Evaluation

Throughout the three stages in the production process for the final major project "Repression" I believe we dealt with the important issues as a team but upon seeing the finished film, it has been possible for me to identify various improvements at each level of the production.




We worked together to come up with a set of Initial Ideas that all leaned towards the sub genre of British Social Realism. This suited the themes of homophobia, racism and abuse that we were concentrating on within the genre of Drama. It also made filming easier as the locations needed were available in our region. The run down estates and anonymous backdrop would make creating a convincing Mise-en-scene a more realistic task than it would be for say a horror film where finding convincing locations on a very limited budget and doing it convincingly is a more difficult task in Weymouth.


Scouting the bridge scene on the Location Recce

On the whole the pre production was completed without problems, important aspects such as the storyboards were worked on with input from all members of the team because we all have a role in every aspect of production whether they are our asigned roles or not. This is because the decisions made at this stage are likely to directly affect the work that has been asigned to us. The editor had to observe the camera work because it could stop them from being able to complete the film in the way they intended because of the availability and length of certain shots. Therefore a difference in visions of the finished production by members of the group meant that the filming deviated from the storyboards by a shot. Although i don't believed it suffered as as a result of this. I do think that in future producions it would be preferable to co-ordinate with all members as to exactly what they want to film & following this up, they should visualise each shot exactly during the Location Recce to be certain that it would create a convincing real time ellipsis between shots.




One important conclusion that we reached from the preliminary project was the importance of refering to the call sheets and storyboards during the filming as prior failure had left us with many shots missing. We built on this mistake and the filming for the main project was fully completed with at least two takes of each shots providing the editor with cuttting space at each end. However the over reliance on the storyboards in comparision to the call sheets made their creation somewhat redundant. To prevent this happening and keeping to schedule is important in the professional industry and it should be consulted regulary to ensure the production is keeping to schedule. If we had been filming earlier in the year then any delays could have meant us running out of daylight and potentially ruining the continuity and verissimilitude of the film by shooting at a later date.
The establishing shot














One of the most effective parts of the pre production was that of the Location Recce and our research into British Social Realist Drama that influenced the choices we made. The film opening sequences we studied were for Love + Hate and A Way Of Life. Both of them dealt with the theme of racism and the characters reaction towards it. This has parallels in a film about homophobia where the only important difference is the victim. Both the research and our film "Repression" concern working class identity and the characters difficulty to be accepted. I feel that without this research then we would not have been able to establish the right atmosphere for the piece through the use of a soundtrack and the filming and editing techniques that remove the elements of escapism found in other genres by focusing the lense on this single individual and providing a melancholic soundtrack that reinforces the characters emotions to the audience. Conforming to the codes and coventions of British Social Realism help the audience to identify our film as one within the opening two minutes.

During the actual production of "Repression" there were strengths and weaknesses that have been identified. One of these weaknesses was the locations that we filmed being in public spaces where people often obstructed the shot during filming requiring numerous re takes. This can't be helped when filming in public but we could have alotted ourselves more time in the worst affected locations such a along the Weymouth Backwater so that we won't feel rushed to film within the schedule. Fortunately all the talent we used were reliable and turned up when expected so we had no issues in this regard although the quality of the acting left something to be desired, i don't believe it was so poor as to obstruct the message we were trying to display through facial expressions, body language etc, although it was helpfull that they had no dialogue.
The characters roles are clear here








We could also have improved on some of the camerwork in a few shots. I failed in some of the longer shots to have the natural horizon in the centre of the image, shooting at too high an angle. This was casued by the combination of poorly detailed pictures in the storyboards and a lack of judgement on my behalf. To some extent this can be put down to learning through mistakes but it could also have helped to have had more knowlege of the conventions of filming when the storyboards were being drawn.

At the post preduction stage, my prior experience with Adobe Premier meant that we were able to use the more professional software then otherwise. This gave us more control over making fine edits and transitions. At first the editors lack of experience with this software delayed the editing process but this was overcome with advice from the other members of the group. I think that the added time it took outweighed the superior quality of the final product than it would have been using other software. One bonus was the time reduction feature which made it possibe to compensate for some of the problems with the footage. For example when the stalker was walking too close to his victim and there was a very short gap between the two when they were both off shot. We expanded this segment by reducing time to about 5% making the distance between the two more convincing.
The Adobe Premier Pro software being used



A major problem encountered was the possibility that we would be unable to use the soundtrack we had found at the pre production stage due to copyright issues. The dependance we had on this music was highlighted by this. We had no diagetic dialogue in the opening sequence and the music was key in establishing the atmosphere of the piece. It would have been a good idea to have some form of dialogue or original music in the piece so we weren't so dependant on one source and emotions it was meant to induce. Thankfully our copright for the piece was found and we were able to use it but it could have been a major issue for our film.

The copyright for the track

Any use of music in this film complies with 'Fair Dealing' under the 1988 Copyright Designs and Patents Act (UK), Sections 6(i) and 6(ii);Fair dealing is a term used to describe some limited activities that are allowed without infringing copyright. Briefly these are as follows:Section 6i. Research and private studyCopying parts of a literary, dramatic, musical or artistic work or of a typographical arrangement of a published edition for the purpose of research or private study is allowed under the following conditions:· The copy is made for the purposes of research or private study.· The copy is made for non-commercial purposes.· The source of the material is acknowledged.· The person making the copy does not make copies of the material available for a number of people.ii Instruction or examinationCopying parts of a literary, dramatic, musical or artistic work or a sound recording, film or broadcast for the purpose of instruction or examination is allowed under the following conditions:· The copying is done by the student or the person giving instruction.· The copying is not done via a reprographic process.· The source of the material is acknowledged.· The instruction is for a non-commercial purpose

Again the thorough pre production work had given us a clear instruction as to how we should create the titles and edit each shot. This was important when members of the group were away and the others knew exactly what they needed to do. This asset was emphasised when I was unable to make it to college for a week and the editing was still able to be completed exactly as we had all envisioned . This good planning was useful in making the other stages of the production a lot simpler and easiet, therefore it achieved what pre production work is meant to do.
The takes selected for the editing







The final film was completed without major problems and from seeing it I think that the lighting and sequence of the film were done without any serious issues. The greyish, dreary locations suited the downbeat mood of the film and the progression from suburban to urban was convicing through the use of shots that didn't reveal where the characters were going within the current location. With the exception of one shot we managed to keep the stalker victems face from facing the area of the camera. This was done intentionally to make him seem elusive and unobtainable to the stalker. Although if i could do it again i would have changed the one shot where the victem was facing the camera as it somewhat spoiled the effect we were trying to create. I also think the point of view shots were particularily effective as they conveyed the sense of fear the stalker character was supposed to be feeling. The reverse close shot of his face created a claustraphobic environment for the audience that emphasises his social awkwardness.
The talent

Overall I think our film achieved the intentions we had by creating a sequence that established the film to the audience without revealing any important plot points too early on. The main character and their environment were introduced effectively through the use of Mise-en-scene to establish class and background through the grim locations and appropiate costume. My main issue with the piece was the sound and i believe that the use of some diagetic ambient sound would have created a more emersive environment for the audience to be absorbed by. This is important in creating the Realism in British Social Realism and we failed to do this. The sounds of traffic and other man made noises would have improved this.

Preliminary Film

The first main exercise blog entry thing!

From my initial work on the pre producion for the first main exercise, i have found a number of aspects of it that differ to the preliminary task. The amount of planning needed for the pre production stages as been considerable compared to the preliminary exercise. I believe this extra work on aspects such as research and location recce will make it easier to visualise our storyboards and therefore make filming during the production stage a much simpler process with less chance of mistakes being made such as those during the preliminary. From this increased amount of pre production work, it has also become apparent that from our analysis of possible problems brought forward in the SWOT analysis we will be filming in public spaces for the first time and thus we will need to take specific issues into account before we film.

This may include getting written permission from Weymouth and Portland council to film at certain time and place for health safety reasons so care must be taken in checking out the requirements of each location in advance of filming. Failure to do so could result in our group being unable to use the location on the filming with a negative effect on the final piece. The importance of a location recce has also been highlighted after the preliminary project where our failure to recognise its flaws compromising the verisimilitude of the final piece. All the above was part of a wider problem recognised by the group that we failed use all the time that was necessary to complete a task as well as was possible. I personally this is something i can definitely improve on within the group through expressing my views more clearly and at the production stage due to my new role as directer which will enable me to have more control over the way we film. It must be said however that we noted in the SWOT analysis that our time management skills were an asset. we turned up on time for all the prior production work, we just need to use that time fully in the future. Further room for improvement could be in the actual quality of the composition of the shots. Although the preliminary was notable for the quality of the lighting, the placement of people within the frame attempted to keep to the rule of thirds to rigidly which meant that one of the characters ended up looking out of frame. From this i have learned that certain codes aren't as crucial at adhering to constantly. The rule of thirds is important for establishing importance/power but it is not as important as the technical codes e.g. the 180degree rule which an audience have been conditioned to expect as a given thing in film. As long as we remember this and apply it during the creation of the storyboards then i don't believe this will be a problem again. This does rely on another aspect of improvement for me and as a group which is the reference of storyboards/script closely during the filming process. I aim to achieve this by supplying all the relevant people involved with a copy of both so as we are all able to keep track of the progress being made. Again taking previous experience from the preliminary project and the identification in the SWOT analysis is the co ordination between the cameraman (me) and the editor at all stages of the production. in the work done so far i hope i have managed to do this by making all the shots known to them and receiving feedback in turn on their suitability for creating seamless continuity between edits. Failure to do this last time resulted in a lack of appropriate shots to edit into a complete film. If those involved in the roles had provided more feedback at the time then i believe this would have been averted.

These two films are important sources in the research of British Social Realist films for our film "Repression although the trailer shown here is more usefull in regards to Mise-en-Scene then they are for the opening sequence which we saw on DVD.




Finally, another problem identified through the same way as they others has been the need to film more than one take of each shot in order to give the editor more freedom in their work and avoiding the reliance on one piece of footage that might be flawed. To be particularly sure this doesn't happen again. we will use a log sheet to record all the shots we film and require that there be at least two takes of each shot recorded there. Apart from giving as a clear guideline for filming, it also serves as evidence that we are able to follow professional practices when doing production work.

Filming and Editing for the preliminary project

For the Review of the preliminary exercise filming stage, i believe that we were partly successful in achieving our goals. We were only partly able to complete filming due to mistakes being made at the time rather than any fault in the Pre production work. All the risk assessments and the storyboards had been completed but we failed to consult it during the filming process meaning that we thought we had filmed all the shots when in fact we were missing the second half of the film. In future it would be a good idea to give each group member a copy of the storyboard and the script so we can have easy reference when deciding on what needs to be filmed. A positive aspect of our filming was the suitability of the filming and the technical proficiency of it. Being a recording studio; the room was sound proofed, this made recording much easier as it reduced unwanted ambient noise. It also created a controlled environment that was away from outside distractions, because of this we were able to concentrate and the actors were also able to focus on their performance, one downside to this was that it lacked some of the verisimilitude that you would expect for a scene set in a prison. The lighting was also very good, we used a single professional light that lit a wide area with a well saturated image. Because of the location recce that was carried out, we were able to use the opportunity to include the light in our filming proposal. This would be the kind of experience we should bring forward to the main exercise. My prior knowledge of how to film also helped as i was able to offer advice to the camera operator and director, unfortunately i failed to make the importance of creating time at the beginning and end of each shot and the importance of shooting multiple takes clear enough to others involved. Because of this i was left with little room at the editing stage to make a competent piece easily. For the main exercise, all group members need to take their part into consideration at all stages in the production process as one part of the production Will affect how able you are able to complete another. Again, i failed to input my knowledge of shot framing as well as i should, although we complied with both the 180' and rule of thirds, we put each character in the conversation shot on the left hand side. Inexperience made us believe that we had to do this to conform to the rule of thirds but in fact it created the impression that the man was staring out of shot rather than looking at the woman.

I believe that we have learned from this mistake and as a result it has been beneficial for a main project We did however do well at the Pre production planning, it set us a clear goal of what we needed to do and although it wasn't executed well, it serves as a strong template for out work on the main exercise . Some of the issues we faced had already been noted in the SWOT analysis. This demonstrates are ability to evaluate our strengths and weaknesses as a group but it also shows that we failed to address some of them in our filming. I believe that we need to use the SWOT analyse to find solutions to rather than just identify our strengths and weaknesses. If we can implement those solutions then we will be able to overcome them in our next project. If we had used this method for the preliminary exercise then i believe we would have completed all the filming that we needed.
One aspect of the group that i think worked very well was the ability to be well organised and reliable. The actors had the final script available to them and all involved arrived on time and did all that was required of them. There was genuine enthusiasm for the project and the continuation of this is essential in the creation of a high quality main exercise. To keep this enthusiasm, we must keep the group contributing equally to work and ideas. The Call sheets are a prime example of members co operation in arranging filming around the needs of all three.

My specified role in the preliminary exercise was the editing and the completion of this was swift mainly due to the lack of film i had to work with. I think that i did the best i could to create smooth seamless edits with the limited source material. In a number of cases i only had one take to work with and it was frequently too short. It is important to let the other members know that the editor needs multiple takes with space to work with in order to create what we intended. The group are now aware of this and i will make sure the importance of this is known to them throughout the main exercise.
Overall i think the filming was a good experience for us despite the failure to complete some of our goals, it has been an important learning step for our main exercise. The main point to take form it is to make scripts and storyboards available to all concerned during filming.

First skills audit for the G321 Foundation production

For the planning work of the preliminary project that so far, i believe good progress has been made. The prexisting experience that i have from completing a BTEC 1st diploma in media studies has resulted in the relatively swift and easy completion of the drafting and pre producion work. it was expecially useful for the risk assesments ...... where knowledge of how to complete the form has meant that our group had a clear understanding of how to become aware of the possible risks from filming in the college radio suite. At the beginning, there were some weaknesses in drafting the intitial ideas because the group hadn't the time to figure out its dynamics...... The improvement in teamwork subsequently meant that we agreed on a proposal that was developed as a team. After this point we were able to figure out key roles for each of us. My roles as production manager and editer were suited to the previous experience that i had. We have all focused well on our roles and i believe that this is because we have made sure that each of us is able to focus on our work without too much interferance from the others. The ability to take control of our work means that we are more likely to have pride and enthusiasm for it. Once the goals were set, the development of the idea of a policeman discussing the other person husband as part of a crime drama. That all members contributed to it means that they are more likely to work their best. Constructive criticism improved the piece and the altered ideas balanced the part by changing the settig to make the shooting location more convincing and because of the change from cafe to prison meant the characters roles had to change too. From a woman and a waiter to a woman and a policeman thus creating a more convincing verisimilitude. The main concern at present is over the reliability of the actors being used for filming. To combat this issue, we have back up people that are able to come at short notice at 10:45 on the 2nd feb. The next thing we need to coordinate on is the posting of the pre production work on google doc in order for us to be able to post links in the reviews that lead to the work we've done.