Problems on Shoot

When filming, it is imperative that you and your group are fully prepared and organised to the utmost standard otherwise potentially challenging circumstances may arise. Some variables can be easily averted by planning to do filming at certain times of the day, evaluating the surroundings and checking weather forecasts. However, other variables can be unpredictable and spontaneous, such as people interfering with filming. 

People entering filming area

People entering the area of filming is often an unpredictable circumstance whilst shooting; especially in areas nearby populated areas or that attract dog walkers, runners and chavs. When we filmed close to an abandoned factory in Rochdale, some filming was briefly interrupted by a small posse of kids aiming to loot the place of any diminished amount of copper, although they did help by finding ways into the factory for us. Later on in the day at the same location, a group of men, filming and taking pictures themselves, inadvertently entered some shots/made noise in the background which spoilt a few shots. Obviously, all this required to prevent was to inform them of our filming and the conditions we needed for it to work as we planned. Once again, this meet resulted in more help, when two of the photographers possessed gas masks and volunteered to be in the production. The same group gave us all some practical, lightweight respirators which proved to be useful in the dustier recesses of the building. 

Weather

Though weather can be unpredictable sometimes, such as the sporadic rain showers we were subject to one weekend of filming that WASN’T forecast, it is generally easy to avoid problematic weather conditions like rain and gusty wind by accessing forecasts. Simply planning around times of bad weather is a start, but you must also take daylight hours into account. For instance, with winter drawing nearer, the time we have to film after school is drastically reduced since darkness sets in around 4 30 – 5:00pm and that is the time we get home on a typical day. Therefore, we have to film at the weekends on days that all members of the group are free.   

Sometimes it is inevitable facing film-unfriendly weather conditions which means the group should be dressed appropriately, that means plenty of warm and waterproof clothing when outside. This was made easier by the fact that we required coats and warm clothing for our actual production. 

Lighting

Lighting in buildings can be a problem; if there is too much or too little light in the environment it can ruin the mood of the shot, or even make the shot completely illegible. In addition to this, when rooms are partially shadowed and then partially deluged with light, the shots can come across obscured and therefore useless. Although this can be tricky because relocating to another location isn’t always available, we did prevent some shadow problems by bringing a torch with a wide lighting radius.