Filming Blog Entry, Main Exercise

When we had all the paper work for the planning completed and assessed all the risks, we were ready to film our opening sequence. We were going to film on Weymouth Beach as it was easy to get too and would be a great setting for the product. We set a provisional date to film at the 16th March; however we couldn’t film on that date because we found it difficult to get in contact with the actors. The actors were friends of Sadie’s but we couldn’t arrange a certain time because we didn’t know if they were free for that date to be in it. It was a shame because the weather was perfect for filming on the 16th and we didn’t because of lack of planning for the actors and left it too late. We then had a re-think on when to film and tried to plan more for the arranging the actors and keeping in contact with them.

The next film date was the Saturday 21st March as it was the only day when the weather is settled and would be perfect time to film. I arranged the actress as she was an old friend of mine. There was another panic to find actors in time because there weren’t that many willing people we could find, but luckily I managed to get in contact with one of my old friends; Jenny, who was more than happy to help out in the production. Sadie then arranged for the actor Alli to be in the production for the next date. It was a worry that the actors would get uncomfortable in front of the camera because they didn’t know each other, however this didn’t turn out to be a problem and the filming went really well. I was watching from a distance when Sadie was directing and Charlie was filming, because I couldn’t physically get on the beach (due to wheelchair). It was good to see overall what was happening while they were filming. After Sadie and Charlie had finished filming we were happy with how the day went. However we didn’t look back over what we had recorded and we should of. Unfortunately because Charlie didn’t use a tripod, communication was difficult because it was a public place and there were other people around when filming, the film turned out to be at a bad quality with the camera angles being incorrect and the camera was also really unstable making it difficult to follow what was going on in the production. We were all really disappointed in how it turned out. I think it was the stress of the planning got to the group so they rushed the filming on the day. So we decided as a group that we had to re film because we believed that we could do a lot better than the result of that opening sequence. We have leaned from our mistakes and would take time in filming and look over and over each shot to make sure it is perfect and the best we could do.

We then decided on a third date; Friday 26th March, to re film and get it the best we could by using a tripod and keep referring back to the story boards and scripts to make sure the film turns out the way we want it. The same actors we used on the 21st March were unable to attend the next filming date, so again we had to find different actors. I managed to find both the actors who are friends of mine (Phil and Rhian). We were planning to film during second period and through lunch time at college, 10.30 onwards. Charlie and I collected the equipment and planned to meet Sadie and the actors on Weymouth beach at 11.00. This gave us plenty of time to walk up to the beach with the equipment. However we were aware that the weather might change and start raining yet we were hoping to complete the filming before it started to rain. We managed to film 2 scenes with Rhian and Phil walking up the beach. I was watching from a distance again which was useful because I could tell overall what was happening. Unfortunately is started to rain which was a disaster. We couldn’t complete filming, so had to pack up the equipment and re-set another date.

The group was generally frustrated with having had several attempts and yet not filmed correctly. I was finding it distressing because it felt as if I was arranging the times and actors by myself. We all wanted to film as soon as possible because we knew that I needed time to edit. With the last filming session not being successful we tried to set a date as soon as possible. We decided to film in the weekend, Sunday 28th March. The actors were available and we were all ready. Charlie had the equipment and we arranged to meet at the beach at 3pm. Unfortunately the actors informed me last minute that they couldn’t get to Weymouth. This was a disaster for the group as we had to arrange another date to film. We felt that we had to do it as soon as possible because we were running out of time to complete the main task.
We decided that we had to do it the next day Monday 29th March during lunch time. Luckily we still had the equipment and the actors were available and could be in the production. This time, the filming went really well, we managed to do two or more recordings on each shot and looked back over each one making sure we had the composition and angles correct. The weather was good for filming and we were lucky that it didn’t rain while we were filming. I took a few stills while the group were filming:

The film was then re-watched to make sure it was correct and at a good quality. Having doing it on the Monday we were then able to edit over Tuesday and Wednesday before the Easter break. When we started to upload the film we looked over the film and found that some of the cuts were to short so this would make it difficult for editing. I was really disappointed as most of the shots became unusable, this resulted in a very short outcome, we also had to rearrange the layout of each scene to make sure the continuity is correct and it flows through well when watching.

The First Reflective Main Exercise Blog Entry

When we were first given the brief for the main exercise I was a bit nervous as it seemed like a bigger task than the preliminary exercise. However I thought that an opening sequence would be fun as we can be more creative unlike the preliminary exercise when we had a specific outline. I was happy to work with Sadie Lynham and Charlie Edwards again as we were in the same group for the preliminary exercise and we get on well, however it can be difficult as sometimes members can be absent which makes it more difficult to plan ideas. I hope that there won’t be many absences and we will be able to get on with the work and not become behind on work. When I looked through the log book,
I didn’t realise how much information was needed for planning before filming, but as we have started planning we have checked through and keep notes so we know what to do next and what we have accomplished already. When deciding on the genre and what the audience would be for our product was difficult. Our first idea was a thriller when a girl got kidnapped and then woke up from a dream with bruises. We tried to find some research but couldn’t think of any certain films and opening sequences we could research. Charlie then came up with a romance theme and I really liked this idea as we will easily be able to research and find great examples to look on. This new idea involves a couple on a beach mainly keeping with the point of view of the girl as this would be the girl’s dream. The girl would then wake up on that beach so the main opening sequence would be her dream with her partner. We looked at the examples of an opening sequence, studied and took notes on the camera, editing, sound and mise en scene which would help with our product. We looked at the 'My Sister's Keeper' Beach Scene. This scene really helped us because the emotional music really represents the feel of the product and as a group we want our product to use this technique.




We also looked at 'Grease' the opening sequence and the 'The Notebook' Beach scene .

When completing the SWOT analysis the main stumbling point for me was that when filming on the beach I would not be able to get on the beach because I’m in a wheelchair, so when deciding roles our group took this into account so I would be editing and wouldn’t have to do much practical work like camera work when filming. I also didn’t want to do camera work again because I did it in the preliminary exercise. I enjoyed doing it but I feel that I wasn’t happy with the result. So I am happy with my role of editing. Another weakness would be relying on the weather, as we are filming outside it would be bad if it was raining as we would not be able to film. So we will have to set may be a few provisional dates for filming and check the weather forecasts for those dates. Also relying on our actors would be an issue, we hope that they will be free to film and we hope not to have a repeat of the preliminary exercise when we had problems with the actors turning up. After completing the SWOT analysis we created our storyboards and a detailed script.

To improve my performance for the main exercise I would like to be more organised and more motivated with the planning work, as last time our group didn’t manage to get everything in the planning paper work like the rece’s. This time for the main exercise I will try and do more work outside of lessons, during frees and learning gateway sessions to do some planning paper work.
We then followed through the log book step by step so we could keep up to date with paperwork and planning.
Before we started filming we had to complete a risk assesment (page 1 & page 2), and assesing most of the points we discovered in the SWOT analysis.