This document provides a self-evaluation of the film production process. Some key lessons learned include making sure the shooting schedule fits with all involved, including adequate setup times. The storyboard could have been more descriptive and included more shots to fill the five minute runtime. There were some issues with equipment not working properly. To improve, more planning and communication is needed, along with rehearsing actors and checking equipment beforehand.

1. Self-evaluation
Introduction
Duringthisprocess,I have learntdifferentthings.One of themisaboutscheduling.Ifoundoutthat
it isimportantto make sure the schedule fitseverybodyinvolved.Thisimportantsowe can getthe
shotsdone intime so we have enoughtime togo back andfilmanypick upshots thatwe needed.
Also,Ifoundout howimportantitwas to make sure our recce for our locationsincludedsound
checksas windand cars couldbe heard onthe final production.Also,atsome points,itwashardto
hearthe dialogue of the characters.Ifoundthat the shot list/storyboardneededmore shotsas21
shotswere notenoughto fill afive minute filmwhichwasthe aimof our shortfilm. Asa group,we
didhave some issuestoovercome,thiswaswhenourplannedactorto playthe silhouetteman
didn’tshowup and our directorLaolufilledintoplayhispart. Also,there were some issueswith
tripodsandcamera fittingtogetherascamerasnot workinghoweverwe were able toresolvethe
issuesbyworkingtogetherandthinkingof the bestsolutionswhichwastosimplyjustreplace the
equipmentthatwasfaultywithequipmentthatwasoperationally.
Shooting Schedule
Our shootingschedulewasinplace sowe couldorganise whenwe shoteachpart in an orderthat is
convenient.Forexamples,if youwere filminginabuildingandoutside,youwoulddoall the shotsin
one locationthenmove onto the other.The shootingschedule wasdetailedasithad all the timings
we neededincludingdetailssuchasthe setup timesandendingtimes.Also,itwasdetailedinthe
wayit statedwhatcrew and talentwouldbe neededonthe shoot.The shootingschedule was
realisticaswe plannedtoshooton twodays as opposedtoone daymeaningthatthe talentwould
needa change of clothes,also,itcouldhave beenmore stressful forustofilmall inone day,
regrettably, the shootingschedule didnotfitinwiththe actor portrayingthe Silhouette Manwhich
meantwe had to change our plans and use Laoluas the Silhouette Man.Itwaseffective howeveras
it allowedustomanage the orderwe be shootingin,evenif itwasn’tatthe plannedtimes. This
impactedourproductionasit made it easierforusto filmbecause we knew whatshotswe wouldbe
doing.If I was to make improvements,itwouldbe tomake sure that the schedule fitinwiththe
actor and also,I wouldmake sure the timingsaccountedforthe setup time asI feltitwas under
estimated.
Storyboard
The storyboardwas inplace so the camera operatorwasable to know how to frame the shots.Also,
it allowedustoplanthe durationof each shotas well asany audiowe wouldaddinthe post
productionprocess.The storyboardwasdetailedinthe waythatitincludedphotos,descriptionand
audiowhichwasuseful however,Ifeel itcouldhave beenmore descriptive andalso,hindsight,I
thinkwe shouldhave usedmore shotstofill andfive minute film.The storyboardwasrealisticaswe
didn’tinclude anyshotsthatwouldbe toochallengingtofilm, i.e.birdseye view whichwouldhave
beenhardgiventhatwe didn’thave the time or resourcestomake it possible.However,itwasn’t
realisticinthe waythat 21 shotwouldbe enoughtofill a five minute shortfilm. Itwaseffective in
the way itmade it easierforthe camera operatorto frame the shotquickly.The impactithad on the

2. productionwasthat itclearlyshowedthe framingandshottypesaswell asthe descriptionof what
happensinthe shot.To improve the storyboard,Iwould have usedmore shotstoadd more time to
the film.Also,Ithinkitwouldhave beengoodideatouse more close upsinorder to show the
emotionsof the charactersand to make the audience emphasize withthe victim.
Shot list
The shot listwasin place toallowus to know whenwe wouldbe shootingwhatandinwhatorder.
Thisis helpful asitsavestime byplanningonthe orderof shotsthan justfollowingthe storyboard
as the actors or crewcouldstill be inpositiontofilmanothershot.The shotlistwasdetailedasit
had all the shotswe neededanditwas ina suitable order.Itwasrealisticaseverythingthatwas
listedcouldbe done where itwassaid.Also,itwaseffective asitallowedustoorganise ouractors
so theyknewwhattheyhadto do. The impactit had on ourproductionisthat it savedustime
rather thanmakingup the shotsas we wentalong.I thinkitcouldhave beenimprovedslightlyinthe
sense of groupingi.e.the postonthe groundcouldhave beendone togetherasthe talentwere
alreadyin position however,sayingthis,Istill thinkitwassuccessful andeffective.
Recce
The recce of the locationswasdone asit allowsasto identifyanyissueswe couldface whilefilm.
Thisincludesthingssuchaspermissionandpossible hazardsaswell asanythingthatcoulddisturb
the productionprocess.The recce was detailedinthatitdidcoverall aspectsof the locationsuchas
lighting,sound,accessibilityandpermissions.Also,the riskassessmentcoveredanyhazardsthat
couldaffecteitherthe crew,the talent,the publicorall.Notonlydidthisinclude thingsthatcould
cause injurysuchas beinghitby a car, it alsocoveredthingsthatcouldbe costlylike people stealing
equipmentwhichmeanwe wouldhave topayforas a result.The recce wasrealisticinthe sense of
the lightingandaccessibilitybutthe riskassessmentseemedtobe unrealistichowever,itis
importantforus to planfor anythingtogo wrong,no matterhow likely. Ifeel the recce waseffective
as it coveredall aspectsof the location.The impactithad on the productionwasthat itmeantwe
were all safe andpreparedforanythingtogo wrong andwe were aware of any soundissues.Ithink
the locationrecce couldhave beenimprovedbyrecordingthe sound onadevice tocheck what
soundsare pick upas there isa considerablyamountof noise causedbythe windinourfinal
productionswhichsometimesmakesitharderforthe audience tohearthe dialogue.
Actors
It isimportantto have goodactors, bothin theirperformance abilityaswell astheirsuitabilityfor
theirspecificrole.Also,itisa goodideato have rehearsalssothe talentfeel more comfortable and
are able toadapt to the character. Also,itisimportantto make so the actor we chose were reliable
and organisedmeaningtheywouldturnupwhentheywere needed.Ouractorsfor the most part

3. were reliablehowever,the actorwhowassupposedtoplayThe Silhouette mandidn’tshow up,this
couldhave beendowntoa lackof communicationbetween the castandthe crew.The actors that
we chose were suitedtotheirroles, asHannahand Anthonybothfitthe bill forthe characters of
Busolaand Jose Manuel.We didn’trehearse aswe didn’tfeelwe hadtime tohoweverthe both
performedwell.Hannahwasreallyprofessional andgave agreat andbelievable performance
whereasAnthonyimprovedasthe time wentonbecause onthe firstdayhe filmed,he wasn’treally
projectinghisvoice butonthe secondday we shot,he came across to be muchmore confident.As
we were unable touse Aonghusasthe Silhouette Man,Laolufilledin.Originally,we were planning
on himplayingthe role before,however,itcouldhave beentoomuchforhimto do.As we didn’t
have a choice,Laoluplayedthe Silhouette Mananddone a great jobin shortnotice,thiswasdone
to the fact that the character was hisideaandhe had hisownideasonhow to approach the role.To
improve onthe acting,I wouldhave selectedthe same actors,however,Iwouldmake sure thatour
groupwere incontact withthe talentand well aware of theirschedule.Also,Iwouldmake time to
rehearse togetthe bestresultspossible.
Crew roles
It isimportantfor the groupfor eachmemberto know there responsibilities androles.The
productionrolesdocumentwaswell detailedandincludedeverythingwe neededtoknow interms
of whatour responsibilities were. Laoluwasthe directorwhichmeantthathe wasin charge of
makingsure everyone wasdoingtheirrole.Beingthe directoralsomeantthathe hadcontrol of the
visualizationandartisticanddramaticaspects.Tanimhad the role of beingthe producer,thismeant
that he was incontrol of thingssuchas timingandmakingsure everyone showsup.Iwasgiventhe
role of Camera operatorwhichmeantitwas myjob to recordthe footage.Thisalsomeantthat the
qualityof the filmwasdownto me includingthingssuchasframingandfollowingthe directions
giventome bythe director.Cliffordwasgiventhe taskof being the soundmanwhichmeantto was
hisjobto ensure thatthe soundwasgood qualityandwe couldclearlyhearthe characters,however,
the fact that our cameraswere not compatible withexternal mics,Cliffordhelpwiththe camera
workand filledinforme whenIwasn’table toturn up for a shoot.The planningof our roleswas
effectivebecause itmeantwe all knewwhatwe hadtofocuson and whoto take directionfrom.
There were some issueswhichcouldbe improvednextlike sound.Thiscouldbe improvedbythe use
of a boommic whichwouldpickupcleareraudio,however,we wouldneedtomake sure we hada
camera that wouldbe compatible.
Equipment
The equipmentcansometime notbe workingorfullyoperationallywhichmeansitisvital tocheck
any equipmentbeforetakingitoutto shoot.We checkedthatthe camerawas fullychargedand
fittedwithanSD card before takingitoutto shoot.We checkedthatthe tripodworkedinthe sense
that itwas able to standand extendfullywhichitdid.There wasan issue whenwe were settingup
to shootwere the camera andthe tripodcouldn’tconnectdue toa faultyconnector.Also,there was
a problemonthe secondday of film,there wasanissue where we hada fullychargedcamera
however,the shoottooklongthan anticipatedsoitran out,luckily,the shootlocationwasrightnear
to the college meaningwe couldgetanotherbattery.Also,onanotheroccasion,ascheduledshot

4. was cancelledasthe camerawe usedwas unable torecordany footage.Toimprove,Iwould make
sure everythingworksbysettingupquicklybefore takingitapartand settingupon location.
Call Sheet
The call sheetishelpfulasithas detailsontimings,contactsandprops.Our call sheetwasdetailed
as it includedshootingtimesaswell ascontactdetailsof boththe cast and crew as well of a listof
the props thatwere neededandwhen.The call sheetwasn’ttotallyeffective asnoteveryone turned
up whentheywere supposedtohowever,Ithinkthisisdownto a lack of communication.To
improve this,Iwouldconsultwiththe talenttomake sure itfitin withtheirneeds.
Conclusion
I thinkmymanagementhasa lot of room forimprovement.Asagroup,itwouldhave beenmuch
betterforus to filmearlierwhichwouldhave givenusmore time forpost-productionandtoshoot
any pickup shotswe may have needed.Nexttime,myaimisto be more decisive onthenIwill be
filmingwhichwill helpme tobe organisedmeaningIdothingsquickerbuttoa betterqualityasI
won’tbe rushingthings.