1. Problem Solving
Problem
/ˈprɒbləm/
noun
1.
a matter or situation regarded as unwelcome or
harmful and needing to be dealt with and overcome.
Solve
/sɒlv/
Verb
1.
gerund or present participle: solving
find an answer to, explanation for, or means of
effectively dealing with (a problem or mystery).
2. COST
One of the big factors for this project is cost. No matter what project you are making. If you
have a shred of care for the project costs and fees are bound to crop up.Whether this is for
equipment, cast, set, props, locations etc. Since I already had a pretty clear Idea of what it
was that I was attempting to make I knew right from the get-go that I would be spending at
least £200 but it could easily become more.
Of course this instantly caused me to go. Ok, hold on. How am I actually going to be able to
make this project financially viable?
So, I did what all students do. I made a spreadsheet.
3. COST
Cost Of Production: estimated. £ actual. £ Income: estimated. £ actual. £
Financial
Outcome:
estimated. £ actual. £
£ - £ - £ - £ -
£ - £ - £ - £ -
Props/ costume: £ 100.00 £ - £ - £ -
Lights: £ 120.00 £ 116.98 Guaranteed income: £ 108.00 £ 90.00
max_actor travel
costs: £ 100.00 £ - Existing: £ 150.00 £ 188.00
Set: £ 120.00 £ - Editing jobs: £ 175.00
Total spend: £ 440.00 £ 116.98 Total income: £ 433.00 £ 278.00 Money left:-£ 7.00 £ 161.02
This spreadsheet was designed so that I could list all the costs that I have initially, and after a little bit of research
(web browsing for said item, average cost to travel 100miles etc.) I wrote down my estimated price for each item.
And then underneath it would calculate my overall costs.Then I also added an estimated income. To see how
much I would need to make up etc. Both columns are also accompanied by a column that shows the actual cost
after having purchased the item for example.This will of course update as the production goes on.
4. COST
Though it is going to cost me a lot to produce this film, I hope to be able to pull all of the finances together.
At the end of this project I want to know that I did as much as possible to realise the idea I had in my mind and
making it a real thing. I don’t want to make hundreds of excuses saying, well if I had more time I would have
changed this, if I had more money I would have done that. Of course I will be because I simply don’t have the funds
or time to create a fully professional movie, but I want to create a movie that feels semi professional at the very
least.
Spending money on making this film is vital to me. It will allow me to create something that I will hopefully be able
to look at and say : “That was worth two years of my life.”
More importantly it will hopefully allow me to create something that I can take to future clients. Production
companies or submit to film festivals to say. Here, I made this, I know what I am doing. I want this film to allow me
to create more opportunities for myself beyond a grade at college and beyond approval/praise from my family or
peers.
If that’s all I was making this film for, then I should just give up right here and now, as that’s not what film is about. It
should be about taking initiative, telling a story, and then making a story that you can use to create and tell more
stories in the future.
5. Actors/Cast
The number one concern both theoretically and practically for my production is Actors/Cast and crew.
This is because I cannot control them completely. I can learn how to use equipment, I can learn to
edit, I can learn to frame a shot etc. But I cannot guarantee my cast members wont fall ill, I cant
control if they turn up on time or not. I can’t control if they don’t turn up at all!
So I need to establish my cast and crew with enough time before production so that I can be as
comfortable as possible with knowing who they are, how they will get to the shoots etc. So that I feel
more confident that everything will run as planned.
6. Actors/Cast
I started by finding actors on a professional casting website for talent. Placing two casting calls. One for the lead role
of the film.The reason for two casting calls was because when I placed the original casting call, I had not fully
developed the film concept yet. I was sure at this time that my film would only require one actor. I got over 20
applications and finally found one actor who was willing to play the role for free. I offered headshots/portraits as job
compensation and after talking to actor I also offered to pay his cost for travel as he would have to drive from Whitby
toYork for every shoot which would end up costing him around £100.
Later when I realised I would need more actors I placed a separate casting call for the ‘extra’ smaller roles which
would only require a single day of shooting. Again stating that I would give the actors job compensation in form of
headshots and portraits, but not travel expenses.
I then later once I had found a few actors contacted them about when they would be available to shoot.
Unfortunately I have not figured out all of the dates yet. But I certainly will do before the shooting begins and will
notes these down either in my development diaries or add to this document once I have all the details.
7. Actors/Cast
Doing this has made me a lot more comfortable with the idea of creating this film, and it has given me to confidence that this film
will feel and look a lot more professional.This is because the actors are different ages.The lead role being played by 32 year old
DanWinspear. And the extra roles being played by a actors of varying ages.
I think this will make my film look and feel more credible, and especially take it beyond a student film. Making it look more
professional, something that has been my goal throughout this entire project.
8. Lighting
AnotherVery important aspect of my film will be the lighting. I will be Using lighting as one of the primary ways of
moving the story forward as there will be very little in terms of colour and props/costume change.
However, I have no previous experience and skill with lighting. In preparation for this project I bought some soft box
lights as I knew I would need my own lighting for the project. As well as having access to them before production and
learning how to use them.
I started by trying to replicate some lighting that I had previously seen and lighting that I was/am planning on using
within my film.
Not necessarily by choice I used myself to demonstrate some of these lighting techniques, as well as subjecting my
dad to some lighting experiments.
14. High Key Lighting-
(Little shadows, even distribution of
light. Most/All of subject is visible.)
Split Lighting-
(Subject is lit primarily from one side,
casting a shadow on the other side of
the subject.)
Double back/side Lighting-
(Strong shadows in the centre of the
subjects face.)
15. Lighting
All of these lighting techniques will be used to age the character. Making him look more tired, or hiding his
humanity by casting shadows over his eyes. Making him look thinner by exposing his cheek bones etc.
It has been extremely useful and a very good learning experience to explore lighting. Just by taking a few photos I
was absolutely amazed by what a huge difference lighting makes. I don’t think I can really go back to just relying
on natural light after using, playing with and exploring artificial lighting. It gives you so much more control over
the scene, the characters and the overall mood of the image.
Furthermore, It allowed me to realise that I will be able to push the project beyond my time constraints. In an
ideal world I would be able to physically alter my characters to match the story as it progressed. However, I don’t
have the time or means to do this. So using lighting as a way to alter the appearance of my characters, making
them appear slender tired etc. Will be extremely useful, cost effective and it will allow me to make my product
more professional looking and feeling.
16. Manual FocusVS Auto-Focus
One of the things that are easily overseen on a production is focus.While I will always use manual focus where I
can as it means I can lock the focus in one place and it will only change when I tell it to.There are a few situations
where I can’t really use manual focus. For example, when the camera is on a shoulder rig or jib/steadicam of some
sort.
This is because touching the lens to adjust the focus would shake the camera, ultimately ruining the shot.
Ideally I could have a focus puller, someone who has a wireless follow focus system and they can control the
focus. However, neither do I have access to a wireless focus follow system, nor do I have access to someone who
is a good focus puller (as unsurprisingly its an extremely difficult job)
So, what options do we have to overcome this issue?
Just use auto focus
The first and obvious one would be to ‘just use auto focus’ However, this brings lots of implications. For example.
If you use continues auto focus, on a contrast focus based camera, the camera will be constantly doing something
called ‘focus hunting’.This is because the camera has to find the subject, go slightly beyond it and the pull back to
focus the subject. Resulting in the subject, being out of focus, briefly in focus, briefly out of focus again, and
finally being in focus.This looks quite unprofessional and can cause the shot to look terrible. Especially when it is
happening while the subject is more or less staying in one spot.
17. Manual FocusVS Auto-Focus
Keep it manual and keep it locked
The second option is to ‘Keep it manual and keep it locked’
This means, establishing where your subject is going to be (for example during a tracking shot) Setting
the focus manually, with a higher f. stop (say f.5.6-f.11) and trying to keep roughly the same distance
from your subject as you track them.
This can work quite well if you have focus peeking enabled and are able to roughly keep the right
distance. However, (unless you’re a robot) you wont be able to keep a perfect distance and therefore
will have to increase the reduce the aperture darkening the image.This will cause two issues.
Firstly you will loose depth in the image and have a less ‘cinematic’ image.
Secondly (unless it’s a bright day) you will need to boost the ISO and therefore potentially have noisy
image with poor colour.
(this option is not great if you’re shooting in low light situations)
The last factor to consider is that you can’t change focus, so you can’t focus pull.
18. Manual FocusVS Auto-Focus
The best of Both worlds
Now, the finally option that I came across, quite interestingly allows me to use a ‘focus puller’ to some degree.
While using the Steadicam, I can use my Panasonic – LumixG7.This will allow me to connect the camera via my phone
and therefore allow me to focus the camera without touching.
Furthermore, I can put the camera into semi manual mode. Meaning I can push to focus, but the camera will only useAF
when I tell it to.Which can all be controlled from my phone, like an external monitor.While this is not the ideal solution. It
will work perfectly for the shots where I need to be able to rack focus while using the Steadicam. Since, however, the
Lumix g7 does use contrast based auto-focus, it will unfortunately be subject to a little bit of focus hunting, but it is better
than it being completely out of focus.
Then when I am doing shots that are on a tripod or other equipment where I can touch the camera. I can use the C100 (or
LumixG7) in complete manual mode.
19. Pot. Problem Effect on Production Solution/Control Person Responsible
Camera runs out of charge. Unable to film. Bring spare batteries, ensure they are
all charged. Bring charger.
Sam Schoettner
SD card is corrupt/won’t write. Unable to film/ edit Bring spare SD card, check SD card
before filming by taking a few test
videos.
Sam Schoettner
Defective kit/kit broke. Unable to film some shots. Check that kit is functional before
filming (Check it at college before
bringing it to shoot.)
Sam Schoettner
Lighting breaks. Shots will be underexposed or
extremely grainy/noisy.
Bring light reflectors and spare lights
to shoot. Utilize natural light where
possible.
Sam Schoettner
20. Unable to organize props/costume. Final product will be lacking props, might
confuse the story or make the product
look cheap/badly put together.
Get all the props well ahead of time.
Make checklist so you can tick of what
props/costume you have and what you
still need.
Sam Schoettner
Not organizing the personnel needed. Unable to shoot due to lack of actor(s) or
crew etc.
Organize cast and crew before hand.
Ensure they will be able to come and
shoot when you need them. (Arrange
dates ahead of time)
Sam Schoettner
Bad weather e.g. Rain, stormy weather. Unable to film as equipment could break
or personnel could get injured/fall ill.
Check that weather is appropriate, bring
weather and protective gear for both
equipment and personnel.
Sam Schoettner
21. Unplanned incidents such as cast/crew
falling ill.
Unable to film due to lack of cast/crew. Have backup crew and contingency shooting
days.
Sam Schoettner
Inappropriate weather for the scene. Unable to create a convincing/appropriate
feeling shot. Doesn’t match the story at the
point of filming.
Have a backup shooting date, check to see if
the weather will be appropriate before
filming.
Sam Schoettner
Unable to organize appropriate actors Unable to make the protagonist (or other
characters) convincing, will lack immersion
See how different actors portray the
character before casting them for the shoot.
Sam Schoettner
Personnel unable to get to shoot due to
lack of transport or traffic.
Unable to film/delay filming. Longer
production time.
Make sure you have worked out how they
will get to the location (private or public
transport etc.) And work out when they
must leave to arrive on time.
Sam Schoettner and cast/crew
22. Unable to gain access to certain
shooting locations.
Could alter story/ make the story less
convincing.
Request filming permission ahead of
time, do location recce
Sam Schoettner
Set brakes while filming. Unable to complete shoot. Set will
change.
Treat the set with respect. Have materials
to repair the set of necessary.
Sam Schoettner
Not having shot list or script. Unable to complete shoot. Or lines/shots
will be made up on the fly. Could bring
issues later on in the editing process.
Video wont be as high of a quality as it
could be.
Write concise but extensive list of shot list
write full script. Print both out and always
take to shoot with me.
Sam Schoettner
When going through shots during
editing finding out that some of the
shots don’t work or that you forgot to
record some shots all together.
Will be missing footage as well as perhaps
having footage that’s not quite as good as
you want it to be.
Do every take multiple times. Ensure to
Re-shot it and start and stop recording
every time. Ensure to check that camera is
recording when you hit record.
Sam Schoettner
