Filming Friday

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One of the aspects of digital pedagogy that I have struggled with the most has been movie making. After a disastrous first attempt (our footage somehow missed most of the action) at the start of the year, I have slowly built up to create very simple films over the last few terms.

However, with the Manaiakalani film festival drawing closer, this week I have been facing my fears again. After being away for the majority of last week, I managed to film two scenes during my release on Friday after my students returned from technology. 

One of these scenes came out fairly well, although it was clear more footage was required for it to make sense. The other scene looked fabulous on camera, but when I watched it on my larger screen I noted several errors and again this needed to be re-shot. Fortunately, we were able to shoot this scene quite quickly yesterday afternoon.

A frame from our movie: Harriet Potter?


My learning so far:

1. Try and prepare everything as much as possible in advance and don't take too much time between shots. Although movie making is fun, the students will get restless if they have had to wait too long!

2. Meet with your team and make sure everyone is on the same page. We had an issue where one of the actors did not understand a joke that they were part of! I found holding a 'directors' meeting was very beneficial, particularly as these students were taking control of the filming and directing.

3. Watch out for continuity issues! We ended up filming one scene completely again due to continuity, but we had issues with the sun disappearing behind clouds during the session. We did not notice this at the time, but some parts of the scene appear colder than others.

4. Don't wait until the last minute! As I discovered, some scenes will take longer than expected and others may need to be re-shot. Also, if you are filming outside you will need to allocate some rain days

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