P2(d) Following Production Processes

Meaning and purpose: By having all the production processes before filming, I knew exactly what to do, for example by using the storyboards, scripts and crew&actor call sheets, the actors and myself were always prepared to shoot the next scene and knowing what equipment to use. This helped my filming plan run more smoothly and get everything done in the set time I had. 

Below is a screenshot of part of my script for my film opening. It includes characters involved, what type of shot I will be filming, what will be happening in a specific scene, music, stage directions and lastly what the character says. The actors - Oliver (Ben) always had a script with him as well as myself so we knew exactly what he had to do. This made the filming run more smoothly as it gave Oliver stage directions which he followed without asking. 

It also enabled me to know exactly what was included in each scene, for example, 'long shot of Blean woods with background music' Here the script is not just telling me what the characters say, but what shot I will be using and when music will start etc. 

Below is a screenshot of part of my storyboard. As shown in my blog posting of 'following script/storyboard' I have screenshot different parts of my storyboard with part of my film showing that I have followed the storyboard. Oliver and myself had the storyboards with us at all times so that we knew exactly what we had to do in each scene as well as knowing what type of shot I needed to film. This also helped the filming day run smoothly and quickly. 

There was two additional shots in my storyboard I decided to do on the day of filming. This was right at the end, firstly having mysterious boots in the woods walking past the camera and secondly, a mysterious person wearing gloves going through Ben's backpack. 

The reason I added these shots was because it made the film more dark and intense. It left the audience on a cliffhanger because they do not know who this mysterious person is going through the backpack. This meant I had not exactly planned these additional shots, but in the end it worked out great and I was really happy with the outcome. 

Another production process I had to run through when filming was creating set designs so that I knew exactly where filming equipment would be placed and what the characters would be doing. 

Below is part of my pre-production material which helped production processes run smoothly on my filming days. Here are some examples of my set designs with an explanation of what filming equipment I will be using and what lighting I will be using to create a certain affect. I always had the set design sheets with me at all times when filming because they informed me of what equipment to use, what shot to use and where equipment will be placed as shown in the images below. 

Here I wanted to show a medium close-up shot of Oliver asleep before he is woken up by his mum shouting in the background. I had the camera to the right hand side of him to show his facial expressions as he wakes up. I used natural lighting to create a realistic effect. 

For this shot I used the 7D DSLR camera, the velbon DV6000 tripod and the EFS 18-55mm lens. Firstly I wanted to show Oliver getting up from bed and walking over to the mirror, and then show Oliver's reflection in the mirror. The camera was to the left of the picture each time to enable a good view of the reflection in the mirror. Natural lighting was used once again to create a realistic, mysterious and dark effect to match the film genre. This came from the windows.

For these shots I wanted to show Oliver walking downstairs in two different ways. Firstly I  wanted the whole of the stairs in the picture and used the camera to the right of the stairs, and then I wanted to zoom in and face front on with the stairs to just show Oliver's feet coming downstairs. This gave a variety of shots making it more interesting and exciting on the eye for the audience. I used the 7D DSLR camera, the velbon DV6000 tripod and the EFS 18-55mm lens. Natural lighting as well as home lighting will be used. The stairs were fairly dark for my initial idea of just using natural lighting, so I decided to use home lighting to create a homely environment. To make it slightly darker and mysterious when editing I will use colour corrector on premier pro to take away the yellow/orange colour coming from home lighting.

I used the 7D DSLR camera, the velbon DV6000 tripod and the EFS 18-55mm lens. I wanted to show Oliver and his dog walking in the woods/field after he had just run away. The camera was to the left and followed him as he walked. Natural lighting was used from outside which created a dark and mysterious effect to suit this particular scene as Ben has just ran away and it is a key scene so the lighting really helped to set the scene.

For this shot I used the 7D DSLR camera, the velbon DV6000 tripod and the EFS 50mm lens for a human eye effect. I wanted a shot of Oliver running towards the camera with his dog. I had the camera directly in front and at eye level for a more realistic shot. Natural lighting was used from outside to create a sincere and realistic effect to help set the scene of Ben finally running away.

Below is my daily shooting schedule which was very useful for my filming days. I knew exactly what scene to shoot, the location, the equipment used and the characters needed for each day. It also helped me to manage my time carefully with allocated times for each scene. for example, scene 2 would be filmed on Tuesday 16th Feb, 12.00pm - 2.00pm. I gave a copy to Oliver (Ben) so that he knew exactly what scene he would be shooting at specific times. This helped the filming days run smoothly and quickly. 

Below is part of my pre-production material used during production processes to help my filming days run smoothly. This is a crew and actor call sheet. This helps myself and the actor know exactly the location, the scene of what the actor has to do and the actors/crew involved on specific days. By having this with me, and giving a copy to Oliver (Ben) filming days were made a lot easier because we always knew where we had to be and what we had to shoot on specific days and times. Everything went to plan and all scenes were shot successfully without any problems. 

Below is also part of the crew and actor call sheet but it is slightly different as it gives the actor instructions on what he has to do. I had two instruction tables, but below is just one as an example. Oliver knew exactly what he had to do in a specific scene by looking at the instruction table. This made the filming days a lot easier as we were not having to pause a lot for him to ask what to do. He knew exactly what he had to do as I gave this table to him well in advance so he could go over it a few times before the filming day. This made the filming day run extremely smoothly. 

Camera & other equipment:

With the canon 7D DSLR camera I used the manual settings which let me change the aperture and ISO rather than it being automatic. By being able to adjust the settings I was able to capture the exact shot I wanted and also take multiple shots to see which one looked the best for my film opening. By using the velbon DV600 tripod, the shots taken on the canon 7D camera were always stable so that the camera did not move around and the shots were accurate and still. For different shots I used different settings on the camera which is the beauty of having the canon camera set on manual rather than automatic. For example when I wanted to focus on a main subject like the alcohol and dirty dishes in the sink I would make the aperture slightly lower to give it a shallow depth of field, allowing more light in so that the background was slightly blurred and the main subject was in focus and the main attention. I also though the tripod was good because I took a fair amount of pan shots where I needed the camera to be steady rather than shaking around, the tripod enabled me to do that keeping the camera stable as I rotated it. 

For the lighting in my film opening I always used natural lighting with no additional studio lighting. I had already planned this when explaining my set designs in my blog posting P1. The natural lighting gave my film a more realistic, mysterious and dark look to match the crime/drama genre of the film. Sometimes I would use home lighting which was needed if natural lighting was too dark, but due to it giving off a yellow/orange colour I was able to adjust the this on premier pro when editing using the colour corrector. I could also adjust the ISO and aperture in order to make the filming outcome a little lighter.  

Lenses & other equipment used as planned:

Canon 18-55mm zoom f/3.5-5.6 mf/af (wide angle): 
Gave a good wide angle, this enabled me to film a range of distances with a wide picture and I was able to capture a large environment when filming a scenery, such as when I was filming the woods and field and the beginning and throughout the film to set the scene.

Canon EF 85mm fixed f/1.8 USM medium telephoto mf/af:
This was good for racking photos, but more importantly it was great for focus pulls which I wanted to create when Oliver is in the woods with the background out of focus while he is in focus or vice versa.

Canon 50mm f/1.8 mf/af (human eye effect)

Great for a human eye effect which for most of my film opening was my aim. I wanted it to look as realistic as possible as well as mysterious, and with a human eye effect this made it possible. This lens was used mostly for when I was filming inside the house, for example the sink in the kitchen or when Oliver is asleep in bed.

Rode VideoMic - R shotgun

I planned to use this because it enabled the sounds I filmed on camera to be more clear. If I did not use this, sound from the camera would either not be heard, or it will be muffled. By using this it ensured the sound would be heard. I checked the sound using headphones during production just to be sure that the Rode VideoMic was working. It was essential I checked as otherwise, the whole filming day would have been wasted and I would have had to organise another filming day and start again.

This is why it is essential to have pre-production material and follow production processes in order for things to run smoothly, knowing exactly what we have to do and what equipment to use.