First Filming Evaluation - Final Film

Hello!

As you know we have been panning to create and produce the beggining of a film. Recently we went out and did the filming and thought it went well. 

Main Strengths:

• Creativity - We had a few shots, the river shot in particular, that were impossible to shoot. The river shot was impossible to use because the whole of the local area had flooded and therefore ever puddles or rivers that were approachable did not work because the water was very dirty and therefore no reflection could be seen. However, we over came this by looking at our back up ideas for shoots and using our creativity to produce a new shot. We had to do this without thinking or planning it before hand which was a challenge and also lost us a bit of time. However we did well and managed to film another idea to replace the one that would not work. This was a massive strength as it meant our final product wouldn't be affected too much.

• Time Planning - Another strength was our time planning/schedule. Because of this it meant that we got the filming done when we needed to and could effectively use our actors time. It also meant that each shot was on schedule and we moved locations on time.

However, after the filming we decided to look back at the footage before our editing stage to make sure it was all okay. This is when we realised our main weaknesses:

• Rushing - As we were focused on keeping to a schedule we rushed our filming. On a few of the shots we didn't check them first we just presumed that they would be fine and moved on. However we were wrong because it left us with shots that could have been easily improved and made to look exactly how we wanted.  

• Shot Planning - We feel that we did not look at enough openings in our genre to get some ideas about what to include. Because of this, although in our heads the shots looked brilliant, the shots that we filmed were very boring. When we thought about putting it together we realised that there wasn't really anything to grab our audience's attention.

• Basics Loss - Because we were so focused on our storyline and the legal paperwork ect, we forgot about the basics. We realised that we didn't have any techniques that we learnt at the start of Media AS in our filming (shot reverse shot, match on action, behind shoulder shot). This again, made our filming and ideas seem very poor when we watched them back.

Becaue of this we decided that we need to sit down and think up some more ideas. Although we will keep the story line exactly the same, we think we need to think of some more exciting shots to ensure that our audience enjoy it and want to watch the rest of the film, while still keeping a few of our ideas.

This time we will:

• Watch some openings to get some inspiration and ideas. Although we do not want to copy any openings, we definitely need to get some ideas that we could use in our film, however with a different and unique twist.

• Also, we will take our time with the shots. We will book our actor in for more time to ensure that there is no need to rush our shots. Also we will review each shot straight after it is taken to consider whether we need to shoot it again or if it can be improved.

• Another think we will do is ensure that we get basic filming techniques in. We will include shot reverse shot, over shoulder shot, match on action and 180 degree rule in our filming to ensure that it is seen as good filming and skill.

In the next few days I will be uploading an updated location plan, costume plan and story board as this will be dramatically changing. Also, as we are planning to make our next ideas much more exciting, we will use many more props. Therefore, we will need to create a budget list that will also be uploaded soon.

See you soon.