Planning and Preparation
The preliminary task took far less time to plan than the full product. The preliminary task was simply a practice and test run for what we were to account for later on in the term with our film. We took about two weeks planning our Preliminary. The script was handed to us, so we did not have to spend time on writing a script for our actors. We had a simple job of asking two drama students to take a small part of their time to act for our assignment. The scene was only about two minutes long, so it was not a problem asking them to leave classes and miss a day of work for the filming, unlike the filming of the full product. In advance we had to find actors and actresses that would fit the part of our character who were also prepared to miss a day of school work for the film. As well as this, for our film we needed to hire an external actor. This obviously had to be planned before hand. Availability for external actors was slim and as a group we had to decide whether splitting the charge was worth it for the film. For the main task, many more serious decision had to be made that would all contribute to the success of the end product. We set up in a small drama room because we only needed a door and no other props. For the full product, we needed the studio for the whole day that we had to book in advance. We also needed a small outline of an interrogation room and props. This took much longer than expected. We had to ask two professionals who built small structured sets for films to come in and measure out our set and build it for us. With this, there was quite a large risk of producing the wrong set days before the filming.
Development of film-making
For the preliminary task, not a lot of technical skills were needed to produce a good shoot. We used the Sony DD170 camera and the boom mike. The filming was simple- using POV shots and different high and low angles. From the preliminary to the main assignment, my personal techniques and skills with the equipment have developed. We’ve had to stick to the 180 degree rule, in which the basic guideline is film making states those two characters in the same scene should always have the same left and right relationship to each other. At this point we were in our groups of four. In the preliminary, we almost felt that we had too many people for the jobs that we were asked to do. For the full product, it was almost the opposite. There were many tiny jobs that had to be done. Most of all, the smaller jobs were far more important. For example, getting a glass of coffee for the table, running to collect more paper and new pens or reapplying Lou’s make-up etc. For the final product we worked on a storyboard basis. Our structure of the day came from here. It helped us stick to the plot and the running of the actors. As apposed to the dialogue that we used for the preliminary. We had a very limited structure that did not help us control our time or keep us on target. Here, it was easy to drift from the main goal to produce a decent first time clip.
Development of Sound & Editing
With the preliminary task, we did not edit the clip at all. Nor did we add or emphasize any sounds. For that task, it really was a basic demonstration of what the film industry can do as well as giving us our first chance to use cameras and scripts.
For the final task, we took much more time in post editing and using after effects. The use of Final Cut was a dominant element for our film. Without this, our film would simply we sections and clips of the film. To edit, we had to process each clip and decide which ones we wanted to use for our final product. From here, we started to collect them into a chronological order. We took a lot of time cutting the scenes and adding clips back into the film. Collecting them all into the correct order was hard and frustrating, but once we had evaluated each clip we were able to smooth each out and gradually it began to look like a clip from a film. Through out the weeks, we carried on editing. Credits were added and finally, sounds were added in after effects. For our film, we added an echo to Russell’s voice to emphasize the interrogation room. We also added air conditioning in the room to emphasize that the young girl was captured and vulnerable.
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