S2S - Location Project - Dungeness

Dungeness - Location Project 

Task
We were given the task of filming a short 2 minute film within a group at a location of Dungeness, this was to see how we could produce a short film under pressure and on location. There are many different factors to filming on location like weather, further and potentially more extreme risks and other challenges that can make creating a film harder. 

We were first given the brief and put into our groups, we then had to sit down and come up with a few ideas. Although we had a few rough ideas we were looking to go with, George suggested an idea about a lost wallet and a chase between two characters. We all really liked this idea and decided to elaborate on it as a team. After discussing the story and characters, our final idea was to have the main character 'George' who is potentially a misbehaved teen, losing his wallet, once his wallet had been found by our second character 'Matt', a well dressed male, there would be a chase between the two for Matt to give the wallet back to its owner; However, the change in the plot being that when George finally gets his wallet back, Matt has actually stolen his money. 

Once we had decided on our story, we came together to do the script, shot list, prop list and call sheet. This was to ensure we were fully prepared and ready for the day. I really enjoyed the Pre-Production stage and the script writing in the group, we really came together and worked equally as a team. Although, at some points we all wanted the script to be slightly different, or we had different ideas to what line should be next, after openly discussing our views as a team, we all managed to be on the same page and work together. 

Production
On the day of the shoot, the whole team was in high spirits and I felt we were extremely prepared, prop wise and production wise. Once we had reached Dungeness we set out a plan to what parts we wanted to film first and where. Unfortunately, the phone box we wanted to use for our opening scene was being used by the other group, so we had to organise with them a time we would be able to use the location, this was the first challenge we faced as we had to shoot the middle of our short film first. 

We started by setting up the camera, it was harder then usual because of the lighting and the sky. We started by doing the white balance and exposure, which we needed to consistently change throughout due to the lighting change. I would ensure next time to being a plain piece of white paper or something sturdy and white. This is because it would be much easier to ensure the white balance had been done correctly. As we had to facilitate by using the back of our white uni cards. I would ensure next time I was prepared with something to use, to speed up the white balancing process.

Another challenge we faced was the lighting, we were shooting between 10am - 3:30pm; however the change in lighting and weather was hard to work with. Although we'd begun shooting around 10:30, when we'd come to finish around 3pm, the light was completely different. Although this is not something we can control, it is something we can monitor and I definitely feel the preparation with the shot list and knowing our film meant we did not waste any light or time. I feel this aspect went well and if I was to do the project again, I would want to ensure that I am prepared with my shots and no exactly what needs to be covered. 

Unfortunately, I feel i'd let the team morale down slightly during the final few hours of shooting, the weather had turned extremely cold and this was the biggest challenge we had to face. As the weather was cold and we had been shooting for over 4 hours, everything became a bit slower and patience became to wear extremely thin.  I began to lose patience and seemed to be rushing shots as I wanted the cast and crew to be finished and in the warm. This really taught me a lesson because all location shoots could be potentially freezing cold or extremely hot which can cause issues for both cast and crew. Its about taking your time, keeping your patience and preparing more for the weather and that was definitely taught to me during this shoot. If I was to do this task again or whenever in the future it is a location shoot, it is important to ensure we have hand warmers, blankets, big jackets, jumpers and anything that we would need to keep ourselves warm. Although, I had prepared for the cold, I would bring a lot more for warmth next time as this really affected group morale. 

One of the other challenges we faced was the vehicle noises, while filming near the road, it was hard to ignore the planes and cars that continued to go past, although this wasn't really avoidable, next location shoot we will definitely need to factor in extra time for the waiting around, for the vehicle to past. Using the tripod also faced difficulty with uneven land, we tried to avoid this by trying to use spots to place the camera that were even; however, filming on the beach and cobbles was sometimes avoidable. I will ensure next time we completely recce the area, this would then give us the opportunity to bring slats of wood, or something flat we could place the camera on to avoid any damage to the tripod and also make it easier to get the balance.

Overall, I feel the production and filming side was a success, we worked well as a group and I was predominately on the camera. I really enjoyed doing the camera work and I feel we got more then enough coverage. I would ensure next time as I  mentioned above all crew and cast members are completely ready and prepared for the weather. In this instance patience of the crew and particularly myself wore thin, which meant shots were rushed and so were the cast, which could have been avoided by hand warmers, gloves and extra jumpers.

Post-Production

I was really happy with the pre-production stage, once I had uploaded the footage from the camera onto the computer and had a chance to review the footage, I think we had done really well to get as much coverage as we did. 

Although, the whole editing process was quite smooth, there were a few challenges I faced. Unfortunately, as I mentioned above towards the end of the shoot, patience was wearing thin and this definitely showed within the end footage, there were three shots in which you were able to see the boom pole within the shot. Although, i was able to crop this out without viewers noticing, it was due to my lack of concentration and patience that when working the camera, I did not instruct the boom operator about being in the shot. This is something the location shoot has taught me massively, to prepare for the weather and ensure I am correctly taking my time to line up every shot and give it my full attention. 

We had also struggled with our running scenes and was trying to find a way to use them within the editing without breaking the 180 degree rule, because the actors were running left to right and then swapping over which would distract and throw off the viewers. I overcome this by making sure I was using cutaways in between to ensure that it did not look uneasy or like they were running in the wrong direction. 

Overall, I really enjoyed this project and have been taught many things about filming on location. The main things being preparing for the weather, lighting and timings you have. Most of our challenges came from team morale being low due to the freezing weather which could have been overcome by hand warmers and extra layers of clothing. The next time I face a location shoot this would be something I majorly focus on to ensure Cast and Crew are both happy and warm. This also plays a massive factor into the timings because we were rushing shots due to the cold weather, we had got lots of coverage; however, it was only a few shots of each. It would have been nice to have a few takes of each shot, which is what I will ensure I do next time. 

You can watch my finalised project above.