Evaluation of Both Shoots:

Shoot one:

This was the first shoot where we focused on filming as many location shots as possible which are a very important part to the thriller opening. We all shared roles between filming, setting up the shots and props including continuity and ensuring the camera was on the corect settings. This was shared out so we all did an equal amount of each aspect to share the work evenly.

At points, there were some things which went wrong. The first of these was when we filmed about 5 outside long shots of the house to realize afterward that the gain had been on a high value which would have lead to a grainy effect once in editing. This setting was left from people using the camera prior to us and was down to us to check and put it at a more suitable value, which we failed to initially do. After realizing this, we altered the setting and re-shot.

There were no other major issues or anything that 'went wrong' but we did have issues trying to create a tracking effect. This was encounterd when trying to create the effect of tracking into the front door and also when trying to track into the bedroom scene. We experimented with putting the camera ontop of various wheelable items such as a bike, wheeley chair, bin etc. After watching these back we decided that the effect created was not of a high enough standard since the shots were considerably bumpy and did not reflect the desired smooth effect of a track. To overcome this issue, we used a zoom instead.

In many ways we did use the technology to it's full potential using all the possible features and settings to our knowledge to make our shots as good as possible. I may have made more use of certain setting such as the ND filter. We could have experimented more with this during the outdoor shots to see if it would bring in more detail since these shots were noticeably bright, but not to an extent which made them over-exposed. Except from this though, the technology was otherwise used to a good potential.

There are not many more pieces of equipment which we required for our shoot but, for example, a piece of equipment to improve the quality of our tracking shots would have been useful. Equipment such as a camera dolly and piece of camera track would have allowed these shots to be done at a high enough quality to be included within the final edit and prevented the shaking effects previously mentioned.

If we were to do the shoot again there are several things I would have tried to have done differently. One of these would be to have shot on a day where the weather was more overcast which would have set a more appropriate atmosphere than the clear, blue sky day it was. We only had that day to shoot so our first priority was to ensure we filmed all we needed, and due to that could not take into account aspects such as weather conditions. We also made one error with continuity which was only discovered in editing. It isn't particularly major but if we had the opportunity, I would ensure this would not happen again. A final difference I would have made to to have shot the fight scenes in the house itself. Due actors being unavaliable, they were unable to make this shoot where we would have filmed the fighting scenes in the dining room location. Instead of this, we postponed these part of the scene until the next shoot where we would use a different location but make every effort to try and ensure the shots would still work when the piece came together. Apart from all that was mentioned, I am happy with how every other part of the shoot went.

Shoot Two:

This second shoot was primarily for the fight scenes and shots of the woman waking up disoriented. Once again, as in the other shoot, Naomi and I swapped between roles of filming, directing the actress, setting up shots and setting up the camera between shots. This was to, as before, ensure we shared roles equally and got a go at each aspect of the shoot. There werent many issues during this shoot as we learn't from the previous issues we had so everything went smoothly and to plan.

I think we used the technology available to a good potential as we paid attention to each specific setting to ensure our shots were as good as possible. We could have potentially experimented with aspects such as shutter speed in the shots such as the fight scene to give a dis-orienting effect by setting it lower, but we can also achieve this effect in post production.

Most of the shots filmed in this shoot only required the equipment we were given so nothing extra was really required. Some of the shots may have benefited if we used lighting equipment for effect, for example, to use low key style lighting on the fight scenes to emphasis the dangerous and threatening atmosphere of those shots.

If we were to do the shoot again, some aspects I would change. One of these would to have taken more pans of the actress's body. Only when it came to log and capture did we notice some errors with the actress moving and some sharp movements of the camera which did not suit the shot. Therefore, I would have done a couple more takes of that shot. Additionally, taking some more interesting, varying shots of the fight scene may have been a worthwhile thing to have done. I would have done this just to make these shots more interesting and intriguing for the viewer.