Prelimanary task

Preliminary Task

How did you approach the filming process?
I was put in group of three people where we worked as team, producing different ideas about what the storyline could be. Everyone had their own view of presenting the film but eventually we were down to the best one out of our selection. We were provided with a storyboard and a camera to shoot with which was helpful as it had all the necessary elements we needed on making a film. Now that every components are there, it all came down the location- as a group we had a plan of starting the film with a establishing shot so we concluded on taking an outdoor shot to start with. We tried many shots with and without the tripod, saved it and chose the best shot we thought when it came to editing. We had to arrange ourselves for the different roles we had to play in the process of the film to make it an achievement. Me and the others in my group (Hussam and Ranjit) had to make sure all the scenes were watchable with trying different location and different camera ankles. We knew in order to put this together and give it a soothing effect, support from a sophisticated machinery which would then allow us to have a certain mind of the things we could do to make it look like a film was needed. Thankfully we were provided with a Mac book which really helped us a lot both in case of video and audio editing.


How satisfied were you with the filming?
The filming was fun as we all had a chance to chip in our own opinion about the ankle of the camera placed, the location and the shot itself- if that shot was necessary to be shown in the film? It was a chance for us to explore our knowledge in the camera shots which we learned in the past few lessons. However I wouldn't be able to say that I'm fully satisfied with the way we did our task. There are many areas where we could've improved including the possibilities of more technical support. For example, help of a trolley could make the tracking shot more steady and with the help of more advanced lighting sources could make the shot more clearer and visible to the audience. Although I am not too much worried about the lack of skills as it was our first attempt to prove ourselves in making a film.


How well did your team work together? How could you be better organised next time?
Although the time we spent on the filming was very short, we had long periods of planning and discussion between us about the film. It was fun working as group as it would then enable you to extend and develop your own ideas from the suggestions and views of other people in the group. The first thing I would make sure when doing filming is to keep the basics right. This means steadying the camera when shooting with using a tripod, not letting any kind of light source behind the character when filming and the dialogue delivering must be clear- this could be done by using a mike may be. Also I would try hard to limit my time on planning, thinking about the locations and the type of camera shots. But trying a certain shot on different ankles would do no harm even though you know the best ankle to place it. The film itself would be the other factor I would take care about because doing a film which is sensible and appealing to the audience would be better than experimenting new things and identifying your ideas along the process, making no sense at all.
What particular challenges or problems occurred?
The taking of the film was the biggest challenge as we had limited range of experience. Although, we took the task as an opportunity to invent our abilities in the different prospectives of filming. The other important concern was the impact it would make on the audience. We had to step up the standard of our video with necessary video and audio editing to make it more appealing to the audience. There weren't any particular problems that we had to face apart from the fact that we had to go around school finding appropriate locations to shoot our video. Although, we would wish to have an advanced technical support on the shooting of the film.


What have you learnt about filming from completing this task?
Firstly I have realised how much time should be put in the process. It can be long and you need patience to come out with a film of your wish. All the other secondary things which goes from using a camera to mixing the sounds and editing has its own difficulties in the making. A lot of effort has to be gone in for a worthy outcome.