Single Camera Production Evaluation

Taking a script into production

We chose my script because we thought it was the most doable, we could find easy locations and the scenes were do-able as well. We adapted the script and kept the story line almost the same but added in a few things. We added in hallucinations and the phone-call to explain more about the burglary that happened to the characters beforehand. 

Shooting manually with a DSLR

We managed to control the ISO, aperture and shutter speed as well as we could in each shot we had. We tried to have depth of field in each shot, especially the close ups and extreme close ups. I feel like we achieved this well. We had a few problems with ISO, particularly the kitchen area where there are different lighting in each part, but I feel we controlled it well. 

Coverage

We had enough coverage. We did a master shot, which was hard because half the time we couldn't remember our lines but it turned out well. We then did long shots of each individual character, close ups and then any extreme close ups of objects and faces. 

Own Sequence - Management

There were 5 scenes in general to start off with. We had a scene each to be in charge of. I had to be in charge of scene 1 which we established as the 'argument scene' in the beginning. I found it good to manage, we got all the shots we needed and the coverage as well. However the first time we filmed it was grainy because of the ISO, however after the second part was a lot better and we manage to resolve this problem. I found it hard to act in the scene and to direct it but it was fine. The editing was a test of my skills. I already knew how to do off cutting from sound and video, making the argument sound and look realistic. This helped me develop my editing skills a lot more and I learned a lot more than I did in comparison to the other tasks. 

Finished product

• Mise-en-scene - I think the mis en scene was good for the scenes we had, nothing seemed out of the ordinary and the gun certainly made it look more realistic. 
• Camera - The camera work certainly made us think more about shots. We altered the ISO, aperture and shutter speed, as well as making sure each character/object was in focus properly. It made our short film look more professional. 
• Editing - The editing in the finished product was fluid. The video are off cut from the audio to make this look professional and less jumpy. 
• Sound - We used soundtracks to compliment what was happening visually in each scene. We felt like in this screenplay and the amount of action we had, we didn't want awkward silences because it'd be boring to watch. The audio was fluid. We made sure that the levels weren't red and that the audio was as level as possible. 
• Conclusion - Overall, I felt that our film went well. We used Hollywood techniques such as shallow depth of focus whenever we did close ups/extreme close ups. Our scenes, time management and editing went really went. There are audio improvements that we should do, such as the levels. Some scenes are louder than others and this makes the film seem inconsistent. I have learnt a lot during this process, it's the biggest project that we've done and I have developed more team skills, as well as editing skills, camera skills and sound editing.
• What went well
• What didn't go so well
• What I learnt