Diary Entry 4

<-4.11.13

Filming Days

We were allowed to go out and film from the 7th to the 9th of October. I went and filmed with my sister, who acted as the main character in the film 'Dreams'. On the first day we went into school in the morning, collected the equipment, had a quick briefing and then went straight back home to start filming! (I needed Bella for the whole 3 days).

MONDAY:
On day 1 we filmed around my house, and then in the afternoon we went outside and filmed down a country road very nearby. We used a Canon 7D, 2 lenses (85mm and a zoom), steady cam, and external microphone attached to the camera. We made a few mistakes in the morning, purely because we forgot to bring the tripod! As a result the shots we got were more shaky than they probably should have been; however because that aspect of the film was meant to look handheld, it actually didn't look as bad as I feared. On day 1 we shot at approximately IOS 200, as I provided a lot of external lighting. We made up the sets with lots of lamps for inside, and luckily the weather was fine in the afternoon, the sun providing lots of natural light. We shot the whole film on a ready set setting, and they worked perfectly. The white balance was automatic and the resulting shots looked amazing and sharp. In the morning we shot the typewriter scene inside my kitchen, as well as the first scene of the film (the girl waking up). Half way through the morning we went outside to shoot a very quick scene that continues from the typewriter one. Then, after that took us all the way up to lunch, we went outside after and walked to a nearby road. Although the shots for this were good, it turned out we didn't actually need them in the end. Instead, I used shots we took on the Tuesday. Overall though, I think the filming that day went very well!

TUESDAY:
For tuesday, the early morning routine was much the same; we went into school after returning the equipment the previous afternoon, but this time before we left we were able to look at the shots we got on the Monday. We got exactly the same, except this time no steady cam and no zoom lens. I found this very helpful because I was able to see what looked good and what didn't, and then how to improve the not so good ones. Also, we remembered the tripod this time! In the morning on Tuesday after returning home, we shot more of the mini scene outside (however this time with a tripod so the scenes looked much better). Then we filmed a series of more mini scenes, this time with a different actor as well as Bella. I think they went very well, and we ran into no problems at all. However it also turned out that in the final edit I did not need all the footage that we filmed; the ones I have used though look very good! In the afternoon we also did the same thing, filming one very major scene that sadly didn't make it to the final edit, and more smaller ones (the ones we did film can be seen on the production sheet). The major scene was with a canvas, and took at least an hour and a half to perfect; however there just wasn't enough room to fit it in to the final film so I cut the whole thing, which was a great shame! We did film the final scene of the film in the afternoon though, and that turned out very well. For the majority of day 2 we stuck around the house and the garden, filming upstairs in a bedroom/kitchen. Then when we were done we returned the equipment again, however this time I came in a little later than 4:20, arriving at around 5 - luckily someone was still in the room!

WEDNESDAY:
Wednesday was probably the busiest day for the filming. We did exactly the same thing again in the morning, collecting the same equipment as Tuesday but this time again with the zoom lens. In the morning we left the house location and drove to a local church/graveyard to film some montage shots for the final minute of the film. I think these were some of the best shots we got out of the whole thing, the footage sharp and detailed. After that took a considerable amount of time, we drove back with all the equipment and shot last minute scenes that we forgot/had no time to do in the previous 2 days.
But, we ran into some issues just before lunch time with the camera/microphone, and realised that I very stupidly hadn't turning the mike on. After finding this out we very quickly went around with the camera (lens cap on) and filmed sound effects to make up for the lost audio. I think this went well and although I had done something stupid, we made up for it quickly and efficiently! After lunch we went outside to the same road as we filmed on, on Monday afternoon. These shots were meant to be a continuation from Monday, but as i said before, in the end I didn't use any of Mondays. This was also a main scene from the film, the bike chase one, and one that I had been looking forward to filming the most. After making sure the microphone was actually on (and it was), I took my 2 actors outside and we filmed for the whole afternoon on the bikes, and then the chase from the road to the house. The locations included the road, and inside the house. Then, finally, the final scene I shot was a handheld zoom on the mask the man wore the entire time.
'That's a rap!'.

EDITING:
We were able to edit the films in class for a long period of time after the filming had taken place. We got around 2 weeks of class time after the initial filming, and I came in a lot for extra sessions. (For example in all my free periods, and on a Wednesday afternoon when I didn't have my PE kit with me). These extra times were actually very very useful and I don't think i would have got nearly as much done so quickly if I didn't have them. I finished the edit just before half term, and worked on the soundtrack on my Mac book during the holidays. I used a different software to edit the film than everyone else, they using 'Adobe Premiere Pro' and I using 'Sony Vegas Pro'. It was very kind of my teacher to let me edit on the software I did, and I loved learning more about it! I used my other laptop to edit, keeping it locked at school when it wasn't in use. I think the editing went very well, I learnt a lot about what i was using and how to use it. I really enjoyed it, and am hoping to finish by the end of this week (16.11.13), but we have another week just incase i don't. I am mainly going to be working on the soundtrack/voice over, and when they are both done the whole project will be completely finished.

CONCLUSION:
Overall, I think that the 3 days went a lot better than I though it would go, and after sitting down and editing the whole thing together, I think they looked better than I originally thought as well. I had a lot of fun filming and I found the editing time we got to have in class very informative too! It was a great project to work on, and i hope to do similar things in the future.