Shooting schedule 2- melissa from itsallinthemind

storyboard-melissa

Storyboard-melissa from itsallinthemind

Evaluation

The three main things I have learnt from this experience are that a schedule is needed for everything and that we have to stick to the schedule otherwise the film is very un-organised and everything will not flow properly during the making of the film. I also learnt that having reserve or back up actors is key, if one actor pulls out at the last minute or we cannot find them we have to be prepared to have someone else step in if needed. On one of the last things and the most important thing that I learnt is that team work is the most important thing, without your team you cannot film and work the sound and make sure the film is set up properly and the actors and taking their role seriously, the team makes sure that everything is okay and you cannot do everything by yourself.

Our group handled problem solving very well, one of the problems we faced was that our actor pulled out at the last minute so we had to use Micah to film, although this was difficult me and Aoife had to direct and product and work the camera and the sound, we all worked together to make sure that our film was successful and that it worked and flowed well, also that all the shots were filmed properly.

Our shooting schedule was detailed but not realistic because we had to change our location at the last minute, never the less this still allowed us to achieve a good quality throughout filming, and all the recording in our film were competed in one day without any problems.

The storyboard had 17 shots altogether, covering around 4 minutes of our film, altogether the storyboard gave a good idea of what shots needed to be involved and the angles, also the different locations were clear and made it easier to plan the filming making it clear how the film was going to be laid out. Altogether our film was around 3 minutes 20 seconds following the storyboard however we decided when we practiced our film that some shots didn’t need to be separated and some shots worked better as one whole instead of individual shots.

Our shot list was organised very well and made It a lot easier for the film to be filmed, it saved a lot of time and it made the whole production more organised because everyone knew what they were doing and in the shot and how the shot was going to be filmed e.g. close ups and panning shots, also practising this made it very easy to film because everyone knew how they had to film or act in the shot everyone knew where they needed to be at certain times and how it was going to filmed.

In the recce our locations were chosen and reviewed very well, the recce made it very clear the pros and cons of the location also visiting the location gave the producer and director a very clear understanding of what parts of the rooms they were going to use, for example when reviewing the counselling room the director decided that they wanted to use the side of the room that had posters about mental awareness  instead of using a pain background, as this would help foreshadow the characters fait more and help the viewers to understand what the character was going through. Through the recce It was very clear that the lighting was better at certain points in the room also it gave us an idea of background noise, because the counselling room was a small enclosed room there was little background noise but for the toilets it was larger so it may have Eco’s at certain parts, therefore we had to be careful of it at certain points whilst filming, also we evaluated the parts in the toilets where it would be best to film with little or no background noise. We also had to ask permission to use the counselling room this is detailed in the recce and everyone was aware that we had permission.

We only had one main character in our film, we felt that this would help to grip the viewers’ attention, we felt that our actor was perfect for the role as she was good at acting and could portray the actor well, we rehearsed the film before filming to make sure that the actor was confident with the role given, micah enjoyed this role so this made the film run smoothly, she was also organised bringing in the right make up that she had to use and the right clothing to fit the character well.

Everyone in our crew knew the roles they had to cover in the film and everyone was very confident and content with their roles. All the equipment was checked charged and working properly we did a practice shot to make sure that everything was filmed promptly and the lighting was right for the film. The call sheet was effective and everyone turned up on time

Aoife evaluation

From doing this film I’ve learned several things to help me understand how to create a short film and the several things involved in creating one and more in the future, a few things I feel were key was Scheduling this is an important aspect in the pre-production of the filming as this a large part of how the film will turn out, if no one in the team sticks to the schedule them the filming will fall apart this leads on another important topic teamwork, teamwork is vital when doing group filming as everyone needs to get involved as there would be far too much work for someone to do individually in the time we had to do it. Teamwork is needed for pre-production, production and post-production. Everyone in the group needs to be focused throughout and work together to complete deadlines. We had times when our timing nearly failed but we managed to get it all done I believe this is because of planning I put into it.

As a group the majority of the time we worked well as a team and got all the work done so we didn’t find we had many problems none that we couldn’t make right or solve anyway.

 

I feel like the pre-production was definitely the hardest part of the work as at certain times the group fell behind although we managed to make up for it it was still a stressful time as we had tight deadlines to reach with also the fact we still had to film and edit, Although we managed to do it all I can appreciate my strengths of being able to create the work that was due in time and make up other peoples missing work.

 

I believe my first attempt of the shooting schedule wasn’t as realistic as my next one as I wouldn’t have had enough time to film outside of college as originally planned as successfully as the film in college. As I decided to film in college I felt calmed and relaxed and didn’t stress or such as I had plenty of time to really think through my ideas. Although the shooting schedule gave us a good idea of where to film and what shots would be used in each segment .so I would say it was effective just not as realistic as we originally planned.

Although the film wasn’t five minutes long the storyboard gave a good guidance into the location and order of location, from looking at the storyboard I could identify from the pictures the best area of the location for filming for example the counselling room had a bulletin board with many posters of mental illness pinned onto it, I felt this would be a better back drop for filming compared to the other blank wall in the room, that’s why I took a picture of the specific area.Next time I feel I would work more on the storyboard to add more shots to lengthen the film time.

 

The shot list was a detailed guidance on what angle would be used for each shot this wasn’t as effective as I had planned while writing a detailed explanation for all the angles I wanted to use for each shot when it came to the actual filming I found that I improvised on many of the shots to what I felt would look good from watching and guiding Micah the talent, I feel the shot list would have been more effective if we had rehearsed beforehand and fit them in accordingly.

 

I was in charge of doing the recee, I went to all the locations to ensure they would be suitable for filming I looked out for lighting as there is no natural light in either of the locations. we used the ceiling light if the ceiling light was not effective I would have had to use the overhead media lights. I also had to be aware of background noise as the counselling room is near the canteen, I made sure I filmed during lesson time for as little background noise as possible, I also used a sign to say filming in progress please use other toilets so no one came into the toilets mid filming. I got permission from Mr. Kelly to film the counselling room.

 

The original actor Chillapi was unavailable for filming so I had to make the quick decision to use Micah for the filming as I knew she had done media gcse, also were she is in my group she had a good idea of the film and would take instructions from me the director what to do when filming.This was an effective decision as she did everything I thought she would and helped me to create the film I wanted.

I feel the production roles were effective for the role each person was given for example me doing all the filming and being the director worked well as I could give clear instructions of what needed to be done in a calm mannor so everyone could get the work done and enjoy themselves at the same time, I designated Melissa the role of production manager as I knew she was responsible ad would get on with it. Micah was a brilliant actor and really brought the film together better than anyone else would of.

The equipment was key in the production as if we had been given a faulty camera and not have checked this would of severely delayed the schedule of filming as the camera would of needed to be replaced and charged, I ensured the camera was checked beforehand with Mr.French, I also requested a suitable camera stand that would be flexable for our varity of shots which it proved to be.

 

Although we did a call sheet it fell through on the day of filming as I had to wait an hour for everyone to show up, I could of avoided this by making it more realistic and checking with everyone beforehand instead of just expecting everyone to be in college as everyone had different lesson times.

 

Overall I feel my short film was effective due to teamwork and not getting stressed when things went wrong, from doing this short film I’ve learned lots of new skills to help me with future media productions and films, doing this task in a team allows you to appreciate other peoples strengths and weaknesses and what you can learn and gain from them. I felt I would struggle more with the actual filming and editing than the pre-production work but I found it was the opposite next time I will allow myself more time for the pre-production work as this is what I found I struggled most with while finding the filming and editing both easy and fun.

 

 

Production Log - Micah Pollard

Production Log –

Altogether my group and I decided to do 10 individual shots for our short film, this was because we wanted to have good quality shots so that we could have a variety to choose from. We then chose the shots that we wanted to keep and the ones we were going to delete. The way that I edited my film was in a non-linear way as it included flash backs and other techniques that made it seem unusual. I wanted the whole idea to across surreal to the target audience this is why I formatted my film in this way. Melissa did the story board which turned out good as she managed to include the important shots that was in the script. Melissa used 17 shots for the story board which was a good idea as it was a lot to choose from with good quality shots to use.

Another thing Melissa did was the script which was the most important as it was the whole idea of the film. This was panned out and written well as it had all the lines that I needed to learn in the film which turned out very successful.

Aoife did the shooting schedule which include things such as planning out the locations to film and the type of shots which we were going to use. This was done very nicely as it helped stage the whole setting and atmosphere of the film which made it more realistic and fun to watch.

Aoife also did the call sheet which consist of putting together the times on when we were supposed to film and sorting out each specific roles for the groups.

I did the risk assessment which means that I had to ensure that I covered all the areas that we were filming had no hazard around that could cause an injury to anyone in the team when filming. This was an important role as everyone health and safety matters when filming.

production log-melissa

Production log

17 march 2015:All together we filmed a total of eight times, in this time we have discussed our film and what things would and wouldn't work for our pre-production, we then discussed how we wanted our film to run for example, linear and non-linear, also the order our film is going to run, discussing the shot types that we all wanted to use and how we wanted the film to be filmed, we also discussed the actors, how many we wanted and how they would fit into the film, we also discussed who we wanted to act in our film as we wanted a particular actor who would fit the role perfectly. We watched everyone’s PowerPoints and decided what one was going to be more practical therefore we chose aoife’s film, because we all liked this idea.

18 march: I started the pre-production work , I went to our locations, the toilets, hall way and counselling room and took pictures for the storyboard altogether I took a total of 17 pictures of the storyboard and added the shot types and also the angles, these included Birdseye shots, over the shoulder shots in the counselling room.

19 march:  the next meeting we had is about what people are up to in their productions, how fat along they are and if they are having any trouble in their pre-production work, I had trouble with the storyboard as I found it was difficult to put the right shots in and make the movie flow as non-linear. The rest of the group were fine with their work aoife working on the script and making sure everyone was okay with it, coming back to the group and asking if anyone thought it could be improved. Micah was also consoling with the group asking if we thought she needed to add anything to her work

25 march 2015:  I continued to work and progress on the storyboard taking re shots and taking some pictures away, Aoife then worked on the script, production roles and the recce, Micah then did the risk assessment and the list of actors and why some of the comments made on the risk assessment were not updated due to slight change in location for our film, changing the location at the beginning from Aoife’s house to the toilets. My role as well as the storyboard was doing the call sheet and shooting schedule.

14 April: After everyone had finished their pre-production work and uploaded it, we then started planning our filming, hiring out equipment and deciding when we was all available to film. We had to change the day of filming from Thursday to Friday due to the fact that all the cameras were booked out on that day.

01 may: Before we started filming we had to make sure we had everything ready, making sure the actors and the equipment was ready and set up so we could start to film as soon as. Our film was slightly delayed filming because one of the actors Micah was not available at the time we original time we set. Therefore we had to wait an hour before we could film our film. A script was available to the whole team and a the shooting schedule as we needed to know what the actor was saying and if they stayed on task for the film and in what order we were going to film our film making sure everyone knew what they were doing and that everyone was organised for our film

04 may: After we had filmed our film we looked back over if and everyone watched the clips deciding if everyone was happy with what was shot and what we thought needed to be re-shot, changed or added to. The whole group was happy with the angles and the actor the way it was filmed, and how it was shot, also we were happy with the amount of shots we had, feeling that it would make the film flow nicely without any parts either dragging out or not making the film flow. 

Group meetings by Aoife

March 17

We had several meetings in our group to discuss the pre-production for the film, our first meeting was to discuss the actual idea for the film this was a brief meeting as I had already come up with the film idea a long time ago when miss.shutzer was my teacher, I discussed my film idea to Melissa and Micah and they both agreed it was a good idea, I worked on the idea and added little bits to improve it.

March 19

Our next meeting was with Mr Simmonds after we showed him the PowerPoint of our film he gave us feedback and discussed the film with me he gave positive feedback and gave us a few points to think about that I took away and worked on such as location and ideas.

April 13th

The next meeting was as a group with Mr. Barton on hes first lesson with us,this is where we told him the idea for the film and what we was planning on doing, he gave us feedback and helped us to expand and make our film better with a more realistic believable story line, I took hes ideas and feedback from the class and changed the storyline from her hallucinating to there being another self.

April16

We then had to begin all the pre-production before we could film, sir designated certain roles to people in the group to complete. My role was to create the shot list,script,production roles and recee I completed these tasks to fit the film and the group although these were my roles I refered back to my group to make sure they agreed with what I was saying which they all did. For the script I thought about the set up and location and the order of the shots to ensure it all made sence and would be do able when it came to filming, the shot list also had to have thought as this is also an important document that needs to be used when filming to give it order. For the recee I had to visit my filming locations which was the toilets and counselling room I had to make sure they were suitable locations for filming, If I hadn’t visited these locations beforehand I could of come unstuck when filming as the locations could have been to noisy or even not possible to film in, I needed to get permission from Mr. Kelly to film in the counselling room and this room could have been used at a time when I had planned to filmed.

April 6th

Melissa began her pre-production roles which included the call sheet, shooting schedule and storyboard, she referred back to me while doing these as we decided I would be the director and in charge of the filming so it was key she knew what she was writing. Melissa wrote out everything from our original filming location although this was changed nearer to the time of filming. The storyboard consisted of 17 pictures of possible locations for filming including pictures of our actual locations the toilets and the councelling rooms from doing this it gave me a good idea of what angles could be used during the filming for example a birdseye shot over the toilet door.

 

April 9th

Micahs pre-production work consisted of the risk assessment, although she wrote about lots of risks some of them were irrelevant to our film for example cars we didn’t have to deal with the hazard of cars as we filmed no were near the road, she wrote about how filming in a bathroom could come with risks such as electric damage and how she could prevent this happening by being cautious and keeping the camera away from running water. She also wrote about how if we filmed in a classroom we wouldn’t want it to look like a classroom as this is irrelevant to our film, she said we could move the chairs out of the way as this could be a hazard of tripping over and also would look more professional out of the frame. Micah’s other production role was to write about out backup actor if she was unable to film she wrote how Chillapi would be a good actor in our film and why.

May5th

Before I went on to film I had to make sure everyone knew what day we was filming on and what time we had problems at this point because the team members couldn’t fully ensure they would be able to film at that specific time, at this point I knew there wouldn’t be enough time to film In the original location being the bedroom I had to make the decision to go back on my pre production work and change the location on the script to the college as I knew this would be easier for me and my team members to film in time,  im glad I made this decision as I feel if I hadn’t the film would of failed instead of how it turned out to be.

May8th

On the day of filming the Friday I suggested before my team showed up I made sure a camera would be available to film with and I printed out my script to give to the team so they knew the shot order and how the day was going to run although I thought the backup actor was going to have to be used Micah pulled through and allowed us to create what I believe a successful short film in which she very professionally  acted in while I filmed and Melissa gave some direction as well as acting as the councellor.

 

May12th

After four hours of filming different shots we had gathered our rushes ready to be edited individually we looked through the rushes as a group to make sure we had the right shots and didn’t have to re film or add any other scenes into the film which we didn’t, we all agreed we was ready to edit the film individually.

 

 

We had many short meetings as a group some good some bad throughout the pre production work the production work and the post production work, the film ran smoothly without technical issues .we all pulled through to reach deadlines and create the short film in time and to what I believe to be a good standard.

 

Aoife-all in the mind

you tube link to melissa's film