Post 21: Production Report

This post basically explains all the decisions and revisions we had to make throughout the production process. We have had to make many decisions as a group throughout the filming process but we've done so as a group agreeing on what to do and moving forward after making it.

When we began filming our short film we were very excited to actually begin the production process. The very first complication my group and I came across was a week before we started to film one of the main actors dropped out. This made it very difficult for us as we needed to find a replacement very quickly in order to stay on schedule to get all the filming done. Fortunately we asked another student at school if they would be able to help us and they kindly enough agreed to become Sophie Freeman in the film. This taught us that when trying to create a film things will go wrong but as long as we stay focued and make decisions quickly and effectively in order to find a solution.
On the first day of filming we filmed in the canteen for the restaurant scene. This went well however there were a few difficulties. The first being that due to the time we had arranged to film in the canteen we were unable to get food props for the actors to be eating. Therefore we decided to alter the script ever so slightly from "can you pass the pepper" to "can you pass me a menu". Along with this the lighting in the canteen showed up differently on camera from what it did when we were actually filming, because of this the long shot of all the characters is lighter than the close up and medium close up shots.

The next time we filmed was in the maths classroom, the filming of this scene went really well. Everybody involved was clear on the time and location of filming, therefore whilst we were setting up all the equipment our director briefed all the actors, the main characters and extras, on their roles. We had ran through a few times to ensure the actors knew what to do then managed to film the shots afterwards.

The rest of the filming that we did for the majority of the other scenes went fairly well. The main real next complication that we came across was filming in the swimming pool, this was only difficult because of the people we needed on poolside with us due to health and safety. We needed a teacher and qualified lifeguard in order to be able to film in there. Along with this it was very difficult to get in there and film because of the popularity the pool has, there were constant swimming lessons in there when all the actors were free to film. So, because of this we had to arrange a time outside of school to come in and film in there.

Throughout the production process I feel as though I have developed some skills that I already had and learnt some brand new ones. I've developed the skills I had of operating a camera, I learnt how to use different parts of it when deciding on the type of light that could be used in certain scenes. Another skill I learnt was the importance of lighting when filming, and the effect it can have on the shots being filmed. Obviously skills such as team work, organisation and efficiently was developed throughout the whole process as working well in a team is one thing my group and I did well.