1 Minute Short Film Situation

At this point I would be creating an idea and scripting for a short 1 minute film based around the idea of 'A Day in the life of...' like the rest of the members in my Media class. This, however, is not the case. I have been asked specifically by my teacher to film teachers talking about each of their subjects for consortium students next September. Although this doesn't allow me to explore my ideas creativly, it does allow me to demonstrate my skills with a camera, editting techniques, sound and image mulipulation with the layering of logos and so on. This task began last week but I am blogging now as now is the time when the members of my Media class will be uploading and scripting for their 1 minute short film.

I realise now that even for this film for consortium students requires alot of planning, even though each teacher only has to speak for about 30 seconds. I begun by sending an email to all the teachers I was told to film, but of course it was never going to be as simple as I had first thought. Some teachers couldn't be filmed as they weren't in school and some recomended other teachers. All of this seemed to back track me a bit to make sure I had a confirmed list of teachers willing to be filmed. Some teachers where prepared where as others made their speeches up on the spot. It was also difficult filming some of the teachers due to the location and times they were available for filming. Of course in a school it was never going to be quiet, so I have learnt that with this camera I have used for filming these teachers (Sony 5n) to use a boom which when tilted toward the person speaking it only picks up their speaking, leaving it with a much more professional sound. As with lighting some classrooms were very dark, so a reflector was needed to brighten their faces more. I also tried to get some different angles of the teachers speaking, but due to the majority not having a script and thinking from the top of their heads I wouldn't have been able to sinc up their speech.

I have a few more teachers to film before I am complete and 3 will be filmed tomorrow. Due to the ammount being filmed tomorrow I will bring in all of my camera equipment. This includes:

• DSLR (Sony 5n)
• Boom (separate sound recording)
• Reflector (for enhancing light)
• tri-pod (for stable filming)

A free lesson tomorrow will allow me to film two of the 3 and so I have a small crew of two to help with setting up and holding the boom. This task has helped me identify how to hand out roles and how much time and preparation is needed to film even a small documentary or movie.