Introduction
During the processing, organizing and managing a film production, there were three things that I have learned while working in the group with Lawrence and Shanee. One of the things that I have learned during this process is the scheduling where it needs to suit everyone that is part of production and making sure that all of the coverage shots gets done on time so we can back to a editing suite to see what shots needs to be done again by picking up additional shots if it is necessary by going back to the locations of your short film. By getting permission from a local film council like, for example Bexley or Greenwich film office to film at the location that you want to film your short film is very important as if you do go a location that you wanted to make your film and do not have any permission from them, then it is possible that you will get in trouble with the police for not having anything to say that you can film and may get fined for it so, it is best to get permission from an local film council before you go out and do some filming. Also, another thing that I have learned during this is to make sure that I have a filled out location recess that does included sounds checks as it could be heard on the final production stage of making the short film like for example: any noises of cars driving past, different people talking to each other, dogs barking etc.
As a group of three, we did encounter some problems while managing the film production like, for example: we did not give the jobs to each person evenly as we are meant to be working as a group and not ourselves and had to go a back up location so that we could meet up easily and meet up on time because we felt that the location did not meet the requirements of the short film as it was too far to travel to the location.
Main Body
Shooting Schedule: A shooting schedule was only put into place so our group can organize what each of the coverage shot that is going to be done in order so it can be easier and useful to be done within the group like, for example: If we are going to film inside of the woods, then we would film in one place first and then go to another place within the woods. It was detailed enough because it had the timing that is needed like the setting up of the equipment, what shot is going to film, what day is going to be filming, at what is the filming is to end and what part of crew and talent needs to be there but it also needed to be realistic as possible which it was, as our group planned to film in two days so the talent could change his clothes so the talents can fill their roles that has been given to them. So I can say that it was effective because as a group of three, we managed to do the filming in the order that was set by the shot list given by the camera operator.
Storyboard: A storyboard was put into place so the production team will know how to frame the coverage shots by using the rule of thirds but the role that was set to write up this is the camera operator. Also it was ideal to plan of how long of each coverage shot is going to be and say if there is going to be any audio within my short film like, for example: ambient sound so the crew will be able put it in while editing the film in the post-production stage. It was detailed in a way where it had the pictures and a description of each different coverage shots that is going to be in the short film of Paranoia which is good for the production crew but the way it could have been improved is by adding the duration of the shot type and if there were going to be any sound within each scene of the shot. Also it was realistic as possible, this is mainly because that the amount of different coverage shots that we had within the short film was twenty-four where it is enough to cover a one minute short film but it is not enough for it to cover a 5 minute film as I will need more than twenty-four shots to cover it.
Shot List: The shot list paperwork was done by the camera operator and it would allow us to know what the production crew would shooting in a particular order that is set. For the whole of the crew, it was useful to us mainly because it would save time rather than just following the storyboard by planning what shot is going to be filmed first so it lets the actors know what shot is going to filmed and position that they need to be in within that coverage shot. It was detailed well because we had the correct coverage shots that we wanted to shoot and it was in a suitable order that was required but it did include a description of what is going on within the shot and it was realistic as well because it allowed the actors be organized by following the list of what is going to happen next with the shooting of the film.
Location Reece: By doing a location recess for the main location and alternative one was done because it did allow the location scout to identify the issues and hazards within the two while filming there but it was done by the director while the risk assessment was written up by the producer. It was detailed as it was covering all of the aspects of the locations like, for example: the sound of traffic (background noises), the best parts of that location (accessibility), lighting and permissions from the local film council to film there. With the risk assessment, it covers the hazards that could affect either the production crew, talent (actors) or the general public like, for example: if someone did do damage to the equipment that has been provided by the college, then it is likely that they have to pay for a new piece of equipment to the provider or an unknown person could steal a piece of equipment if it is left unsupervised by the production team so it would mean that we have to pay money for a new one.
Actors: It is very important that you have actors within your film because they should be able to give a very good performance of portraying a character and see if they could be suited to be part of the film by giving them rehearsals so they can feel relaxed rather than being nervous. Also, it was important to see if the actors that were chosen were organized and reliable meaning by this that they would need to turn up whenever we need them to show up at the main location that we are going to film at. The actors were reliable as they did show to the location that we were shooting the coverage shots and they were suited to roles to play the character of detective which it was played myself and the unknown victim was played by James White. Although I did feel that I could have asked someone else to play the part of the detective, it was fine as both of us did play very good parts of the short film of Paranoia.
Crew Roles: It is extremely important that each of the group knows their responsibilities within the role that has been given and although the production roles document was done by myself, it was detailed enough for whole of the crew to know their responsibility within the roles that has been given to them. The role of director of my short film of Paranoia was myself where I needed to make sure that everyone is doing their jobs during the production stage of making the film but not only that, I have full control of creating my own artistic style of filming the short film of Paranoia. Lawrence was given the role of the producer where this meant that he must have control of the timing so to make sure that the filming and the actual film does get finished in time before the deadline but also making sure that everyone involved within the different aspects of the film does show up on the site that the filming is taking place (locations). The third person in our group was Shanee where she was given the role of camera operator wherer wheher responsibility was to film the scenes that is part of the short film but also the way of the short film looks like, for example: making sure that she is using rule of thirds in each of the coverage shot so the framing does good.
Equipment: The equipment was provided by college where we used a SLR Camera with an SD Card, Tripod, SLR Camera charger and LSD Lights to make the one minute short film but we needed to make sure that it was working correctly and not giving any problems at all. The camera tripod was not giving any problems at all and the reason why we needed to use this, it is because we are meant to keep the coverage shots still by not moving the handle on the tripod where it will move the camera to follow the subject happening within the clip.After we did filming on the first day of two, we found out that the camera did not have the magic wand settings where it makes the shots look good, so we had to change the camera that did not have the settings for another one that had it but overall it did work well white filming the coverage shots for the short film. Overall where apart from the problem with the SLR camera,the equipment that was provided did not give any problems at all but we could have used the LSD Lights to create the low-key lighting that is seen in thriller films because since we were filming outside where there was no control natural lighting and not filming inside, we were unable to this.
Call sheets: The call sheet document was filled with the timings, contacts and props that is needed before you go out to a location to filming the coverage shots of your own short film. So this is only showing that it was detailed enough because it had the timings of when we are going to shoot, the contact details of both the crew and talent so we can call them to show up at the location where the filming is going to happen and it does include a list of the props that is required for the short film of Paranoia but also, it was realistic because everyone that is part of crew or even starring in the film did show up to the location where the filming is going to take place.
Conclusion
I really do believe as part of the Eyewatch Productions while working with Lawrence and Shanee, the group was effective when it came in terms with solving problems that we faced like, for example: evening out the roles that we decided to take on while having the responsibility of it but there is improvement that I can make like when we change the filming location from Lenses Abbey Woods to Chislehurst Woods due to the travel being too long and I forgot to change the recce to talk about the new location of Chislehurst so next time I will need to make sure that I will need to write up a new recce that does include the back up with the main and alternative.
