What have I learnt about making a film?

The task we were given was to split into small group of 4 or 5 and make a swede of a popular film. We were given half a lesson to plan and then a week to organise actors, settings and props. This task was designed to help give us a basic understanding of what the process of planning, filming and editing a film is like. A swede is the remaking and summarising of a popular film using little or no budget at all.

Once we had split into groups we started to plan out what film we would create a swede of. My group chose The Hunger Games. Having no budget meant that we had to plan which props we would use in advance, and this was discussed and each person in the group were told what props they had to bring in. Another step in the planning process was deciding which actors we could use. We had to plan how many we needed, when we needed them and who would do what. Adding to this we also had to decide on locations for each scene that we were doing and in the end it was simple for us as we only needed two locations. Once we had sorted all of these then we started to think about what shots we would have and how the storyline would go.

On the day of filming we firstly discussed risk assessments. This included what risks could occur when we were out filming and what could be done to reduce or avoid these risks. The main risks we came up with were that people could trip, equipment could be damaged and doors could slam on people. To avoid these we decided that people should walk sensibly, camera the camera and tripod with the legs on the smallest setting, and be careful when opening/closing doors.

We then went on to discuss how to use the equipment properly. This meant how to put the camera on to the tripod, how to film with the camera and how to use extend the tripod legs. This therefore enabled us to get the best shots that we could as the tripod would hold the camera steady and also level. My group tried to get a variety of different shots which included, panning, close ups, mid shots, long shots and extreme long shots.

The final aspect of filming the swede was time management. We had a deadline to meet, which meant getting all of the actors together at the right setting, getting the acting right, filming it and getting back to the arranged place in time. Organising actors is a big problem when trying to film on such a tight time schedule and everyone has to know what they are doing and work together.