In my evaluation of my Pre-Production I am going to comment on each part of my Pre-Production.

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Script Writing Evaluation

I found writing parts of my script very easy, and other parts really challenging.

 

The easy parts to write were for the shots of me talking to camera. When I reflected on why this might be, I concluded that it is because, when I am writing for me being on screen, I am not having to think about tying what I am saying directly into anything else on the screen at the same time, whereas when I am writing the voice-over I am having to tie in to several things that will be on the screen at the same time. I am still considering having other small screens on screen at the same time as me talking, but the emphasis will then be on the small screens containing elements backing up what I am saying. And at this point I haven’t decided to definitely actually have smaller screens on screen at the same time as me. Or whether I may go for 2 equal screens, like Mark Kermode does in many of his videos talking about different films. I had originally planned to do one or both of these options, but I am concerned about it being too "busy" on screen, and hence distracting. When I looked back at several Mark Kermode videos, I noticed that he also has a fair amount of footage of just him talking to camera, with an interesting but not too distracting background. When I analysed this, I concluded that it allows you to concentrate on what he is saying at these points, more than you could if there was some film action happening on screen too. It also breaks it up a bit and gives variety visually. When he goes to split screen, or has smaller screens, is when he wants you to be looking at specific film footage applying what he is saying to them, or when he is mentioning certain specific items, like when I will talk later in my video about specifically how camera movements can spice up a fight scene and I plan on having scenes from the Kingsman movies on screen (Kingsman: The Secret Service, 2014 and Kingsman: Golden Circle, 2017), which will directly relate to what I am saying. I am feeling more and more that there is going to be enough "jumping around" of various footage and so I need some "calmer" bits too, especially at the start, the end, and a break in the middle maybe, to anchor the whole thing and give the audience " a breather" so to speak. I decided that I will make my final decision about whether to incorporate smaller screens or split screens when I am talking to camera when I am editing and can see the effect. I will already be using split screens for showing the "filming me filming" shots at the same time as showing what I am filming, and also for showing some behind the scenes footage simultaneously with the actual shot being filmed too, so I don’t want to over do the technique and lose it's impact. Reflecting upon this helped me to see that all this going on in my thought process was affecting how I saw my parts talking to camera, and actually making it easier to write.

 

On the other hand, I was finding it harder to write the voice over. I think it is a bit of a "chicken and egg" situation. I couldn't write the voiceover until I knew what was going to be on the screen, but I couldn’t tie down what was going to be on the screen until I knew what I was going to say. I realised that this is a process that I just have to get used to, but it does show the value of research. When I wrote the script for my Podcast project at College, which was a full voice over with no footage of me talking to camera, it was on a topic that I was already very familiar with and extremely knowledgeable about. This meant that when I wrote the script, I knew pretty much what I wanted to say. I used my research to fill in any gaps, to get specific accurate information (e.g. how much money was raised in how much time) and find interesting extra bits that maybe I hadn’t been aware of, to give a well rounded and complete podcast. I also used my Podcast research to find mainly images to back up what I was talking about. There wasn't really the same "chicken and egg" situation as I have found here, and I found writing the script for my Podcast, a whole voiceover, much easier than I am finding writing the voice-over part of this project.

 

Again, I reflected and tried to analyse why this is. I concluded that the difference between my College Podcast project and my FMP is that although I am passionately interested in camera movement in Film and TV, I am not yet nearly as knowledgeable about it as I am about the subject of my Podcast. Yes, I have learnt loads through my research, but, as I have analysed in my Research Evaluation, I have found that I don't work best by just making lots of notes about a topic, I work best when I get totally immersed in a subject, and the knowledge sort of "diffuses" into my brain as if I have always known it.

 

Is this an efficient way of working? Good question, and I think the answer is "yes" and "no". "No", because it means that it takes me longer, as I have to let the information sort of percolate into my brain, and slosh around in there a lot, making connections. I have to watch lots of things, talk about it a lot, to my long-suffering parents this time, who thankfully do both like films, although maybe not so much after my constant discussion, I don’t know! It's not as ordered a process as would maybe be helpful for planning. However, "Yes", because when it does all come together I really know stuff well, and I think that I can make lots of connections and links that I don’t think that I could make if I did it in a note taking way, because it would be "words" again (whole dyslexia thing again), whereas in my mind I see, and replay lots of times, "moving images", and that is part of what makes me so excited to go into the film industry. So I think that what I end up with becomes much more a part of me and so I can draw on it efficiently which I think will be useful later on in a (hopefully) future career in the film industry. However…

 

… I think that this project has shown me that I need to try to find some kind of middle ground too, since this immersion takes time and time is undeniably an issue in the Film Industry, since, as they always say, "time is money". BUT I think I need to find a middle ground that DOESN'T lose the advantage that getting so immersed in it gives me in sort of "living it". Recently, I watched a behind the scenes interview (BBC Radio 1, 2020) about the film 1917 that included Krysty Wilson-Cairns who, along with director Sam Mendes, screenwrote 1917. She talked about how when Sam Mendes phoned her to ask her to work with him, he hadn't known that she was " a massive World War 1 buff". Sam mentions in other various interviews about how her deep knowledge was invaluable. An advantage that my way of absorbing stuff gives me is that I can go really deep into it, and so can become a "buff" at many subjects. However, when I thought about this and analysed it some more, I realised that there are still some limitations in that I need SOME interest in the subject to get started, to be able to get this depth of interest and knowledge. I'm not good at half-hearted stuff, it's kind of an "all or nothing" situation. But I do often find that there is a way in to most things, for example I found a way into most subjects for my GSCEs, even my less favourite ones, by watching YouTube videos about them. So, I am hopeful that this will end up being a useful skill, as long as I can tweak it for the time element.  I was interested that Krysty also commented, in an amused way, that right at the end of Sam's phone call, he said to her, "and oh by the way it's all going to be one shot" and then he hung up on her. She said she thought "OK, now I have to go and watch every one-shot movie I can find, before Tuesday!", which is what I would have thought and done.

 

So, back to my script. It was easy in some parts, and challenging in others, and I think that the process was very useful in me learning more about myself, about how I work well, and about what I need to tweak and work on for the future.

 

Shot List and Storyboard Planning Evaluation

For this project I did a Shot List as part of my Script, but I decided not to do a storyboard. As I detail in my Research, I did do research into Storyboarding. This is because it is an area that I feel less confident about, due to my (extreme) lack of drawing ability. The research gave me some ideas to try when doing storyboarding next, for example using a red pen to draw on any action that happens within the frame e.g. character moving, shots being fired. And to use a blue pen to draw on any movement of the camera e.g. if the camera pans from left to right, or does a tilt up. I liked these ideas. Also, it suggested writing a lot more instructions than I have in the past. However, I feel that these are all more useful to me in a narrative fiction film. In the video that I am making for my FMP, I am filming 3 types of shots:

 

1. Shots of me talking to camera, using a slider for both tracking shots and stationary shots

2. The same 4 shots of a person standing stationary, using first a tripod, then slightly shaky hand-held, then using the slider track

3. Shots of me filming the shots in 2), using a tripod in a fixed position the whole time.

 

The shots in 3) are pretty obvious, find a position for the tripod and camera where the whole of the rest of the scene including me filming can be seen and just check that I don't walk out of shot. The person I am filming is stationary, so they won’t walk out of shot. So I didn’t feel I needed a storyboard for that, I didn’t feel it would be helpful or add anything.

 

For 2), I planned out these shots in my Planning Document, the main thing is to put down 4 markers and film the person from the same 4 places each time, so that didn’t really need a storyboard either, again it would not be of any help.

 

For 1), maybe it could be argued that a storyboard could have been used here, but I felt that if I did it would just be for the sake of drawing a storyboard, and the description would be the same with or without a storyboard. So, I decided that adding the shot description to my script made more sense.

 

The rest of my filming is audio for the voice over. So that didn’t need a storyboard.

 

There is one area that it could be argued that a storyboard could have been helpful. That is in maybe mapping out and drawing the whole film out with all the order of all the clips that I would put in, the stationary images, the footage that I filmed and how it all is related to the voice over script. I could see that if I were working on this video with a number of other people, then it could be helpful for us to see how each of us planned on putting the different sections together. But I felt that for this project, there is a lot of trial end error with the editing, seeing how long part of the voice over is and thus which and how many clips are useful to put in. And also, as I found clips, that suggested different things that I wanted to say. The "chicken and egg" situation that I describe above. So, for that reason, I really didn’t feel that a storyboard would be helpful, and that actually in this situation it could be more of a hinderance.

 

I asked my tutor for feedback about whether we absolutely had to do a storyboard, and he said that we didn't as long as we could justify why we chose not to, and still had the shot direction that we needed. I feel that I have done both those things.

 

I did find the research into storyboarding very helpful, as it is an area for future films, particularly fiction films, that I feel I need to find a way that works for me, both for future College films and for working in the industry. I did find a comment in one of the research videos (Tomorrow's Filmmakers, 2016) that even Steven Spielberg makes stick figures then gives it to an artist. So I guess I'm not alone in finding storyboards challenging. I don't think that I can just give mine to an artist though, so this is an area that I really need to work on and find a solution to for future films, and I will use my research to help progress my ideas.

 

Risk Assessment Writing Evaluation

Doing my Risk Assessment was fine. The one thing that was different to other Risk Assessments that I've done is that I was going to be filming outside.

 

This had a number of implications that I had to take into account. Firstly, the Great Outdoors. This wasn't so bad for filming in my gardening, which is where I did a lot of my test filming when I thought I wasn't going to be able to film in the woods. But the parts of my Risk Assessment that related to the woods were "interesting", and I also had to take into account the unique nature of the implications of the coronavirus pandemic. I'm hoping the parts that relate specifically to the coronavirus pandemic are not going to be ones that I need for the future, since I feel that one world-wide plague is enough for anyone's lifetime! I've heard that we have one about every hundred years (Spanish Flu around about 1919 is the last one), so hopefully things will calm down again by the time I'm in the industry. Although, on the other hand, given how travel around the world is shrinking, and film makers love interesting locations, maybe I will still need the knowledge about Risk Assessment that relates to the coronavirus pandemic. Maybe filming will need to change significantly in the future. In one of my blogs I have mentioned about watching behind the scenes of The Mandalorian TV series (Disney Gallery: The Mandalorian, 2020) where they discuss filming in "The Volume" which is a curved 20-foot high 270-degree LED video wall made up of 1326 individual LED screens with an LED ceiling, which can very realistically be any location they wish. It is expensive, as all new technology is, but it could be the way things go, and we may not need the same kind of outdoors location Risk Assessments in the future.

 

But for now, and for me filming future projects, doing a Risk Assessment for outdoors was an interesting learning experience. I learnt to think about the difference between being indoors, where it is often a smaller area, often you have more control over who is allowed to enter, and there are more controllable entries and exits. In the woods, anyone could go there. I had to think about and plan for animals. Not so much wild ones, although I didn’t really want any pigeons to poop on any of my equipment. But mainly for example dogs, which could easily come running through where I was filming. People walking around could have implications regarding the coronavirus 2-metre social-distancing rule. And also if they fell over any of my equipment. I had to consider my crew's safety, and think about not just could they fall over anything where we were filming, but also walking there through the woods, how it was safest to carry our equipment. It was all, even the garden, a very real and necessary Risk Assessment.

 

Sometimes when I've been filming indoors it has felt like my Risk Assessments have been the same things over again. They were all valid things, but doing this Risk Assessment made me really stop and think about what could ACTUALLY happen, and I think that was a very useful process for going forwards.

 

I think that I did the Risk Assessment well. I say that because doing it made me change some of things that I was planning, for example one of my preferred filming locations was a bench with a nice view. But as part of my Risk Assessment I realised that not only could that be problematic due it not being available due to other people sitting on it, but actually, since it was a popular place it meant that more people were likely to come near us, increasing the risk of the public falling over my equipment and breaking it or being injured. Also, with coronavirus, lots of people having sat there increased the chances of the virus being present on it still.

 

So, it was a real-life learning example. I felt I learnt a lot, did it well, and none of the risks that I had identified and planned around happened. I was pleased.

 

Crew List Planning Evaluation

My crew list was pretty short and sweet. As I have written about in my Initial Ideas section, pre coronavirus pandemic I would have expected to have my main College course friends as my cast and crew. We all work well together and are now experienced working together. We have developed well from our first projects together, The Poker Hand, when we were not as professional as we could have been, to our latest projects, Film/Neo Noir Interactive, where we were much more professional and all finding areas that we specialised in, for example Adam with Audio.

 

However, due to the coronavirus pandemic, this was not possible. I am grateful to my parents for stepping up and volunteering to crew for me, I couldn’t have done this project without them. But it has been interesting and challenging, certainly not all smooth sailing.

 

I am glad that I did test filming with them in the garden, and some in the woods. Initially I was intending that it was the footage that I was test filming for, and the locations. However, it also proved useful in a way that I hadn’t foreseen. For example, I had anticipated that I would ask my Mum to do the boom mic (that I had put together) for me speaking to camera, and I would ask my Dad to film me speaking to camera, since he is more experienced with a camera than my mum is. However, my test filming showed me (and her) that she found holding up the boom mic challenging, since her arms are not as strong as my Dad's, and she isn’t quite as tall. In the test filming, she found controlling the boom mic tricky and kept dipping it into shot. This was a conundrum, since she also didn’t feel confident operating the camera.

 

To solve this problem, first I reflected on what I knew:

 

1. My Dad was part of my crew for filming my Film/Neo Interactive film since we were filming at his work, he had to be present due to work rules so he said he might as well help, so he operated the boom mic there, so he had had practise.

2. He was stronger and taller than my Mum. When I was shadowing the director Damian Power when he was filming a proof of concept film at College, I was allowed to hold the boom mic in a number of shots. It was tiring work. I chatted with the actual boom mic operator, and he said that it had taken him about 3 months to get his arms strong enough to hold the boom mic consistently. So I wasn’t surprised my mum found it hard.

3. Although I still felt my Dad would be better at operating the camera, that was because of his knowledge. I couldn't make my Mum's arms stronger, but I could share my knowledge with her about what I wanted her to do with the camera, essentially direct her, which is part of being a director which is what I would like to do long term career-wise.

4. I can still set up a lot of what I need for the camera, then just mostly get her to move the camera on the slider track.

 

On reflection, it was looking like it would be best to have:

 

1. My Mum crew as camera operator for me speaking to camera, and actor for me "filming me filming"

2. My Dad crew as boom mic operator for me speaking to camera and camera operator for Camera 2 i.e. "filming me filming".

 

I discussed this with my parents as I felt that since they are now my crew i.e. my team, I wanted them to feel comfortable too. They both agreed that this was the best solution, which I was pleased with.

 

Lighting Plan Evaluation

I am pleased with my Lighting Plan. As I have mentioned several times, I have not filmed outdoors before, so I did a lot of research to learn what I needed to consider that is different to filming indoors.

 

On reflection, I feel that the choices that I have made regarding my Lighting Plan are consistent with what I found from my research. Although I will not be using as much lighting equipment as I would probably be using if I were filming in an inside location, I feel that my knowledge regarding lighting has grown to enable me to understand more how I can chose to affect light outside, or sometimes just have to accept that I cannot actually change it, like in the film 1917 (2019) where they couldn’t use lighting equipment for most shots since the lighting equipment would have ended up in shot when they did the (many) 360 degree shots, so they literally just had to wait for the appropriate lighting conditions which in that case was cloud.

 

I have thought carefully about what I want creatively from the lighting in each location and planned accordingly.

 

 

Audio Plan Evaluation

My audio planning has been interesting, particularly in coming up with the idea to make a home made "boom mic" or "broom mic" as I call it, which I am pleased with.

 

Part of my Primary Research has been a lot of test recording with this mic set up, with the deadcat wind muffler on. I have had a lot of challenges coming up with my audio plan, even though it seems pretty straight forward now. This is because of the challenges with Location Scouting, because situations relating to Locations keeps changing which I explain below. And different locations mean different audio requirements. This has particularly been the case when I thought that I wasn't going to be able to film in my first-choice location, the woods, due to the coronavirus pandemic. My backup location has always been my garden, since I always have access to it.

 

However, just as it was looking like I wouldn’t be able to film in the woods, one set of neighbours started having loud building work done in their garden, involving chain saws, cement mixers, drills etc, so loud that you couldn't hear anything. I understand why they were doing it, however it was a challenge for me. This was going on all day for well over a week, and also made it noisy indoors. They didn’t know how long it would take and kept adding in more work. Then, sequentially, 2 other sets of neighbours started having outside work done too, then a 4th set. All these neighbours are attached to our garden, so it was very noisy, too noisy to film for several weeks.

 

I re-explored ways that I might be able to film in the woods, in a different location to my original plan. Luckily, this plan came together and allowed me to put together my Audio plan that I am pleased with.

 

I am confident that this will make a huge difference to the audio for me speaking to camera, compared to my experience with recording direct to my camera in films before my Neo Noir Interactive Film.

 

 

Location Scouting Evaluation

I have certainly learnt about having a Plan A, Plan B, Plan C regarding my Location Scouting for filming for my FMP.

 

On reflection, I have learnt that many, many unforeseen events can occur. You can plan for the unexpected as best you can, and you should do. But you cannot always plan for everything. What are the chances that four sets of neighbours, all of whom back onto us, should chose now to have very noisy outdoor building work done?  And at a time when I am limited in where else I can go to film, due to the coronavirus pandemic lockdown.

 

What I have taken away from this element of preproduction is the importance of keeping calm, when you can’t see a solution. I am pleased that I managed to do this, which is not a given for me, since I take this project very seriously, want to do well in it and produce a very good film and so I did get rather concerned. But I just kept plugging away, trying to find ways round the location issues. I am pleased that I did this since I feel it is a skill that I will need in any future career in the film industry, and it is one that I am working on and improving.

 

I am very pleased that it looks like I can film in the woods. I will keep a Plan B, C, D etc ready in case everything changes again, but fingers crossed.