We structured our editing stage of the production in a very similar way to the principle of photography and agreed to meet over three sessions.
We arranged to meet on the Friday to film our last scene at the church and begin editing. However Ellie (our main character) did not show up after 'falling back to sleep' due to a late night out. Myself and Joe used the rest of this day to begin editing.
Thalia joined us but left after an hour as she "didn't think we'd be spending the whole afternoon at college" even though the deadline was the Tuesday and Joe had sent an e-mail to everyone after we'd agreed dates and times.
We had concerns how the footage would look, especially due to the low standard of acting but once we began looking through what we'd captured, it was clear that the effort we'd made in the principle of photography, had paid off.
I contacted Ellie to re-arrange the filming of our last scene and she asked us to come in on the Monday. This was a massive inconvenience for us as a team as myself and Joe had to yet again cancel working due to being let down but Monday was the last day we had free before the deadline. It was almost predicable that this would be the case but we gave her the benefit of the doubt and agreed to come in.
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Monday came and Ellie turned up for no more than 15 minutes before she left the room to "have a fag" with a friend. Thalia went out to speak to Ellie and explain the pressure we were under to complete the last scene.
Ellie then came back to the room to grab her bag as she went off into town. We tried to contact her and she messaged us back to say she would only be five minutes. In this time we carried on with the editing and yet again Thalia had to leave.
Ellie eventually came back to the room after about an hour and a half of editing and myself and Joe had nearly finished the rough edit (minus the last scene). She told us that our actor would not be coming and that she had to go home.
As this was a group project, I made Ellie fully aware that she'd not played any part in the editing but she insisted she needed to leave, as her friend waited for her at the door.
It was at this point, that me and Joe decided to stop relying on the rest of the group and to just get on with the work ourselves. We put the footage together, utilising our RGB and basic editing skills and even managed to sort through possible music options. As the day came to an end we realised we'd almost finished the editing, which gave us some free time for the Tuesday morning and came up with something that looked really good.
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On the Tuesday morning we agreed to hold an urgent group meeting. However due to another night out Ellie did not show up. I made the decision for the group to get in contact with Ellie and if she wasn't on her way to college, then we would just forget about her role in the group and just go out to film the ending ourselves.
Ellie said she would be coming in for 1:30 after lunch which was 1 hour before the deadline. As this was Ellie's last chance to take on the role of the Producer, it was a shame she could not have made the effort to come in.
I took on the responsibility of Producer again, as well as the role of Director Of Photography to film the closing scene. Pressure was also put on Joe, as he had to become an actor due to Ellie not completing / uploading the appropriate pre-production work to our box file for our actor.
We had to compromise a scene that should have ended our film and use the back of Joe walking towards a grave, rather than the face staring into the headstone. This did not give the same dramatic effect but we managed to tie the whole thing together.
We completed the last scene and finished the edit before Ellie had even arrived at college. I felt that even though Ellie was left out of this process, it was the right thing to do, to ensure we'd meet the deadline.
I have learnt from this production not to rely on certain team members, as some are just there for the easy ride, good grades and are not willing to put in the effort to gain them.
Alun was also a great help throughout the whole of the post-production and taught myself and Joe (as we were the only two to show up) new tips for using Premiere Pro. I learnt how to use basic things like the workspace layout and the RGB monitor, to create a real professional looking piece of work.
Alun also taught me how to edit the audio from a shot in Audition straight from the Premier timeline. This is something I will be able to use in future productions, as it is very basic and straight forward to use.
Monday, 21 October 2013
Tuesday, 15 October 2013
Principle Of Photography
Our original plan was for the principle of photography to be spread out over three days. This was due to the locations we wanted to shoot at and our cast availability.
My responsibility was to carry out the role of 'Director Of Photography'. I have taken on this role in the past but this time decided to push myself further and complete the role to a higher, more professional standard.
I managed to do this by not just taking care and time in setting up each shot but by also using the manual settings on the camera. Looking back this gave the production a more professional look, it also made the post-production stage run a lot more smoothly.
I manually altered the iris to have full control over the exposure of each shot. This proved to be a good decision to have made, as the footage captured had a more professional look to it, compared to how it would have looked with the iris set to auto.
By manually controlling the focus, I was able to create a key opening for the start of our short film. I made the decision to pull the focus in, to create a more dramatic and tense feel to the opening. This decision gave the film a very moving feel, as it put the audience in the place of the patient. It also gave very little away, which made it very intriguing.
However the entire process did not run this smoothly, as we were faced by constant let downs from casting. Ellie was put in the position of ensuring the cast were available on the day, as she informed the group she knew people in acting schools. The idea of this was ideal but it did not turn out to be the case on the day. Luckily we had planned in extra time to allow for any push backs like this.
What should have been our first full day of principle of photography, was then used for completing test shots. Looking back, this did make the actual shoot quicker for the real day but was still not ideal.
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The next session we had booked for principle of photography was supposed to have been with our main character at Cogges Doctor's Surgery. Ellie's casting had let us down again today and we had no choice but to use her (who should have been our producer) as the main character.
This was not an ideal decision to have made but we had no other choice. This put a lot of pressure on the rest of the team as Ellie was not taking on any of the producer role and this was now passed on to myself. I worked closely with Joe on this day in setting up the shots and ensuring we captured everything we needed as we only had one day with the surgery.
Overall I feel the day went quite well and ran quite smoothly but still felt the use of Ellie made the story quite unclear.
As Ellie has not had much experience of acting, especially in-front of the camera, a lot of shots had to be adapted to suit her capabilities, rather than what was originally intended. This can also be seen throughout the final edit.
Due to the unorganised casting, this put a strain on the sound of the production. We had an original plan for Thalia to be monitoring the sound but instead had to use her to hold the boom in place. I felt quite frustrated with the production after this day but knew there wasn't much we could do. I just had to focus on ensuring the professional look of the film would make up for the lack of experience in the acting.
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The last of our three intended principle of photography days also started on a low, as the male lead that Ellie had arranged also let us down. It was when she told the group we had no male lead that I'd learnt a lesson not to rely on others for something so important as actors and to have back-ups in place.
Ellie arranged a last minute friend to play the role of the male but as it was so rushed the costume was not what we intended. Ellie told the team she had appropriate clothing for herself, yet this was also not the case.
Myself and Joe had to take on practically every role in the production as Ellie was too caught up learning her lines last minute and Thalia "didn't want to take on the role of monitoring the audio".
I have also found working with people that are not aiming as high as I am, don't put in the same amount of effort. As a result of this a lot of rolling cigarettes and texting were taking place, wasting valuable shooting time. It was then no surprise we were caught out when it started to rain.
This downpour put us even more behind in our schedule, which meant myself and Joe had to call off work, to be able to complete the principle of photography.
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We used our extra day to complete the principle of photography but unfortunately the weather was not on our side.
Throughout the morning we managed to complete the indoor scenes at Ellie's house and used the afternoon to complete the rest of the outdoor scenes.
As the rain started we agreed to film our last scene, which was to be filmed at the church for the morning of our first edit session.
I have fully learnt from the principle of photography stage not to fully rely on all team members as unfortunately some people will let you and the team down. It is also essential to have back up people / actors in place to ensure no time is wasted.
On a positive, I have also learnt a lot about manually controlling the iris and focus on the camera to achieve a professional looking piece of work.
My responsibility was to carry out the role of 'Director Of Photography'. I have taken on this role in the past but this time decided to push myself further and complete the role to a higher, more professional standard.
I managed to do this by not just taking care and time in setting up each shot but by also using the manual settings on the camera. Looking back this gave the production a more professional look, it also made the post-production stage run a lot more smoothly.
I manually altered the iris to have full control over the exposure of each shot. This proved to be a good decision to have made, as the footage captured had a more professional look to it, compared to how it would have looked with the iris set to auto.
By manually controlling the focus, I was able to create a key opening for the start of our short film. I made the decision to pull the focus in, to create a more dramatic and tense feel to the opening. This decision gave the film a very moving feel, as it put the audience in the place of the patient. It also gave very little away, which made it very intriguing.
However the entire process did not run this smoothly, as we were faced by constant let downs from casting. Ellie was put in the position of ensuring the cast were available on the day, as she informed the group she knew people in acting schools. The idea of this was ideal but it did not turn out to be the case on the day. Luckily we had planned in extra time to allow for any push backs like this.
What should have been our first full day of principle of photography, was then used for completing test shots. Looking back, this did make the actual shoot quicker for the real day but was still not ideal.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The next session we had booked for principle of photography was supposed to have been with our main character at Cogges Doctor's Surgery. Ellie's casting had let us down again today and we had no choice but to use her (who should have been our producer) as the main character.
This was not an ideal decision to have made but we had no other choice. This put a lot of pressure on the rest of the team as Ellie was not taking on any of the producer role and this was now passed on to myself. I worked closely with Joe on this day in setting up the shots and ensuring we captured everything we needed as we only had one day with the surgery.
Overall I feel the day went quite well and ran quite smoothly but still felt the use of Ellie made the story quite unclear.
As Ellie has not had much experience of acting, especially in-front of the camera, a lot of shots had to be adapted to suit her capabilities, rather than what was originally intended. This can also be seen throughout the final edit.
Due to the unorganised casting, this put a strain on the sound of the production. We had an original plan for Thalia to be monitoring the sound but instead had to use her to hold the boom in place. I felt quite frustrated with the production after this day but knew there wasn't much we could do. I just had to focus on ensuring the professional look of the film would make up for the lack of experience in the acting.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The last of our three intended principle of photography days also started on a low, as the male lead that Ellie had arranged also let us down. It was when she told the group we had no male lead that I'd learnt a lesson not to rely on others for something so important as actors and to have back-ups in place.
Ellie arranged a last minute friend to play the role of the male but as it was so rushed the costume was not what we intended. Ellie told the team she had appropriate clothing for herself, yet this was also not the case.
Myself and Joe had to take on practically every role in the production as Ellie was too caught up learning her lines last minute and Thalia "didn't want to take on the role of monitoring the audio".
I have also found working with people that are not aiming as high as I am, don't put in the same amount of effort. As a result of this a lot of rolling cigarettes and texting were taking place, wasting valuable shooting time. It was then no surprise we were caught out when it started to rain.
This downpour put us even more behind in our schedule, which meant myself and Joe had to call off work, to be able to complete the principle of photography.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
We used our extra day to complete the principle of photography but unfortunately the weather was not on our side.
Throughout the morning we managed to complete the indoor scenes at Ellie's house and used the afternoon to complete the rest of the outdoor scenes.
As the rain started we agreed to film our last scene, which was to be filmed at the church for the morning of our first edit session.
I have fully learnt from the principle of photography stage not to fully rely on all team members as unfortunately some people will let you and the team down. It is also essential to have back up people / actors in place to ensure no time is wasted.
On a positive, I have also learnt a lot about manually controlling the iris and focus on the camera to achieve a professional looking piece of work.
Monday, 30 September 2013
Pre-Production & The First Meeting
After returning from the summer and pitching our screenplay ideas. I instantly wanted to work on Joe's idea - 'Day Seven', as the story drew me in and it was something I could imagine would look quite professional, if it was shot in the right location.
We were given time to form production groups. Ideally I would have liked to have been in a team with people I hadn't in the past or of whom were aiming for higher grades than a pass / merit.
However Ellie and Thalia both asked to work on the project, so 'Four Pigeon Productions' was formed. I was quite weary of working in a team with the both of them as I felt Ellie was more up for just 'messing around' and Thalia from the start was not prepared to take on any major responsibilities, even in the pre-production stage.
This straight away made me feel stressed over the work load that was about to come.
The First Meeting
The way in which I felt would be best to overcome any concerns or issues with the team was to tweak the way we held our production meeting.
By ensuring the group took ownership on each piece of pre-production, we could had a clear structure to ensure we met the deadline.
The main outcomes from our meeting were that Ellie knew of some friends / locations to film the indoor scenes and to act our main characters. Thalia also told the group that her father has his own office in a Drs surgery that we would be able to use. This would fit really well with the screenplay as the first scene is in a Dr's surgery.
Learning from previous tasks we all took part in a 'sign off' and signed to confirm that we agreed on what we were all responsible for and what needed completing.
I felt having this structure of a meeting gave the whole group clearance of each others views / opinions and also gave a vast amount of clarity to each member of the team.
Pre-Production
I was responsible just for completing the groups storyboard as it was quite a big task and learnt from previous mistakes from previous tasks in order to complete it to the best of my ability. I used a layout / template that I had gained a distinction on in my Advertisement unit to ensure it contained all of the appropriate information.
I also found that drawing each shot on my iPad and importing it into my storyboard was the easiest way to do so. It was very time saving and most efficient.
I also took into consideration the music and sound effects that will be heard throughout each shot of the production, to ensure a professional approach.
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