. 0:31 - I like the framing, however I think the main character could use more headroom. Right now her head is cut off. 0:35 - You can hear the “pop” sound of the cut here. I would suggest utilizing J and L cuts. This is where you layer your audio track on different tracks. You then extend the beginning and ends of each track so that they blend into each other. Sometimes these J and L cuts may not work depending on when your audio starts and ends. 0:36 - This shot could also use a bit more headroom. 0:41 - Great choice of using the cross dissolve as the transition to show the passage of time! 0:53 - I think it’s smart to include the texts on screen here. Great editing choice! 1:48 - We do see a small jump cut at the beginning of this edit, but after that jump cut, this is a really awesome edit! 3:51 - We do hear some wind in the microphone here. I would recommend using a boom mic with a windscreen/windjammer. This may help you get better audio without the sound of wind coming over the microphone.
Judge 1
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Judge 2
Positives: I liked how you used the mirror to create a frame where we are able to see what we normally wouldn't. When the protagonist moved and the mirror did a different movement. Chills.
Improvements: I wished some of the scenes were longer. When the father mentioned how the dog doesn't like the mirror. I wish there was more there. What does our protagonist think? Are there consequences to breaking the mirror?
Judge 3
Positives: the text bubbles on screen was a nice touch along with the vibrating sound of the phone I like the mirror shot with the blood on the ground when it cracks after the initial bloody mirror shot. nice setup for what was to come. shout out to that shot in Midlothian, my hometown!
Improvements: i feel like more setup with the cat being named toby, even a quick reference early would have helped the narrative, I was kind of confused but able to assume it. i just felt like it needed more umph, more towards your struggle other than a boy not wanting to go to homecoming.
Judge 4
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