Reflection on The Bully

Evan Rubinton
Our short film project was a valuable and enjoyable experience. From the beginning, when nothing was decided on for the film, we had an excellent group dynamic. Three proved to be the perfect number. Each us of had enough of a role in creating the film for us to influence the final outcome in our own ways. My role in the film was primarily actor though I also helped create the plot. While we all had specific roles, Ian as director and Saruen as cinematographer, we all contributed to every aspect. Ian definitely came out as the leader in the group which was appropriate for his role as director; he was our MVP because he determined how the film came out more than any of us.
Pre-production was surprisingly difficult for us since we could not agree on any one idea for weeks. In the end, we compromised on a comedic story about a teen and his bully. Even then the majority of our ideas had yet to be thought of. The magic happened in the production phase of the project. A combination of improvisation and preplanning was used to decide both the content and cinematography of a scene. As an actor, I invented my character’s persona on the spot. “Evan” the nerdy victim of “Ian” the rude bully was an improvised effort. None of our speaking lines were written down, only thought of moments before shooting. My resulting acting performance, in my humble opinion, was a roaring success. Post production was Ian’s time to shine; he did the editing on his own except for some input from Saruen and I.
The Bully is a successful short film but it did have some weak points. One of the few weaknesses is the choreography which is clearly unprofessional. I’m unsure whether the intended brutality of the bully came across. Perhaps it would have benefited from the inclusion of condiments. As a lighthearted film that provides the audience with a decent amount of laughs, The Bully is a success. My favorite scene is the beginning wakeup scene where my character gets out of bed in an extremely joyous mood. It was not only the most enjoyable scene to shoot but I believe it was the most hilarious scene of the film.
More than five cinematic techniques were in my film so I can easily recall just five of them. The final battle at the end of the film utilized a point of view shot to intensify Ian’s last blow to my character’s face. That final scene also included a close up of our faces, showing just how serious we were about beating each other up. The music in the film was all non-diagetic, I argued for a boom box touting Ian but we all have to make compromises. For the bully’s interview scene we used low key lighting to make Ian seem a lot more evil than he really is. Finally, the many medium shots used when filming the less emotional scenes of the movie including the intro scene of me preparing for the day.
I never would have expected to have been able to create such an entertaining film in the small amount of time allotted. Having created other short films with friends before, I’m glad I was able to work on this one especially. This project taught me you didn’t need to be a movie buff to create films. All you need is an idea, the equipment, and the people to create something you can be proud of. I’m proud of the experience and the result of this short film project.