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As the director of my production company group, I played a significant role in monitoring the filming process, as well as assuring our narrative appealed to our desired audience, taking into account the four technical aspects. My job title further entailed the responsibility of making sure the Editor, Cinematographer and Sound person were fulfilling their roles effectively, taking into account codes and conventions of a successful short film as I did so. In terms of the cinematography, I consistently administered the shots that she took, acquiring attention to detail, specifically towards the focus of the shots and the continuity of each shot taken. When filming, our cinematographer, Leila Monfared, used two different cameras for filming (70D and 700D), due to some equipment being occupied by other members of the class. This meant that Leila had to adjust to a lower level camera during some of our filming days. This resulted in areas of filming where many shots were out of focus and the lighting was too low key as appose to previous shots taken in the same time frame of the film. Because of these implications, it was my job to fill in call sheets prior to our set filming dates, prioritising the better quality camera (70D) in order for Leila to carry out focused shots in a sufficient amount of time, refraining from tedious wasted time. As well as this, at times, the cinematographer found it difficult to film certain shots effectively which led to a tedious filming process. In order to resolve this, I specifically created a step by step plan of what I wanted her to carryout and how toe exemplify each shot effectively. For example, she consistently used the camera free hand demonstrating shaky and unprofessional camera shots, which lacked any form of realism. Due to this I suggested using the tripod in order to avoid this. I also told her to film every shot more than once so we would have a range of shots to choose from when it came to the editing process. She also found it hard to film certain shots due to the confined spaces where the shots needed to be taken. An example of this was when she filmed Olivia writing her letter, the dressing table was directly against the wall, leaving Leila no room to film a close up shot. I therefore proposed we establish a shot facing the mirror so you can see Olivia’s facial expressions clearly without filming in an uncomfortable position with limited space. During the filming process, it was also my job to direct the actors towards our vision for our film, taking into account their body language towards one another, as well as exemplifying their personas clearly to the audience. At the start of filming, both actors found it difficult to epitomize a loving relationship due to their strong friendship. In order to create a verisimilitude, it was by job to obliterate the awkward tension by communicating with them and finding different ways for them to develop that strong connection their characters share.

 

Due to my background experiences in terms of leadership, I took on the role of the director due to my ability to take charge, particularly in times of hardship. As well as this, I have had experience in a directorial position, due to that being my role in my AS production too. I encountered many hardships during the filming process, which created complications that had to be resolved during time restraints. For example, when we envisioned our movie, there were two central protagonists and no other definite characters. However, as time progressed during filming, an overseeing authority felt that having an extra character to reveal the terrorist attack would be more hard hitting, whilst creating a major plot twist for the audience. Due to this, I was in charge of finding an actor in such short notice, which proved difficulty. In the end I stepped in as the extra character whilst directing the filming process, managing to solve this and improve the films emotive thread. As well as this, there were instances where the actors cancelled filming at the last minute at the start of the filming process, therefore I came up with the idea of having set in stone scheduled filming dates, in order to avoid wasted filming sessions. Further examples of where I applied initiative in time constrained conditions was when I felt the actors were uncomfortable with their dialogue. Olivia Lizzimore, our main actress, found it difficult to apply herself to the role of Olivia Wilstone and the relationship she shares with Kyle Lang; in particular their kissing scene. She said she found it ‘hard to give off a believable performance and felt uncomfortable’. In order to create a sense of realism, I altered the scene to Olivia rejecting Kyle’s kiss, which she carried out in a professional and realistic manner.  After we collated all of our footage, the editor, Zafir Choudhury was able to sophisticatedly create the story for us. When he completed his first draft, we encountered some issues with the continuity of his pace of editing. In order to resolve this, we watched examples of short films within the drama genre and analysed the way in which they edited. This allowed Zafir to apply his findings into our film, making the flow of the shots match the action. One major aspect of the process, which my team and I had the most implications with, was sound.  When watching the film, the sound levels did not remain continuous and we did not include any ambient sound to aid the naturalism of the piece. Therefore, I proposed we dedicated two lessons purely on finding the right sounds, which set the mood and tone of our film. This was a very effective idea of mine, because it enabled us to collate all the sound we needed to make our film seem real. As the director, I also had to demonstrate the attributes of being prepared in case of an emergency. There was an implication where our microphone stopped working at the start of a filming session. This is a crucial part of the equipment, due to it allowing us to pick up the dialogue the character’s share. I therefore rang other groups who had a microphone and asked to use theirs instead of giving up and wasting a filming session. This exemplifies my ability to think on my feet, in order to aid the filming process.

 

In terms of teamwork, my production group and I worked extremely well together. Each person was reliable, and got his or her jobs done effectively, whilst listening to my constructive criticism and applying it to our work. This enabled us to finish our film before the deadline. Having time to show our head authority drafts for us to improve. At the start of filming, our communication skills were lacking, therefore I proposed we made a group chat so regular information of filming and further details could be seen by all members of the group. As well as this, we face timed each other during the editing process, aiding Zafir’s work and implementing new ideas on how the editing can aid the realism of our piece.

 

Overall, my experience of being a director has taught me a lot about attention to detail and picking up on small issues within the film that will affect the final outcome. I asserted my authority in order to sustain he efficiency of each filming session, whilst planning out what every session would entail. Despite some implications, the overall filming experience ran smoothly and was very enjoyable, allowing us to create a verisimilitude, whilst understanding the codes and conventions of a successful short film.  

 

By Tamia Mullaney-Downer