Hollow Review

 
The team were given a three week deadline to produce the five-minute film now effectively titled 'Hollow' representing the woods and the emotions of the murderers. After the first week of gaining ideas and script-writing, the middle sector of the task consisted of filming and some editing developments t the end of the week. To prepare at the start, we done decided to table read the script collectively to get a solid understanding of the plot, characteristics and timeline of events. We even traveled to the woodland setting to pick and choose exactly where each scene were to be filmed. 

The next day we got into our outfits, picked up our equipment and headed to said location. We had three members of the group behind the camera and four actors at all times. We approached the first scene of filming with a lot of passion and clarity on what we needed to do, it was an exciting start. We were able to get into character after half a dozen takes which is natural, and each actor felt confident. Behind the camera, a member of the team was particularly skilled in the camerawork such as focusing on brightness, exposure and width of the shot whereas the other two were comfortable on using the sound equipment and giving advanced direction where they felt necessary. The outcome of the shots went to plan and each shot was completed within 5-6 shots at the most. However, towards the midday mark, we began to get frustrated which was a key turning point of not only filming but also showing the true colors of the hard-workers in the group. This was because after each shot, we then spent a long amount of time planning the next shot which slowly brewed into a mess of communication. For example, a scene which is perhaps 45-60 seconds long took almost an hour to film due to faffing around with equipment, disagreements with how the shot should look and the flare to work as hard as possible had faded. We had a small break in the classroom which is where the penny dropped concerning leadership and communication. It was clear an individual needed to direct the rest of the film primarily, rather than wasting time having arguments over ideas with the rest of the group. I took a majority of charge from this point as the pace began to pick up and we managed to control our efficiency much better throughout the afternoon. As mentioned by myself and another member of the team, the reason why we were frustrated is because we care and what to achieve the best as possible. The following day we filmed the indoor scenes which was much more planned, rehearsed and ran smoothly showing improvements were made. 

During the editing I was in charge of picking the music for the film which can absolutely define a scene and how it can be presented. I chose some orchestral yet intense music for the beginning of the film to provide suspense, fear and foreshadowing. Towards the end, the music became much more intense with more tribal sounds and dramatic horns. A member of the team took the majority of charge with editing the film and sound who deserves absolute credit for his work. 

In future, it is clear more planning and management is needed to keep the flow and pace remaining consistently high. I would also ensure all members try new skills out of their comfort zone to spark new ideas for future reference. I am proud of our work as a team and the positives of the outcome is much, much greater than the negatives. I feel confident on working with this team again on a similar project.