Hollow Analysis.

 Analysing our groups process in making Hollow.

Pre-production

preproduction on the whole went fairly smoothly with many of the forms being quick and easy to fill out and get approved. The risk assessment was handled well but was found when and after filming to be missing a few bits that we will have to keep in mind for next time. The talent releases were easy and simple along with the few location reeces we had to sort out. 

The script / idea

The initial and final idea was thought of fairly quickly and just needed fleshing out into scenes and other plot holes to decide. But in the fleshing out process a few other ideas got suggested with the main one being a hide and seek vlog style horror film was suggest and talked about for a bit which in my opinion would have been harder to film and had less affect. Once the idea had been finalised and plot points and characters decided, The script writers got to work and made a very good script that was easy and highly detailed to follow. Once the first real copy of the script was completed we decided to rehearse and run through the script to familiarize ourself with it. Once the script was done I personally did a shoot list which when it came down to filming I had and referenced too but I had over complicated parts and other people had ideas for shoots that I hadn't written down and in the end I just stopped using it. I feel like I should have used the shoot list more and when a few others in the group got confused shown them the next few shoot ideas to focus them in. 

Filming

Before filming had started I personally had been shown how to use the newer style of camera we were told to use and the people on audio had been shown how to operate the audio recorder so equipment wise with the main people using them was good. A few days before filming was said to commence I was asked to switch due to a minor injury to one of the others which meant I was main camera man and they were an actor now, this didn't mess anything up to be honest just they had to learn there lines. On the day of filming we collected our equipment and headed out to the filming area that was less than 5 minutes away from college. The first few scenes took a few takes but this is normal when people our getting into character. A few shots down the line with a few different shots complete I had to move off camera because I was an extra in a scene. This meant that I was out of the way without anyway of helping out on camera and the people that were on camera havent really ever had to setup a camera before and took some time to figure it all out, after a little bit one of the group who has and roughly knows there way around a camera decided to step in and help out with getting the shot done. By now some people were getting annoyed, personally I was fine as I knew that they were learning and to learn you have to make mistakes. In hindsight I could have probably help set the shot up and then gone and got in position leaving them just to hit record. After this point things ran smoothly and shot ideas started to flow again and we complete the final shot bang on 3 o'clock. The woods was all shot on a Wednesday and we waited until Monday to film the first and last segment of the film that was shoot inside college, we did this because we knew we would have access to the room we wanted without any interruption. The Monday shoot went well and was finished with plenty of time even allowing us to reshoot a part of the woods scene that had an exposure problem that I had missed. I havent mentioned the people recording audio because they were faultless capturing every bit of audio required.

Post production 

I personally took a lead on the editing, this started with formulating the footage in order, whilst trying to keep the main script writer in the loop to make sure I didnt miss anything out. Im lucky enough to have access to the editing software at home this helped us meet our deadline and if im being honest i dont think we would have hit it without me putting in extra time. The addition of the audio is my one regret as a member of the group had been editing the audio which at the time i thought was the best way but after being told that its easier to sync first and then edit the audio it all felt like a waste of time and probably added a few extra hours on to the edit. Once we had synced the audio i cut the clips down to an area that I felt was good and showed most of the group. Then carl came and had a look and helped us and explained the importance of music and honestly helped give the film a bit of character. I took on what carl had said and made a few more changes and even made some more after some comments on what I intially thought was the final edit, these were things like transitions and small audio fixes to make it flow, I then created an unlisted youtube video to share to the class to get there opinions they all liked it. 

Things I would do differently.

- Have a more substantial shooting schedule that references back to a good shoot list. 

- Edit audio clips after syncing them with footage

- Have a person who works a director role / a more prominent project manager who knows what everyone is working on and can steer the ship.

- I guess I could let someone else edit a chunk.

   - Hollow (Finished Video)