Filming Day 1. Personal Development.

Today was the first day of filming, and it didnt go too well for multiple reasons.
Personally, I felt iscolated when using the camera and didnt feel confident enough to use different shots/angles/movement; this was purely because I was too conscious of time and not taking any chances of wasting the time we had.
This limited the range of shots we had, which generated the poor quality of the footage.
I hope that next time we film, I'll overcome this and feel more comfortable and able enough to explore a diversity of media techniques.

Filming Day 2. Personal Development.

So today we re-filmed Lucy's 'getting ready' scene, and it (unlike previous attempts) turned out to be successful.
I felt that I'd personally gained the confidence to move around freely and try out different angles and postitions, unlike before when I felt quite iscolated when using the camera.
Also, I've communicated to my team members effortlessly and have found that working with them as a group has been benefitial in that they can contribute to everything we do as a group, even personal goals of my own. (such as becoming more comfortable with the camera equpitment)
I'm sure that my personal progress will improve as I go on, and even contribute to my performance in the group.

Day 2. Improvements of filming.

Our improvements consisted of;
- using the correct equpitment correctly, constantly and to its full potential (tripod)
- sticking to the script/storyboard to avoid conflict within the group and misunderstanding, also this has helped manage our time.
- full communication with the actress; briefing our idea to her and explaining how the female character should act, speak and present herself throughout the opening sequence.

Here, we've pin-pointed a camera shot that we've improved on.
Lucy is applying her make-up in this scene, and clearly, she is not in the centre of the shot, the top of her head is cut off and the camera is tilted slightly - causing this shot to look ammiture and unproffessional.



Here, is our new shot of this scene. We can clearly see that improvements have been made, such as -
. we've highlighted the importance of her doing her make-up, but using an extreme close-up while she's applying her lipstick. - This is for multiple reasons, such as; the audience can infer that in the actresses mind, her concentration is purely on her lipstick - making the audience feel 'at one' with the actresses thoughts. Also, lips conote femininity and female dominance which is stereotypically made for the opposite sex's attention. This tells the audience a bit about the character herself and gives an insight on how women of that generation/class/status/maturity present themselves. Furthermore foreshadowing a result in romance, which is our aim in the opening sequence.
. we've used the tripod, which sets the camera at a flat, straight angle that looks proffessional.



This, like many other scenes in our filming, is evidence of improvement and that we (as individuals, and a group) are mastering the ways of proffessional filming. (camera angle/shot/movement/duration)

Experimenting with editing.

So today we wernt able to film, because our actress Lucy was unable to attend filming and the group itself was missing crucial equiptment that we needed whilst filming, one of these was the storyboard. Even though this was published on everyone's blogs; we needed the copy itself to take with us when filming, as computers were unavailable throughout filming.

In our screenplay, when Lucy checks her email, the camera will show her computer screen alerting her that she has '1 new message!'
Here we have created the screenshot that the audience will see, assuming that it was her own computer screen they were looking at :



Here, Teni was experimenting with screen credits and how our film title will appear, what it will look like and its general connotations.
'Lost & Found' :


We did this today simply to fill up time and get to grips with our editing techniques, despite this - our main focus is filming, and in order to obtain the extended deadline, we must stick to a strict schedule.

First Day Filming, Update no.1

PROBLEMS,
- Lack of organisation - actor/actress wasnt prepared.
                                  - original props were forgotten.
                                  - members of the group showed up late to filming.

- Lack of understanding - the group itself wasnt crystal clear on the idea/script/camera angles/general aim.
                                     - the actress misinterpreted her role/character.
                                     - how the tripod was to be correctly used.
                                     - how camera could be used to its full potential.

- Lack of communication - storyboard was not used as a guide for camera angles/shots/movement/dialogue.
                                       - idea's were made up in the heat of the moment, no discussion; plot wasnt clear.
                                       - random selection of roles; in the group.

REQUIREMENTS NEXT TIME...
- Organisation - have a set time for all members of the group to turn up, and (if necessary) have their immediate contact information available to reach them.
- frequently be in communication with actor/actress, keep all group members informed of updates/changes to the schedule.
- props are to be brought to attention to everyone, they are to be brought to lesson a few days in advance to filming, so that they are accessable at all times.
- having a set time-table of events, this includes times of filming, what we're filming, props used, characters involved and the estimated time that we should be finished.
- Understanding - before filming, and (prefferably) on a regular basis of filming, resort to the storyboard and plan, discuss any other possible options and film both - so that when we're editing, we can sort out the good footage from the bad and have a variety of options to chose from.
- sit down with the actor/actress and brief them on our plot, our representations, costume, script, screenplay and all the basic, so that they can fuly grasp their roles. Also have sessions briefly before filming with the actor/actress to be pristine on whats expected.
- each individual group member must master the methods of using equiptment correctly and effectively.
- each individual group member must adapt all roles to the best of their ability - filming, sound, editing, scripting.
- Communication - have the storyboard present throught all the filming and refer to it when experimenting with angles/movements and shots. - stick to the initial plan, any other ideas/suggestions are to be taken onboard and filmed also, then, when editing, we can differ the useful footage.
- select roles equally in the group and make sure that each person gets to experience all methods of filming, planning and editing.

First Day of Filming, Group Update.

End Of Term Summary (individual).

Personally, I feel as though our group has progressed in terms of work and quality - because our failures have helped ensure that we wouldnt make the same mistake.
However, over the term, it's quite clear that our team are lacking in communication and general understanding, which leads to confusion and more problems - and this, I'm determined to change next term; because as a group, its crucial that we understand eachother and are discussing things to their full potential.

I feel that this term I have coped with the on-going stress of work and deadlines awfully, and it's reflected in my work. My time-management and organisation is poor, and needs a lot of work in order to keep up with everyone else, and to bring the quality of my work up to more than a satisfactory level. For example, using different materials when I update my blog, instead of just writing it all up - this will expand both my experience of using the blog, and will demonstrate the diversity of ways that I can communicate my idea's/progress.

Next term, as a member of my group, I will encourage more fluent discussions and will try and set a boundary for everyone to be reminded of what is to be done, and to spread the work evenly so no individual person has more than anyone else.
Also, as an individual, I'll try and manage my time more proffessionally and organise my blog to an understandable quality.

End Of Term Summary.