Filming Diary Entry - Friday 1st March

Today, I encountered a big problem whilst filming the remaining 9 shots of the opening sequence. 4 shots in to the filming, my camcorder ran out of battery and I had no charger to charge the battery. As this happened, I can't film until I get a battery charger for the camcorder. The rest of the shots will hopefully be filmed on Monday night.

Filming Diary Entry - Thursday 28th February

Today, I filmed shots 9-13 of my opening sequence, which includes the opening of the envelope to the point where the protagonist smiles. These frames from my storyboard above contributes with my work for which I have completed today. Today was the 2nd day of my filming schedule and my 3rd day of production overall. What went well for today was the fact that all of the shots included are exactly what I wanted it to be (the right use of camera terms e.g. close-up for the protagonist smiling). 

My plans for next time is to use the help from the volunteer to position the camera and the tripod in the exact position I want it in. Not many more changes are needed for this section of the filming. It is all running smoothly.

The pictures below show the 2nd day of filming for my opening sequence:

   

Filming Diary Entry - Wednesday 27th February

Yesterday, me and a volunteer filmed the first 8 shots of the opening sequence, with the help of a cam-corder and a tripod. The first 3 storyboard frames used in my storyboard we're portrayed on camera yesterday. This was our first major filming day and I will need another 2 days to film the remaining camera shots. As it was our first day and it was time to move the props in to the shed, I found that all the equipment were in the right place at the right time. I thought it was going to be much worse. Also, I had a volunteer working with me to film these shots, which worked very well with the structure of my opening sequence. 

The plans for next time is to work on my camera shots more carefully. Some shots did not match the expectations to my storyboard and some parts of the script were portrayed differently in the filming. 

Below are the pictures of the opening day of filming:  

Filming Diary Entry - Tuesday 26th February

On Tuesday, I recorded the dialogue needed for my opening sequence, using the 'H2 Handy Recorder'.

There is only going to be one part of dialogue of the film's opening sequence and this will happen when the man reads the letter, with the voice-over of dialogue in his head. The dialogue comes from the voice of the father, who is a key member for the rest of the film.

The photo (shown left) shows me and my dad recording the sound for my opening sequence. The strengths from this day of recording is that it was recorded several times to get the perfect sound for my film's opening sequence. No changes are needed to improve this part of the task.

Changes Made to 'Shooting Schedule'.

I have made some changes to my shooting schedule that I've constructed. First of all, only the dialogue was done on Tuesday 26th February because of the issues with setting up the equipment in our location. Instead, I decided to film the first 8 shots on Wednesday 27th February. I was not free that day, but with cancellations put in place, I was free for the nighttime. On Friday 1st March, I had problems regarding my camcorder, as it ran out of battery with only 5 shots to complete before the filming was finished. The rest of the other were completed on Monday 4th March, thanks to the supply of a charger.

The rest of the filming ran as normal.

Animatic Storyboard and Action Plan

Action Plan:

 

When filming my opening sequence, I need to consider an 'action plan'. Action planning is a process which will help you to focus your ideas and to decide what steps you need to take to achieve particular goals that you may have. The 'judging criteria' of this opening sequence is carried out by the moderator. The judging criteria is listed as followed:

 

• Draws audience in/engaging storyline   X                                    
• Variety of camera shots        X
• Use of conventions (genre)       X
• Continuity in editing        X
• Mise-en-scene: Attention to/care     X
• Use of sound. Is it effective?        X
• Material appropriate for the target audience and task.
• Using titles appropriately according to institutional conventions.     X

 

X - Used in the images/annotations above.

 

 

As shown above, almost all of the criteria meets the images and annotations in the video. I haven't included the material appropriate for the task and also the target audience. Because of this, I need to make an action plan. Preparing an action plan is a good way to help myself to reach my filming objectives. A 'romantic drama' and a '12 Film' can contain:

 

• Mature themes
• An engaging storyline relating to the idea of 'romance'.
• Music, which matches the age range, such as orchestral music.
• Scenes which can emotionally hit the audience.
• Should contain features of which a 12 year old would be recommended to watch e.g. moderate strong language and sexual references.

 

 

 

The features should relate to the plot and genre of the film. I will construct that feature to it's extent, so when it is finished and released to the public, they can identify this efficiently.

Shooting Schedule

The table above is the shooting schedule that I have constructed, so I know what days I am free and what shots I am going to film for each day, as well as the equipment needed and the location of the opening sequence. I have chosen to start filming at 6:30pm because this is the time when it's pitch black and the light inside the shed is brightest at night.