This document outlines Adam Lepard's plans for problem solving and addressing potential issues throughout his film production project. He discusses both practical/technical problems like equipment, location, weather, and props as well as theoretical problems such as crew dynamics, refreshments, finances, health and safety, job roles, and production time. For each potential problem area, Adam provides details on his planned solutions and backup plans to prevent or quickly fix any issues that may arise during production.

1. FMP: PROBLEM SOLVING
Adam Lepard

2. PROBLEM SOLVING
In order to be successful in the project I need to accept the possibility of things going
wrong and plans falling through, and this will allow me to look at my project and see
where things are likely to go wrong. By doing this I can try and prevent things going
wrong in these areas or prepare a back up plan so that I can quickly fix issues and
move foreword. Problem solving is all about planning so that in the eventuality of a
problem it can be prevented or there will be another plan that can be followed. I think
that problem solving will be important to me as I have run into issues in previous
projects without having a back up plan and this has cost me lots of time. Problem
solving will help me to stay on track and allow me to keep as much time as possible
to work on my project so I can make it as good as possible. In this power-point I want
to look through all the aspects of my project that have a chance of falling through and
taking action to make sure I can resolve these issues or prevent them entirely. I also
want to track problems that occur during my production and how I solve them.

3. PRACTICAL/TECHNICAL PROBLEMS
• Equipment
• Techniques
• Music
• Storage
• Software
• Workingat home
• Props

4. PRACTICAL/TECHNICAL PROBLEMS
Equipment
At the moment I film with my cannon 350D which I’ve
used for all my previous video projects and I’ll be using it
again in this project as I’m used to working with it so it’ll be
the easiest to film with. I also want my friend Ollie to help
me out as a second camera man so that I have a second
camera on board and someone who’s skilled at filming. As
I’m going to be filming a long take in the scene I’m
shooting I want to bring A shoulder mount along so that I
can get a steady tracking shot. I also want to test out
college’s gimble as I think that this could also work really
well for a steady tracking shot but in order to use this in my
production I will need to be trained how to use it. I also
need to use coloured lighting in my scene by using gels
onto of different sources of light, in order to do this I will
probably need to buy some LED lights as normal lights
melt gels. If the gels don’t work or I can’t get the lights I will
probably see if I can create a coloured effect in premiere
or after effectsbut I most likely get the right lights.
Techniques
In my scene I will be shooting a tracking shot which will
probably last for 45 seconds, for this shot I will need to use
equipment such as a gimble or shoulder mount and I can
create the illusion of the shot all being one take through
editing techniques. Before I film the tracking shot I want to
make sure I have a solid plan of how I will film the shot, I
also want to make sure that all the actors and camera
operators know the plan and have to shot well rehearsed so
that we we start filming it will take us less attempts to film
the scene. I think it would help if I practiced some tracking
shots in my production experiments as I could get a better
understanding of how to film these shots as well as gaining
an understanding of what could go wrong in a tracking shot.
I want to have a match cut at the end of the tracking shot
which should be pretty easy to film/edit and shouldn’t require
a backup plan, I just need a lot of takes so that I can match
the edit. I want to film and edit some match cuts for my
production experiments so I can get a perception of the
process

5. PRACTICAL/TECHNICAL PROBLEMS
Music
In my productionI want to createmy own pieceof
music to create auniqueatmosphereto the film as it a
horror film I think that an originalscorewould be a great
additionto my work. As I’ve mademusic forprevious
projectsI haveknowledge of problemsthat will occurin
this area of production. The mainissuethat I’ve faced in
the past has beenthat I spend too much timeworking
on my music as I go throughthe process ofhaving to
learnhow to createmusic. I think that I canfix this
problemif I try to createa short trackin my production
experiments so that I’m moreadjusted to making music
and if the short track sounds goodI canextendit so that
I canuseit in my project. If I can’t makeanygood
music then I will resort to usinga songthat sounds
similar to what I want as I don’t want to spend too much
time making atrackas it’ll did into my production time.
Storage
I will mainly store all of my work on my mac at
college however I also want to E-mail myself all
of my work so that I have a back up incase
there’s anything wrong with my computer so I
will always have my work saved somewhere. I
think that it’s important that I store my work in
various places as it’ll mean that if anything were
to go wrong I would be able to reach my work
anytime I need to. I make sure that I save my
work frequently incase my computer crashes as
I don’t want to loose any work and this is
probably the best way to make sure that I loose
as little as possible in case something were to
go wrong.

6. PRACTICAL/TECHNICAL PROBLEMS
Software
I will mainly be using Adobe Premiere to edit my video
however there’s other software that I might be using
such as Final Cut as this will be the editing software
that I use on my laptop at home. I’ll also be using
Garage-band to make my music as this is accessible
to me as well as being convenient as I’ve used it in the
past. I will probably edit my music a bit in Adobe
Audition before I put it in my video as it’ll help me
control a bit more about how the track sounds. I think
that I’ll also need to use photo shop to create some
subtitles for my video as the soundtrack will
intentionally drown out the sound made by the
characters.
Working at home
When I’m working at home I try to keep my
process very similar to my process at college
such as saving regularly and emailing my work
to myself so I can continue work at college if I
need to. I think that working at home is important
for my problem solving in this project as it gives
me more time to work on PowerPoints when I
need to move foreword in my work as I can just
finish off any left over work at home. Working at
home also gives me the opportunity to add
anything to a PowerPoint that I might not of
thought about during a lesson such as a new
point of interest in my research or a different
form of planning to add to my pre-production.

7. PRACTICAL/TECHNICAL
PROBLEMS
Props
As I’m making a horror film I will need some props that
can be used for disturbing affect.I already have a bottle
of fake blood that I can use however I want to have a
realistic knife used in the scene but I think that if I used
a real knife it would be too dangerous so I think that I
could use an alternative weapon or make a fake knife
as I want the film to be shot safely and efficiently. I
won’t need many props for my scene and the props
that I do need won’t need much planning for as it’s
things like glasses and bottles which are widely
available.
Costume
When it comes to costumes it should be pretty
simple to sort out any issues with actors
costumes all I need to do is make sure that my
actors don’t where mainly red/green as I think
that this might look a bit weird in the coloured
lighting so I will tell my actors about this before
we start filming. I will make some masks for the
cult members out of paper-mâché as I think that
this would look cool in the red lighting and give
them more of a presence on screen.

8. PRACTICAL/TECHNICAL
PROBLEMS
Weather
I think that the weather should’t be much of an issue when filming as
pretty much the whole of my scene and trailer will be filmed inside
however I would like to film at night-time so that the it will be darker
which will give the film more of a horror aesthetic. In one of the shots
in my trailer I will need a shot of the sunset so that I can show that the
story takes place in one night from sun down. Weather will only really
matter for making sure that the viewer knows what time it is in the film.
Actors may not be able to film at the times that I need them to so I will
make sure that my actors are aware of exactly when we will be
shooting to avoid any drop outs or get more actors if the original
choices can’t make it.

9. THEORETICAL PROBLEMS
• Unwanted noise
• Actors/extras
• Crew dynamics
• location
• Finance
• Refreshments
• Productiontime
• Job roles
• Health/safety

10. THEORETICAL PROBLEMS
Location
As the location of the horror film is a house party I will
obviously be filming in a house however I need to have
a solid location of a house that I’ll film in. I know that one
of my friends has a house that’s quite large which we
could possibly film in if I make sure it’s ok with them, the
open spaces of their house would be great for
atmosphere and movement. If their house isn’t available
then we’ll need to use my house instead which will be
more cramped however it shouldn’t be an issue to film
in.
Crew dynamics
As a crew I think that me and Ollie will be doing a lot of
camera work and I think that this will be enough people
operating cameras in this project. I think that our main
objective as a crew is to set up the lighting for the scene
and to rehearse with the actors the movement of the
scene and where the camera will be so that we can
make our takes as close to perfect as possible. I aim to
make sure that all the actors and crew members feel
comfortable working with each other and that everyone
knows their role and as a director it basically my job to
make sure that they know what they’re doing

11. THEORETICAL PROBLEMS
Refreshments
While I’m filming with the crew and actors we will be in
someone's house so issues that occur such as food and
drink shouldn't be a problem. I think that maybe
refreshmentscould run into my budget at the worst but
really there won’t be many issues giving my team food
and drink while we’re working.
Finance
I probably won’t be spending much money on this
project as I’ve mainly been planning the project around
this idea. I will most likely spend some money getting
some LED lights as they won’t melt the gels I’ll use and I
can use them in later projects. I might need to spend
some money on a pizza for a shot in my trailer which is
probably something I’d spend money on anyway if I
wasn’t filming. Really I’ll be paying for anything that I
need but I aim to keep my budget around £50.
Healthandsafety
Healthandsafetyispossiblyoneofthemostimportantpartsoffilming,especiallywhen
therecouldbelotsofpeopleonsetasitmeansthatit’sprobablymorelikelyfor
someonetogethurt.Ithinkthatbylettingeveryoneonsetbeawareofriskssuchas
cablesthattheycouldtripover.Ithinkthatawarenessisprobablythebestwayto
preventrisks,tobeawareofpotentialissuesandtopointthemouttoeveryoneorto
changethingssothattherewillbenorisk.

12. THEORETICAL PROBLEMS
Job Roles
It’s quite easy for people to loose site of their role during
production so in order to prevent this I want to make
sure that Oliver who will be operating the camera knows
the route he will take around the set and knows what
types of shot I want, I basically want him to have a good
idea of what the scene should look like and I can do this
by sharing all my planning material. I will make sure
actors know what characters they are and give them the
screen play about a week before filming so that they are
prepared for filming. As director I need to make sure that
the actors know the the part they play and that it can all
be filmed well and by preparing everyone in advance to
work in their roles.
Production time
I think that running out of production time is an issue
that’s very likely to occur if I don’t prepare well enough as
this happened to me on previous projects. In this project
I think that I can avoid running out of time if I put more
effort into planning out each stage of my production. In
my pre-production I want to make a plan of how I want
my production to go and I also want to make a plan of
where things could go wrong and list what I should do if
this happens. I think that if I can make these plans then I
will be prepared for most issues that I could face. I also
want to make more types of plans such as story-boards,
scripts, a short screenplay and a shot list as I think
preparation will help speed up the production process.

13. THEORETICAL PROBLEMS
Actors/Extras
I think that I’ll need to make a list of people that I know
that have either worked on a project with me before or
that I know are skilled at acting. I think that by making a
list of people I can ask everyone to help and this way I
can get as many reliable people on board as possible as
my project is one where actors can be around as extras
however this isn’t necessary. I know that at most I will
need 4 actors for this shoot so as long as I’ve got 4
people there it’ll be fine and if I can get more people to
arrive then they can be used as extras. I will ask the
actors three weeks before filming and keep reminding
them as it gets closer to the day we film so that I can
avoid as many potential drop outs as possible.
Unwanted noise
I thought of a way to film my scene without needing to
worry about noise sounding rough however I think that
this would only really work in the film that I’m shooting.
I’m planning to record audio while filming and add a loud
version of my track over the top so that you can hardly
hear what the actors are saying as this will give the party
a greater sense of atmosphere. I will put subtitles in the
video so that the audience can see what the characters
are saying but really I think that this will make the scene
more atmospheric without me having to worry about
sound issues so in a way this would solve potential
issues and it would mean I would only have to add
subtitles to the scene.

14. THEORETICAL PROBLEMS
Corona Virus
An issue that has occurred and is most likely going to effect my production is the spread of the
corona virus. At some point we will possibly be put into lockdown during production and this will
likely be for a long time meaning that I would only be able to film by myself or with my family. If this
happens I will likely make changes to a lot of the aspects of production, it’ll mean a lot less actors
probably just me and my brother, I’ll have to scrap the idea of making it a one take shot so that I
can make the scene more impactful.I will likely have to use colour filters in whatever editing
software I’m using in order to make the appearance of the lighting that I would be using otherwise.
If filming outside for my trailer i’ll need to keep my distance from others. If we are put into lock
down then I believe that my project will still be possible however my production will likely suffer in
quality. If this were to happen I would also make sure that I adapt my screenplay and ideas into
something that is possible to film with just my family if necessary

15. CREW
Film Crew
• Oliver- filming on the Black-magic camera or the Canon 350D with the shoulder mount for the tracking
shot
• Me- I’ll be directing the actors as well as filming a few shots
Actors/cast
• Nathan L – will not be the primary focus of this scene however he will be shown as the main character
• Fiona – will be the love interest of Nathan-L’s character so they will most likely have some chemistry as
they are dating.
• Peni - Will play one of the cult members
• Sarah – Will play a cult member and someone who is aggressive to Nathan-R’s character
• Nathan R – will play the victim of the scene where he is chased through the house and killed by the cult
• Me - I will play a cult member if I can’t get any more actors
• Extras- anyone else I know who is interested can either play an extra or a cult member to replace me

16. MONEY/COST OF PRODUCTION
props/equipment cost
Coloured lighting gels £8-10
LED lights £15-30
paper £5
Paper mâché £5
PVA glue £3
Total £36-£53

17. MONEY/COST OF PRODUCTION
I honestly shouldn’t have an issue with the cost of production.
When I was working on my concept I knew that I wanted to
conserve my money so I designed my concept around the idea that
I wouldn’t need to spend much money so the only thing that really
requires much money is the lighting which is fine as the equipment
that I buy will be useful for this project and any film that I plan for in
the future. I will be making some props out of paper mâché such as
masks for the cult characters as I think that this will add an extra
layer of detail to my video and it won’t cost much to make either.

18. EXPERIMENTS

19. ONE TAKES
I made a video where Ollie and I practiced filming one takes and it went
fairly well, we didn’t have shoulder-mounts so the footage is a bit shaky
however the point of the video was to get used to how it feels to film a
one take. I think that I could’ve improved this experiment if we had
filmed some shots for longer and did some more interesting things with
the shots. We mainly walked up stairs as I knew that I’m going to be
filming someone walking up stairs in the production so I thought of this
as a sort of practice for the actual filming. I think that in my production I
will need to film with a shoulder mount as this definitely made my shots
more stable in my FMP last year and I’d like the shots in my project this
year to be just as clean.

20. ASPECT RATIO
In my experiment video where I tested out movement with the
camera for tracking shots when I was editing the video I realised that
I could use this video to experiment with aspect ratio as well. I
decided that I would use the ratio of 21:9 / 64:27 which I did by going
into the sequence in premier and changing the frame size to
2560x1080. I think that the result of a widescreen aesthetic looks
really good and I will most likely use this aspect ratio in my
production as I can see it working well in scene that I’m going to film.

21. MATCH CUTS
I think that my attempts at making a short sequence of match cuts was
quite bad as there were multiple continuity errors between each shot so I
will need to try this experiment again. I should practice getting things into
centre frame and making sure that someone is in the same position. I think
that I’m also going to have a go at filming match cuts using objects as well
as people so I have more practice using match cuts so that I’m more
prepared for the filming in in my final production.

22. COLOURED LIGHTS
In this experiment I wanted to test out the
coloured gels that I borrowed to see how I can
use them as lighting in my project. I started
out by testing the red gel. I used a clamp to
attach the gel to my phone so I could use the
light on my phone to create a portable red
light. This technique worked however it wasn’t
too effective as the footage was dark and
quite poor in quality as DSLRs aren't that
good in low lighting. The darkness of the
footage can be fixed in premiere however the
quality can only be changed slightly. I think
that this technique could work if I were using a
different camera or if I were using a stronger
light.

23. COLOURED LIGHTS
After my first attempt to use the red gel I decided to use
a different technique I placed the gel over the camera
lenses and kept the lights on in the hallway. This was
fairly effective with all of the gels as it covered the whole
image and kept everything clear. I think that the main
issue with this technique is that it’s clear to see where
there are sources of light as can be seen in the images
shown on this page. Another issue with this method is
that the gel being placed over the lens makes it difficult
to move around with the lighting as the gel moves
around as your shooting and it’s difficult to hold it in
place.
I don’t think that I’ll use this technique in my project as I
think that there are too many issues that could occur
while filming which could ruin shots. I think the main
thing to take away from testing this technique is that just
because a technique looks good doesn’t mean that it
should be used as it can have faults that make filming
more difficult.

24. COLOURED LIGHTS
Another issue I’ve found from the experiment is that in the footage
where I used the phone light there are points where you can see the
reflection of the light on walls and on reflective surfaces such as mirrors
or glass so I know now that I should avoid having these types of
surfaces in my video so that the light source isn’t shown in the footage. I
think that I should also not have the light be portable as I think that If I
just sources of light that satay in one place then it would look a lot more
professional.
I think that editing the footage by colour grading is useful and effective
as it enhances the colours and makes the footage more visible. To
avoid forgetting how I graded the footage I’ve kept screen shots of all
the colour changes so it will save me time when I’m editing my video.
I think that to make the lighting better in my video I will need to either
buy some LED lights or borrow some from college so that I can save
money.

25. MUSIC
• I started making my music by looking through the garage
band synth instruments and picking some that sounded
good. I knew that I was looking to make something that
sounded dark and loud so I tested out each synth bass
instrument to see if it had the certain sound I wanted. I
ended up choosing several synth instruments and making
little rhythms and layering these to make a whole. This took
a fairly long time as some of the beats I made sounded bad
or didn’t fit with other ideas so making a whole track was a
process of trail and error for me.
• An important part of the process for me was making a drum
loop that sounded heavy and suited the track, this was more
difficult than it seemed. I resorted to picking a drum loop
from the loop section in garage band as it was easier than
making a drum loop and more effective as it was exactly
what I was looking for.

26. MUSIC
• I wanted to add a sort of horror element to the track by
distorting some of the synth instruments using the bit-
crusher effect which pixelates and distorts the notes which
creates an eerie atmospheric vibe. I think that doing this
experiment has definitely got me back into the flow of using
garage band I think that looking at how different effects
such as the bit-crusher.
• In a lot of the instrument track I had to adjust certain
settings such as the reverb, resonance and distortion to
make the track sound more atmospheric and layered.
• Overall I think that my music turned out great and I
probably won’t need to make another track for my
production but I might anyway so that that there’s a
different song for the trailer. I think that in my production I’ll
probably need to edit the track so that it sounds more
distant as it reverberates in different rooms.

27. UPDATED PROBLEM

28. CORONA VIRUS
Due to the corona virus we have been put under lockdown/quarantine
so I will need to resort to my backup plan where I film my project with
my family. Luckily this happened during pre-production so I will only
need to shift around my ideas a little bit and I should be able to make
something that has a fairly good level of quality. I’m pretty annoyed as
this change has made most of my one take experiments useless as I
won’t really be able to do anything technically impressive due to the
fact that my only cast and crew are me and my family. I think that this is
going to have a big effect on the quality of my work however I think that
with the alteration of my planning I should be able to create something
fairly good.