Struggles and Difficulties with Filming

Struggles and Difficulties with Filming

Location

When filming the clips for our trailer, there were a variety of initial problems that our group faced. We first considered health and safety, and where would be considered 'safe' to film in. Therefore we ruled out our original ideas of filming in abandoned buildings. This was in case they were deemed structurally unsafe. Moreover, filming with firearms was always going to be an issue. Therefore, to avoid breaking any laws, all the shots in which firearms were present were filmed on private land, with the landowners permission. This meant that overall, we were able to work freely with our ideas, and explore different camera angles and shots without worrying about unnerving anyone in public.

Editing

Another issue that developed in the editing area of our production, was the updated software we chose to work with. After the update (Final Cut Pro X), various new options and special effects were added meaning that, even though we had a much broader choice of special effects to use, it meant that sometimes, finding how to add in certain effects, like slow motion for example, became a challenge, as we didn't know where it was located on the software itself.

Equipment

Having a new camera (Canon 760D) definitely proved a challenge at times when filming. One particular challenge for us, was getting used to the cameras immense capabilities. Before this addition, we would film with a standard 720p video camera, however, purchasing a camera which could now film in 1080p at 50 FPS, became difficult, merely because we were not used to the quality that it was able to film in. Moreover, the camera had precision manual focussing, as opposed to our old camera which had automatic focussing. This meant that when filming specific shots, the cameraman had to adapt the focus by hand, thus making some shots more difficult to film.
     In addition to a new camera, we also purchased a higher quality microphone (Rode Videomic Go), and a shoulder mount for the camera. This meant that we had to get used to working with the shoulder mount, as it was something that none of us had ever worked with before. Moreover, the microphone, which was able to record sound in the highest quality, meant that the actors had to change their voices, in order to avoid any harshness picked up by the microphone. This meant not speaking too loud, or making any harsh, sudden noises with our voices.