How to make a film

Our task was to produce a Sweded Film within class. Me and my group chose to do Cinderella. The task we had was to split into small groups of 5 and make a swede film of a well known film. We were given half a lesson to plan and then half week to organise where we were going to set the film and what props we will need. The task was made to help gather a basic understanding of what the process of planning, filming and editing a film is like. A sweded film is the remaking of a popular film using little or no budget at all.

The films tend to not be as accurate as the big Hollywood films. Cinderella originally is an animated film, however as we were using school equipment and only had very little time to film and produce the swede, we had to use ourselves within the film. We all selected who would be best suited for each role. As we had no budget, it meant that we had to plan which props we would use before hand, because of this it meant that we had to ensure that we were all organised. To guarantee this, we discussed as a group within the planning lesson and each person in the group was informed on what props they had to bring in. Within our group we decided that we needed crowns and tiaras in order to show the audience who was who, For example Prince Charming. Luckily Eva and Lucy had Crowns and Tiaras, and also Eva had fairy wings and a wand for the 'Fairy Godmother. In addition to this, we also had to decide on locations for each scene that we were doing. We decided to base our film with the toilets and the corridors. When we had sorted everything out to do with Mise-en-scene etc, we started to think about what shots we would have and how the storyline would go. When we planned all of this we wrote it down on paper to ensure that we would not forget it.  

Before we were allowed to leave the classroom and start filming, we had to learn how to use the equipment correctly. As we were learning how to do this, it meant that there would be a smaller risk of damaging the equipment. This meant learning how to open and close the tripods legs and also how to extend the legs. We also learnt how to attach the camera to it. Then we learnt how to use the film setting on the camera. This meant that we could get the best camera angles and scenesthat was possible.

Before we were allowed to leave, we also had to discuss risk assessments within the classroom as a class. This included the types of risks that may occur to us when we are filming. We learnt how to prevent these risks from happening during our filming. One of the risks we came up with was that people could trip, this means that equipment could be damaged and doors could slam on people. To prevent these risks from happening, we decided that people should only walk with a camera in their hands take more caution when holding the equipment. You must also hold the camera and tripod with the legs on the smallest setting, and be careful when opening and closing doors as this could injure yourself, it could also damage the camera.

During our filming, we had roughly about 40 minutes to complete all the filming for our swede. However once we had felt that everything had been completed we realised that instead of filming we had actually only taken pictures. This is why the lesson of learning how to use equipment correctly was very beneficial for our class as it allowed us to practice using it before our coursework. It has allowed us to now know how to use the equipment correctly and ensures that we will not make that mistake again.