Group 2 - Foundation Production

J.P - Reflection on shoot

When and where was the shoot?:

The filmed at a friends house, which is in Tunbridge wells

On Saturday, 10th January 2015 from about 12 until 6

What scenes were you focusing on?:

We focused on shooting the basement scenes in this shoot, we wanted to film all of it but we ended up only having enough time to do the second half. We choose to only film the basement because the kitchen scenes are easier to set up and less people are required so it would be more convenient to organise

What was your individual contribution to the shoot?:

Before we got to the location we met at Freddie's house and I wrote the script with Freddie and Freya. Once we wrote the script I typed it up so we had a neater copy for the actors.
Once we arrived on location I helped prepare some of the actors for what they need to do, I also helped set up the set by moving the cage around, clearing space and assisting Freddie create the newspaper wall.
I helped direct the shoot by giving ideas about certain shots and setting up the lighting.

To what extent did your storyboard affect your use of camera and framing?:

We followed the main concept from our storyboard however many of our shots were different to what we originally planned. We had to change some shots since our framing ideas were not possible in some situations
Many shots went as planned however and came out how we wanted them.

What do you think work particularly well?:

We were really pleased with how some of the basement scenes turned out, through the use of props and lighting. I brought a mini LED light which we used to create a spotlight effect on certain scenes came out very well due to this.
The scene in the newspaper room with oral chained up came out really well as the close up creates a dramatic effect

What were the challenges of this particular shoot?:

We found some challenges with an actor in the shoot, we didn't feel she fitted the role properly and therefore we needed to reshoot some scenes
We also came across issues to do with continuity, this was due to basic errors such as leaving out shots of him walking around and some lighting issues. Many shots were darker than others so it looks as if certain shots were filmed at different times of the day
We also found that we ran out of time and only managed to film half of our production, this was due to a slight lack of preparation as we wasted quite a lot of time setting up and thinking about scenes

How will I use this experience to inform the next shoot?:

In future shoots I will try to follow our storyboards better to reduce the chance in missing shots, this will also improve our continuity
Also I will try to make the lighting more consistence as some shots are lit very well where as others are not. As well as this we need to focus more on movement shots compared to static shots as we seem to have many static shots which are unnecessary
Finally I have learnt that it is very easy to get caught up in time, so I will make more of a plan so that no time is wasted

Group: Call Sheet and Risk assessment

TWGSB Media Studies Film Production

Call Sheet & Shot list

Date:10^th and 17^th of January Location: Harry’s house Tunbridge Wells

Meeting Time: 12 Group: 2

Crew & Cast Contact details:

Freddie O’Connell

_____________________ Phone:07403083989

Freya Luff

_____________________ Phone:07977459858

Josh Peet

_____________________ Phone:07808274744

Rory Denyer

_____________________ Phone:07930527222

_____________________ Phone:

Props & Equipment crew responsible

Chains Josh

Cages Freddie

Kettle Freya

Frying pan Rory

Meat

Newspaper

Knife (non-maliciously)

Location	Shot number (on storyboard)	Cast	Technical notes
Kitchen	1-18	Rob and Cath	There aren’t particularly any technical difficulties in this scene apart from a tracking shot which we might use across the kitchen workbench.
Basement	19-37	Tiernan, Rob, Miles, Orla	We need a lot of props for this scene to access technical excellence on mise-en-scene. We need to make sure we get anlot of moving shots for continuity editing.

TWGSB Media Studies Film Production

Risk Assessment

You need to consider all the potential risks at each location shoot and outline how you will work to prevent any accident or injury to you, your cast or the equipment.

Location	What is the hazard? Think about road safety, filming at night, potential damage to equipment	Who/what might be harmed and why? Think about who needs to be aware of the risk	How will you reduce the risk? What steps will you take to ensure that the risk is lowered?	Signed Approved by JF, CF, KJ
Kitchen	The kitchen knife	Cath and the people around her need to be careful as it is a sharp object that could cause harm.	We will put the knife in the knife rack until we actually need it for the shot.
Kitchen	The kettle & cooking the meat	Both the hot oil from the meat and the boiling water from the kettle could potentially burn Cath.	We won’t pour the water we boil in the kettle and we’ll limit the oil usage.
Stairs down to the basement	Tripping and falling	The camera man, rob and the camera have the potential to fall and hurt/damage themselves.	We can try and clear any clutter or objects from the stairwell.
Basement	Sharp objects (nails) on the floor	Miles who is going to be lying on the basement floor could impale himself on a rusty nail.	Miles could either get a tetanus shot or we could clear the floor of rusty nails etc.

Post Production

I took a leading role in editing last week (Monday 19th January), The basement section of our project had been completed before so I edited the kitchen section of the project. We were trying to create tension by having a fast cutting rate and using different shots together to hint what is about to come. I edited all the shots from the second shoot.

We used a lot of different editing techniques including:

Varied cutting rates
We gave prevalence to the two antagonists
Intercutting, flashing clips from the basement in the kitchen scene
We used cut on action as we followed the male antagonist into the house
We also used cross cutting on the clips with the basement
We decided not to use jump cuts as we thought it would look messy

Post Production Work to do

We need to add soundtrack
We need to add sound effects
We need to add credits

We will be using lesson times, lunch and free periods to complete this.

F.O'C - Shoot reflection 1

Where and where was the shoot?

We filmed our first shoot on the 10th of January 2015 from 13:00 until 18:30.
The location of our shoot was at a friend of mine's in Tunbridge Wells.

What scenes was I focusing on?

We only managed to get the basement scene done in the initial shoot.
We do have a kitchen scene to shoot however we only had time to shoot one and we didn't want to intrude too much into the family's house. This is the majority of the film and so it shouldn't take too long to go back to Harry's house and film the kitchen scene.

What was my individual contribution to the shoot?

I helped write the script before the shoot.
When we got to the shoot I reviewed where we were going to shoot the shots and where the cast (victims) were going to be held in the different rooms.
Then I, along with Rob (antagonist) created the wall of articles from newspapers and articles I chose and printed at home.
During the actual filming process I, along with Freya, directed the cast and shots, & filmed all but 2 or 3 of them.
At the end of the shoot Rob, Freya and myself stayed behind for an hour to finish some shots and to clean up the props and design that we left behind.

To what extent did our storyboard affect the use of camera and framing?

The story board was only effective to the extent that it vaguely represented our plot. We referred occasionally to it to recall which shot was supposed to come next in the film however none of the shots drawn were framed in the way we imagined.
Because of this ambiguity when deciding on shots, we may not have got the required number of shots and the required range of angles and distances to achieve the level of excellence in camera work necessary to gain an A grade.

What do I think worked particularly well?

The make-up and clothing was suitable for the narrative and when looking back at the footage makes the clips look immersive and believable. We shaded under all the victims eyes and made the faces pale and the cheek bones prominent with shading to give an withered, unhealthy look.
Apart from the lighting the location was brilliant with the darkness creating atmosphere in some cases and the walls and floors looking dirty and the separate rooms allowing a variation of shots.
What was particularly effective were the shots of Tiernan in a cage. The cold white light from the torch looked really nice and portrayed tiernan more as animal stock rather than human. His vacant crazed expression reinforced this. The canted angle further adds to the viewers uneasiness of the situation.

What were the challenges of this particular shoot?

The lighting posed a real issue in the shoot. Firstly there was only one light in each room which restricted the angles that we could shoot at as we didn't want to cast a shadow in shot & we refrained from using Josh's LED light as it wasn't the same as the colour as the light from the bulbs and we wouldn't get continuity in the edit. Secondly when filming, the light when looking through the camera was atmospheric&dark but viewable. When we started editing however it was far too dark.
The next challenge we came across was when we attempted to stick newspaper cuttings to the walls. Neither blue tac nor sellotape would stick to the walls due to the fine layer of dust and plaster coating coating everything. We overcame this by wrapping sellotape around a beam and stuck it to the back of the newspaper, forming a loop.
Some of the actors had to leave and so we slightly rushed and missed out some shots when attempting to get the basic narrative across. Partially as a result of this we missed out linking shots going from room to room causing some confusion when looking back at the footage.

How will we use this experience to inform our next shoot?

We need to look carefully at the lighting of shots in the future, making sure they are if anything lighter than we want them as we've discovered it's far easier to darken a shot and keep sufficient resolution than it is to lighten one.
As we didn't seem to have enough shots after shooting, simply we need to take far more shots and footage to make sure we have the option of getting rid of bad shots and keeping only the ones we like.
increasing the range of shots we use is important. In the next shoot we need to take more movement shots, close ups, expressions, low angles and high angles to keep the clip interesting and to achieve excellence in that area.

F.L - Post Production

From the week commencing Monday 12th January, to the end of the week (Friday 17th January) I, along with Fred, edited the half of the film this was the basement scenes, which consisted of all the footage obtained from Shoot 1.

The week that I began editing was the start of the whole editing process, so this involved setting up the project and uploading all the footage.

Once editing began, this involved using a range of skills, such as:

Selecting the footage and analysing which shots and angles were the most appropriate.
Creating a basic sequence by dropping the footage onto the timeline, which outlined the initial order of footage. This helped continuity and also a simple idea for us to work off.
I then began cutting the footage and making sure it was the right length (didn't start too slowly etc).
I carried out inverting clip speed, this involves reversing the order of the clip so that the shot at the start of the clip comes at the end. I did this in a pan shot that ran up one of our actors bodies - the original clip started at his foot and ended on his face, but after the reversal it started on his face and ended at his foot.
I used cut on action /continuity editing to follow the antagonists movements around the basement.

I also helped edit the footage from Shoot 2 (the kitchen scenes):

This involved the same variety of skills - cut on action, dropping footage on timeline etc.
However, I also looked at intercutting, this involved editing small flashes of other footage into a main sequence shot.

Next Lesson:

We need to look at sound - sound effects and consideration towards a soundtrack.
Titles - the placement and overall edit of them onto the actual footage (I drew up a rough idea of title order).

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