The document discusses various practical and technical problems that may arise during a film production shooting outdoors. Some key issues mentioned are unpredictable weather, lighting challenges, and dealing with people in shot locations. Solutions proposed include thorough weather checking, choosing morning/evening golden hour for shooting, and scouting less crowded areas. Equipment problems like phone issues, storage limits, and battery life are also covered, along with solutions like backups, charging devices fully, and planning equipment-heavy shots first. Post-production challenges like corrupted storage and poor quality uploads are addressed by uploading work to multiple places and potentially re-shooting images if needed.

1. Problem Solving
By Jessica Crosland

2. Theoretical Problems
Shooting Outside
Production Time Crew Involved
Transport
Finance
Health & Safety

3. Shooting Outside:
• I believe the weather in the UK changes drastically, that is why I have to be weary with this situation as a lot of
issues can occur such as lighting problems this is because when filming outside it is a lot more brighter and you
don’t get the full exposure focus of an image as you would in much lower lighting inside, as when you take pictures
outside you are more likely to not use other props such as a ring light whereas inside you would. Another main
issue for me all depends down to the weather on the shooting days as if it is raining typically I would not want to
film on this day the lighting would be gloomy and the images would be ruined also with camera/phone equipment
could cause issues with the rain. I will be including a mix of indoor and outdoor images in my product because I
want this to be creative and not just similar backgrounds throughout. With outside images things such as locations
can be an issue for me because taking pictures in a city/town can really depend on the sort of place you are stood
at etc. near buildings or over a shadow creates less wind exposure for my image. As wind can cause issues for the
turn out of the images such as hair ruining and not accurate shot types being used from the distraction of who is
taking the images.
• Outside lighting – really depends on the type of day it is or season which really affects an image especially which I
have noticed myself with images of models when it is extremely bright or sunny outside the image will
automatically create an under shadow on the persons eye and under eye which is hard to resolve when editing the
image. This makes it look unprofessional and hard for an audience to look into the image and model.it also
depends on the type of angle you place the camera in facing the sun, or not can drastically change the images
outcome this is something I would like to understand more and try out in my experiments. I think filming
throughout the day would be the worst time for a good lighting outcome as the lighting is more likely to change in
this time schedule, whereas morning and late evening lighting is more when the sun is set (golden hour) which
doesn’t take over an images outcome rather than throughout the day would.

4. Shooting Outside:
Solutions For These Issues-
• Weather- for now the weather is currently, extreme windiness and also a lot of rain which is likely to continue once I
begin my production. Therefore I need to make sure I have a plan beforehand for example daily checking the
weather forecast up to the production days I will need. It is also a good idea to always have a backup plan in case I
have to cancel because of the weather conditions. As I will be spending a couple of hours per shoot in these outside
locations I could have issues of people becoming cold especially my model etc. as I wont want to include images
with big coats on therefore I will advise the people I am with to make sure they bring one (just in case) or a couple
of layers to keep them comfortable.
• Lighting- I will think to film at more times which range from the morning and later on in the evening instead of
throughout the day this is because the issue is the ‘day lighting’ is a lot more brighter and creates a lot more
shadows to the images, whereas if I film later in the evening I have more exposure of being able to use things such
as flash or a light for the extra bit of lighting which I prefer for this type of photography.(soft lighting) is more so
what I am aiming to achieve. For lighting throughout the day I will be spending a lot of time in the sun and if the sun
drastically changes this will cause my images to not turn out as good I feel I can begin to use other props which
create reflections- like boards or cards which could help.
• People- Things like this can be people getting in the images which I am taking as I will be in locations which are in
the city ( a busy atmosphere) as any people may not want to be in these photographs so I have to be very careful
with this. Therefore to prevent this from happening I will make sure to pick locations which are suitable for pictures
being taken maybe less crowded areas so I can concentrate on the image with no background noise to distract me
etc. I could also go to these cities at the less busier times like not going in rush hour or weekends when it becomes a
lot busier.

5. Production Time + Crew Involved:
• My FMP deadline is very important and I want to make sure I don’t end up running over time, I want
to stick to the deadline and it would be even better if I did finish before so I can look back upon my
work for smaller detailed improvements which could be made. As I am creating a production
schedule this needs to add up well with my actual production which is another reason as to why I
need to stay in this time bracket. If issues occur this can slow down my production time with not
being able to complete bits because of my laptop etc. therefore I want to make sure I am taking
every opportunity I can to get this work done for instant any free time I have out of college I can
focus on being up to date so I don’t have to worry when it comes to production about previous work
which needs doing.in the past I have struggled with certain deadlines and not completing my slides
till the last bit but I am determined to follow up all of my work on time. On Thursdays I also have a 3
hour break whilst in college this is a great way to catch up using college computer in the free time.
• With my crew involved this will only be myself and one other person, which can be quite a struggle
because many issues can occur such as my crew member not turning up on shoot days or being busy
on this only exact days which I can take pictures on. For this I will need to make sure I have a back up
plan this will be using my other sister as a model to help me get the correct shots and make sure my
calendar is more flexible in case they are not free certain dates (we will make sure to plan these
dates beforehand not on the day).
• Another issue with the model could be that she automatically becomes shy once the camera comes
out for photos and isn’t giving her all into the pictures which results in them turning out basic and
not how I had planned. For this I believe it is great to communicate with my model beforehand as
questions as to how I could help her become more confident and maybe have a practice run without
taking pictures to make sure everything will work out as planned.

6. Transport + Finance
• As the model I will be shooting with lives in Manchester, this is a cost of
transport around £15 with my railcard which was a great investment as a
student for money off which means I will be using my own money from this, I
will only need finance money for the train transport because this will be a
return there which I will be spending my time there for a weekend which gives
me a lot of time to take the photoshoots. Once I am in Manchester they city Is a
walk away which wont be needed for any other finance like a bus etc. unless I
want specific locations which are quite far (this will be unlikely). The other part
of the finance I will be using is for things like refreshments whilst we are
shooting on breaks there is places around the city like cafes which I will use
money for a drink of snacks. Which shouldn’t be a problem as we will not be
shooting for too long and will have frequent breaks.
• I will not be spending any other bits on clothes etc. as I already have quite a lot
of these and little props if needed to be used. I also already have all of the
equipment so I will not be needing to buy anything other than the transport for
myself and food + drink. In Manchester there is other bits of quick transport
such as trams which if they are needed we will take this but these are normally
at a low cost for short distance.

7. Health & Safety:
• Health & safety is another very important aspect in my production with myself and
crew taking photoshoots outside there can be certain bits that I will need to look out
for and be wary of beforehand in case.
• Any member of the crew being close to any cars (accident happens)- as I will be in the
city centre of Manchester there is a lot of cars driving around of if we are another
location which is a car park accidents can occur and especially as we will be quite close
to the cars. For this I will be making sure we keep an eye out for any cars next to us and
if so move to a more clear location where it is less busy, or even go at a more less busier
time to avoid this. When crossing roads always use the lights, zebra crossing to be safe.
• Trips and falls when taking pictures- this can occur a lot when there is things left on the
floor or pavements which are easy to trip over and can be unnoticeable which isn’t a
good thing leading to any of us tripping with serious injuries. For this I want to make
sure we are looking where ever we stand and once we pick a location to check around
for any ‘danger spots’ ahead we don’t want to be rushing around because this will lead
to us falling a lot more easier.

8. Practical And Technical
Problems
Equipment
Post/Editing

9. Equipment
• The equipment I include is very important when it comes to getting the photographs for my production it
determines the outcomes, it is more so how I use the camera instead of a top quality expensive one I have to
make sure on each day I take photos that the equipment is in good quality and are able to be used because one
issue could cause a lot of problems to occur.as I will be using my I phone to take pictures because I feel most
comfortable with this and the quality of the camera is great I have to aways have a plan B or a solution to these
issues.
• Problem with the phone: out of nowhere issues can occur with any normal I phone which has previously
happened to me in the past where my phone will begin to glitch or the quality of my images are not turning out
as I planned these are common issues that can happen and can be very inconvenient for me.
• Solution: as there isn’t a full solution for this I can try to make it less likely to occur by not going on my phone as
much until I get to take pictures, cause it could be hot. I could also make sure I have enough room for all of the
pictures I am going to take so they don’t glitch and I will result in the being lost, make sure I have backed them up
on a USB or laptop.
• I phone battery running out: a normal case would be my phone running out of charge or not being fully charged
before I go out this is an issue because I will be out for a couple hours an when I am in the city taking picture I
wont really be having as much time to wait around to charge up the battery. My phone could also run out and I
could loose certain images I had taken.
• Solution: make sure I have my phone fully charged before I go out or charged in my spare time, I could even
purchase a portable charger in case I need to charge up my phone whilst I am out doing the production work
which could be a good investment for the future also.

10. Equipment
• Not enough storage on my phone: as of now I know I do not have enough storage on my phone to add over
more than 100 images which is most likely what I will be wanting. This means I could easily loose all of the
images and my phone will refuse me from being able to take an more pictures, this could also great a lag in
my phone for it to act very slow.
• Solution: this would be to fill up a lot of space beforehand such as delete junk emails which I have, any
photos I no longer need or app space I can free up to be able to have enough storage.
• Camera breaks: the camera in my I phone could simply be faulty or have broken, if the phone drops on the
floor the camera could smash etc. If it becomes damaged whilst shooting I will no longer be able to use it
causing a delay to my production schedule.
• Solution: I will make sure to have a backup plan with my I phone and use the person (crew member) I am
with to use there phone for a backup. I will also make sure a couple weeks before the shoot my phone is in
good condition and I will lead this up until the day of my shoot being extra careful with it and also keeping an
eye out on the camera.
• Lighting equipment runs out of battery: for my equipment I had decided to also use an flash light which I will
use in some pictures for better contrast to the lighting and also for better quality images depending on the
lighting, I wont be using this in every picture just various. This has a battery which you have to recharge full
and this only lasts around an hour therefore this could run out whilst on the shoot.
• Solution: I will make sure the battery is fully charged before leaving for the shoot and I will make sure to take
all of the pictures with the lighting equipment first so I can get all of them done and I will no longer need the
light for the rest of my pictures.

11. Post/Editing
• My USB corrupts or crashes: I store every single bit of my work on a USB and if this crashes or breaks this will
cause huge issues with loosing most of my work and parts of edited images on Photoshop. Which will cause
me to be behind with my work as I will have to produce every single thing again (which could take weeks).
• Solution: I will make sure to upload and save most of my work also on one drive or send it to my email as a
back up of having the work therefore if any work is lost I will be able to recover most of it.
• My pictures don’t look good quality when uploaded: sometimes the case is after taking photos they can look
a lot more blur and not in focus, the exposure can also dim quite a lot when your taking the picture as the
lighting has a sudden change.
• Solution: I can look at these images and decide weather I want to add more days in for photoshoots just in
case I need to go back and re do certain bits. Even the weather can change drastically which I need to be
cautions of in case I cannot reshoot on them days if its raining. Another solution if its not possible to take more
photoshoots is to use photoshop to focus more of the image or use the tools such as the exposure to change
this around.

12. Experiments

13. Designing LOGOs…
• For the first part to my experiments I wanted to
test with logos so I decided to follow a couple
YouTube tutorials which were around ‘how to
make a logo design’ as I believe this is a weak
point for me whenever in past projects I come
to create logos I keep it very simple and end up
having a font with no editing at all. This time I
want to try more with the fonts and add edits
and designs to them for a more creative look.
This first experiment was a fail for me because I
struggled with following the tutorial I didn’t
really make sense much, I explored into the
gradient tools and found colour schemes I could
create into a circle type shape for the effect
shown above on the background (style-radial) I
liked this it looked effective with the logo. I then
moved onto the fonts and added in the
structure size up and making the font stand out
a lot more, I did try to change half of my font to
be different colour schemes but this didn’t work
out and I ended up with a line between my font.
I did try follow the tutorial a couple more times
but still couldn’t get the hang of this and
decided to try out another tutorial page,
however I wanted to include this experiment
because it is a stepping stone to my
experiments and I can look back on the
progress I have achieved from this.

14. Designing LOGOS…
• The second experiment I did was continuing with the logo
designs using photoshop I looked into more detail on the
different tutorials and found ones which are a lot more
understanding and a bit simpler for me to get. This tutorial
focused more on the shadows of the logo which I found
very interesting, I began by creating a new page and adding
a plain background colour of pink I then added a font
choice which was just my intials.to create this shadow I had
to duplicated the layers each time and use the ctrl T on my
keyboard to select this layer I then changed the angle of the
font which was flipped upside down, for me to then place
this behind my actual font. I had also changed the opacity
of the shadow to make it blend a lot better which I liked the
outcome too and then used the blending tools to add more
depth to the font and also to the background outer corners.
The last part to this tutorial I added a gradient to my
background which topped of my outcome and looked very
professional. I found this tutorial a lot more helpful and I
was happy with my outcome because I achieved one which
I liked I was also able to develop the outcome and I have
now learnt something new from this which is how to create
shadows to a logo using Photoshop. I think the only
weakness from this tutorial is that I didn’t fully follow it in
every aspect parts I did miss out.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NVKju7nZvDI

15. • To add to my experiments I decided I wanted to explore more with different types of lighting this
is because I believe a good picture can really depend on the type of lighting which you are using
and for my production I want to make sure I am achieving the best professional lighting I can get.
I chose two different types of equipment which I have at home (affordable) which is a ring light
this is a white light and as this is a circle shape it suddenly brightens up the whole room your in
once it is turned on you can also change the brightness level, but I wanted to keep mine quite
low because a bit of light can go along way. I then also used the other mini light which I have, this
is also a white light but is a lot more smaller which means it is used for when you want to achieve
light in certain areas of an image. I also have a filter for this which is orange and gives the lighting
a much more cool tone which I like. In the images below I have taken a couple pictures and
chosen my favourites to display with two different types of lighting.
• To add to this I did take a few more pictures outside, as I don't think this would be as relevant to
my production I wanted to test the outside lighting as all of my other shots were inside.

16. Equipment for the
experiment:

17. Test Shots-
equipment used ring light
The first photography's I took came out with clear
lighting which I liked this ring light was able to
cover the whole room lighting which meant I
didn’t have to have any extra lights on. This type of
lighting is great for any inside photographs I will be
taking because it has a good balance with the sort
of basic backgrounds I also believe this lighting
would be good for edited pictures therefore I can
edit these images after taking them using
Photoshop. This is because the lighting is very
basic which I didn’t like there is no vibrance to the
image and with some exposure and editing this
image could become a lot more alive because with
this lighting it wont be grabbing my audiences
attention. Using my phone I also added the
portrait setting for one of the images which
worked out well but I think I preferred the normal
camera because it was very zoomed inwards and
some of my photographs ended up being blurry as
I haven’t had much practice with that type of
setting before. As this ring light also isn’t very
practical to take outside I will be only using this
type of lighting when I am inside or when I need
this sort of bright lighting.
Shots used such as
close up, portrait
shot and looking
down shot (high up
angle).

18. Test Shots-
equipment used SETTO mini light
• The second lighting used turned out a lot different to the ring
light especially because I was using a colour filter which
created a lot of shadows, I didn’t like the shadows as much
but I think these were only achieved because I had the
brightness quite low on the light and I had no other light on
in my room at the time. I tried out a couple different angles
to put the light in for example side, front and above I found
the above angle created much less of a shadow and I liked
this (top right image).whereas the bottom right image was a
front angle of light which you can see this created a shadow
underneath the models eyes and face which I didn’t want to
achieve it also looks very unprofessional and not in focus.as
you can see the bottom left image was taken with a 0.5x
13MM angle using my iPhone which zooms out the image a
lot I tried this effect out to see the outcome and I did like this
it was very unique and I was able to ft more into the image
this could be a technique I can use for production. Overall, I
did like using this type of lighting especially with the filter
which made the tone of the images a lot more saturated and
cooler I will definitely be using this piece of equipment for
production and it is a lot more practical when I am shooting
outside as its smaller.

19. Updated Problems…
• As my projects has been on-going I have come across a few problems since both my planning and production work
which I found would be best to log these down throughout the project, so I can also solve these.
• When it came to my pre-production PowerPoint I had a plan which I would go to Manchester for my production to
take pictures there, however problems occurred with my older sister being able to get days of work and I couldn’t
managed to fit around my time schedule so therefore I had to chose my plan B which was my solution in this
situation – I am glad I had chosen to add in a plan B or I wouldn’t have been able to plan something quickly in
enough time.
• Whilst doing my production, I came across one specific problem which was to do with the wix site I was using, for
some reason it wouldn’t load up correctly quite a lot of times and I kept getting stuck on the loading page for
around 10 minutes which became very time consuming and held me back a bit because this was very important to
me to begin my wix site. For the solution to this I had tried to open it up using google chrome because this seems to
load faster I also tried using my own laptop instead which worked well although when the wix site does crash there
isn’t much for me to do normally I will focus on other parts of my production to save up time.
• I had gotten to starting my production and the first week in which I had noted in my reflective journal was that I still
needed to take some more photography which would fit in well with the type of layout style I had chosen, this was
also time consuming because I then felt like I couldn’t properly begin my website with out having some images to
see the progress of my layout (my website also mostly consists of mages) so that weekend I had taken some extra
shots and at college I was focusing on colour scheme and fonts for the website until I had gotten the images.

20. • When working on my production I came across another problem which was that I wanted to have at the top of
my website was the font title and then above this was a slide show with my two different fonts to show the 20%
off with this constantly moving across non-stop however I couldn’t seem to create this I tried out the hover tool
on wix which is when you add this to go on top and it creates two different texts. This didn’t work out for me
and I couldn’t seem to figure out how to do this when looking at all of the animation types, to resolve this issue I
tried looking onto YouTube for mini tutorials which gave me a bit more help but I still didn’t feel like it was
exactly how I wanted it so I decided to just have my font across at the tip with an animation instead of it
constantly moving across.
• At the beginning of my production I had already been using the scheme of emailing any pictures I take from my
phone to the laptop which I normally always prefer to do however the problem occurred when it began to take
hours for my images to reach the laptop which was a pain for me because I had to then spend hours trying to get
other things done and I couldn’t edit my images, until I had realised I could have just used one drive which I
haven’t really used before (as having a memory stick I never really needed to use it) this was much quicker and
faster and took a matter of seconds to transfer over I downloaded the one drive on my phone to do so.
• When I was doing my production work for my Instagram account I was using photoshop to create a couple of my
images which were going to be plain backgrounds with text from dafont but when I was creating this everything
turned out very blurry and my font wasn’t focused it came out looking very unprofessional, I then tried to
upload them to my Instagram and realised it looked even worse it would have been to blurry for my audience to
read anything. I then spoke with my tutor and found out the issue which was because the image size didn’t
match up correctly and was too small with the type of fonts I was using once I had switched this and changed it
to the correct sizing it looked a lot more in focus and turned out very clear when I was uploading them to my
social media account.

21. Why I used lightroom and the dazz cam
instead of photoshop?
For example below the
image on the left I used
photoshop to edit I
noticed when using the
lasso tool for the
backgrounds and
duplicating images it
looked very uneven and
wasn’t minimalistic at
all, it felt a lot less
professional and rushed
which I didn’t like.
Whereas, when using the
lightroom app and dazz cam
on my phone there was a lot
more tool options to use for
lighting and I could also add
the grain affect which I liked
with shadows around the
focus of the image, this looked
professional to me which was
my aim.
It also added colours to the
image which made it stand
out that extra more.
Therefore, the problem which occurred was myself realizing that I didn’t like using photoshop to edit my pictures I much
more preferred my own apps which I have already been using and I believe they created a lot more effects which
photoshop don’t provide and they had tools which I haven’t seen on photoshop before. Sometimes I do also struggle
with photoshop because I find bits hard to navigate around whereas with the phone apps they are simpler and easier to
use with the experience which I have now gained.