How well did you keep to time schedules

 

Keeping to time schedules was difficult as we kept encountering potential problems with our intended locations for filming as the limitations of only having a few days to shoot and film everything kicked in. We were intending to film scenes at Scott McClachlan’s home and at an unoccupied property somewhere within Welwyn or even ST. Albans. We generally kept to time schedules for pre-production as well as we possibly could and we worked very hard as we all took turns to perform particularly tasks at once and helped each other to complete all the essential tasks. For instance, I helped Robyn Hall to finish the presentation and to work out our budget while Robyn, Zhane Alcide and Donovan worked on the shot-list.

 

How did you use your pre production in filming?

 

We remembered to bring the script and shot-list with us for filming. We generally stuck to the script as much as we could but even during filming, we kept cutting scenes out of the script and in the end, we filmed very little of the shots we originally intended to film.

 

 

Did your ideas change? And did you see your ideas through – is your final product as you planned

 

Our ideas changed significantly over the course of the pre-production process. We soon came to realise there was too little time to go and film scenes at one of the filming crew’s home and we were unable to book the media studio at Oaklands College so we could not film in there. We had to completely remove any scenes which would have taken place at Queenie’s home and only film within the grounds of Oaklands College so that we would have enough time to complete filming and editing. Our ideas continued to change even when we were filming.

 

How well did you communicate your ideas in your pitch

 

Our pitch featured very good images throughout and was well structured and well presented and made it clear that the film ends with Queenie stabbing Demon Queenie. We stated our intention to film in Scott’s home and bedroom as Zhane’s home and bedroom would be too small for the entire filming crew to fit in. We had our intended props already, consisting of a fake knife and black contact lenses for Zhane. Our film was intended to last 4-5 minutes and include a scene in which Queenie goes to see a Counsellor, intended to played by Ollie Samuel, and explain her dream. 

 

 

What could you do better

 

Next time, I think better communication and organisation are the main areas for me and the rest of my group to improve on and also we need to learn to compromise better as the final script was mainly Zhane’s version.

 

What issues were raised in your pitch?

 

We had to give a more clear explanation as to how would the audience know when Queenie is dreaming and whether she actually sees and kills her Demon self at the end of the film and how exactly does that portray a positive message for mental health? We were advised to do more research into the subject of mental health. We were also reminded of how the lighting in the corridor might affect the realism and picture quality of the film. Our filming would also involve filming in the girl’s lavatory with Donovan Vickery the Creative Director present. We had to be prepared for the prospect of Scott not even turning up as he didn’t turn up for the presentation and therefore not being able to go and film at his home or for him to make his room more girly. We needed a contingency plan and to realise that people will be offended by our intended portrayal of mental illness. It was suggested that we just make Queenie possessed.

 

 

 

 

How did you solve these issues?

 

We realised that we were going to be hard pushed to find occupied property to film the climax at without potentially trespassing so we had to just film the climax in the woods. We did not get to do any research into mental health that I am aware of. We filmed in the corridors anyway, alternating between having the lights on and off and adjusted the exposure settings on the Canon XF100 Camcorder. We still filmed in the girl’s lavatory with Donovan present but also taking over from Sam Marchetti as the cinematographer for those particular scenes. Scott barely turned up at all for filming and when he did, he refused to cooperate so Robyn, Donovan and I all had to take turns at providing the sound and lighting which was supposed to be Scott’s responsibility. We tried to tone down the mental health aspect of the film by removing the counsellor scene. We also had to ask Matt Crawford to stand in for Will Stack as Will dropped out at the last minute. 

 

 

 

After the screening:

What feedback have you received from the audience  (peers, client, teacher/tutor, media professional)

 

I invited my gran to come to watch the screening and she was generally impressed with my group’s film and all the other ones too. She said our film was interesting and well put together and recommended I send a link to my individual edit once I have completed it to my Uncle who has done work for the Film Industry. 

 

 

Self-assessment: what worked well, what areas would you improve, what are the strengths & weaknesses of the product?

 

The main weakness was the script and shot-list, they ended up being too long and too complicated for us to successfully complete our filming and editing within the four days that we had to finish everything. We also need to put more thought into the limitations of our equipment and time scale before we consider filming anywhere beyond the college grounds.