Storytelling unit - Project evaluation

In this unit I worked mostly independent with both developing of idea, research, planning and editing. I got 2 classmates to help out as crew when filming cause I wanted to be able to just focusing on directing and the camerawork on set. I'm very grateful for the lectures, feedback and workshop as it was of great help making me more prepared for the shoot and post production.

The actors I used for my project were Jerry Anderson and Andro Coperthwaite, both found trough the process of Casrting call pro. Both the actors were experienced and great to work with. Jerry, being an actor for over 30 years doing both shorts and feature films, were of great help on the set asking critical questions about his character Malcolm Caine and the characters relationship which I hadn't been thinking about. Andro who has recently graduated from Drama Centre London and is now working freelance as an actor and singer song writer were quick to adapt changes and did a fantastic job in the role as Rob Wescott.

The locations used were Tankerton Beach which I got film permission through Kent Film Office and Little Medway Townhouse B&B which I got through contacts. I budgeted the film to 150£ to cover actor's travel, food and location, but ended up going bellow the budget (spending 107£) mostly because I got both the locations for free.



The shoot went very smooth as everything went according to plan, no bugs with the equipment, locations were sorted and the actors turned up on time, both well prepared, knowing all their lines. We therefore finished before scheduled time both of the days and were able to shoot all the scenes that were planned. If I were to name anything that didn't go as plan it must be the fact that it was raining in the beginning when we were filming on the beach. Other than that everything went great!

I found this project both fun and challenging. I had an idea of how the script were going to be from the beginning and and the story itself didn't change much, even tho the Rob-character changed quite a lot and I got rid of a third character and location. I'm very happy that I already had a bit of experience with filmmaking before this project as I therefore started the planning early as the process of finding actors, locations, writing storyboard etc is nothing new for me and I've already learned the hard way how time consuming those processes can be.

Overall I'm very happy with the project and my work this unit. I've learned a great deal about camera work and ways of editing and colour correcting that I didn't know before. I also feel that I have developed my skills in screenwriting as the feedback I got was very helpful.