The Preliminary Film

Today was the day that we finally got to film the storyboard we created last lesson. We began with the corridor scene of ( character 1) me, storming down the corridor. This was the most annoying and difficult scene to film because of various reasons, when filming the close up of my feet walking from a worms eye view it was hard to track because even after many attempts when Carel was holding the camera it kept on jolting and we could not get a smooth shot, however Carel took off one her jumpers and placed the camera on top of that instead and to drag it backwards when filming which worked so much better. So we began again but this time our next problem was that we could not get the right timing to stop zooming out and begin to track my feet this often ended up with me over taking Carel tracking because of me walking too fast or my feet nearly kicking the camera because of the tracking being too slow because of Carel trying not to cause the camera shake in case she buckled. Another problem of using this shot was that the room that we was using was locked so when we finally got the timing perfect and the tracking going at the right speed, my feet went to turn into the door but then stopped because we could not get into the room. It was a relief by the time we got that shot perfect as I had walk down the corridor so many times.
We then moved on to do the scene in a mid shot which would of been simple however it seemed to be the most used corridor ever as whenever we began to film, random interruptions of people popping in and out of their classroom kept on happening and people kept on coming through the corridor door. Then when people had realized that we were filming they stood at sides watching instead which was okay but sometimes you could see them so we had to film it again. We also had to get a shot of me walking through the door, this was difficult because I could not see when it my cue to come through but this was then we solved this by Carel waiting behind the door with me while Fatma gave her the signal. Then we filmed me coming through the door from behind mid shot, from a high angle and and a mid shot from in front and the dialogue between me and Yarohey (character 2) in over shoulder shots and mid shots. The dialogue shot was difficult to film because by then it had turned to break and other people was in the room too so we had to get them to be quiet and also me and Yarohey kept on messing up our lines so that took more time to shoot as well.

Finally we were done and it was the second half of the lesson had started so we went to go and upload the footage onto Final Cut Pro but there was something wrong with it so he had to do it again so by the time we began to editing the shots we got up to dialogue and did not get to finish it but so far it was looking quite good as the match shots of me walking worked well.

I think the filming this time was more fun and creative then filming our first practice film as there was more of us present so we was able to do a lot more and there was more idea input when we was planning but also it was more stressful because of the lack time we had to film, so we had to continue through our break and just about finished it filming on time. This is probably because we did not take in consideration of our location as we wasted a lot time getting people to move out of our way it would have been more easier to move to a less busy corridor on another floor. So I think from based on this and the other filming my group is perfect with getting the ideas down and planning what were going to do but when filming our thriller we need to spend time on creating a schedule for the time and making sure we stick to it and when choosing location to film in we need to think about whether it suitable in case people interrupt us or if we interrupt them. When it comes to tracking we need to have already planned and practiced how we are going to use objects to assist us.
I feel that we did follow forms and conventions of real films however our lighting could of been better as the light in the classroom looked quite low because of the light coming through the window but it was best we could do as when shut the blinds it made the room too dark, our mise- en - scene was empty classroom which worked well as it created an typical day feeling because together with the people in the corridor in the far background it made our the acting in the scene more dramatic. We did not use costume or props to play a key role of our film but we did use a pen to show the the boredom of Yarohey character compared to the fast pace walking of my angered character. Once we finish editing, I am sure that it will be clearer that it is a comedy piece.