Monday, 18 April 2016

Unit 22: Task 2 - Evaluation


Evaluation
Over the production process I had 3 separate roles as I was involved in 3 films; in The Spider and the Fly I was the production coordinator, in The Incident I was the sound recordist and in Luggage in Limbo I was the director.
My role in The Spider and the Fly was what I originally applied for as I enjoy and find strength in my ability when completely the pre-production paperwork. I worked closely with the director to ensure that the file was complete and had everything necessary for filming – storyboards, shot lists, artist release forms, shooting script. On set it was my job to ensure that the director had everything they needed and wanted so that filming could take place with little problems; I worked as a runner when needed and a different opinion for shots when the director asked. I was also the script supervisor therefore I had to look for inconsistencies and continuity when filming, during pre-production this involved sorting out the outfits that would be needed for each shoot day and whether they would be needed again, we shot scenes in terms of location as opposed to when they are shown in the film. This caused to be a little confusing at first due to the film showing a period of time passing but myself and the director organised this. The most important and helpful piece of pre-production was the call schedule which I completed to detail what would be shot on which day and where, this kept the crew and cast right on what was happening. During filming, I did not suffer many problems, one being I was unable to attend a shoot due to transport issues however I kindly asked the Assistant Director (Matthew) if he would take over my responsibilities for the night, which I explained to him in detail before the shoot and used FaceTime during the shoot to help the director during some shots as shadowing was an issue they were faced with and needed to talk about how they could still get the shots they needed. I was very happy about how I conducted myself during this shoot, however I feel like on some days I could’ve done more as I felt like I was standing around waiting to given instructions, especially during the scenes that were shot in the bedroom where space was limited. I would definitely do this role again, but do the paperwork in more depth such as looking into budgeting and other things that we did not look into during this production. I thoroughly enjoyed this production, I believe as a team we worked well together, there were some problems between the Director of Photography (Taylor) and the director (Danniella) due to the shots that were filmed and a lot of them being unclear/unfocussed or having other problems. However we did not suffer many other issues as a team and worked together during pre-production and on-set well, doing our jobs and helping each other when needed. I would happily work with the same director and crew again, especially after what we have learned during this shoot.


My role in The Incident was something I originally was not looking forward to doing but was welcoming the experience it would give me; my first thought when I was given the role was “how can I hold the boom, I’m tiny” however I soon learnt that the boom pole is extendable and can be very long so the only problem with me was arms getting tired at times, but this happened to everyone. I worked very closely with the DOP (Matty Dickens) during the shoot ensuring that neither of us were seen in mirrors or as shadows as well as making sure the boom wasn’t in shot but still picked up the dialogue – there was lots of background noise in this film, noise that was filmed during the scene as opposed to being put in during post-production, therefore ensuring the dialogue could be heard was very important. As part of being the sound recordist I helped find some backing music for film, I sat with the director for a while listening to tracks trying to find something that would best suit the scene and that was copyright free, I suggested different sites for him to look at that included copyright free music, some more useful than others. We worked very well together, and although holding the boom pole was not my favourite job I enjoyed working with Matty – he was pretty amazing with the shots and how he conducted the night, knowing exactly how each shot should be. As a team, I believe we worked very together and overcome the problems we were faced with as well as possible – most were due to being behind schedule on one shoot and working with the large number of extras.
Being the director for my screenplay Luggage in Limbo was possibly the best filming experience I have ever had (so far); I thoroughly enjoyed doing this, surprising myself as I was very nervous originally. I had a lot of pre-production paperwork to complete which I didn’t mind doing as I knew what had to be done and how it related to my film. The main piece was organising and securing a location, I emailed the local airport asking to use their space and went from there, I scheduled a recce and as a team we agreed on the room and basic set. I like to know that things are done therefore enjoyed doing the paperwork, delegating when appropriate – camera plans and storyboards to the DOP (Harvey). We auditioned for my film as a team and although I had overall say I welcomed the advice and comments from the others. I worked very well and very closely with Harvey throughout the whole production process, I loved working with Harvey and he did amazing in his role. We worked together on a shot list and talked constantly during pre-production about how I wanted things to look and what he thought the shots would be and where they would be best from. The most important and beneficial piece of pre-production paperwork I found was the shooting script I created, this consisted of the script with the camera shots accompanying the relevant lines of dialogue and any directions I wanted the characters to do, I used this script throughout the day, it helped me give lines to the actors when they needed prompts as well as knowing where we would be starting from on a shot. This made the day easier as all the information I needed was on one piece of paper. On set, Harvey was great; the AD (Danniella) counted down and yelled action when filming and offered advice and another set of eyes when we set up shots, she mainly focussed on continuity as the actors had to repeat actions when we repeated shots therefore it was important that the actors started the scene the same way. Matthew acted as an extra when needed, to be in the background of a shot so that the empty room we were filming in looked less empty he also was in charge of communication with the actors before the shoot. Taylor worked reasonably well with myself and Harvey moving with the camera when needed and asking to make sure the boom was not in shot. I am very happy with the work I have done and know that I would not have achieved what I have without the team I had. We worked well and had an enjoyable and learning experience, I would work with them again however would welcome the opportunity to work with others in the class.
Please see my Production Diary entries from each day of filming and the photos from on set J

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