The Best Years of Your Life? - Final Cut with Narration

Changes to my short film!

Although I thought that I was completely finished with my A2 coursework for media including my short film itself, my ancillary tasks and my evaluation, following an educational trip to London with my media class and teachers in February, I decided to make a major change to my short film!

Whilst we were in London, my class attended a screening of 'Beyond Clueless', written and directed by Charlie Lyne at the BFI Southbank. The film showed numerous clips from American youth films from previous generations with a narrative analysis of the films displayed and the conventions of such films. 

After returning back to Norfolk, my teachers and I began discussing the film and how it kind of related to my own short film and it was suggested that I should attempt to write an essay for my short film and lay it over the top of the footage to give the audience more of a detailed insight into life as a teenager. 

Following this discussion I wrote a small essay describing some of the issues teenagers struggle with and how much of an impact they can really have on life as well as emphasising the memories that teens have the opportunity to create and remind them not to spend the entirety of their youth worrying and stressing out but to go out and enjoy being young and carefree.

I then recorded myself saying this essay and laid it over the top of my coursework whilst making minor adjustments to the footage and sound to ensure that the whole short film flowed correctly and that you can hear my voice clearly with the music also subtly being played in the background.

I believe that this technique of using a narrative description/analysis of teenage life and growing up in this society to place over my footage of teen life will work effectively and act as a major improvement as it gives the audience more insight into the messages I have been trying to present. I feel that the narrative encourages adults to understand teenagers and the struggles they go through whilst growing up more effectively than just the footage on its own. I also feel that the narrative will benefit teenage viewers as it will show them that others clearly understand what they are going through, that they are not on their own and that they have so many chances to make the most of being young and to just have fun instead of feeling stressed, nervous and anxious.