First day of filming

The camera was delivered to Isaac's at approximately 11am on the 21st February 2011. I was unavailable at this time but Luke and Isaac met up an hour beforehand to go over the camera and make sure it was charged/working etc. I met up with my team members at 12pm at the Dragon pub in Peterborough as we were looking for Hazel Croft as we had to find Scott Brown as he said he would teach us about the different functions on the camera.

We arrived at Scott's at approximately 1pm after collaberations about directions and after a lot of confusion we eventually found out the street name and number. During the long walk we decided to kill two birds with one stone as they say, and ring the police enquiries help line in order to gain permission for later either that day, or the next in terms of our 'fire shot'. We found out that if we wanted to create a fire, we had to make sure we kept to these guidelines. Firstly we had to make sure the fire was under control at all times and away from any main roads as this could cause distractions to drivers. We were also told that we could go through with the fire as long as it was on private property.

Upon arrival to Scott's we were invited in and went over any and all functions on our camera, at first glance it all looks complicated but soon became second nature. We learned about buttons such as 'Zebra' which highlighted different light sources which turned out to be very useful and also ways to darken and lighten scenes such as the 'shades' (which literally acted as sun glasses for the camera).

We finished at Scott's at approximately 1.30-40 and made our way to our first location at Cuckoo's Hollow. We went over the shots we were going to take on the way before we got there in order to save time as the weather was very cold and unpleasant.

Over the next couple of hours we shot every shot on our original story board and went our seperate ways very pleased with our work on this day. We had agreed before we left that we would meet up the next day (Tuesday 22nd February) at 9am at Isaac's house and this was the main house which we left all the equiptment.

Hours later I signed onto facebook to communicate with Isaac and find out if the shots were half as good as we thought they were. Unfortunately, and to our distress we found out that half the shots were poor quality with shaky hands and bad continuity which we tried to account for but putting it honestly, they looked ameteur. We talked for aproximately half an hour coming up with a plan as we only had the next day to film, we decided to film every shot again and take many more shots and takes than we needed and would only choose the utmost best in our final production. We also decided to take every opportunity to film that we got so me and Isaac met up at 10.30pm that night to do a singular shot which took much longer than expected as the cameras dimensions and set up has been altered.

After an hour of filming we left tired but comforted as we had our action plan ready for the next day.

Research into filming days

We have ordered the camera for the 21st February for a three day period. Here is a print screen of the three day weather forcast;

Our initial plan was to film everything in one day, and then go back to specific scenes that need re-filming either the same day or in the three day period. The weather forcast (in exception of the 19th) is fairly the same with dull dreary weather which fits with our chosen genre and feeling we're trying to convey.

We will film in the morning of the 21st as it is invariably fine in the morning and the weather generally worsens as the day progresses. (Only if the filming is neccesary)

Deposit

On the 13th February 2011 I met up with Isaac and withdrew from my HSBS account £150 deposit for the camera. He is now in possession of this money and after the camera has been safely returned I will request this back from Isaac.

Camera hire complete

We have booked the specified camera for the 21st February for 3 whole days. This is the camera advised by Scott in terms of a combination of price and quality.

http://www.camerent.co.uk/video_camera_hire/consumer/Sony_PD170.html#specifications

Here is a picture and link of the camera, the link shows the different qualities and attributes the camera has to offer.

Update

Unfortunately due to a trojan virus affecting my home computer I have not updated my blog in a while, I have not had many free periods and in lesson time been filming out final piece. In the next few posts I will explain what we have done and when we took these stages of action.