How well did you plan your storyboards, scripts and how you managed actors, location and props?
We made our storyboards very vague and really only had the basic methods used in a dialogue scene, our storyboards didn't take into account lighting and mood.
Our script was the same it didn't take into account these areas as well but on the other hand we had already discussed the mood and theme of this clip. The script really focused on the narrative and did not highlight the camera shots and movements at all. The first draft of the script was pretty solid and we didn't really deviate from it that much except very minor lines and mannerisms that these mafia style characters might have.
We made sure everyone understood what we wanted the project to be and how exactly we were to achieve the sense of power. Adam, who plays Frank the man asking for help, was made to understand that he was in trouble and was desperately pleading for help from a more powerful character such as The Don.
The location of the tutor group as you might have guessed was actually a lunch room but it was what we could come up with at such short notice. The lunch room didn't really convey that classroom feel that we hoped. Initially we had hoped to use a small interview/office room but it was not vacant at the time of production.
The props we used were generally easy to acquire and cost us no expense. As we noticed it was convenient that our school shirt matched the costume that we had planned in our storyboards. We had considered the use of guns or other firearms in the clip but we concluded that it would be inconvenient to acquire and did not match the school setting we wished to create. In our research into films and series like ours we came across a method used by Marlon Brando in The Godfather as Don Vito Corleone in which he used cotton buds in his mouth to puff out his face and produce the muffled iconic voice of the don. We decided to use this method as it would add to the character of our Don Auditore.
Did you encounter any problems at various stages with theses? Did you make any changes to your original plans? Why? How did you overcome any difficulties?
We encountered a lot of problems with location but we soon came to terms that this was a school and no matter what time it would be there would be people walking past and into the shot. Instead we decided to use this to our advantage and let Adam be thrown back into the school environment. We also decided to add a maths book in to add to the narrative of the clip. We had a problem with lighting because the Don was seated behind the window and at some points the glare would be blinding and the audience wouldn't see him. At one point we had some difficulties with the camera recording and it would cut off bits of dialogue. We only noticed this when we imported the recordings into iMovie. To amend this we decided to record the whole script again and replace the sections we needed to. Other than that it worked fine, the camera shots worked ok and the characters came across as we wanted to and we had fun filming.
Filming
What was successful in the filming?
Our ideas worked fine and they had the desired effect we wanted. The script worked brilliantly and both Adam and I had no problems improvising some actions and mannerisms to really flesh out the characters. We knew that we couldn't have that much camera movements but we still managed to create a flow.
Did you use a variety of shots? What were you trying to achieve with certain shots and why do you think the choice of shot mattered?
We used a good variety of shots, we used the over the shoulder shot the most because as the guidelines suggested it was a dialogue scene and the scene would have been impossible without this method. We also improvised a POV shot to see the door opening from Adam's view. We also used high and low angles to visually show the balance of power in this conversation this was important because if the Don viewed to be lower than Frank it would upset the balance we wanted to achieve.
How well do you feel you are frame shots, positioning subject, using camera techniques?
I felt as though we didn't do enough framing, I think we should have framed the Don more to stress his importance. We did do some framing as we used the window to highlight the Don but it would have been better to use props or extra people like goons or a spinning executive chair which would have added to the story. We also could have used more camera techniques to give more of a variety.
Continuity successes and failures?
We did have some problems with the continuity of the lighting of the room we were in because of the weather. It was because of this we had to re-shoot the whole scene because it would not have been the same. We didn't have problems with continuity in regards to dialogue or costume but we did have some difficulties with the position of the table but I do not think it was a major problem.
Did you observe the 180 degree rule?
We as a group made sure we observed this rule. One way we made sure of this was that the camera was never to be recorded from the door extended to the opposite wall.
How did you manage lighting, sound and mise en scene?
To manage lighting we filmed as much as we could in one day when the weather was the same throughout the scene. Sound was never a problem as we were in a closed room where there were no people to interrupt the shoot. Mise en scene was managed in accordance with the position of the door, the table may not have been in the exact same place the whole production it was similar position.
Editing
How did you manage continuity using editing software?
When we used shot - reverse shot we managed to keep the subject in the right most third of the shot. The subjects remained in the same place when the shot returned to them even though it may have been filmed on different days.
Did you encounter any problems in the editing stages in your production?
We didn't really have any problems in regards to editing it was mostly production problems that we only identified during our editing stages all of which we have already said about in the previous questions.
What new processes/techniques have you learned using new software and how has the use of software enhanced your production?
We've certainly learned a lot from the start through to the end of the project getting better and quicker as we went along. using iMovie11 has helped us get the right feel of the project that we where looking for. iMovie11 has sped up the editing process adding lots of helpful and fun features to the mix it has developed our editing skills and give us an insight of how vital the editing process is.
What successes and difficulties have you experienced during editing?
We didn't really experience much problems when it came to editing mostly because of the brilliant, simple and easy to pick up editing software we used (imovie11). because of this software however we did have many successes we achieved things that we had never even thought of and ended up with a brilliant end result.
What are the key lessons you have learned that will ensure success in your main piece?
We learned that we really need to focus on fixing continuity errors such as lighting etc. We learned that we need to make our storyboards more detailed and in depth so that we have a better understanding of how we will create the final piece.
