Mime debrief

Here is the finished product for "Dawn of Mime". Overall I'm pleased with the result. Not only have I put my lighting and tracking skills into practice but I have made a piece of work that I would happily place in an exhibition. I have done some tweaking in post to brighten it up a little as well as adding a vignette.

There are some things that need to be worked on.

Firstly my previsualisation skills need to be worked on. My rudimentary storyboards were not as helpful as they should have been as when it came to shooting it turned out that I had miss-judged compositions as well as how easily some shots would be obtained. The biggest culprit was the opening tracking shot which couldn't be obtained from low enough, hence our having to divert from the storyboard. Also when it came to editing I found usable shots scarce. This was simply a case of not shooting a enough of a wide variety. When I was storyboarding everything felt fine of course and I spent at least an afternoon on it all. Knowing what I know now, it looks like I'll have to be more thorough in my consideration of angles and composition.

My second gripe, which is only really a minor one is to do with my lighting. I should have used less soft light and done more tests for this specific scene. This I think would have resulted in a more professional look. Of course this shoot was partly a test anyway and it's not like I could expect to get things perfect first time so that is why it is only a minor gripe. I have still learnt a lot and made a decent piece of work.

Now that I've just had my interim crit I have fresh information and ideas regarding my independent practice. I am in a position to look back on what I have learnt and take a view on what my next moves should be, i.e where the gaps need to be filled. So far I have acquired a basic knowledge of lighting and grip equipment. To compliment this I plan on making three more micro films, this includes completing my high speed idea. The two new films that I have in mind are an outdoor shoot and a scene set round a table with three players, i.e a typical dialogue scene.

I also plan on doing some lens tests. By this I simply mean comparing a variety of lenses so as to become familiar enough with them in order to be able to fluidly decide on the right lens for the job when working on set.