Filming diary part 3- Saturday 31st January

Today I filmed the inside shots inside of my house. The bedroom I used to film in was my sister old bedroom, therefore I had to make it look like a teenage bedroom again, I put posters up on the walls including photo's to make it look like a sixteen year old's bedroom. It's also used as a music room, so I had to move all of the amplifiers out of the way. In a way this helped me keep to the 180 degree rule as I shifted all of the equipment to one side, therefore I could focus on keeping on one side of the room, so that the audience wouldn't become confused when viewing the film. The shot where the girl wakes up was interesting, because as you could see I had to put the tripod on the bed with Rosie, so that I could get the camera right above her head to achieve that eye level mid shot.

Some shots I could only film once or twice because Rosie has a lack of energy from being ill,

therefore I had to make sure that filmed the shots as perfectly as I could. For example when she ran down the stairs, I could only film that once, to ensure that she had enough energy to be able to act in the rest of my filming. When she was putting on her socks, it was a difficult shot to film because I had to get the framing right so that I could swap from a close up to an extreme close up to achieve the shot that I wanted. Also she could have fallen down at any point because I wanted her feet to be on the floor for the shot so that it didn't cause any confusion when watching it, if her feet were against the bed sheet. Therefore this was another shot that I only filmed once or twice. Some of the shots I can film again in my own spare time, for example I have to film, the clock again because it was shaky from holding the camera. When I film it again, I will have to film it on a tripod and get it at the right position, taking into consideration the amount of space I have in the room. This will make the shots at the beginning of the film, snappy and effective as it will enhance how quickly everything is moving. Also I would like to film the shot where the bed is being made, so that I can perfect the duvet flip, I may have to put the shot in slow motion so that I can achieve the shot that I want to create.

Throughout the film I had to make sure I had the same lighting in all of the scenes, I had to ensure that I used the same lighting from day to day to make it look like it was the same day and setting. Also I had to consider what the lightning looked like when I was filming. For example when I had some of the lights turned off, when Rosie walked towards the front door, we went from being able to see her face, to her face becoming darker and not being able to see the details on her face. I then put the lights on, that were on in all of the other scenes, and I was able to see the details of her face throughout the whole shot, which worked out better because I had the same lighting as in the rest of the film, creating a convincing setting.

Filming diary part 2- Monday 26th January

Today I filmed the inside school scenes. I put my framing lesson into practice in the shot where the girl gets bullied by people throwing paper at her. I had five people in this shot including the girl. I sat three people behind the girl and another person sat next to the girl. The person sat next to the girl wasn't really in the frame, but it gave the impression that it was a full class by showing part of the persons arm in the shot. One of the bullies had her bag on the seat next to her signifying that she didn't like people to sit next to her. When panning upwards I had to make sure that I got the girl and the bullies behind her in the shot at the same time. At first I tried panning up to show the bullies and then pan back down to see the girls reaction, however in the time I had to do this in, it was difficult. Therefore I decided to just pan up and then see the bullies throw the paper at the girl.

When the girl came up the stairs, I couldn't continue with the repetition of the girl always walking from left to right on the screen. The stair way that we were using was the only one in the block that had the right amount of lighting, the one I wanted to use originally was too dark. In the short amount of time we had left, I had to make do with what I've got. So instead I had the girl walk up the stairs and then pan, trying to keep her in centre frame which was challenging. I may have to shoot this scene again if I'm not fully satisfied with it when editing. This will be re filmed on Wednesday morning, if I have to re film it.

At first when the girl was walking down the corridor, I could only see the wall behind her, therefore I repositioned the camera so that it showed a display board of school work so that the audience defiantly know that she was in school.

Some of the shot were hard to follow on both days of filming as I had judged the timing poorly and needed more time to film the shot. This results in either having to cut out some shots and include the longer shots, or seeing what the shots look like in their planned time and working with it whilst editing.

From this film shooting, I have learnt that I need to be specific about what I want the actors to do, and to not be afraid to tell them what to do, even if they aren't in the correct positioning that I wanted them in.

Filming diary part 1- Sunday 25th January

Today I went out filming the outside scenes of my film. I started off with trying to accomplish a reverse tracking shot, this was very interesting. First of all I decided to use cello-tape and rubber bands to connect my tripod to an wheely office chair. However this was incredibly shaky when I tried to move it. So then I sat on the chair and got my mum to pull me back on it whilst I pushed the chair as well. This was still a little bit shaky, so I put my feet on the legs of the chair and then my weight made the chair move a little bit more smoothly. I still wasn't satisfied with how shaky the shot was. So I used  this tool that my dad uses to take heavy stuff to his allotment. I balanced the tripod on it. This worked a lot more successfully than the other methods that I chose.



When filming the part where the girl walks down the road, I got a number of different shots, some that were zoomed in, others that showed more of the scene. I tried panning, however I think the still shots look better because it shows that the girl is running away and we are watching her, instead of following the girl.

The bus was very shaky and it was hard to make sure that the camera stayed still. I didn't use a tripod for these shots because it would have been hard to make the tripod stable. Therefore I balanced my arms on the chairs, and held the camera tightly to make sure that it stayed as stable as possible. It still shaked a little bit, but I only really had one chance to be able to accomplish as stable as shot as possible. When I come to edit it I will be able to put a establisher on it so that it can show a smooth shot.

 When the girl was coming out of the house, closing the door and walking across the drive, it was hard to film because the porch windows were reflecting everything opposite it. This meant I had to film inside of the porch, showing the girl closing the door and then walking out of the porch and across the drive.

When we filmed in the park, we came across some difficulties because it was really muddy and we were sinking into the mud. Therefore we couldn't go to the forest parts in the park. We found some areas that looked like it could possibly be a forest in that park and in another park where we were able to film successfully. I found it hard to zoom in and pan the camera to the right when the girl was walking, as it was hard to zoom in without jogging the camera, making it difficult to get a steady shot.

We also shot some of coffee scene inside, I made sure that I got the lighting correct so that it didn't reflect weirdly on the mug. The steam from the kettle made the camera lens misty, but created a nice effect, when editing I will be able to cut it so that it doesn't stay misty. When the girl drank the drink I made sure to include the props that she had used before hand, I left the cap of the milk open, to show that the girl was in a rush, also I got the girl to drink quickly. I gave her a matching mug and put a cold drink in it so that she wouldn't burn her mouth on the drink.

I forgot to film the girl turning on the kettle, therefore I will film this on Wednesday when we plan to shoot the rest of the inside scenes.

Framing and angles practice

This is a video where we practised on our framing. Our aim was to make a school and a classroom look like a doctors waiting room no matter what. We framed the camera so that it didn't show any classroom display boards or desks. On the first shot, there are no boards or pictures to show that is a school. In the classroom we filmed by the window so that there were no display boards around. We also filmed an extreme close up of the clock to show that time was passing slowly for the person in the doctors waiting room. We then filmed a close up of my shoes to show that I was nervous. We set up some chairs and a table with some magazines on it, to make it look like there were informative leaflets for the patients in the waiting room. At the end we showed a high angle mid shot so that we could avoid showing anything that would give away that it's a classroom. Framing is important because you can make a room into anything that you want if you frame it correctly so that you don't show anything to give it away.

Film schedule

I'm thinking of filming this Thursday for the in school scenes. Then at the weekend I will shoot the outside scenes in the park and on the bus etc. Then if I have enough time in the day then I will shoot the house scenes. If I don't get time for that then I will film it on a Wednesday.

Diary post- practising panning movement and framing

We have now practised how to pan with the camera, by capturing someone walking past a camera. I found that I started off with the camera movement really fast and then slowed down, I now know that I will have to film these types of shots many times during my actual film so that I can get them right  and will also have a lot of footage to choose from. I think that if I can stand behind the camera on the tripod I will be able to see how fast it's moving and get a better view of what's happening on the camera.
Also we looked at framing, we had to make a classroom look like a doctor's waiting room. We did this by putting some chairs against a blank wall and put a table with some magazines next to them. This gave the illusion that it was a doctor's waiting room. Each time we filmed we made sure that there was nothing to do with a classroom in sight. We also used a variety of angles to show that no matter what shots and angles you use, if you frame it correctly then the room you have chosen, can look like anything you want it to be.