Production Journal
'Wasted'
Sam Sherwood
Day 1:
Scene 1 - The first day of our film shoot, consisted of filming Scenes One, Three and a very brief shot of Oliver Harrow's House. Our set had been set up prior to day one, therefore that allowed us to prepare for the whole day without rushing first thing in the morning. From 9 til 11 we did not film anything apart from tests for sound and footage. At 11 we planned to take the crane to a large house to film the exterior. We reached our destination, however we had left the bottom half our our crane at our original set for 1 and 3. This caused delay in our schedule as we had to return to collect the other piece. In this delayed time we did however get the camera set up and ready to go, so as soon as the equipment arrived we could film. After taking many shots of the exterior of the house, we made it back to school in relatively good time. Although having to make our actor wait longer than we originally intended, our set was ready to film back at school. We took a large variety of shots from many different angles to we had a lot to work with in the editing stage, just incase we lost one of our clips that we wished to use, we had back ups!
We managed to film all of Scene 1 by one o'clock, giving us time for a quick lunch and straight back ready for Scene 3.
Scene 3 - Scene three was quite similar to scene one. There was no speaking roles in these scenes, so we managed to get it all done in very good time. Allowing us to begin recording the voiceovers for certain scenes. Again we filmed the scene from more than one angle, giving us variety and safety shots. These shots allowed us to do match on action edits throughout the film, making it more interesting and keeping the audience drawn in.
Day 2
Scene 2
Day two was extremely busy, Livvy and I managed to film extra scenes that were planned for day 3! We first traveled to Chestfield, to film Young Olly and Young Andy's argument and the car crash!
Our two young actors arrived enthusiastic and ready to go! However when we got to our set, it did take a while to express to them exactly what we wanted to do, but we achieved this eventually! The car crash scene was quite hard to film in my opinion. At times it did get confusing and we had to be extremely careful for the safety of our actors, ourselves, and the equipment. We managed to get a shot that did look good, and with some tight editing I was sure I could make it look somewhat close to a car crash!
Scene 5 was the award ceremony for Oliver Harrow, this scene did not take very long to film, however we did have a problem with the camera settings, however that was corrected quickly, I set up the lighting just to reveal the actress and the award, and then Oliver harrow, I liked how this looked on the camera and it gives a very interesting contrast to the film.
Scene 6 - Scene six was the final scene of the film. This consisted of filming the exterior and interior of Waterstones book store, and then we filmed mostly in the library. We had to round up many extras to get their book singed by Oliver Harrow. This did not take too much time, however due to the fact many people were in the library at the time, it was hard getting everyone to be silent as we filmed. Then, at 4:15, five minutes before the end of the day, with one shot left to film, our camera died! So we had to run back to our storage room, get another battery, and get the shot done. Luckily we managed to accomplish this! With a great amount of stress and running around.
Day 3
Home Videos - This may have been one of the hardest scenes to film, plainly because there were young (hyper) boys from around the age of six to ten, running around playing games, kicking balls, etc. They were extremely hard to control, which slightly delayed us, however we did manage to get all our montage and home videos filmed. One problem we did suffer was transportation of the crane, (again!)
Due to the fact it did not fully fit in our car, we had to leave the boot slightly open. There was a steep hill en route to our destination, leaving us limited choices to keep the boot shut! However one extremely uncomfortable position for myself allowed us to reach the set with all the contents from the boot!
Scene 4 - Scene four was the Television Interview for middle aged Olly. We set up a simple television set, using white backgrounds, and placing unused cameras around the set. We only used two shots in this scene, which maybe should have been increased as the scene does seem to go on for slightly longer than I first thought it would. However the is a match on action straight away. I have struggled matching sound with this scene, due to the fact we re shot it many times from one angle, and used a separate voice recorder.
Overall I believe Livvy and I managed to capture a large amount of footage throughout the three days. The planning processes enabled us to keep production flowing efficiently, having a guide as to what should be accomplished throughout each day of filming. In addition to this we saw the importance of contingency plans, this is because some clips that we wished to include could not always be filmed in the scheduled time, thus contingency plans and alternative processes are exceptionally important.
How I Achieved The Final Product
After establishing my initial ideas, I then began planning developing a thorough plan that would eventually allow me to create a high quality short film. The planning stages were essential in the success of my production, helping me identify the ways in which I should present the theme, as well as constructing the foundational overview of my final production.
The recce was again a vital part of my production. Visiting locations and ensuring they are appropriate for the film was crucial before actually proceeding with the filming. This is because failing to plan the specific locations could lead to poor footage due to disorganisation, as I could arrive at locations and find out it is unsuitable to film, thus having to relocate and jeopardise the quality of my final film. As well as this, it helped instigate initial thoughts on the shots I would be taking, allowing me to plan camera angles, lighting and what footage would look good in different locations.
Mise-En-Scene was used throughout the film to emphasise and create the theme. For the opening scenes and in the office, I ensured a number of different shots were taken with a variety of angles to present all the props that were used, including a whisky decanter, broken beer bottles, an ash tray and the book Oliver Harrow was writing in. These all helped introduce the film and gave an insight to the protagonist's life.
Additionally I had to organise and select the most appropriate equipment to use for my film shoot. After creating my shot list I had an idea of what lenses I would require to create the most professional looking shots. Using a 50mm lens for many of my clips allowed me to create a 'human eye effect', giving the audience a true perspective of what is occurring on screen, keeping them engaged and involved with the short film.
In order to realise and therefore create my visualisation of the pre-production material, the filming stage had to exceptionally precise. Through following the storyboards efficiently, I used the camera equipment to recreate what I had initially planned. The different lenses and equipment helped me to achieve this, enabling me to film wide establishing shots with the crane and the Sigma 10-20mm lens, to detailed close up and medium shots with the 18-55mm lens. In addition to this, through following the script and recording audio with the Zoom microphone, I was able to look back at newly filmed clips on the camera using headphones, gaining the first glimpse of footage with audio to see if it matched my ideas and gave a true visualisation. The crane itself was a huge advantage to my production, without this piece of equipment I would have been unable to achieve the desired establishing shot and the second shot in the protagonist's office, this gave a much more interesting shot rather than a simple high angle, the crane gave additional height and thus a more engaging final shot.
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