Today we had a session scheduled for filming the next part of our soap trailer storyboard, and our group being very dedicated and enthusiastic towards our media project turned up on time with the actors and the equipment we needed. But, and I'm sure you knew a 'but' was coming due to the title of this post, we suffered a major problem. A member of the site staff of our school told us the school was now closed and no one was allowed to go there in the half term. This left my group and I in a dilema as we must do all our filming in our half term to meet our A2 deadline. Our first ickling was to relocate the setting of our filming, however with a number of successful scenes having been already filmed in the school we came to the conclusion we would not have enough time to redo all our scenes; we wouldn't have enough time to book the cameras and our actors would not all be willing to redo the scenes. Through the production of our media project we now understand not everything goes smoothly however thoroughly you seem to plan it.
This unfortunate turn of events today got us thinking about all the other things that haven't gone quite to plan and I can say with complete honesty none of these faux pas have been our fault.
Day 1: We planned to film in the drama department with Mr Roy, our kind drama teacher who agreed to be the 'headteacher' in our soap trailer. The filming was successful and Mr Roy was terrific, he helped us a lot and he improvised his lines slightly, really getting into the dramatic scene. Our group was so happy with the first part of our filming and had high hopes for the rest of it. BUT later on that day we were told we were given the wrong camera to film with through no fault of our own, the camera we used was not compatible with the apple macs and we had no choice but to redo this scene, therefore needing to reschedule the group, camera and actors. Although we were disappointed, we knew we had lots of time to correct it and we didn't let it get to us.
Day 2: The second time we filmed we got to the media department to find that the cameras that were left for us were either broken or not compatible with the apple macs. Furthermore the camera we had booked for filming that day had been mistakenly taken by another group. We refused to waste another day of filming as it had come to our attention there wasn't many occasions where all the actors would be available. The English department was our final option. Luckily, there was one camera we could get our hands on there that was compatible, however it wasn't charged. All in all about an hour had been wasted by this. Fortunately the actors were very understanding and helped us out a lot which they shouldn't have been expected to do.
Day 3: Cameras working, charged and compatible, actors present and willing, and members of the group raring to go, we were definitely on to a winner with the third day of filming. Unfortunately, the actors had forgotten their school uniforms that were needed for the mis-en-scene of the scene and it wasn't appropiate to send them home to get them. We had to improvise the scene and create a reason why they weren't wearing their uniform. Note to group: next time we film bring costumes even if the actors say they will.
That brings us to Day 4 of filming, today. We had the idea of doing more photographs for the poster of the soap, however we were not able to use the same backdrop as we did for all the other photographs we had already taken and so we were totally stuck. However, we like to find a positive aspect of everything we do and at least today we were able to explain to our actors exactly what we were planning to do so it will be an easier and more straightforward process next time.
Let's hope our careful planning for Day 5 will pay off this time.
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