Evaluation question 7

M.H.

Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product?

Practical skills that I have learnt:

1. Casting

• We had to cast our friends as they would have a similar schedule to ours (as we are all at school etc.), meaning we had to be careful to cast friends who look older than their age. This is because our characters are young adults (early twenties), and in order for our film to feel genuine we had to make sure the characters looked legitimate.
• We also had to ensure that our friends matched the character profiles that we had created in planning; to make sure they suited the costume that they wore and that their attitude fitted the character’s personal outlook and attributes.
• We decided to cast Sonia as our protagonist, who looks different to our protagonist’s character profile (as Sonia is black and we originally planned to cast someone who is white), but we realised that her race could be used to our advantage in portraying social representations.

2. Scheduling filming and managing light conditions

• The majority of our film is set at night, so this was easy to work with as we filmed in winter - this meant it got dark early (around 5pm), so we could be out on the streets in the dark without it being too dangerous.
• However, we also needed a daylight scene in which the sun was low in the sky. This meant we had to schedule to film on a weekend, as we are at school in the week and we would have not been able to travel to the location in time for the correct light.
• We chose to film on three different days. We did this for three reasons.

1. It got dark before we began filming on the first day, meaning we could not film the cafe flashback scene.
2. We filmed the red flashback scene at a lunchtime in the school’s darkroom.
3. We chose to break up the filming to prevent us from getting too tired/fed up which would then affect the quality of our work.

3. Organising filming on location

• We had to organise with people to film in both the house and the cafe. This meant we had to work around the times that they were available.
• We liaised with Jonah with when he was free and at home so we were able to film in his house.
• I went to the cafe and got the manager’s email - I then got in contact with him and asked for permission to film on his premises. After he happily gave me his permission, he then passed me onto another woman with whom I arranged a time and date for filming. I gave them details of mine and Frankie’s reasons for filming, and thanked them for allowing us to use their cafe.
• I made sure to tell the actors that it was very important that they turn up, and on time. Everyone managed to be on location on time for filming.

4. Teamwork, meeting deadlines and time management

• Frankie and I have been organised and have made sure that our assignments have been handed in on time. 
• We managed to communicate well with each other and used both our lessons and free periods to edit our film.
• We split the responsibilities of the film making depending on our strengths - for example, I did the majority of the filming and Frankie did all of the sound. 
• We also split the responsibilities in the editing process - for example, Frankie fit the soundtrack together and I placed the shots together.
• We evenly split the tasks and made sure that we were fair with the amount of work that we gave each other to do.

5. Technical

I learnt how to...

• Use a manually focusing camera while filming.
• Place the camera on the tripod and level it straight.
• Use a sound recorder.
• Use a handheld camera for shots that require movement.

Talking about the technical skills and techniques that I have learnt: