Depict task:
The task was to make a 90 second film in a group of 3 people. We had notes of comparisons to other depict films and agreed that on other films, the sound tended to be of poor quality, and the genres ranged a fair bit, so we wanted to blend a couple of different styles and get a good sound while recording. We started brainstorming ideas and making a draft storyboard but decided that the original story didn't work as it was a Halloween-based story that wouldn't be convincing unless we got all filming done in one night, was very unrealistic.
After reconsidering, we came up with the "Spittin' Facts" idea, a mockumentary featuring Gustas as the main character, having a very overactive imagination and confusing everyone around him with his weird one-liners.
These are the pre-production files my team produced for our depict film. The documents were allocated as such - I would do the shot list & storyboard, Ryan would do the Police email, Budgeting and Talent releases And Gustas would do the risk assessment, production schedule and location releases.
However, as we neared the start of production date, not all the documents had been completed at the date we would have liked. I ended up completing the production schedule and the location release was done on the day of the first shoot.
The first shoot itself presented problems as well, with neither the microphone nor the camera recording any audio and consequently leaving the 5 shots we recorded unusable meaning they had to be re-recorded. This taught us to check the equipment before shooting the first shot and shoot nearer to our classroom so that any issues could be quickly resolved, which I'm glad to say we did in the future shoots.
The 2nd shoot went much better. Although we couldn't use the room we wanted, we found quite a good filming space to substitute, filmed everything we needed and a few extra shots which came in handy in the editing stage.
When the time came to start editing, we didn't have everything recorded so I decided to edit the film myself in my own time so that we could use lesson time for filming as our independent study blocks didn't line up and we were all previously engaged after college with work so filming after college wasn't going to work either.
Later on, Gustas had to isolate for COVID reasons after the 2nd shoot, meaning we couldn't film some of the shots we originally intended on filming. Luckily, the extra shots from the 2nd shot substituted for the lost shots. When the shots were cut and edited together, the edit was 107 seconds long, so some shots had to be cut to fit the 90 second brief. Also, the background music was changed to 1 song, rather than the planned 3 as I didn't feel the other 2 songs really fitted the vibe of the film that had manifested.
Overall, as far as the production is concerned, I think the film itself is great, but we had to adapt and change aspects of it from the pre-production documents. Until the editing stage, we were quite tight for time and we had to make several edits to the production schedule to stay in-line with it. Some audio was of bad quality, particularly Ryan's Pieces to camera, and the camera wasn't completely in focus but overall, it works pretty well.
My favourite aspects of the film are the comedy of Gustas' lines which were mostly unscripted. We planned some lines but most of them didn't get used in the end as they were for the lost shots and we didn't want to repeat them for what we thought would be extra shots that probably wouldn't be used. Gustas pretty much came up with his one-liners himself which I think makes the film a lot more authentic.
The documents themselves:
Budgeting - The budgeting document itself was completed with a total cost of around £11, however I can't seem to trace the completed version and to be honest, with equipment hire being free and no props used for the shoot, it wasn't really necessary, especially when the only costs were bus tickets that were bought regardless of whether the production would have happened or not and fast food that wasn't necessary as shoots were always done just before or after lunchtime.
Police Email - This was completed effectively, although not sent as none of the proposed locations were ever used due to Gustas' isolation and all shots being shot at college.
Synopsis - This was an extra document that wasn't really essential to the pre-production, but I thought I'd include it anyway as it shows what we had planned for the plot of the film. It was completed effectively and we managed to get it up to 250 words which I think is pretty impressive considering that the film doesn't really have that much of a plot and only 3 characters with 1 extra.
Talent Release - This was completed effectively although some of the talent wasn't organised in the end due to the shots not being filmed.
Minutes Document - This details what meetings took place, what work was done when and what decisions were made and when. It was completed effectively.
Production Schedule - This was completed quite well although we had to make a few edits to the date of the shoots to stay realistic.
Risk Assessment - This wasn't completed awfully well, with Gustas using a general risk assessment template but not editing it to fit the specific conditions of our production. We didn't really use it much when filming so it didn't the production to much of an extent.
Shot list - This details what shots were to be filmed, what conditions to film them in and what edits to make for them in the editing stage. It made filming a lot easier as we knew what to film and how to edit it. It was completely effectively.
Storyboard - This was very similar to the shot list when completed but gave a visual representation of the shots we had in mind. The drawings are pretty bad but they do the job of representing camera angles and locations. Overall, I think it was completed effectively although strangely enough, we actually used the shot list more when filming.
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