Green Allience

For work experience during the course I shot a small five minute film with the Green Alliance on the effects on climate change. Hosted by Sir Trevor McDonald and directed by Phoebe Fraser, My role on the project was Camera Assistant. I helped set up shots with the head Camera Man Nick Martin and also lit many of the scenes.

In doing this short film I travelled around London and the south of England, most noticeably in the House's of Parliament. This experience was a massive experience for me and gave me vital skills needed to bring to Planning and Making a Film. The best example of this would be in Lighting. From the supervision of Nick he taught me how to light a set and what different gels do to the scene. This is relevant to 'The Interview' as all of the Green Alliance film was interview based so the lighting techniques taught to me were poignant to this assignment.

To view the short film click the link below and see what we got up too.

http://www.green-alliance.org.uk/grea1.aspx?id=4754

Editing

Over the Easter holiday myself and Myles set about doing a rough cut edit for 'The Interview'. The editing software used to edit was Final Cut Pro. As I have never used this software before I was simply another pair of eyes and opinions. Nevertheless it was a good learning curve for me as I learnt some of the real basics to using Final Cut.

Risk Assessments

Risk assessments are an important segment to pre production of a film. With every location a new risk assessment must be made. Quite possibly the most mundane thing to do in the film process, yet they are important as they highlight the risks for each set. There are obviously some risks which are universal no matter where you are filming, such as, the risk of wires to and from cameras and sound booms, yet there are always new risks in certain locations, such as working in dangerous locations or with animals. Fortunately our film has neither of those things so our film should be a safe environment.

Locations for Film

Our film consists of two main locations for shooting. A prison cell and an interview room this is good in terms of the production day as there is little travel and moving around for locations as well as this no outdoor filming. However we tried to get offices across bath and we had no luck, for example the Bath Spa university offices on the River Side. Yet due to security reasons this could not go through. Yet we moved to the library and found good prospective interview rooms, unfortunately the library supervisor could no warrant us using a room all day when these rooms are for study rather than filming. This put a large downer on the group as time was running out to find a location. However the guys went to Bristol to look at an optional location and we came across a gem. The location is perfect and will make our film look fantastic! Now the film is starting to come together it is all getting very excited.

Now we have to look for a cast.

Production of film take 2

It is time for us to get into groups to produce our second film of the course. The group I am in consists of

Director - Gustav Newby

Producer - Myles McAuliffe

Camera - Myself

Sound - Josh Montague

Editor - Elspeth Wild

Despite our titles we shall all help out in regards of getting locations casts and the final shooting and editing process.

The filming weekend started with the capturing of the stills photos for the film. These photos would be used in the film to show the memories of the main character, we first shot in Victoria park as the weather was good so whilst we only had the single out door scene we thought it would be best to get in done in the sun shine. This process was quick and simple and we were out of the park swiftly.

Next to the Students Union Shop in which we had to film Ed buying bottles of coke and smashing them. Unfortunately the shop was still open as normal which meant the pictures took a while to take as people were walking in and out of shot and the simple mater of continuity was a hard task to keep. Having to smash a bottle of coke was hard to do as we were not given permission to do so in the shop, yet in previous photos we see the floors pattern. Fortunately the toilets have the same pattern, so we recreated the scene there.

The final scene to take photos of was the office scene, I was in charge of getting this location with the head of the library. These organisational requirements in the course are good as they enhanced my skills to lease on the phone and organise events. The shooting itself went very well and we got all of the shots we needed.

BridesWell Arts Centre:

Marking Peers Scripts

This week we had been split into groups to mark one another's scripts. This was really helpful on a personal level as it helped to see how other scripts were written and to see if I am on the right tracks.

This was challenging nevertheless, being constructive in the analysis of the scripts with out sounding disheartening or rude. The scripts I read were very well structured with a obvious vision. Like all first scripts they needed touching up, but there is definitely quality in these scripts for filming in March.

In terms of my own script the feed back that I have seen is very positive and I feel people may want to film my script as it is simple yet has a moral and a meaning to the storyline.

Work Experience - "Cash in the Attic"

On Thursday 14th January I had some vital time watching the Leopard Productions crew filming an episode of 'Cash In the Attic" for the BBC. Being on set has furthered my understanding of the way media production works. Even though this is a televised programme rather than a feature, or short film, the processes in framing shots and the technical sides of the camera are very much the same. What was really relevant to the work I am doing at university was the use of the 'Z1' style camera they used for some of the smaller sequences. Coined the 'work horse of the industry' it is brilliant that as students of Bath Spa University we can be as literate as possible with the camera's.

From this experience I have found that I understand how the production of a film, or television show should run. I have seen how to manipulate the camera to give the correct illusions, as well as this I got first hand experience of professional equipment, setting up red heads, tri-pods and the camera. I feel this experience will stand me in good stead for the next filming production for our course.