Filming Process and Challenges

About two weeks ago, I began filming. My props and setting was almost ideal; I used a classroom in college, the one flaw was the whiteboard in the room which made it look more like a classroom than an office so I needed to try my best to avoid catching it in my shots. Then after filming about half of my overall shots, I uploaded them on to Adobe Premier Pro to begin editing; this is where my first problem occured and it became apparant that I had a problem with my camera. This is because the quality of all of my shots were very low, grainy and very pixelated. Unfortunately, I knew that I could not use this in my main task and that I would have to film it all again.

However, I immediately solved this problem by renting out a Canon DSLR 500D camera from the media department. I practiced shots to ensure that the quality would be good and clear and thankfully it was! The next day I started to film again.

The first time I filmed I did not have a script which was a problem as I had to think as I went along about what my actors would have to say next which was very inefficient for them and myself. In order to ensure this did not happen my second time, I made a script with the shot angles next to them to avoid confusion. Again, I filmed about half of my film and I have found it difficult to find anymore filming time due to the absence of my actors. Despite this, they were very easy to direct and remained very professional- they brought in their own costumes which they thought would be appropriate to their roles including shirts and ties etc. I made sure my actors were in the same positions in each shot I filmed to avoid any continuity errors.

The only problems I found after filming a second time was an issue with framing and mise-en-scene, in some of my shots you could see the whiteboard (mentioned earlier). I used long shots which were not suitable because of this and the room looked very much like a classroom instead of an office which was my main worry. In order to resolve this problem I will need to re-film these shots perhaps from different angles to avoid any of these errors which will not be a problem. On a positive note, the rest of the shots I filmed were clear and of good quality. I imported them onto Premier Pro and editing them together which was successful as the shots were very seamless.

Costume and Props

For my main task, I will need a selection of different props and costumes for my actors:

Costume:

My female character will need to wear a white shirt and black trousers in order to fully achieve the role of a Journalist.

My male character will need to wear something similar: a shirt and black trousers, for the same reason.

Props:

A newspaper- I have made this newspaper myself. The front page of the newspaper reads: "Journalist admits fake drug gang story", which is about the female character. I will film the character reading the newspaper in despair.


Coffee cups - for the audience to work out that the female Journalist is tired and needs caffeine to keep her going.

Lots of paperwork and pens - to suggest disorganisation of the female.

Production Meeting

In class, we had a meeting in which we could discuss each other's productions and what we had left to do. We made a list of what we still needed to complete for our coursework.

During this meeting, I thought of some more ideas that I could use in my film. For example,  to show that my main character is a journalist, I will take an establishing shot of a news shop in town called 'The News', this is a good idea because I was unsure of how I could show the audience who the characters are supposed to be.

I already have a good idea of what I want my characters to wear (blazers, shirts etc), however I need to check that my actors have these clothes available to them, otherwise I will have to provide them myself.

I need to ensure that my character of the struggling journalist looks tired,  I will use make up to get this effect- brown eye shadow under the eyes to make them look baggy.

I also need to create a storyboard for my film with all the shot types so when I come to filming I will not be stuck or confused.

And lastly, I need to make sure I have all of my props together for when I film. I need to print off my newspaper in the size of A3. I will also will need to bring in some things from homes to create the feel of an office, such as a desk lamp, post it notes, folders and paper work and a coffee mug (again to suggest that my journalist is feeling tired)