Our Filming Experience

We have faced multiple problems in our lead up to filming which has prevented us to from filming over the holidays. We had organised to film at the start of the holidays but because of the terrible weather this prevented us to film. The weather also caused floods in our area which meant some people were unable to get to the filming locations. We then couldn't shoot during Christmas and New Years time because some of our group were unavailable and we didn't want to do anything with someone missing because we wanted it to be a group effort. This meant that we coudnt film until the final weekend of the holidays, we were all set and ready for this shoot, it was all planned and then it got to the day and the weather let us down because there was a storm that had come over, this delayed our filming once again. We then decided that the next time to film would be after school and in free periods on Tuesday 5th, Wednesday 6th and Thursday the 7th of the first week back.

We had a plan of when to film and this was in our free periods at school and then after school, we don't have much time after school because it starts to get dark relatively quickly therefore leaving us with not a lot of time but it is still possible to get the shots we need. We have everything ready for our shoots eg call sheet, shot list and story board so it is just a case of getting out there and filming.

On the first allocated day of filming (Tuesday 5th) we went out after school to our first location, unfortunately as we got to this location we realised that we were missing a vital prop for our shoot (the bag) without the bag meant the story wouldnt make sense and it would look odd if the protagonist had a bag in one shot and not in another, it wouldnt work. So we worked around this by being able to shoot one shot (shot 15) which did not require the object, this was a succesful shot. The rain did start to come down as soon as we had filmed that shot so even if we had been able to shoot more the rain would have prohibited us to shoot much more. We decided we would come back the next day and try again. 

The next day (Wednesday 6th) we finished school and went to shoot shots 8-14, we didnt need to film shot 15 because we achieved that the following day. All the together the shoot was a success and we were happy with what we managed to get in the can. We had found out that our location was perfect for what we wanted. After the shoot when we reviewed the shots and found that for the scene to make sense we should add a few extra shots in-between this would also result in it flowing better. While filming we tried not to break the 180 degree rule and did every shot more than once so that we had a shot we were happy with. We decided that when we have time we are going to go back and film them extra shots and improve others. This day of filming was a much better experience than the previous day, we were a lot more organised and and didn't face any problems making it difficult to shoot on the day. 
Rough Cut 1 from shoot on Wednesday
Rough Cut 2 from shoot on Wednesday 

The next day on Thurdsay 7th we filmed in school in the gym. We knew what type of shots that we needed these were match cuts. We previewed this shots and found that they were a success and we were happy about what we got. Everything went smoothly and we were happy with how everything turned out.

The next day of shooting that we had planned was on Sunday 10th but the weather unexpectedly changed and it was snowing on that day so we decided it wouldn't be wise to go out and film because it would result in some shots having snow in and others not making the opening look unprofessional and careless. So we rescheduled this shoot for the following day Monday 11th. This shoot was successful and we got all the new shots that we planned and we are happy with them, we also got our first GoPro shots. There was one difficulty however, this came about as we tried to redo some shots. We arrived at the location that we last filmed these shots to be turned away by builders on the area which we previously filmed on, this was annoying because it meant that we were unable to re film these shots which was disappointing but we are hoping to go and try again when we all have time.

We previewed our footage and realised we didn't have a vital part of the film and this was the bag so we had to go back and re shoot everything. We got all the shots we needed also also some extras for match cuts and on the way back we checked our other location which we wanted to re shoot in and it was open so we decided to also re shoot them shots there. Everything that we reshot turned out exactly how we wanted it and we are now happy with how everything is turning out.

Last Scene Rough Cuts

The first video is our first ever rough cut for our opening scene 'The Brief'. We had collected enough shots that we would make a rough cut out of what we had. Doing rough cuts is very helpful because means we can see what works and what needs to be altered and changed. We found that for this scene to flow more smoothly and make more sense that we need a few extra clips to put in-between some shots. We also found that it would be better if we re shot a couple of clips to make it look a bit more realistic. All together i am happy with this rough cut because it shows room for improvement but also is a good scene.

The first video is similar to the second there is only one slight change. The change is at the 3rd and 4th shot. In the first video the 3rd shot changes when the protagonist runs out of shot and it changed to shot 4 and this shot starts the protagonist running onto screen. We changed this in the second video so that the 3rd shot changes when the antagonist runs off screen and then the 4th starts when the antagonist runs on. We did this because we felt that it works better with the timing of the shots.

When reviewing these rough cuts we have picked a couple of shots that we wont to re shoot. One of these is shot 3. We feel like it doesn't work that well when the antagonist jumps over the wall and it doesn't look realistic.  The second shot we want to redo is shot 5. This is because the shot is not in focus and the acting could be better. 

The extra shots that want to incorporate are a shot in between 4 and 5 were the antagonist walks up to the bag before looking in, we feel this shot is essential and will make the flow of the scene a lot smoother, it will also make it easier for the audience to understand whats happening. The other extra shot we want will be the second to last of the scene and will feature the antagonist. It will be a medium close up so that we can see the emotions of the actor, we want to portray to the audience that the antagonist is very annoyed and angry about what has just happened.

The music for this rough cut is non diegetic sound. I found some action music on the internet which gave me permission to use, this music will not be used in the final cut because we are making our own music on garage band but for now i have used this as a replacement