Preliminary Task

1. What planning did you do? How was this useful and how did you change from your plans?

            Before we started filming, we did some planning to make sure our shoot ran smoothly. First, we looked for a location that we could use to film in, this is called a recce. We chose our school canteen. Next, we made a story board so we knew what was happening in our filming. Here is our simple storyboard that we made: 

This also gave us something to refer to when filming on location. Then we made a floor plan so that the actors could see where to walk and stop etc, it also showed us where we were positioning our cameras.  Here is our floor plan that we made:

Afterwards, we made a shot list, this is a list of all the shots that will be in the film and how each shot is cut to the next, for example medium shot of Emily, CUT TO, long shot of Emily and Evie walking to the table, CUT TO, close up of Evie sitting on a chair. Once we had the planning on paper done, we could go to our location and rehearse. After we had rehearsed we fine tuned our plans so that on the day of our shoot the filming would go to plan.  The planning we did helped us on the day of the shoot as we had things to refer to if we weren’t sure what was happening next or what else needed filming. The most useful piece of planning we had, I think, was the floor plan as it gave us an idea of where people were going to be and where the cameras needed positioning. Our final piece didn’t change that much from our planning; this is because our planning was thorough and informative so everyone knew what they were doing.

 2. What camera skills have you developed? How confident are you with using the cameras, and has this confidence changed during the project? Give details of specific camera skills/techniques you have developed/improved, and include areas where you lack confidence/need to improve.
            During this filming exercise I have learnt all the basic camera skills that I need for when we film our thriller film openings. Before, I hadn’t used a film camera and now I feel as though I have a good understanding of them. When we first started using the cameras I was fairly confident but by the end of the project I was far more confident, I experimented with different shots and angles, as well as what we had planned for so that we could get a variety of material before we went into editing. Some of the equipment we used included a dolly, a tripod, and obviously a film camera. We also used a stills camera when looking for locations and to make our storyboard. The tripod insured that our shots were steady and didn’t have much shake in them and the dolly also helped the panning shots stay smooth and not go wobbly. Other techniques we used when filming were the 180° rule, this is important in conversations as to maintain continuity. This means you only shoot from one side of the action, it then doesn’t confuse the audience as the same character is always on the same side of the screen. I think the main area I need to improve in is the techniques I use, for example I nearly didn’t follow the 180° rule as one of the shots was on the line of being on the other side of the character. I feel this will improve with time though and the more times I use the camera. 

 

3. What editing skills have you developed? How confident are you with using the editing program? Give details of specific editing skills/techniques you have developed/improved, and include areas where you lack confidence/need to improve?

            I had never edited any film like this before, so will I was editing for this project I was also learning how to use the editing software and the skills needed for editing. The main technique we used was adding transitions between shots; this improves the flow of the footage and also makes it more interesting for the audience. Another technique we used was cutting the clips to the required length and selecting from the variety of footage we had filmed to get the best quality finished product. I was able to do this very easily after being showed how and didn’t need any extra help from my teacher. Overall, I feel I was confident in editing the footage given how much experience I have had with editing and as with filming, over time my confidence will grow and my editing skills will improve. This is our final piece of film: