Construction Post 3: Reflections on our Main Shoot Session

Our Priorities for the shoot:

• Film all of our shots in our new and full costume adding in any new shots
• Keep continuity by not breaking the 30 and 180 degree rules
• Ensure consistent framing

We filmed our real footage on Saturday 28th February as seen by our clapperboard.

We all got hands on with the camera but due to the fact that I starred in every shot, I mainly helped in setting up the camera.

Me setting up the camera and testing sound

Angela recording the bathrobe scene

Thakshana testing the camera

A behind the scenes shot that we felt lacked character

What went well

• We managed to record every shot
• We were fairly happy with the quality of our shots
• We worked well as a team

What could have been improved

• It was a very windy day and you could hear this on the outside shots
• Guy is wearing Calvin Klein pants in one of the scenes and we felt this didn't fit the character

Bella in costume

Guy in costume

 In general, we feel that our main shoot was quite successful as we managed to record every shot and get a large amount of usable shots, however, we feel that we will need a back-up shoot in order to iron out the issues with the Calvin Klein pants and also due to the fact that the weather was poor and we can hope for better.

Construction Post 2: Our Post-production Kit

To edit our opening sequence, we will be using an edit suite with 2 screens. This is highly beneficial as it allows us to edit on one window and watch the sequence on the other window. This comes in handy when we want to see our progress or analyse what changes we just made.

We are going to use Adobe Premiere Pro to edit our sequence together. It is a highly sophisticated bit of software which allows us to cut and edit our rushes, sound effects and titles together into a sequence that will eventually become our film opening. 

To record our voiceover, we will use Adobe Audition and a microphone. When I record the voiceover, it is essential that there is no background noise, this can be achieved by having nobody in the room and helped by turning the gain very low on the microphone. Adobe Audition simply allows me to record my voice onto a programme which can then be easily transferred to Premiere Pro.

Me recording the voiceover

Construction Post 1: Our Production Kit

The Clapperboard is of great benefit for organisation as we know what shot we are on in post-production when viewing rushes

For our shoot we shall be using a range of different equipment. These will be the same bits of equipment we used for the test shoot because we already have familiarity with these.



They include:

• Camera
• Tripod
• Headphones
• Microphone
• Clapperboard

R+P Post 20: Reflections so far/looking ahead

For the main shoot we are going to re-shoot the shots we kept in from the test shoot and also shoot the new shots that we created. We are going to record some shots that we haven't storyboarded as this will allow us variety when it comes to the main edit, something we didn't have during our rough cut. Looking back, I think that our organisation has continued to be good allowing us to be fully prepared for any unexpected problems that may occur. I feel our test shoot and rough cut were a great success in particular as they allowed us to see what was wrong with our previous plans, meaning we can now change them in preparation for our main shoot. Having made the mistakes we made on the test shoot, I am now fairly confident going into the main shoot as we have learnt from these mistakes and won't make them again.

R+P Post 19: Our rough cut

Now we have our footage, we need to edit all of this together in our rough cut. The aim of this is to see what our footage would look like in a finished sequence with all aspects accounted for. This means we have to view our test footage, select the best takes and put them in the sequence. Using our storyboard and animatic as our guide, we will order the shots and then crop them to the correct length. After this has been done, we will overlay our titles and put in our music track.

After creating our rough cut, we found many holes in our sequence that needed to be changed for the main shoot. Many of our shots were boring so we went back to our storyboard and replaced them with more exciting shots in preparation for our real shoot. We also noticed continuity errors which needed to be corrected on our main shoot so we don't get stuck in the position of not being able to edit well because we have poor footage. If we correct all of this in time for our main shoot, then I have no worries for the main edit. I found the rough cut very useful as we had the opportunity to make lots of our mistakes now and correct them in time for the main shoot.

R+P Post 18: Our test shoot

Angela behind the camera on our test shoot

After all of our previous planning, we now feel we are ready to have a test shoot. We feel that there a number of key things we need to prioritise. These are:

• The lighting from spotlights work for our shots
• The locations are big enough to get the camera in and still record good shots
• We test all of our shots and see how they turn out on camera
• Test my acting/act as a dress rehearsal

After recording the test shoot, we felt we learnt a lot. We found that our organisation was good, through the correct use of our shoot-board and clapperboard but we found that we needed to get a greater variety of shots as we were left having to use some of our poorer shots for the rough cut due to our footage not being up to scratch. In addition to this, we found that we needed to a be a little more technically switched on during shoots because we broke some continuity errors such as the 30 degree rule. Finally, we found that my acting was somewhat lackluster in some shots, partly due to failing to get in role and partly due to less direction than what was needed. This is something we are working on before our real shoot. 

Clapperboad on our test shoot

My personal contribution was that of an actor as I was in every shot, however, I still viewed every shot after recording it trying to see how we could improve it. I also did my best to direct myself along with the other 2 members to ensure the shots were successful.

R+P Post 17: Our planned costumes, hair and make-up

Jim Levenstein

To portray our characterisation of Guy, we have come to the conclusion that we need a hideous shirt. First of all, we used a shirt that I owned for the test-shoot but we found that it didn't look bad enough on camera. Therefore, we realised that we needed to order in a shirt matching our criteria. We felt a hawaiian shirt was a good option as these are commonly renowned for looking ugly. We also wanted him to be wearing shorts as we felt this added to his geeky nature. A good example of this kind of character is Jim Levenstein from American Pie. 

Our Hawaiian shirt

Shirt after arriving

We ordered the shirt and found it was exactly what we wanted when it came. It was definitely far better than the shirt we used on the test shoot.

For Bella, we wanted the complete opposite of Guy. This meant we needed her to be wearing a smart dress, be fully made up and generally looking attractive for the date.

A table we created to show what we wanted each character to look like

Props-wise, we didn't need a lot. We needed a brush and aftershave which I already owned. Then we needed some game posters, I already had 2 and then we borrowed one from a class-mate. I also created a 'gaming' calender and printed it off to be used in one of the shots.

The gaming calender