The Filming Process!

Recently our group have embarked on what is arguably the most important part of the film-making process: the filming. Our group (with the addition of our actor, Callum) got together at our location, Jacobs bedroom; this would act as the setting for the crazed-teachers room in which he is plotting to kill the prime-minister. This part of the process was one of the biggest learning curves thus far, and, regardless of how much you prepare, unexpected predicament arise whereby you have to act spontaneously in order to overcome the problem. For instance, zooming out of the TV interview into the teachers room, although looking good on the animatic, was an impossible task in the flesh. Its incredibly difficult to zoom out at a consistent pace, making the shot distracting and unprofessional. Therefore, we had to look at other ways in which we could do this; we would often try out several different ways of doing it before consulting one another on what looks best. And so, although we could have planned more meticulously, I'm glad in a sense that mistakes were made in order to allow us as a group to improve upon our skills.

'Can we try this another way?'



As you can see, filming was very much a collaborative experience, in which we would all discuss whether we liked the shot. The enthusiasm for what we were doing definitely rubbed off on all of us, and this focus allowed us to be more efficient and more effective as a group. And so there wasn't much arguing per se; it was a relaxed environment without becoming unfocused, and that was an essential balance to strike.

Preparing to film


Although filming was a collaborative experience, we actually took on roles within the group, working to our strengths, ensuring that we could work effectively as a unit. For instance, Melissa, as seen in the image above, worked effectively as chief camerawomen, preparing shots, sorting out the tripod and recording the various different takes. This designation of roles within our group made the process a lot smoother, and although there wasn't a dictator-like figure so to speak, it was good to know my place within the group and the role I had to take on to ensure we were effective as a whole.
Below are a couple more behind-the-scenes shots of our filming over the past few weeks:

'Thats a good take!'

'Concentration' face

And so filming wasn't exactly the brawl-like debacle it could have been. I should also mention the acting of our teacher, Callum, who did a great job as our psycho teacher, who was willing to try anything we asked of him and approached the role in a way that was better than I could have envisioned months before. I was happy with the 'messiness' of the room and the amount of props (beer cans, etc.) we had, which will hopefully make our opening a more authentic, gritty and real experience. We also used naturalistic lighting, which I thought worked really well, and the 'lets try one more take' ethos from my peers showed a willingness to create the best production we could, and perhaps an opening that lived up to the promise of our animatic. Despite this, there were shots and angles that didn't quite work but, hey, if you can find a suitlable altenative to our initial thinking then thats all that counts. Overall, I was really pleased with how these filming sessions went; we'll have to edit our raw footage before we can determine whether or not we need to reshoot. But, from my experience, I was happy with what we did shoot and I'm confident that from what we have shot we can make an impressive thriller opening...