Short Films: Group Discussion

On the project Trapped the director had decided he didn’t want to re- film a second edit all that had changed was a second cut from the beginning because some of the shots were too dark for example when he is running round in the room down in the cellar wasn’t clear enough to begin with but the camera operator and the director re-filmed this particular scene. As a group we thought some of the scenes were not as well as they could be shot and could be made to look more realistic but the director decided he didn’t want to re- shoot so we already had our final edit.

In the other projects Pause and Kids and Pranks, we were all contributing in both of the projects so we arranged dates that we could all meet up which first began with the 3^rd June which was cancelled because the actress in Pause short film she was also a camera operator in Kids and Pranks was not very well on the day. But also Daniel the director of Pause told us just before we couldn’t use the current location we used before at his to film this also effected Kids and Pranks because the actor John was the main character in that film. As we had many problems we had to delay filming to the 6^th June.

We then planned to film on the 6^th June which didn’t go to plan either because Daniel the director of Pause said again we couldn’t use his house as a location that once again affected Kids and Pranks for the main character. We were going to film in another location but the directors came to a decision that they didn’t want to re-film for a final cut because they couldn’t get a location and didn’t have the money to travel to the location.

The Amy and Poppy Show/ Production Assistant for Sound Hounds

Today was production day. We all arrived at the studio for 9am where we all set up and decided where we wanted which lights to go where and where we wanted the sofa for the presenters to go. I and Amy worked with the Production Assistant to get the timings of each of our segments of us talking would last around and get the length of the each of the videotape items because this would help us when filming to know how long we had left. We also had to get the script into the autocue and everything set up for production.

At about 9:50am we started our first take of rehearsals and recording this take we didn’t get all the way through we didn’t deliver the lines as well as we possibly could and we was getting confused with cameras moving and not shooting on the camera we agreed and the autocue was going a bit quick. We tried again which it was very similar to this so we went and spoke to the director and discussed a better arrangement. We had a few difficulties on the way when things would stop working which caused a bit of arguments and problems which delayed us quite a lot by the time all this had happened we didn’t so much time left so we did a last take.

Our final take went quite good I thought I don’t think it went as good as I would have hoped maybe we could have addressed the audience better and it’d be more of a laugh. I and Amy was getting quite stressed because of cameras not begin where we had discussed we had to but I think the deliver went well because the autocue was going quite slow at one part I did miss a line me and Amy were supposed to deliver and the same time. But all in all I think we did a good job except for some technical difficulties but I think as presenting we did a good well and said what needed to be said.

To improve next time I think I would like to be more out there and having a great time so we was getting our audiences attention and if we had some dialogue and few changes I think it’d of gone really well. But because of the stress I think it nudged us from delivering it as well as we possibly could have.

Today, I also helped out being in Sound Hounds I jumped in being their production assistant which I basically using writing and communicating skills to keep track of timings of each of the videotape items and adverts and then let them know how long we have left. Also I had to try making sure everything went okay.

They had a few problems as a few people were late from printing of scripts and other paperwork that were needed. In the meantime rest of group members were setting up the studio to make it ready for their show and getting the lighting correcting.

When we read through the script they realised it was right as it didn’t fit to the videos they had to see we had to go through the script and change lots of paragraphs and words to make sure it made sense to the videos we had and then some of the videos didn’t work which we then had to change again to make sure it did work correctly then we had to input all of this in the autocue.

I got a record of all the timings of the videos and each section so I could give timings of how long we had left so I could let everyone know and make sure we was always on time. I did a countdown from before we went back to the studio.  I also let the floor manager know how long we had left of the whole two hour slot.

We did two proper recording all the way through which I think they went quite successful and they did a real good job of it going smoothly and going from one shot to another. We did another one just to make sure it was good enough and because we had enough time in the time limit.

Overall, I think I did an alright job of making everything go well and smoothly I tried to make everyone get on so we could start filming. I did all the timings and wrote them down and let everyone know. 

The Amy and Poppy Show Script

Today, I and Amy carried on working on our script that we began the week before. We started to work from scratch because our original version would have been dragged out a lot longer that was possible. This is because we counted up all the timings of each of our videotape items and adverts which made us only have 4 to 5 minutes to play around with talking time in the studio.

We began starting our script very simple just introducing ourselves like any other program but we added a connection like between both of us that related to like Ant and Dec to make us known to be like them as we made a reference of being the female version of them but actually better. We also made it as if we were finishing each of sentences so once again it was like Ant and Dec and like there’s a connection.

As we didn’t have much talking time we had a few comments to each other between each of the videotape items then just introduced everything and commented on it after.

I think our script was very simple but effective it included some funny parts in and just added a nice chilled out effect as the age we are aiming to hit. But if I had any improvements I probably would try and make it longer if I could and make some of the videotape items shorter so we could talk more or even have a interview or singer or something to make it stand out and not be just videos.