Evaluation
Over the past year of Moving Image AS, I have produced my film 'The Block'. My film is live action and shot in black and white. I chose to filter all of my filming in black and white for a gritty and realistic effect and also watching the film in colour made me realise it lost the cinematic quality when in colour. I used a school camera to film on various weekends, though I filmed when it was snowing and raining, some days I had to cancel filming due to lack of cast. But when some people consistently did not show up I had to improvise by asking other people- which was a success. Another problem I faced when filming was that people could hear what was going on and came out of their homes in concern. I had to overcome this by telling them that it wasn't real, and that we were filming. I did experience some technical problems such as the camera running out of power when filming and had to go home, charge the battery and continue filming when it charged enough.
When some things didn't go to plan, this had a domino effect on my production materials, I had to complete many storyboards after the actual filming. I also altered the script due to some excellent improvisation from the actors in my film.
I would like to say my film was a complete success but it still could be improved, however the feedback from my peers made me feel like I had achieved what I set out to create with my film. My intention was to create a gritty and emotional portrayal of the hardships of living in a bad neighborhood surrounded with gang culture. From feedback I can tell that people felt that it did that. Another thing I wanted to put across is that it is possible to be successful no matter where you come from or live.
I have learned a lot from the process of making a short film, preparation is key- from having reliable people helping you to charging up the camera battery, it's all vital. Asking people if they'll take part is one thing but getting reliable people that will turn up is difficult as I found out when two out seven people turned up one weekend. I also learned that the skill of improvisation is very handy when filming because when things go wrong or change it's not always convenient to put filming off another week.
