Blog 14. The filming

So after all of that, I move onto the filming part itself. I decided that I would film up in Scotland for my dissertation. It is very close to home and to the heart for me and I thought it would be perfect. The concept allows me to film plenty scenic shots and I found them all up north. I decided I would leave for Scotland of Sunday 22nd March with my mum to help me drive the way. We stopped off with family and I filmed up and around there, but we continued up from West Kilbride to the Falls of Glomach, Glencoe, Glenfinnan, Fort William, Loch Ness, Urquhart Castle, Eilean Donan Castle, Dornie, Skye Bridge and a few other places. Here, I managed to film some beautiful scenery. 

We had to try and find accommodation last minute after each day of filming as we couldn't plan where we would end up after each day as we were driving it all and couldn't take into account how long exactly it would all take, if we were to include traffic, weather and time spent on location. Each day was exhausting but I managed to get a lot of filming done. 

Issues with filming:

1. I hired out equipment from University which was a complete disgrace. I was handed equipment that was years and years old that was incapable of being pieced together and made to work - even though I was told otherwise! 

2. Half the equipment I was given was missing pieces and so i found out once i got up into Scotland that the equipment was unusable - all due to previous students not returning the equipment in the state they picked it up from!

3. I couldn't hire out the tripod I wanted to because a lecturer had taken it out that day without prebooking it and had just taken it for a lecture even though I had booked it 8 days prior to the day I picked it up with.

4. The black magic camera was difficult to attach to any other equipment they had given me because once again I was handed random pieces of equipment that should have been attached but weren't ! 

5. As a result, I had to swap from the Black Magic Camera to the Canon 6D - this made life a little easier! This meant I was filming in the right colour grade and didn't have to edit it all in post, it also meant that the battery life would last longer and that the Canon 6D could attach to the slider and fig rig, unlike the black magic.

I felt I couldn't have planned much more for the trip because I expected the equipment to be handed to me in a state where I could at least use it. As a result I feel the film quality wasn't as good as it could have been.

Blog 13. All happening at once!

So it's all been happening, it's a month on since my last post and things are going really well and i'm enjoying every moment. 

I am blogging from West Kilbride in Scotland after 3 days travelling all around the north, from Manchester all the way through to Skye! It's been utterly shattering but worth every minute. I have been filming all my scenic locations for the film and I have found some gorgeous places and hopefully I have some good shots on tape! 

Following on from my previous blog, I was meeting with a girl from the English Society. She didn't really get back to me, so I had to follow up 6 days later to find out what was going on. I found out that she was meeting with someone else to hand over the job of narration as she had too much work to do. The girl she put me in touch with is still writing my narration and understands exactly what I am after. She is working really hard and has come out with some truly amazing narration and poetry. 

She has given me three parts, lasting overall about 1.5minutes. The words she has chosen and the concepts she is using are brilliant, she has read my notes well and has taken the relevant information from it. She is very open to constructive criticism and if it isn't exactly what I am after she will rewrite it and try again. However, 90% of the time she writes it to perfection. There are one or two things I am changing with regards to how she has written it and making it slightly less obvious but apart from that I am very happy.

The composition is coming along, slowly but surely. I haven't heard any draft music from my composer as of yet but he says he has an idea of what instruments he wants to use and will send me over some drafts soon. I was put in touch with him via another student who is on the same dissertation programme as myself - it was quite lucky!!