Production Log One

This week we were given a mark scheme and had to mark previous students first two minutes of their British Social Realism films. The mark scheme from Level 1 - 4 all have the same requirements but the only thing that is different is how well they've done each task. Level 1 indicates minimal effort and the work may be incomplete. Level 2 shows basic ability, Level 3 shows 'there is evidence of proficiency' in the way they made their film and the highest Level 4 - shows there is an excellence use of the technical skills. 

From looking at the mark scheme I learnt how small details do matter. If things like the titles aren't correct for the type of genre, you will get marked down or if the sound is slightly off with the shot you will also get marked down. This made me think more about how I will edit when I come to make my film as I will take in all of things we learnt that lesson, I make sure I don't make the same mistakes, these students made. 

Peer assessing previous students work was very helpful as you could see the different ideas that people came up with from one brief. By watching these, it was interesting to see how people took different paths of British Social Realism. For example, 'Fast Life' showed a typical British Social Realism storyline where there's gangs and presumably a boy trying to stay out of all that. Where as Bridges was different as it showed more of a cultural side to British Social Realism. By peer assessing, I learnt that it is actually quite hard to get all of your ideas from paper onto the screen, as I'm sure the story lines people had planned out, didn't go as well as they wanted. Taking Bridges as an example, the story line would have been interesting but the way they filmed it, didn't do it any justice. So when making my own film, I will make sure to plan exactly how I want it to look like on screen. 

By watching these films, it will impact my production in many ways. From looking at the mark scheme and seeing exactly what the films needed to achieve a high score, I feel like I can use this to my advantage. I've seen what films get a high score; such as Drained, Maze and Damaged Goods. These all achieved high marks due to their creativity. This impacts my production as when thinking of an idea for my film, I will keep in the British Social Realism genre, but also make it creative enough that it stands out. By watching the films, I already have a few ideas in mind. It will also impact my production, as I will think carefully about what type of music I use. In some of the films such as Fast Life and Damaged Goods, the music didn't flow well with the story and was a bit too loud at times. The type of music I will use will go well with the story line but also be interesting so it hooks the audience in. 

When making my film, I will emulate some of things in a few of these films. I really liked how the credits came up at the start in Suffocation, they incorporated it into the story instead of having them on the side. I hope to emulate this as I thought it was really interesting. I will also try to emulate how Maze showed the mise-en-scene of BSR, they did it very subtly, they had the main character wearing a hoodie and had her walking through dodgy flats. I thought it was very well done as it connotes to the audience what type of genre it is and gives them a sense of what they can expect. Another thing I liked in Maze was the shot of her on the bus, it showed it through her eyes and to me, it looked very interesting. In my piece of work, I hope to do something like this. Maybe a perspective shot of them walking instead of looking through a bus. I really like this idea as for a bit, it puts the audience in the persons shoes. Although Fast Life didn't get the highest score, I will try to emulate the typical characters they had, I thought they did a very good job with the archetypes of BSR. 

One of the most important elements I will try to avoid is having the music too loud you can't hear the dialogue. This happened in nearly every single piece, so while editing, I will make sure to duck the music properly to you can hear what the characters are saying. Another thing I will avoid is not having very long shots and having lots of the same shots. In Fast Life, they had very long shots that were just people standing there, so it made me lose interest a bit. To make sure that I grab my audiences attention when making my film, I will make sure that the shots aren't on screen for too long, but long enough so they know what is going on. I will also make sure to vary my shots, as if you have long shots after each other, it can get very boring and repetitive. I will make sure to have a range shots such as ;establishing, close ups, mid shots and maybe a two shot.