Reflections on Second Shoot

Although our real actor wasn't available on this shoot we had to test out some shots. The shoot went quite well on the whole:

+ Again, we finished earlier than expected. We tried a few variations of shots in the spare time.
+ We were more creative this time around, shooting each shot at different angles and distances.

- In addition to the dialogue we recorded the dialling tone and the person answering the phone separately to see if the sound will be clearer than before.
- We managed to turn the distracting light in the background off for most of the shots, but we forgot sometimes.

We now have to edit this into a second rough cut and figure out what we need to improve for the final shoot!

Preparation for the second shoot

Aims

We have a slight disruption as  our actor is no longer available on weekend. We will see if he can do very early in the morning on weekend or before school on a weekday. 

• If he can't do it - we will use a stand-in actor (see picture) for the weekend in order to practice our new shots and then re-shoot the following weekend
• Shot list storyboard etc. - what we will test out etc.

Evaluation of rough cut and Changes to be made

Reflections / Things to Do on the Real Shoot

- Synchronise the beginning of the sequence to the music
- Film everything for longer, especially the cutaways at the beginning to help create a slower continuity sequence
- Film the pans steadily (so they can be slowed down in editing)
- Shot of Dawn looking at the dawn outside window
- Signifiers of what caused the struggle / death throughout sequence (moved furniture/stain/wine or broken glass on the floor)
- Remake music so that it fits (start from beginning after the bass)

We have changed our storyboard, shot list and props list to compensate for the longer shots and the altered setting (messier to signify a fight)

Rough Cut Feedback

Feedback from DYM
-Face reveal before body
-Beam of light makes her snap out of it
-Less shots at the beginning, but each shot lasting longer
-Dissolve montage at beginning of sequence
-Dissolve > abstract body / leaning forwards > cutaways
-Some cutaways aren't necessary e.g. furniture
-Signifiers as to the cause of the fight
-How does he die? Wouldn't the bottle have broken?
-Narrative details need to be addressed; murder weapon, etc.


Feedback from BLK
-Phone sequence is good
-Nice music
-Nice acting
-Some nice shots
-Liked the story
-Every arty shot must have purpose / ending / reward use more camera movements to create flow
-Reveal murder weapon e.g. after lamp, run-on to him or glasses
give reveal for glass shot and window shot
-Idea of having her mundane activities, pat down cushion, pick up glass, look out window, look at watch - emphasise dawn
-Possibly sit back down, fade to black, come up again whilst she's still sitting - shows passing of time
-Lighting get rid of harsh ceiling light

Rough Cut of Sequence

Rough Edit:

Behind The Scenes of our First Test Shoot

On our first test shoot, I brought my own camera and tripod to film some of what went on behind the scenes. This is just one of the shots we took.

Reflections on Test shoot 1

+ We'd done all the shots we planned to do with time to spare! So we improvised some shots at the end of our 2nd 4 hour session. This should give us more variety and options when editing.

+ Our actor Nima quickly understood what he had to do and we got his shots over and done with pretty quickly.


 -We filmed the dialogue and the person answering phone with 'Hello?' using the shotgun microphone on the camera but they may not have come out clearly.

- For the curtain shot we needed the light outside to be bright, we thought this would be earlier in the day but in fact it was brightest around midday.

- Also as we only used the paglights some of the time, this may affect continuity . We'll have to be more wary of lighting issues for the next shoot...but we'll find out what we need to change once we've edited the sequence!