90 Second Short Film: Pre Production

During the making of the short film, I chose the role of producer. This role included; making a production timeline, producing a risk assessment and location recce for the areas of filming. I also assisted our camera operator Jes in collecting primary research in the form of a questionnaire.

Production Timeline

This is the production timeline which we followed during filming. On the 25th of September we went to the filming location and I completed a location recce and risk assessment. Jes filmed some test shots to show how filming would look on the day and what shots would work or not. On the 3rd and 4th of October we were finalising our pitch presentation to eventually present this in front of the class on the 4th. I had ordered filming equipment to be collected at 1pm on

the 10th and we began filming on the next day. On the 12th we returned the equipment and started on editing the footage. We continued to create our own edits of our film until the 18th when we screened the director, Luke's, film.

Location Recce and Risk Assessment

We had chosen to film in Alver Valley atop a hill, this area had a vast and flat landscape which resembles the plains of Northern America during the 1870s. It has a great view of the forest surrounding, making it appear to go on for miles and the feeling of isolation that the people of the day would have felt crossing the great plains.​

As you can see, the area we had chosen to film looks convincingly like the plains of USA. During the location recce, I assessed this and photographed many different spots which could be shown as the plains of Texas in 1873. Due to Alver Valley being a public park, the main problems to try and mitigate is the public being in view from the foot paths and nearby road. It is also near to a air base in which planes and helicopters would frequently enter and exit. One problem that might be a good thing is the fact there is a shooting range in the middle of the country park. This might add to the atmosphere of the ruthlessness of the "Wild West."

To get to this location, we needed to pass a small lake and river and cross lots of steep hills. This

gives the chance of equipment damage while filming or moving to our location, it could also cause injury to one of us from accidently slipping or falling over. Our location is also a big open space where the whole sky is visible. This could cause the potential problem of sun glare on the camera while filming and if it is a particularly hot day there is risk of sun burn or heat stroke. Ways to mitigate these issues would be to make sure we all have bottles of water on location and make sure to take breaks when needed.