Unit 4 LA.D Part 1 - Review pre-production of a digital media product
As a team we were given the task of creating a thriller film opening. Our brief was to create a thriller film opening and to do that we had to include codes and conventions of a thriller to create the genre. I worked as part of a group with Zubair and Ben and I understood that my individual role would need responsibilities of all aspects including filming and editing. Our project involved both team working and individual working, so we all did have our own tasks and responsibilities throughout production of our film.
Onset of the project
During our first team meeting we discussed what the audience would be interested in so that we know what we will be basing our film on. We chose to conduct a survey which would help us determine what the audience are most interested in. By doing this, we found the location would be crucial, and so this is why we chose the woods as our main filming location because it fits in with the thriller genre quite well.
We allocated responsibilities evenly, rather than assigning one to one person, in order for our group to gain a better understanding of all aspects of production instead of just tunnelling into one. My role was to help film and edit, Zubair’s role was to be an actor and edit, and Ben’s role was also to help film and edit. Our team meetings were productive because it allowed us to plan aspects of our film out, as well as that, everyone contributed equally important and had unique ideas that would aid in the production process while also improving the quality of our work.
Research/creative process
We started by looking into other thriller films, as this would help us further our understanding on the thriller genre. This helped us to know what codes and conventions we should try to include in our film so that the audience can identify it as a thriller film easily.
The research helped with production because we learned how to handle titles and other key conventions of thriller films that we could apply to ours, ensuring that we could make the best film possible. Our pre production involved story boards, shot lists, location recces, sounds, filming experiments and editing experiments. I produced the location recce by getting the pictures at the locations as well as explaining why we chose these locations.One of the ways I went about this was from learning from the research we did and by doing this I thought the woods would be a good idea as one of the filming locations for a thriller film. I also collected the sounds that we were planning to use in our film and explained why I chose them. Unfortunately, we never got to create a finished film as we did not get the time to film due to the disruptions caused by covid.
Logistics
We had to think about logistics throughout filming and pre-production to see if some of our ideas were logistically feasible. Because of this we needed to make sure that filming times went hand in hand with school hours, as anything outside would be particularly inconvenient as members of my group have busses to catch to get home. Me having a car was very convenient because I could easily take my group as well as the filming equipment to our filming location and luckily the place was only 5 minutes away meaning we had a lot of filming time. We could have improved our logistics by using our time more efficiently because on some filming days we weren’t as productive as we could have been and that resulted in us not getting as much footage as we could have.
Finance
Working on a full-scale thriller production would be extremely expensive, and from my research I learnt that I could raise funds in a variety of ways, including fundraising (through a website like kickstarter), getting a grant, getting pre sales etc. We discovered that because we wouldn’t really have any costs we wouldn't need to look for funding anywhere. As our school gave us filming equipment and editing softwares we didn’t need to pay for anything which was very beneficial for our group because we wanted to minimise our costs. In the real world, we would have to pay for filming equipment, editing softwares, costumes etc
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Unit 4 Learning Aim D Part 2
Personal management
Since we felt like we used our time productively as a group, our team meetings were very constructive and successful. Our entire team was constructive and positive in every sense they could, and they all performed to the best of their abilities. Each team member had a specific task to accomplish, and we all completed it to the best of our abilities. On the filming days, we all made it crucial that we weren’t absent because each one of us would have had an impact if we weren't in because if I wasn’t in we wouldn’t be able to get to our filming destination as I was the driver. Zubair is our main actor and if he wasn’t in, we wouldn’t be able to record anything.
I don’t believe I had any issues with my personnel, I was one of the cinematographers and editors within my group. However, a way I could have improved this was by planning better because when we were filming I feel like we could have used our time more productively by getting more shots but instead we were. In the future, I would use the shot list properly because when we got to our location we just filmed whatever we thought was good, and it came out good but this impacted our time.
Resource management
We planned the resources we needed efficiently because we didn’t forget anything and had all the appropriate items with us. Our school provided us with the filming equipment and editing software so that we could create our film and every time we went out filming we ensured we had all the camera equipment we needed. We ensured that our filming location was open before we went so that we could make sure we wouldn’t be wasting our time by going there and not being able to film. We didn’t encounter any problems because we planned efficiently.
Time management
I feel like my time management wasn’t the best with meeting deadlines but I feel like it didn’t impact our production much because in the end we managed to keep up with the work and collect a lot of footage. When we couldn't film or were limited in the amount we could film with some would stay back and edit or in free time would prepare editing and titles to ensure our film would be finished.
Professional practise
I believe our project was insightful not only in terms of attempting to make a film, but also in terms of what we can do differently in a professional environment. A larger audience, budget, and group size will be needed. Furthermore, we will need to understand audience feedback and spend even more time on pre-production, with budget being critical. We considered copyright fully because upon production, when we were looking for sounds and music, we were only looking for non copyright ones. This impacted our project because we were limited on what sounds we could use.
Risk management
We made sure all risks were fully considered and we did this by creating a risk assessment. We made sure we accounted for every possible risk that could have occurred and how we would minimise the risk from any of these happening. On top of that, there were uncontrollable variables to remember. Such as the pandemic caused by covid. Initially, we agreed to follow the government's instructions, and we will continue to do so. However, with just a few members gathering video, the group's progress would be disrupted, resulting in getting less footage than expected. There was never any risk of poor quality lighting shots because all of our shots were filmed outside and we used the natural lighting from the sky. We didn’t plan for any of the equipment being unavailable or breaking down however if this did occur we would go back to school and get a replacement, but if there were no cameras left we would have just used one of our phones to film.
Crisis management
One crisis issue we had was the coronavirus pandemic and this was the biggest one. We had no control over many of the major problems that arose during that time. We had a lockdown in November, which was when we planned to film, and we couldn't because government rules required only two people to meet outside, whereas we wanted all three of us to film. Then we had the January lockdown which stopped us from putting our film together and collecting more footage, so all we have is our raw footage at the moment.
Maintaining documentation
All team members were able to access all of our footage through a shared area however files needed to be downloaded from this area to be worked on in premiere pro. I maintained my documentation well by keeping up to date with work and often updating my blog with my work.
Difficulties with project management and ways to improve
Finally, I'll discuss what we did well, what we should have done differently, and the difficulties we encountered and how we resolved them. We looked strong during pre-production and the early stages of shooting. This will include all information gathered to aid in the progress of the film, as well as serve as both evidence and insight into what our film was supposed to be. In terms of recording, I believe we did an excellent job collecting footage and even more facts given that we were approaching the end of our shoot and just had a few more opportunities. Despite this, I believe we should have done a better job of being more prepared for the future. Additionally, we could have improved on editing anything we could at home but despite this I feel as though this was one of if not our only main weakness as a group.