Practise Film Sequence

Early in the course, we tried to film a sequence from a fiction film as practise for the coursework. We only had two lessons to plan and film the sequence, which had to end in a murder. We learned a lot from all the mistakes we made planning and putting the sequence together.

Camera Angles

To start we found that getting the camera at the right angle was very difficult. Filming the first scene on the steel stairs was the most challenging as the floor was uneven, however we did still managed to film a high angle, and this did not benefit us. When you watch the film, you can see the camera wobble, and this is due to the floor. When we filmed the second scene, we filmed from the opposite angle to the first scene. When looking up at Wise and Ellen we had to film them though the stairs. This created a large shadow and the lighting was affected. Filming the Point of View shot only took up one try.  However this didn’t turn out well because the camera was quite unsteady. The last scene we recorded was probably the most successful as there was not any problems with the steadiness of the camera or lighting. This meant we could record through the fence. This gave the impression that the murder was in a isolated location. When we record anything for coursework we will try and record the scene so the light does not affect the camera and will film the scene from several different angles.

Our Group

I was happy with my group as everyone participated equally and no one was too domineering. This allowed everyone to share their opinions and views towards the project. Drawing the storyboard was challenging because all of us are terrible at getting our ideas onto the paper. When we sorting out the roles I was glad that Wise and Ellen didn’t mind taking part in the acting roles as I am not too confident in front of the camera.  When recording our sequence, I did most of the filming. This gave me an opportunity to shoot thing where I wanted to shoot them from. However if it didn’t look right or the lighting was wrong I would ask for the opinions of the other group members.

Planning storyboard

As I previously mentioned, no one in my group was a talented artist. We resorted to using stick men to represent Wise and Ellen. However because we were using stick men it made it more difficult to get ideas on the paper. So most for most of it we verbally planned it. This didn’t really matter as we adapted the paper storyboard when we were filming to suit the angles we wanted to film from. But saying this, we did use the same ideas as we had planned.  If I was to use a storyboard again, I think I would start it was a brainstorm. This would benefit everyone as all ideas will be looked at.

Lighting

When filming many scenes the light effected what we wanted to capture.  When looking at the first scene you can see that we filmed from a high angle on the stairs. We wished to continue this angle on the other side. The natural lighting, which we had no control over, meant that our shadows were appearing in the sight of the camera. This looked unprofessional so we decided to record from low down. The second scene where Ellen picks up the shovel, once again, shadows from building, I and Alice affected the film quality. It took a couple of times to succeed in getting the right angle for the camera.  We could change the amount of lighting by changing the time of day we filmed. This would improve the quality of the sequence.

Locations

Our location choices were very good. There is only a bit of two scenes that were affected by passersby. This meant we didn’t need re-record scenes due to interference.

The locations we filmed were in quiet places. The only background noise we experience were such things as planes and passing traffic. This was good as we could edit it out.  Another benefit of using the locations we did was that the buildings gave a feeling of isolation and privacy so it could genuinely be a place of murder, unlike other sequences. The foliage around the murder scene gave it a dark, scary feeling. This was not intended but too added to the affect.

Acting

I was very happy Wise and Ellen offered to do the acting. However I do have some criticism about their skills.  The first scene, you can see Ellen grinning. We managed to edit it out a tiny bit. But it shows that she needs to stay composed during further acting challenges. When Wise then realised she was being chased, it didn’t look like a convincing murder chase. Her running and slow hiding did not look genuine. The worst acting came from Wise in the last scene when she slips or trips on the brick and falls vulnerable to Ellen’s shovel. This was evidently faked.

Editing

I am pleased with most of the editing decisions apart from the point of view effects.  This made the quality of the scene poor. The effects we used made these shots look unprofessional and amateur. When editing I did most of the work. I did not mind this as it is my most favoured part of creating the movie. I hope to do more of the editing on future works. However, I do wish to widen my knowledge of editing software.  Another fault of the editing section is I did not think I spent a lot of time on it and maybe if I spent more, it would have looked better.

Conclusion

 

Overall I think this was a successful considering it was our first attempt at filming. As I listed above there are several changes I would like to make if we were to record something in the future. Also possibly in the future edit it from home as I have the software to do it now.