Critical Evaluation

  As a finished piece, I am overall fairly happy with the outcome we have achieved despite the problems had along the way. A particular strength of the film would have to be the use of interesting shots and thought-provoking acting. I purposely used silhouettes and shadows frequently throughout the film as I think that it not only represents an interesting image of an unknown thing or person, but demonstrates the ‘black or white’ thinking going on in the protagonist Lola’s mind as well. 

Example of the use of shadows within the film

I think that the strong camera work in the film helps it progress in a compelling way. This combined with the editing in some scenes gives a generally aesthetically pleasing portrayal of the film to the viewer. I think that this could have been accomplished even better if their was a greater hight of emotion to the centre of the story. I felt that it was a little bland in comparison to my original vision for the scene, yet the lack of time on the day of filming limited what I ideally wanted to create. As well as this, the sound for the film as a whole could have been improved. The simple syncing of footsteps would have enabled even myself as a member of the audience to concentrate better and think less about the weaknesses.

  I intended to form a film that would make my audience think about conditions such as autism in a new light. To realise the day-to-day problems that some people go through. I don’t think this came across as well as I wanted because I focused too much on the setting up of shots and working closely with the actress and camera. In hindsight, maybe this idea was quite brave and would have made more sense in the form of a documentary. 
  As well as this, I wanted the question to be asked in the final scene, as to whether Lola's 'moment' in the park was reality or another one of her day dreams. Through the use of sound and editing, I think that we have managed to challenge the audience's thoughts on this, by for example, freezing the last shot as the swing reaches the sky. I think that this notion gave the film more depth and left the idea of her still being alone in that alley a possibility, creating quite a dark concept.

  The lighting in many of the scenes proved to be difficult, and we payed for this when we viewed the results when editing. Much of it appeared to be very grainy, however, there was no time to re-film the sections. If I were to do the project again, I would ensure that all footage is lit well enough to view the action before moving any further with the film.

Example of poor lighting in some areas of the film

  Producing was a large issue for me, especially in this project. Despite my role being the Director, I had to fulfill much more than this and constantly organize the rest of the group. I think that this in turn did mean that my directing was affected as I did not have enough time to do exactly has I wanted. However, if I did not stand up to this role, I don’t think that film would have been made as efficiently, if at all.

  Throughout the process of making the 10 minute film, we would regularly meet as a group to discuss various aspects. For example, once I had completed the script, I would meet with the group to gain their feedback. We also met prior to filming to discuss what needed to be done in order to gain the most organized time filming as possible. 

  Before filming, I would talk through the script with the actress, Fiona to ensure that she understood what was expected of her and that she knew her lines. I think that this worked very well as it meant that because we had this professional relationship, she wouldn’t mind if I gave her any constructive criticism throughout the filming process. As well as this, I would also talk with the cinematographer to go through the shot lists and storyboards. This made sure that he was happy with what needed to be filmed and had the same vision as me. On some shoots if I didn’t feel like we had enough footage, I would give the cinematographer the freedom to add more shots and experiment with different angles he thought would work. This turned out to be successful in that we obtained some interesting images through this way of working.

  From this project, I have learnt to listen to others as their thoughts and opinions can be valuable in creating a good piece. However, ultimately some of the decisions were mine as director and I should have spent less time on worrying if everyone was happy with what I had chosen, because the majority of the time, not everyone will ever be. As well as this I have acquired the skills to connect will with people in a group and take on the responsibility where fit, in order to get something finished. I think that I can work well as part of a team and have learnt that not everyone can take criticism well. To overcome this, I have tried my best to ensure that all of the good aspects a crew member did were praised.

  

  As an individual role, mine was Director. I approached this by initially writing the films script. This had its own problems as members of the group would often question certain elements, meaning that I had to re-write it numerous times. Learning from this, in future, I will probably stick with what I wanted at the outset, in order to provide more time to expand those ideas through the use of shot lists and storyboards. 

  As director, I worked closely with most members of the crew. I communicated with all of them throughout and I think they appreciated this as they wanted to ensure that my vision was being met. The only person I had lack of communication with was the Producer, I therefore would have liked to here more from him to help the project run smoothly. 

  I spoke a lot with the actress and because she was a third year performance for stage and screen student, she took direction incredibly well. I found her easy to work with and she made my job as director relaxed during filming. In contrast to this, I did have my problems with the sound recordist and feel like challenges met with him made it hard to progress efficiently in filming. Very trivial issues were made to be my problem and I think that this affected my role. If a producer was present, this could have been avoided as the sound recordist would have had him to turn to.

  Overall, I think that we have worked relatively well as a team through the great communication between myself and the cinematographer, and myself and the editor. However, the lack of contact with the producer did cause its own problems. I also think that despite my best efforts, me and the sound recordist did not operate particularly well together.

  By using the theory of semiotics, “concerned with everything that can be taken as a sign” (Eco, 1976, p7 in Chandler, 2002, p2), my film demonstrates varying examples of symbolism. The sign of entrapment portrayed by the consistent use of gates, railings and metal fences in the film was used in order to help the audience examine Lola’s emotional state. Lola’s condition of autism means that she finds it hard to communicate with others and gets easily overpowered by the bright lights and loud noises of the inner city. The idea of her being trapped by this disorder is definitely more subtly construed as opposed to presenting the obvious. I wanted the film to make an audience think and I hope that I have achieved this.

Example of the use of gates in the film.

  Another example of connotations established within the film, would be within the use of shadows and silhouettes. I often asked for the lighting to be placed behind Lola, or shadows to be visibly caught. For example, the connotation of the image of a shadow on the wall of the building in the pirate scene, presents something scary and shocking as it represents the idea of pain and even death; however, the denotation is that it is just simply a shadow of what is realistically a display, set up for the admiration of children. This idea in itself is a great illustration of Lola’s personality. 

  I wanted to take inspiration from the theatre practitioner Steven Berkoff for a particular scene in this film. The section in which Lola has a confrontation with three youths would have ideally been presented in a more stylized manner, however, due to the lack of experience from the actors, I was unable to gain this performance. Because of my experience being in a Berkoff play, | know the reaction it can generate from an audience. This could have given a more chilling and eerie effect in this sequence and helped give more emotion at this point - something that tutors said the piece needed when giving feedback.

  A particular book that I have found to be a good guide would be Bordwell and Thompson’s ‘Film Art: An Introduction’. The chapter named ‘Making the Movie: Film Production’ has been a great help, especially throughout the pre-production of the piece. The book speaks on each of the roles throughout a production and has helped define what each crew member should have to do. Obviously, because our piece was a student film with no budget, some roles would overlap, however, I did not expect to do quite as much as I did, considering everyone should have been doing their roles to the best of their ability at a degree level. Sadly, this was not always the case.

  Many films inspired me in the creation of this film, including many that were viewed in seminars at the beginning of the project. Jane Campion’s ‘The Piano’ (1993) made me think about how a simple section of a film can make an audience think. The scene that we watched in the seminar demonstrated a girl after she had tied herself to her piano before being thrown into the ocean. However, as adrenaline took over, she found herself trying to save herself when it came to nearly drowning. This notion made me think about how I could use this kind of emotion in my own film and how I would portray it to an audience.

  Overall, I think that we have completed a piece that gives examples of good camera work and acting in particular. A favorite shot of mine would be within the final scene, where Lola swings back and forth in the park. The sun shining through the houses behind her gives a slight silhouette that helps portray the connotation of her child-like mannerisms and persona. 

  I think that if we had some more input from the producer, the production process would have ran a lot smoother and individual roles would have been completed to a higher standard. We did however work well as a team, especially when it came to pre production and meeting as a group.

  I have learnt many things throughout this process, the main one being that it is incredibly hard to gain a crew that are all available to film at the same time, to which sacrifices have to be made. In this case, we had to alter the set up of the film to be at night so that we could get the film done.

  Particular influences have helped me also in the creation of the film, such as theatre practitioners and various films including Mr and Mrs Smith (2005). To conclude, I am happy with the outcome and although I would have changed some elements, I still stick to my reasoning behind why I did them.

Bibliography:

Chandler, David (2002) Semiotics: The Basics USA; Canada: Routledge

Bordwell, D / Thompson K (2010) Film Art an Introduction (Ninth Edition)New York: McGraw-Hill

Inspiration

Mr and Mrs Smith (2005)

A film that inspired me when filming the underpass scene, was Doug Liman's Mr and Mrs Smith (2005). The poker scene in this film is filmed by the camera rotating around the poker table. I think that this is an interesting way to shoot a scene with more than two people and therefore  challenged myself to create something similar. However, when it came to filming, this proved very difficult as we were not blessed with having a steady-cam, and so it would have been impossible to form such a smooth rotation like that in Mr and Mrs Smith.

500 Days of Summer (2009)

Mark Webb's 500 Days of Summer (2009) really is quite a quirky film. I loved its abstract style of editing in particular and planned to use this as inspiration when describing what I wanted to the editor. The combination of animation an real life within the film gave it some humour and I would have liked to experiment with this if I had more time. The notion of 'expectations' versus 'reality' was a great aspect. It not only added humour to the film but also gave a great example of split screen and I credit the editor for this. It plays with the audience because it is highly likely that the audience's expectations will be the same as the male protagonist's, however, this is not the case and gives a new and interesting edge to the piece. Overall, I have been influenced by a number of elements in this film and also wanted to challenge the audience's view of what was reality within my own film. I think that I successfully did this as I wanted them to wonder whether the final scene in the park is reality or just another one of Lola's daydreams.

Symbolism

As I mentioned in previous posts, I chose to film a lot of the piece within locations around gates and railings. This demonstrates Lola's sense of confinement as I wanted it to symbolise the way her condition traps her from being able to communicate the way she wants. Examples of the use of this in our film is shown within the frames below:

Sound Editing

  When it came to the sound edit, I knew that it was going to be a challenge for Jacob, especially seeing as he wasn't taking sound as a specific skill this year. Because he did not sync much of the sound when filming, this also meant that a lot had to be re-recorded and used as foley in the piece. I went through all the sounds that had already been recorded and what was still needed with Jacob to make sure he was comfortable and made sure that he knew what was still to be recorded. Below is a copy of a table I created for/with him:

When I first listened to what he had spent a whole day editing, I was quite disappointed as there were many elements of the shot that did not have a sound. For example, Lola would walk up towards the door and there would be silence, yet the sound of the door opening was present. I spoke to Jacob and wrote a list of the sounds I felt he needed in order to make it a more textured and realistic sound design. I also listened to all of the sounds he had independently recorded and they were brilliant - In particular the animal noises he had recorded at a farm (planned to be overlaid in the stylised sequence in the underpass).

  The second time I met with Jacob to listen to the sound it was a lot better. He had listened to most of my input and completed what I thought was a rough draft of the piece. However, I soon came to realise that he could not think of anything else to add to it and this made me worried. There were simple things such as footsteps that weren't synced that concerned me. I found myself writing numerous lists of sounds that still needed to be added and after speaking to Jen, who also help Jacob at one point with the sound, she made me aware that she had also written a list very similar to mine prior to the days editing. I think that a lot of time could have been saved if the improvements Jen had were listened to from the beginning.

13th December 2012
  When it came to adding the final picture edit to the sound once Hannah had added the titles, Myself, Hannah and Jen met early to do this as Jacob was not available. When he arrived, I asked him if he was happy for us to just finish this section because I didn't want him to become stressed watching us and think that we were 'taking over'. Jacob agreed and stated that 'his work was done' and left.

  We began by syncing the picture to the sound, which became a little more complicated when I realised that a section of the picture had been taken out. Every time I tried to save what I had done, the computer would crash, meaning I had to re-start it.

  Soon, Hannah B and Jen had to go, leaving me to finish it alone. I was in the edit room from 12 - 7.30pm trying to finish this to the best of my ability. I kept trying to sync the sound and other elements such as the footsteps and alter the levels, however, after the computer crashing countless times every time I saved it, it came to a point where I had to do the best I could and burn it.

  To complicate things even more, Jacob had put each sound into a new layer on soundtrack pro, making it incredibly hard to edit as you would have to scroll up and down about 40 tracks to find what you wanted. I understand that he isn't doing sound as a skill but I would have been happy to help him and I know that Neil also offered to help to which Jacob said everything was fine.

The complex set-up on soundtrack pro I had to use to edit.

  Overall, I synced the footage to the picture and altered some of the footsteps as well as changing the position of a piece of music I created. Because I did not want the computer to crash once again, I had to leave what I had done like that and burn the result.

  Ultimately, this wasn't my job and I would have liked some help from my peers, although I'm sure they tried their best.

  As well as helping to edit the sound design, I also created the 'pirate' track using a midi keyboard and garage band. I also edited this track using soundtrack pro:

A screen-grab of the work I did on Garageband.

Picture Editing

  Throughout the editing process, I have been there with Hannah B throughout to help her. I have tried to give constructive input the best I can without overpowering her decisions as editor. We have met up every day during the time we had to picture edit and I think that we worked well together.

  Before editing, I ensured that Hannah had a copy of the script to relate back to. I knew that she had a similar vision as me so I knew I could trust her to get on with the edit, however, I did still want to be there in case she wanted or needed any help.

  It took around 4 to 5 days to complete and I think that a lot of stress was put onto Hannah to complete it in time for Jacob to do the sound edit. Because of this, she was forced to give him a copy of the film before she had added the titles and I also believe that she tweaked a couple of aspects since.
  As the editing was taking place, I did write down a couple of lists of more shots that I felt we needed, in order to make it a better piece. I therefore used these as the shots for Leon to film in the final shoot with Fiona.

  Overall, I am very happy with the final picture edit and think that Hannah has done well in completing it in the time she had to the standard I envisaged.

Filming Conclusion

Overall, I think that Fiona was an excellent actress and was perfect for the role we wanted her to play. I would have ideally liked to complete the filming in less shoots as I think that 7 is quite excessive for such a short film, however, because these were the only times everyone was available together and with no help of a schedule it was the best we could do.

  I would have liked more input from the producer throughout the process, as I often felt as though I had to take on the role of organising the group to ensure things got done. I do however appreciate the help I have had from some members of the group.

  I think that Myself and Leon worked particularly close throughout filming as he would often ask for my opinion on what had been shot. We also worked together before beginning the shoot by looking through shot lists and storyboards.

Filming Day 7 - 08/12/2012

8th December 2012

Crew: Leon

Copy of the shot list I gave to Leon for the 08/12

  Because Leon was the only person available to film the final night time footage, I gave him a shot list of everything I wanted to be filmed. He met with Fiona and provided us with what he had done the next day. I realised these shots were needed after completing the final cut with Hannah.

Filming Day 6 - 07/12/2012

7th December 2012: 10am-1pm

Crew: Myself and Leon

  On December 7th, Me and Leon met with Fiona in the city centre to get some final day light footage. This included shots of her walking from the alley to the park. I wanted this extra footage after I had seen a basic assembly of what we already had, and felt as though it jumped a bit from one scene to another - it needed some kind of transition.

Frame of a section we filmed on this day.

  Because it was hard finding a day time that everyone was free, I decided that if just Myself and Leon were present, it would cause a lot less hassle and mean that things got done much quicker. My plan was to record the basic sync sound, however, when it came to recording I realised that the equipment I had booked out didn't have the basic headphone jack. I should have checked that everything was there before filming .

We spent a couple of hours filming the sections needed and thankfully the weather was really nice. I think that me and Leon worked well together and efficiently got things done.

Frame of an example of the transition shots we filmed on this day.

Filming Day 5 - 04/12/2012

4th December 2012: 6pm - 11.30pm

Crew: Myself, Leon, Hannah B, Jen and Jacob

  This night of filming started out to be a bit of a disaster. We had planned to begin filming at 6pm, however, I had a text from Fiona to tell me that her car had broken down. As she is from Doncaster, she needed this to get to the train station in order to get to Sheffield. She said that she would be there for 7 so we waited for her and I went through the shot lists with everyone to ensure they all agreed with what I had put. Another text from Fiona then stated that her card wouldn't work so she couldn't get on the train. None the less, she made it at 8.30pm. Because of the late arrival, we had very limited time to film the scenes we wanted as her last train was at 11.45pm. This put a lot of stress on us all.

 The scene filmed was the 'underpass section'. This is a scene where Lola is confronted with three boys whom steal her scarf and mock her. Ideally, I wanted Lola to have a bear throughout the film, and this scene originally presented them taking her teddy (whom she often talked to). However, due to some lack of organisation the bear wasn't got for filming and so I had to re-think a lot of the script as I went along. 

Frame from Underpass sequence.

  The actors used in this section were three of Leon's friends. Because the producer had not been able to find any 'proffesional' actors, I was happy to have anyone that could complete the task at hand. However, because they weren't 'cast' until so late, I was unable to give them a copy of the script, and so when I met with them, I asked them to improvise as I thought this would give the most natural look and cause less stress. I wanted to try this suggestion first and if they weren't comfortable, I would have spent time going through it in greater detail with them. However, after explaining the scene and what they needed to do, they did very well considering they had no experience. It took a couple of takes but I think we gained the footage I wanted.

Example of the problems we had with lighting.

   Another problem we had when filming was definitely the lighting. When filming it didn't appear too bad on the camera viewfinder, however, once uploaded on the computer, it was very grainy. Despite this, I did want the scene to be scary and use the darkness to highlight Lola's fears of the night.

  Once we had filmed the underpass sequence, we went back to Hannah B's house to film the indoor sequence. This was for the first scene where Lola is reading her book and decides to go and find the park in her story. Jen had found a good selection of books with examples of parks within them and this gave us a good starting point.

Frame from indoor sequence.

  When it came to filming indoors, Leon's camera appeared very misty and because of the limited time we already had, I had to have Jacob quickly drive me to my house and back to get mine. We were so rushed for time filming this sequence that I think it could have gone much better, however, this was the only time we had to film it and for the time we had, I think we did well. A particular shot I like from this scene is of Lola as she walks out of the house and closes the door behind us. I strategically placed the light behind her for this section as it displayed a nice sillhouette. We used shadows a lot for this scene, particularly when she puts her scarf on, and the shadow is shown on the wall behind her.

Frame demonstrating the use of shadows.

  Overall, I would have liked to have more time to film these scenes, but given what we had and the fact we completed everything, I think we all did really well.

Shot list for scenes 1 and 5 filmed on 04/12

Tutorial 03/12/2012

3rd December 2012

  During this tutorial, we showed Annie what we had put together so far using the scenes we had shot and explained what was left to film. She appeared to like what we had done so far but suggested that a nice idea would be to include Lola walking past the pirate scene in the day on her way to the park. This would therefore provide a great contrast of emotions from when she sees them in the dark at night. Because of this, we planned to film this extra little bit of footage. Apart from that, she looked pleased with what we had completed.
  Around this time with more of a rough cut, Myself and Hannah B showed Chris a copy of the film to gain some feedback. Overall, he had very little criticism and this helped me relax a lot more throughout the rest of the edit. A concern that Chris did have was that the sound design was going to be very complex, something that we already knew.

Filming Day 4 - 02/12/2012

2nd December 2012: 7pm - Late
Crew: Myself, Leon, Hannah B, Jen and Jacob

  On December 2nd, I met Fiona at the train station after I had finished work, before making out way to Bramall Lane in Sheffield to film the car scene. This night of filming was particularly cold and I really wanted everything to run smoothly to avoid staying outside any longer than we needed to. Thankfully, all the crew worked really well.

Lola's reaction to the bright headlights and beeping horn

  Because the shot demonstrates Lola as she walks into the road without looking just as a car heads towards her, we had to be careful that none of the crew would be in shot. As well as this, I needed to stand on the corner between the car and Lola in order to shout to Hannah (who was driving) when to start. We had to do a couple of takes just to get the timing right but I think we got a good one eventually. We also shot a nice sequence from within the car, which gave a good view of Lola's expressions.
  After viewing this sequence within the film as a whole, I had reservations that it did immediately go right into the action, however, it does show that she jumps straight into the deep end and doesn't realise how scary the outside world can be from the start.
 

Original shot list - Although Driver arguing sequence was taken out.

Filming Day 3 - 29/11/12

Originally, this day of filming was scheduled to take place on November 28th, however, our actress Fiona texted me to say she was working till late and wouldn't have been able to arrive for the time agreed. Although this set us back a little, I organised a shoot on the 2nd instead. As I was due to meet Fiona at the train station straight after I had finished work at around 5:15pm, I was a little disappointed that I was the member of the group left to text each of the crew to let them know what was happening and if they thought we had enough time to film. It proved difficult as I was travelling and also had to write on the Facebook group on my phone to contact everyone as a whole because a couple did not reply. I would have ideally liked the producer to take control of this situation.

29th November 2012: 8.30am - 10.30am
Crew: Myself, Leon, Hannah B and Jacob

  In order to gain some day time footage, Myself and the crew stated met in the city centre at early that morning. I was a little late due to my printer not working and I needed to print the shot list. However, when I arrived around 15 minutes late, I was surprised to see that everyone was waiting for me. I expected them to have begun setting up as they knew which scenes we planned to film and could have made a start to not waste time. However, after apologising, we begun filming.

Frame from the sequence we filmed.

  The particular section that we shot was of Lola as she walks out of the alley the next morning, along with her journey to the park in the light of day. I gained the shots I wanted, however, some point-of-view ones were a little shaky because Leon was so cold, yet there was not a lot we could have done about it.
  Jacob had to leave early to make his lecture at 11, and so this meant we were down a member of crew that was essential in that sync sound would have been ideal.
  This shoot was quite successful and we gained every shot on my shot list.

Filming Day 2 - 27/11/2012

27th November 2012: 6pm - Late

Crew: Myself, Leon, Hannah B, Jen and Jacob

  On November 27th, we met our Actress met at University before filming. Because Me and Leon had a seminar until this time, I sent the rest of the crew a copy of the script and asked them to go through it with Fiona, our actress. However, I was a bit disappointed when I arrived to find out that nothing had been done. This in turn meant that I had to spend precious time we could have used filming, talking the actress through what she needed to do. 

  Once Fiona was happy and had read/learnt the sections of the script we were to film - these being planned scene 7. Although this seems to be a lot, many of the scenes are relatively short.

Lola walking around the christmas tree - this shot had great production value as a gentleman looked at the map in the right third of the shot as we were filming, demonstrating how clueless Lola is.

  Initially, we filmed the sequence where Lola walks through town, looking confused. We wanted the setting to look overwhelming and so I chose to have her walking around a large christmas tree in the city centre. This gives the illusion of her being 'small' and young in comparison. Throughout the film, it was planned to present her next to gates and fences to symbolise Lola being 'caged in' her own body and not being able to escape from her child-like persona. I will speak more about this later in the blog and include frames of the end piece to demonstrate.

  When filming the scene, the sound recordist had initial problems with the SD card in the Marantz, so I therefore had to help him solve that issue through taking the card out and unlocking it. He then proceeded to have issues of the sound not working - this turned out to be quite a trivial problem as it was due to the headphones not being plugged in! Much like the last shoot, I also found it hard to communicate with the sound recordist as he would often leave the space we were filming to record atmos tracks instead of syncing what was being shot - this became even more complex when he would stand in the frame whilst Leon was filming and would have to be asked to move out of shot. Apart from this, I have however found that Jacob has been very organised and contributed to some ideas for the piece.

Frame of POV sequence of Alley.

  Once we had completed that section of the filming, we went for food to warm up. On the way to our next location, we walked past an alley that I thought would be perfect for the scene where Lola sleeps alone on the street. Originally, this was written to be a park bench, however, I felt that this mise-en-scene would create a more eerie atmosphere and help get the desired reaction from the audience more easily.

Frame from Alley Sequence.

Frame from Alley Sequence.

  When walking down the alley, we noticed that a light would come on through the use of a sensor, so I asked Fiona to jerk as this came on to highlight her character's sensitivity to light. I found that I worked very well with Fiona and she had no problems completing any of the directions I have her. The purpose of this section of the film was to demonstrate Lola's fears and how they appear even scarier as she tries to sleep. My plan was to use sound design and editing as a huge factor to put this across - through overlaying scary images, symbolising whats happening in her mind, along with the use of sound that overlaps and gets increasingly louder.

End result of what I envisaged.

  After filming the alley section of the piece, we progressed to film elements within a 'pirate scene' that had been staged within the city centre as part of the christmas decorations. Because a lot of these models had quite a scary look about them in the dark, it gave us a good template to portray Lola's emotions when she is alone in the city. Lighting played a great part in this scene as not only did is cast sinister shadows upon the faces of the model pirates, but also presented a great shadow on a building of a sword as it lifts up and down. We used this particular shadow to our advantage and also filmed a nice close-up of Lola's reaction.

  Overall, I think that every member of the crew worked really hard on this shoot as it was incredibly cold and got quite late. I think that the shoot could have been a lot more efficient if the producer was there to ensure things worked smoothly, for example, helping with the issues in sound, as I found that this did distract me as I was trying to do my role as director to the best of my ability.

A section of the shot list - Many more were added due to the impulse scene in the alley.

Tutorial - 26/11/2012

26th November 2012: 4pm

  On November 26th, we met before the tutorial to go through the footage. Hannah B had already re-named everything and sorted it into folders once I had got there. I viewed the shots we had and was happy.

  Throughout the tutorial, we showed Annie what we had filmed and she gave the reaction I wanted to that section of the story. 

  I found the tutorial helpful as I told Annie about my concerns about the project. A particular issue we were having at this point was that everyone was rarely available to shoot at the same time. Because of this, it was suggested that we film at night, which we had already spoken about as a group. I think that because of the christmas decorations and festivities in the city this idea seemed to work so we went with it. The use of lighting is a vital part of our piece as Lola's disability means that she is very sensitive to light and the brightness of town at night is a great way to expose how overpowering it is for her. It will also be aesthetically pleasing.

Filming Day 1 - 23/11/2012

23rd November 2012: 1-5pm

Crew: Myself, Leon, Jen and Jacob

  On this day, Myself, Leon, Jen and Jacob attended to the shoot to film all of the park scenes. Hannah B and Luke couldn't be there as they had an editing seminar. We all met with the actress Fiona in town before making our way to the park.

  Initially, we planned to film at Endcliffe Park in Sheffield, however, the day of filming was quite sunny and I had concerns that it would be relatively busy, making it not only complex to film through having to ask permission to each and every parent, but I also envisaged the park to be quite dull and empty, in that Lola sees it to be amazing when in reality it is not. Because of this, I suggested we went to a smaller park about a 10 minute walk from town. In the end it seemed to work well.

Location:

Journey Made 

Original Journey Plan

  I think the first day of filming was very successful as the shot list I created helped us film efficiently in the time we had:

  Using the shot list, I went through the shots needed with the cinematographer Leon before filming, and checked I was happy with them after we had.

  I think that Fiona took direction very well. She acted just as I wanted her to and fulfilled the child-like role well. 

  I contacted the actress with a list of the kind of clothing Jen wanted her to wear before the shoot. She arrived wearing what I think Jen envisaged and I was happy with it.

  Problems that occurred on the shoot included the sound. It is hard because if I mentioned to the sound recordist that something needed to be recorded in a particular section of the shoot - for example, a car goes past in the background of the shot (something that would help avoid the use of foley), he would then spend his time recording the sound of every car that drove by. I think he may have mis-understood some of my direction, however, I do think that he should have used more initiative throughout the shoot.

  Overall, I was happy with most of the elements of the days filming and I think that we have some interesting shots to use in our piece. A particular section that I like is of Lola as she swings with the sun streaming through the crease of the houses behind her. It is an attractive shot and also helps distinguish the time of day to the viewer.

Me helping Leon to distinguish the focus when Lola swings into the frame.

Mise-en-scne

Pre-Production

  As for pre-production, I haven't seen any documents from the producer, although I know that he has contacted the council to notify them that we would be filming in the city centre. 

  I have found that I have had to take on a lot of the organisation for the 10 minute project as I have had to regularly contact the actress and crew to let them know when and where we film. Ultimately, this was the producers job and I would have liked to have had some input from him - especially through the form of some kind of schedule!