Production and Post Production and Peer Assessment

Production

When it came to our day of scheduled filming, I was feeling positive about the day ahead. I had made the choice in pre production that I would film In my home and around the area I live in due to my first scene needing a bed, so previous to our filming date of the 27th of January I had borrowed the equipment I needed such as an DLSR camera, Tripod and the Microphone I thought best suited the audio I wanted to capture, in this case I wanted the microphone to pick up the audio of the characters within the film talking so I chose to record using a Rode Microphone. One of the things I enjoyed most about filming during my day off was the fact I was not constricted by time, I could go by my own schedule without the pressure of knowing that our allocated filming time would soon be ending or that others would be needing the equipment, this meant I can re-take scenes as much as I wanted or Re-shoot if I thought something could be improved which took some of the stress out of the production process. However a set back I faced was the 'expectation vs reality' struggle, I set high standards for myself and when I shoot something it doesnt look of an academy award standard (in my mind) I often find myself frustrated, as moving image isn't my strongest of classes I found this happening quite often as due to my own insecurities and self doubt in my work therefore the day became quite repetitive, however we managed to pull through as I was the one who had set herself the task of a challenging scene. During the filming process we also experienced an issue with the amount daylight hours that were stable enough to film during therefore my film suffered slightly for this, parts of the script had to be cut out and some scenes were rushed to shot without the sun beginning to set, this meant that the start of my film started off well but ended poorly due to the panic we had as I wasnt the only one filming that day. 

On reflection I would also have liked to been more adventurous with my locations used, I would have liked to have spent more time on my Recce really studying possible more locations to make my film more visually pleasing both for inside shots and outside. I believe in doing this it really could have taken this short film to a better level, on top of this for next time I would like to shorten down my film. Whilst writing my treatment and script I began to realise, although my film is a good idea it was a situation of 'biting off more than I could chew' In the sense that the timings and locations used were not suited to the complexity of my film as well as the fact we had to use one another in our films and so the idea of the film was not justified in my opinion. Next time I would also like to add a larger cast to really develop the next film as adding more character adds more depth to a film as well as a thicker plot to develop, this would also mean I could really work on my cinematography, too. I would have the chance to develop on my shot types, shots used and also different levels of audio and sound effects. 

As talked about earlier, I filmed this film outside of college hours, therefore I did not have my production team to help and also give feedback along the way. If I was to create another short film, I would definitely use my team more. I would also use more resources such as our studio as a filming space and use more of the kit the college could offer such as studio lighting as this could help me to develop on from my skills I have currently. I would want my team to help me develop my idea from head onto camera but also encourage them to help me as we all have different strengths and skills from another. 

Post Production

Once I had gathered all of my footage together, It was time to begin the editing process. For this I used Adobe Premier, after editing my footage together I than began to add in touches incorporating my previously learnt skills such as adding audio background noise into some scenes and then using the audio gain setting to turn the volume down allowing for the noises to be heard but not over the sound of the dialogue. I also added in titles at the beginning of the film to add context as well as the title, as I previously spoke about I had to cut the script short. I also added in a black screen cutting into the last scene when our female lead attempts to jump off the wall, in doing so not only could I hide my heinous acting skills (especially when you're attempting to jump off of a small wall and trying not to hurt yourself but also making it look oscar worthy) but also It added an intensity into the film which added to the suspense I was trying to go for. After showing my finale film to my peers, they were very encouraging. They complimented me on my adding of my black screen and use of audio but were also very encouraging as they were sympathetic to the fact they knew that moving image isnt my strongest subject. As for constructive criticism, they had this to say; 'You should add more context, although i understand that shooting was cut short and your script was adapted to this but something else could have been added such as some more shots. Another criticism would be that your shot types were not consistent, some shots were wobbly and amateurish, to over come this you should play back your scenes before moving onto the next to ensure stability.  Finally, you could have used a better variety of locations. For the wall scene you could have found somewhere that really was high enough to jump from.'

Overall, I agree with the feedback given to me and will take this into consideration for next time as most of the points given to me i have touched on in my own evaluation. This project has really stretched my creative skill set but I have enjoyed the challenge alot. It really made me understand just how much work goes into pre and post production, arguably most of the work does. This is finished film f