Filmmaking Workshop: One Minute Film

Filmmaking Workshop: One Minute Film

14th January: 1st Session

Introduction

With the start of the new term, in the new year, we have been introduced to a new project. These are the new filmmaking workshops where we have been allocated groups. I am part of 'Group A' which include:

Milan Naji

Ines Peres

Brad Johnson

Sophie Thompson

Session

Within the session we were introduced to the short project where we have to create a one minute film within our groups. We were given hand-outs to introduce us to filmmaking language were shown two short films which we then analysed.

We then split off into our groups where we mind mapped and discussed what our film could be about. We also had to assign roles within the group including: Producer, Director, Camera, Sound and Editor.

Producer: Responsible for making the project possible including organisation and planning.

Director: Has creative control of project

Camera: Responsible of camera and creates storyboards.

Sound: Responsible of gathering and collecting sounds for project.

Editor: Responsible for bringing project together at end and produces final cut.

We discussed as a group and felt that we had to first create an idea that the team is happy with and then assign the roles based on that idea. We felt this would be effective because then the idea generated by a member could become the director because the director would be the creative leader of that production as they would have the clearest idea of the final outcome of the project.

As the movie is only one minute long, I felt that we should keep the narrative short and powerful, with a morale or meaning behind it. I also felt that it was important to keep the story of this project as simple as possible for both audience and practicality.

We started bullet pointing childhood lessons and morals when Ines suggested 'Don't judge a book by its cover'. We felt that this was the best lesson as most people are familiar with the lesson and it was simple enough to portray; which made planning much easier.

Ines took this further with suggesting to take the moral literally and make the film about books and how a character interacts and judges these books with a message at the end of the film.

We began to note down our ideas and bring all of them together.

After deciding on the final idea we allocated these roles to each other:

Producer: Ines Peres

Director: George Bowden

Camera: Milan Naji

Sound: Brad Johnson

Editor: Sophie Thompson

Even though we ad decided the roles we felt that it was important to remain as a close team which would closely together anyway. Therefore everyone would have a say in everything that happens within the group; that everyone has a fair say and treated equally.

From there I created scripts for Milan to then create storyboards from. My responsibility is to have the vision of the end film and to manage all creative aspects of the short film.

From there we created a plan for the entire project with deadlines to guide us for when we should have work completed. This gave the group and project structure which allowed us to be organized and prepared for the project. We gave ourselves realistic deadlines which meant we gave ourselves time to both prepare before and afterward for any potential problems especially during editing and filming. This is because we saw as a group that these would be the most demanding and problematic times and should give ourselves the most time then.

Conclusion

In conclusion this session was an introductory session to the new workshops and project. This allowed us to familiarise ourselves with these groups and plan the project. We have planned what we will be doing over the next two weeks with deadlines and safety nets if anything went wrong. I feel that we have worked well as a team so far and that everyone is happy with the idea we have chosen because it is short, and straight to the point with a message. Only time will tell how the group and the team will end.

15th-19th January: Personal Work

I have continued to develop ideas and take my role as director seriously as it is my responsibility of creatively directing this short film. Therefore I must design and have a clear idea in my mind the outcome of this film and know exactly how I would like it to be with the collaboration from the rest of the group. 

Therefore I decided to plan the film further by producing designs and lists for the short film. The lists note all of the noises and props we would possibly need during the filming; therefore i would hand this list to the producer who would then obtain as many of these items as she can. In addition I created a sound list for Brad who is our sound compositor who collects sounds for the short film. Therefore he would then go and collect these sounds in time before the editing process which would then be added to the short film. 

After I had created the lists I created some rough design sheets with: references to the actor's emotions; props including books and costume direction. 

 [Costume design sheet]

I intend to create a basic and comic design for the props and costume used during filming. this is because i want these to stand out from the rest of the world; in addition I feel that these designs are appropriate for the comical, expressionist acting and film we want to create.

[Actor emotion reference sheet]

I designed this sheet intending to show the rest of the group how I see the actor reacting to certain situations and how his face will appear. This is because people have different ideas on what face expresses a certain emotion. Therefore we would reflect and discuss the designs if they need changing and improving. 

 [Prop design/ reference sheet]

This is a design sheet of the props we will use during filming. These include the books and the special effect we will use of the hand reaching out of the book. 

I feel that these are important factors to consider during a short film and these will be shown and discussed to the rest of the group as soon as possible. From there i intend to improve our ideas and then commit to them before the deadline of filming in the library. 

Following on from that, I recently discovered that in order to film in the library there are a couple of tasks that must be completed before hand.  These include the risk assessment and call sheet. Both of these documents are important to be completed as they are for safety reasons which must be followed in a professional manner. However, I feel that this is a job for the producer as they are the organizer of the group and that we must respect and keep to our won roles and jobs within the group. Therefore I will pass this information onto the producer to be completed before the deadline for the filming within the library.

Moreover, I took the time to take a few photos within the library for reference to gather an idea of what filming ill be like. I took a variety of shots to experiment:

I took these shots to imagine placing the actor within these them and thinking of the actions and movements which would take place to find the most effective shot(s). 

Storyboard

The storyboard was to be created over the weekend by Milan our cameraman and we would revise and evaluate the storyboard as a group to create a final storyboard. As a group we felt it was the cameraman's responsibility to create the storyboard as they have the understanding of shots and composition to create an initial storyboard which would then be showed to the group. 

After looking at the initial sketches for the film, I drew the storyboard and we discussed the storyboard together:

The storyboard was not as neat as I hoped because I was not able to print the storyboard templates I had created beforehand. 

As we discussed the storyboard, parts of the film changed and improved which I felt were needed and the group all had their input. This is important that everyone has their opinion on the film as they must feel happy with the film if we are to produce it otherwise the film could suffer because of it.

In addition this as we story boarded we planned our deadlines and what would happen over the next week. This is important to maintain organisation during a production because it focusing the team and ensures positive results. 

Preparation for Filming

Before we could film at the library, we had to do a number of tasks beforehand. One of these included a risk assessment which ensures the safety of the group and everyone else in the library. This is a serious document that must be completed before filming because it evaluates the potential risks of filming at that location and how to avoid them. Our Producer: Ines took the job of creating this risk assessment which the group then read and understood. 

The second document was a call sheet which plans the day ahead and records exactly what will happen during filming. This includes who will be attending the filming and what will be filmed. 

Ines our Producer again took this roles as she found this was the responsibility of the producer. The group then read over the call sheet and planned what would happen on the day of filming. 

The call sheet is important for record keeping and to maintain organisation and professionalism throughout filming.

Filming 

1st Session

Ines had booked the Library for the Wednesday 20^th for the morning. We planned to film everything on the same day; therefore we could spend more time editing. However we were not able to film that day because of a number of factors: Sophie our Editor and Milan our cameraman was not at the library and we could not film without a camera. Another factor was that Ines was un-well which meant there would not be clear direction during filming. Therefore I had to apologise to the library and booked for filming on the Friday 22^nd instead. I felt that this was unprofessional of the group to not attend with the acceptation of Ines who notified me before I arrived whereas other members did not notify me at all. I felt that it was important for all members to attend the filming because we have to be a part of this project and have input and help each other.

2nd Session

On the Friday we filmed everything and did multiple takes on different sections to allow Sophie a greater range of choice to choose the best takes. Even though we had completed all of the filming, I felt that it did not go as smoothly as I intended. This is because being an actor and director is not an effective combination because being the director, I needed to see all of the takes to ensure they are following the storyboard and see what they look like. However because I was the actor, I had to be on the other side of the camera and remain in the role of the character. This I felt was an impossible task because I could not remain in character and manage the group. Therefore I found filming an unpleasant and stressful experience. Learning from this I found that I next time I will not take on two roles at the same time as this jeopardises the quality of both jobs. Once I am assigned to one role, I will take that role responsibly and do my job effectively. This will be done by effective planning and clearly understanding jobs needed to be completed within the role I have chosen and communicate within my team to meet deadlines.

Photos of us during filming taken by Brad (Sound).

 [George, Milan]

 [George, Sophie, Milan]

[Ines, Sophie, George]

 [Milan, Ines, Sophie, George]

 [Ines, Milan, George]

 [Sophie, George]

 [Ines, Milan]

 [George, Milan]

 [Milan]

 [George, Sophie, Ines, Milan]

 [Ines, Sophie, George]

[George, Sophie, Milan]

 [Ines, Sophie, George]

 [George, Ines]

 [George, Milan]

 [Ines, Tripod]

 [Ines, Sophie, Milan, George]

 [Milan, Sophie, George, Ines]

[George, Sophie, Ines, Milan]

Editing

After we gathered all of the footage from filming we immediately copied the film onto multiple drives to reduce the risk of losing the footage. This included: my external hard-drive and Sophie's USB.

Because we had taken multiple takes of the same shots this gave Sophie a greater choice to work with as she created the edit. this is because we realized that one take was not enough and that multiple takes are required to allow the best takes to be chosen.

Because I had my own copy of all of the footage, I felt that It would be reassuring to create a version of the film. This is because this saved on time for the clips to be compiled and gave us time to reflect on my version of the edit and allow the editor to create the best version of the film possible. In addition I felt that this was necessary as a 'fail-safe' film as if anything went wrong with the original film, there would be a second version available for the group. Moreover because we were using Adobe Premiere, there is all the more reason to create multiple back-up copies because Premiere is infamous for breaking and crashing.

This allowed me to test and develop my Premiere knowledge and learn a range of new tools such as cutting and speed alteration. I felt that this was important because my knowledge of Premiere is limited and I felt that I needed to learn the basics of Premiere to be able to apply the necessary changes and effects to the film for the group.

As well as my own version, Ines and Sophie had created their initial version and we reflected on both films and found what worked and didn't work in timing and shots. In the end we used my version of the edit because I had edited the film to under a minute whereas the initial ran for over five minutes because the clips were un-edited.
During editing I found that we had a lot more footage than needed and that we could not include the entire film that we had initially planned because of the one minute restriction. if we had followed the storyboard as planned and added the clips we wanted the video may have been around three minutes long. Therefore as a group we had to make the decisions to choose what clips to keep and how to cut down the storyboard that it would fir the one minute restriction. 

As we edited as a group, we found that there were improvements to be made through editing such as: 'camera stabilization', colour correction and additional sound effects. This is because despite the fact that we had planned for the sound effects and music we had under estimated and that we needed additional sounds for unexpected shots because the film would suddenly come to a jarring silence which we didn't want in our film. We also added a title and credits to the film. We chose the film name: 'COVER' because we felt it was appropriate for the subject of the film: 'don't judge a book by its cover'. In addition it leaves the film ambiguous at the start; therefore the audience is not completely clear on what is going to happen.
We had spent some time working together to get the film right but eventually we had finished.

Film

Link to Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PXejxZmU4e8&index=3&list=PLOr0uDukkOO1bImmWo39OUEi7AGhW8nzP 

Film Evaluation

 The final film is a minute long which is within the projects specifications including a title and credits. The film does have a very choppy and comedic style to it with moments which are played quickly and has a style much like the old black and white shorts like 'Charley Chaplin'.
However I would make a number of improvements to the film, these include:
There are missing shots of the title of the book being shown, I feel this is because the filming day felt rushed and not as planned as we had hoped because I felt I was doing everything that day. Because this shot is missing, the movie does not clearly show the message that we are trying to put forward to the audience; that the charter is judging the book by its cover. I would have shown this through clearly showing the cover of the book with a misleading title and cover, when the character opens the book it would have a surprising result.
Therefore: I will ensure that I fulfil my responsibilities and role clearly to ensure planning progresses smoothly as intended and because I will maintain my individual role.
I am not pleased with the result of the film because of the quality of the camera because throughout filming it was 'grainy' and unclear. in addition the camera would go in and out of focus. this can be caused by both the cameraman and the camera, however the camera could not have changed because in the brief, it states that we are given this camera to use.
I would improve the sounds used within the film as they are not what I had expected or planned to be initially. this is because initial plans refer to copyright protected content; therefore our group did not use this content but rather used it for a reference for potential content we can use. However due to the limitations of creative commerce content which allows us to use sound and music for free, the music is not as professional or stylized as I had hoped for.
Due to the limitations of the film's length (one minute) we had to reduce the length of shots and increase the speed of others. This has resulted in some very choppy shots that feel broken at times. I would improve this by improving the shot structure/ composition which would lead the audience to look exactly where we would want them to look. However the time limitations would mean that there couldn't be too many shots for too long which has resulted in the style to film is in now.
As Director of this film i feel that I would improve my performance for future projects by considering all of these during the creation of the storyboard and planning: Narrative, Filming and editing. This is because it is important to balance all of these things and more but I will have to consider these phases in planning to understand and further anticipate the problems that will be faced in each stage without compromising another.

Project Evaluation

This project included creating a one minute film within a group with clearly assigned roles. We created a plan for the project with deadlines which we can maintain origination and control throughout the project.
As Director I had the responsibility of creatively managing the film which meant I had to design all aspects of the film and have a clear idea on how the final film will appear.

In conclusion I feel that the project had structure and planning, however I felt it was the execution of these tasks that were not effective. I felt that that I was the only member of the team who felt that this project was serious and that we must try our best in producing a professional film despite the short space of time we had available. I felt that I was engaged and was the driving force behind the group and that I was assisting other members within the group with their tasks. This made me feel that I was being a controlling within the group, however I feel that this was necessary at times because other group members were not doing their job at all. Throughout this project I have been uncomfortable and stressed about the progression of the group and the work. From this I feel that I need to improve my management skills and develop a greater trust amongst a team. I feel that this comes from the thought that I take my work seriously and have a passion to create the best work I can; therefore I become paranoid and insulted that other group members may not share this same passion and risk jeopardising the group’s work. In future I will do this by speaking with the group further when I can and ensuring they know exactly what they need to do and for when work needs to be completed. 

Additional

Within this project I was also the lead actor of another groups film. I assisted another group with their film called "Pawn" which was a silent film about a chess game with a dark and intense tone. 

The film would show two people playing chess, one who is rather nervous and hesitant whereas the other is aggressive and inpatient. After the game has finished it is revealed that there was only one player and this reflects loneliness and conflict within ones-self. 

I spared some time with my group because everything was planned and filming would be the next day; therefore I thought I would be helpful for another group. 

I had to portray both an anxious person and an aggressive person. As a group we chose to shoot all of one person's shots at once which meant I would do all of the actions and moves of the anxious person with several shots. once we had got all of the anxious shots, we would then take all of the shots of the aggressive person. This way it was easier for me to stay in one character's mind and portray the emotions of each character. 

I have no acting experience, despite this I believe I have helped the group and I am pleased they are happy with the result of their film.

Critque

Once we had created our films, we had a session with Andy (Programme Leader) and Johnny (Film) where we critiqued each other’s films. This was an opportunity to share opinions about each other’s films and receive feedback about them. This would be the first time where we have received feedback about our films from the tutors and our peers.

In the ‘One Minute Film’ project we had to assign roles within a group of our peers and create a film lasting no longer than one minute. Within the session; we went through each of the films and discussed what we enjoyed about them, what elements meant within the film and how they could be better. At first not much was said because it was a rather difficult thing to do; to provide constructive feedback about another person’s work. Personally, I do not have a media education, therefore I don’t understand film language and intend to learn this while on the course. However during the session we were asked about shot construction, composition and genre. I don’t have a complete understanding of these subjects as others did in the class and that is why not much feedback was given each other. 

As the session went on and more films were shown, some people started sharing feedback and constructive criticism. Our film ‘Cover’ was the third film shown. This really helped to watch the film again after not working on it for a while. This allowed me to view the film in a different light with ‘fresh eyes’ and could see a number of improvements I would add. I believe I have mentioned these in the evaluation but now I feel that I have learnt what was wrong and how I can improve. I would definitely add more establishing shots such as; an outside shot of the Library to establish that the location is ‘The Library’. Another would be the cover of thee animal book; because this was supposed to be in the original film, however we had forgotten to take a shot of the cover. I would do this because I feel that the audience are not given enough information within the film and are left asking questions about what is happening. 

Overall I feel that this critique was necessary and will be the first of many more. This is because we received honest feedback about our films that will help is in our future projects in what we did well and what we need to improve.