Unit 2 – Arts leadership challenge

The leadership role I took in the production on our film ‘the drop of’ was the role of the cinematographer. The leadership skill I want to develop from this was confidence and interaction with others. I chose this as usually the roles I would take don’t require very much leading, therefore my confidence isn't as great as I’d like it to be. My leadership role includes being completely involved with the camera which also means working very closely with the sound (that was the producer in our case)  and the director. It also meant that I had to direct the actors  on set so that the shot we wanted could be completed. This meant being confident and speaking clearly to the actors about what we wanted for the shot. Our project of creating the short film was to make sure it was hopefully no more than 2 minutes. Our plot was based around 3 main characters who all meet in an alleyway. Our only location was the alleyway throughout the whole film, which was good in a way as our actors didn't have to be moved around a lot and the props and equipment wouldn't have to be moved very much either. We took a while finding the most suitable location for our project as we needed certain aspects such a roads in the correct place and so it was hidden away at the same time. As we are filming outside all day, a problem we could face is the temperature. If its very cold then we must make sure our actors are kept warm the moment they go off camera and that we provide them with hot drinks/blankets. A problem we also could face being outside is the wind. As I'm on the camera and will be working with the person doing the sound I will have to make sure it doesn't affect the dialogue as the majority of our film is dialogue and the wind could be a major problem especially at this time of year. Another problem we could face ,being outside, is the lighting, as throughout the day it will change, so we need to make sure to film certain scenes at the same time of day so that the change in light won’t affect the shot.

this is the schedule we tried to stick to once we found out that the shoot day was November 28th:
1st November - Final film plot
7th November - First script draft
14th November - Second script draft
18th November - Final script draft
21st November - Completed storyboard
26th November - Acquired our actors and have a shot list
27th November - Prepared our props

We did stick to the plan the majority of the time but when we didn't it wasn't always negative as it turned out that the second draft of our script became the final draft in the end so we didn't need the third deadline date.Our storyboard and shot list were finished by the 22nd of November, but our shot list was quite simplistic and we didn't use it very much on the actual shoot day, it was only a very rough guideline and we weren't entirely sure exactly what we wanted until we were there on the set with the actors.

here's some evidence of us planning our our group chat.

these are some notes and brainstorm we made for initial ideas using things we had learnt from the workshops.





The actual shoot

On the day of the shoot the location worked really well although the temperature was very low which caused us the most problems. It meant that when we took a break we had to pack up all the equipment and walk back to the showroom so that we could buy the actors a hot drink. Hands were also an issue for me on the day as I had to have them out the whole time using the camera, and even with gloves it was still very very cold! I feel like my confidence and leadership skills were improved so much on the day as I released I had a lot more leadership to participate in on the day as I had to decide on more than what we originally planned in the storyboard and the shot list. We added extra shots in as we went along as we had extra time  to shoot.
It was such a helpful experience being on camera all day as i'd never been hands on before with one. I had to control everything on the day with the help of Darren including working with the Gib arm which was really exciting but quite difficult by myself so i had to have help making sure the shot was smooth and the camera didn't stutter. moving the camera on the tripod about on the cobbled floor was quite a challenge but we managed ok as we didn't have to move it too much and if we did it wasn't too far.

We had to work very closely as a team on the day of the  shoot as initially we didn't have enough people to take on all the jobs separately . for example the producer of our group had to also work as the sound. I had to work closely with the sound and I was on the camera and I had the earphones to be able to listen to what was being recorded. this meant that I had to talk closely with the person on sound to make sure it worked ok. we also had the trouble of the weather and the wind on the day which made this task extra difficult as it was quite windy, this ad a major effect on the recording of the sound. I also had to work closely with the director to make sure I was in the correct place to film the correct piece of dialogue and to also help decide what order to shoot in. 

overall I think the shoot went really well as we obtained more than the amount of footage we needed and had a wide selection to choose from in post production. we all worked closely together and it paid off massively. Even in the edit we all worked together to produce the final piece.


this is a group photo of the cast and crew after the shoot, and a photograph taken whilst getting some of the final crane shots.










`Review

I think the whole project went very well and we are all happy with the outcome! we did face a few large problems throughout, like the night before the shoot one of the actors cancelled on us, but fortunately Brandon (the script writer of our group) stood in as hes well practiced in drama, so we can all the characters we needed on the day. it also worked really well as Brandon wrote the character so he would know exactly how he'd want it to be played and also knew exactly what would be happening with shots on the day as well. I think the workshops at the beginning of the BFI Film academy helped us a lot with our planning and understanding of our project. the shoot day has helped my confidence massively. I had to do a lot of controlling on the day and I wasn't expecting to have to take so much control which was a shock but it helped me a lot in the end and i did actually feel confident doing it. I've learnt so much about how each role works on the actual shoot and how they all practically come together. I've also learnt how organised you need to be on the actual