CCR Question #3

How did your production skills develop throughout this project? 

Before I started this film project, I had an excellent grasp on how to use a camera for photography but had limited knowledge on how to use it for videography. While discussing camera shots and angles with my partner, Cameron, I began to have a more concrete realization of how those shots bring out certain emotions from the viewer. While filming with my Nikon D5300, I learned how to be able to instruct the actors in bringing out certain tones in their voice that would emphasize a specific emotion we were trying to display.  

Also, before, I had no idea on how to write an official script. Through using a template in word document and doing some research. I learned how and why specific things are placed the way they are in the script, but this was not the hardest thing I had to learn.  

For me, it was overwhelmingly difficult for me to find actors. The main actor couldn't just be any random boy that would be willing to perform in our film. We had to look for specific types of boys, such as tall and really skinny. We didn't feel that having an actor that wasn't extremely skinny would portray a realistic view of the lifestyle that our main actor would be coming from, which is in the lower class from a rough area. Even after finding guys that fit the style we were looking for, majority of them didn't feel comfortable playing as someone who had committed murder.  

Location was easy once Cameron and I had decided on the setting we felt fit best. As a photographer, I always picture specific places in my mind when I'm trying to achieve a certain photograph, but this time I had to collaborate my thoughts with another person. Sometimes my partner and I would have different ideas on what the location should look like. We would resolve this by coming up with a location that combined both of the ideas we had in our head. By doing this, I learned how to effectively communicate what I was visualizing in my mind which allowed us to find the perfect locations/settings for our film.  

Lastly, I came to understanding on how significant of a role costumes, props, and makeup have throughout an entire film. Without the police uniforms,  orange jumpsuit, and straight jacket, the film would of not been realistic at all. While figuring out what costumes my partner and I wanted to include, we learned how to properly take measurements of our actors so that the clothes fit them appropriately. Makeup became a more difficult task when it came to the murder scene. We had to figure out how to rip the shirts and add fake blood in a way that looked like a realistic stabbing. Props such as the knife and police cars were the key part of making this film look as realistic as possible.