REVIEWING OUR FILMING DAY Taylor Smith, Abi Cox, Zoe Markwick

THE DAYS EVENTS AND ROLES We started the day at 8:40, by collecting all our camera equipment at college. We then walked to Taylors house where we first experimented by filming a chase scene. We then filmed the shots where the victim runs up to the door, runs into her house, goes to the loo throws up and looks in the mirror. After we were satisfied with the shots we got from that scene we then got a lift down to Brighton centre, where we went to a housing estate and filmed the chase scene again. After that we went to the seafront and filmed iconic shots of Brighton pier and the sea. We then went down to the actual beach and filmed shots of the character walking along and also under a pass way, smoking. We managed to finish filming at around 2 o’clock in the afternoon. In our filming group, Zoe was the camera woman, perfecting the lighting, focus and angles. Taylor was directing the shots and organising our filming day and Abi was the actress in the film. We also had help from a friend who was the stalker in our film.

WHAT WENT WELL AND WHY? We worked well as a team- we all knew what we were doing and all agreed on the shots and locations, so we had no problems in arguing about what we should do and not do. This helped us film quickly and productively. Our locations we chose looked effective on camera- the locations fitted in well to our final plot and we were able to get some really interesting shots (such as the shots of Brighton seafront) The camera work went well- we managed to get some interesting shots, and had a range of different ones. This means that in editing we will have a wide choice of shots to use and therefore be able to make a more interesting opening sequence. We also remembered all the technical aspects to filming so we continuously were checking the white balance, focus and exposures. The weather was perfect for filming- luckily when we filmed it was sunny and clear, this meant we were able to get an advantage, with getting all the shots we wanted and doing them to the best of our ability! We were well organised so we finished filming quickly- we finished at 2 o’clock which meant we had more time to experiment with different shots and angles, giving us more footage to use in editing!

WERE THERE ANY PROBLEMS THAT YOU WERE ABLE TO OVERCOME? HOW? The first problem that we did manage to overcome was, the fact that our camera battery had run out half way through our shoot. This caused us to re shoot some of our shots; we were filming in a public place which meant we had to be cautious of our surroundings (we had a car in one shot, we then came back to shoot, where we found the car had gone). We managed to find a PowerPoint during our lunch break and had no problems with the battery after that. We also had trouble with the lighting in a few shots as the sun became very bright affecting the quality of the shots, so we had to adjust the exposure carefully and change the direction of the shot, other than that the weather was perfect. Due to our location, we decided to change the narrative and go back to our film treatment to edit our characters profile. This was because we felt our location was more upper class, and that if we changed her situation, we wouldn’t have a problem; we originally said our character was living with her mother in a middle class home, we changed this to our character living with her ‘pimp’ who has loads of money and a nice looking apartment and thought our location reflected more upon it.

WHAT WOULD YOU DO DIFFERENTLY NEXT TIME- WHAT HAVE YOU LEARNT? We felt that we could have changed the costume & make up, to make Abi look more the part of a prostitute; we could have researched a little further, to get more of an idea. We will make sure we do more research into the costume design practically in TV dramas. We could have also made our planning for the day clearer, and have a detailed storyboard with every shot we needed. We also thought next time we would be sure to start filming the beginning of the sequence rather than starting from the end, just to make it a little easier and less confusing.

WERE THERE ANY ISSUES YOU WERE UNABLE TO RESOLVE AND WHY ? There weren’t any issues that we were unable to resolve, cast and crew were all available for the day, so we had no problem with people dropping out or anyone being ill on the day. We had no problem with the weather, although it could have been more effective if the weather was more overcast and grey to fit in with our genre.

WHAT ARE YOU MOST PLEASED ABOUT/ WHAT ARE YOU LEAST PLEASED ABOUT On our filming day we were really pleased with how quickly we managed to agree on shots and locations. The locations we used worked really well to represent the type of genre and story behind our character. Also the weather was on our side, it was sunny and clear which helped to make our production run smoothly. We are really pleased with the range of shots we managed to get. However on the day, the camera ran out of battery which meant that we had to stop to charge it- wasting valuable filming time. Also the costumes we used did not really help in fully representing the character of a prostitute, we could of thought deeper into the stereotype of this character, however we didn’t want to make our opening sequence to cliché.

OVERALL DO YOU THINK THE DAY WAS A SUCCESS- WHY/WHY NOT? Overall we think that all in all our day of filming was a success! This is because we managed to shoot all the shots that we needed, without any problems other than the camera running out of battery! We worked well as a team and productively, and also used the equipment well. With the technical aspects of filming (checking the white balance, focus, exposure, etc.) we worked really well and had no problems with achieving these. This has helped as many of our shots will be easy to edit in post production. We are looking forward to starting the editing process and finishing our final opening sequence!