Foundation Art and Design: Child Action Filming

Yesterday me and Sammie agreed to come into college and film at King George's hall, so that the rest of this months drama group could go to the telephone box on Mitton road to do a recce and possibly and test shoot. When me and Sammie arrived in college we were asked by our tutor to run the Television studio and subsequently do the interviews for Child Action. I was producing all ten of the short films for Child Action before Christmas, but because of certain events it was decided that we would no longer do these short films. Instead this day was booked and all the interview would be done on this day. They would then be edited and handed to Child Action and HE. I was not going to be apart of the filming for today, but after being asked to run the interviews I agreed to do it. Also working with me and Sammie was Chelsea who wanted to be apart of the filming so thorughout the day she was the Floor manager as well as a guy called Lee, who our tutor asked us to show him how to be a floor manager and let him have a go.

I was really nervous because I had never run the Television studio before, without Tutor supervision. My tutor told me that I would be fine. He set up the lighting for us as we didn't have much time, me and Sammie where the subjects so that the lighting would be good and wouldn't have to be changed.

Throughout the day we were really working by ear. We didn't know who was coming in and what they were going to talk about. We were originally told that the filming would only last the morning, but it soon became clear that it was a whole day shoot. To begin with we didn't know who would be interviewing people, but it turned out that Harriet who is a manager at Child Action would be interviewing them. Originally we were going to do a two shot, but Harriet didn't want to be in shot so we changed it to a one shot (over the shoulder) When the second person came in to be interviewed, it turned out that it was a couple. I panicked a bit because I didn't expect this, we asked Brian to come in and help us because we didn't know what to do. We simply changed the chairs so that both interviewees would have the lighting on them. At the beginning of this interview I thought we had a problem because the woman's mic wasn't working, I realised that we had turned it off before the interviews started because we didn't need both mics as Harriet didn't want to be in shot. Because of this the beginning of the interview isn't usable unless we can do something with the audio in editing. Also in the middle of the interview the woman dislodged the mic wire, this meant throughout the interview the mic is visible. I didn't realise this till nearly the end of the interview. I don't know whether Sammie noticed this or not. Another interview that could be a problem was one where the man was very fidgety. We asked him to sit still but throughout the interview he kept moving. Because the cameras where locked this meant that no one was on the camera. I'm not sure whether we should have stopped the interview and manned the camera or not. However if we would have done that then the camera would have been moving back and forwards constantly. The only things wrong with the interview is that the looking view is sometimes on the wrong side because the interviewee kept moving.

I had a few jobs throughout the day. I looked after the guest and made sure they had everything they wanted, although Sammie and Chelsea seemed to want to leave and get the orders. I was also the one getting the Camera shots. Throughout the day I would go into the TV studio and get the camera shot when the interviewee is seated then go back to the gallery. I would also clip the mic onto the interviewee. I'm not sure whether there was a director today, but I would say that I also did this role as I made sure that the camera was right, people had what they wanted and that all the interviews were done on time.

Drama A Month
Most of the production crew for the 'Drama A Month' went to the location on Mitton Road today, however they said that we couldn't use this location as the telephone box was all frosted. Even when they used the d-icer they still couldn't get a clear image. Because of this they traveled 130 miles to try and find a new location. They found what they have termed Narnia. I have seen the pictures but it was agreed that we would talk about it tomorrow as it would be easier that talking about it on Facebook chat.