Production report

Camera and additional details

Scene 1 - Interior day Bedroom

Originally this scene consisted of 4 shots. However the 4th shot was removed due to lack of space in the set. To compensate i incorporated the shot, being a over the shoulder shot with Amelia looking in the mirror, within the 3rd shot. The 3rd shot in its entirety was difficult to perform, however i felt it was necessary to compliment the variety of shots within our film. The shot included a CU of Amelia putting her feet on the floor, then tracking and jibbing up as she walked over to the mirror, ending in a over the shoulder fashion of her looking into the mirror. Apart from the 3rd shot within the scene, shots were fairly basic and easy to perform, but i considered them to be essential to introduce our central character, this moreover makes shot 3 stand out, differentiating itself from other shots to emphasize on creativity.





- Lighting. In this scene we aimed to create a morning sun and used a variety of gels. This gave off a bright glow which worked efficiently, although it came off as somewhat too bright in the second shot, being a MLS, it still flowed within the scene.
- Mise en scene. Costume and make-up complimented on the time of day and portrayed the events prior to the scene, in that being Amelia crying. However there was one continuity error within the scene, in which for a brief moment some equipment is seen.

Scene 2 - Interior day kitchen

This scene opened with a zoom out of toast being made, which i originally did not plan to include within this scene. However i felt that the imagery was a good example of denotation, in which it relates to our film title being Toast itself. Overall i felt the positioning stood out within this scene, other than one slight error with framing where an actress performed ahead of her cue. The distance on the shots helped portray how busy Amelia is, particularly when Amelia walks out of the frame in the last short after having a short conversation with her Mother.

- House lighting was used, due to lack of natural light in scene house lighting was necessary complimenting to set of a kitchen, creating a white-ish clean image. - Mise en scene. The costume design complimented the scene greatly, in which one of our peers had to portray a Mother figure, which was well received.

Scene 3 - Interior day School corridor

This scene was fairly short only consisting of two shots. The first shot was a slow zoom out of a school bell to establish the location, which the low angle and and ambiguity reinforce our variety of shots which i wanted to include in our film. The second shot was a long shot, where Amelia would walk toward the camera and then out of frame. This shot also included a slow zoom out as she walked toward the frame and then past it. This shot was static, with people walking in and out of frame not treating it as a camera, i thought this adds to the on going realism throughout our film. Originally i planned to have a jump cut to a closer shot of Amelia going through the crowd, to somewhat add to the stress she is going though, however this shot turned out to be impractical due to the amount of extras we had around equipment etc. Filming this scene had no problems technically and we carried out everything as i had originally planned in the shot list.

- Artificial lighting was deemed to have no real use in this scene. Considering the type of lights we had we decided that the distance that the character was away from the camera to begin with was too far to have any effect, as she got closer to the camera and walked out of frame the effect of the lighting would of changed and we wouldn't of been able to place lighting in any other position for the length of the shot would of revealed the lights. House lights were used in this scene.

- A large amount of extras were used in this scene, in which they performed their roles well with no problems what so ever.

Scene 4 - Interior day School classroom 1

Another short scene. Scene 4 was only two shots. Unfortunately there were a few technical difficulties with this scene. Without a tripod the first shot had to be shot freehand, which resulted in fair amount of shakiness. The shot was a low angle small track toward Amelia busy working, because of the shakiness the frame work wasn't perfect. I would most probably change this shot if i was able to, for the most part shots in our film were mostly static with panning if there was any motion at all, this was to add to the realism of shots in that being to try and have as subtle camera movement as possible to grasp the audience into living and questioning Amelia's day to day lifestyle. Instead i would of most likely changed this to a static shot or perhaps had a small amount of zoom. The second shot was a high angle over the shoulder shot of Amelia working, which although freehand looked to be genuinely static.

- Lighting in this scene was natural. This couldn't be helped for the source of light couldn't be blocked in anyway.

Scene 5 - Exterior day School field.

I consider scene 5 to be scenery shots. Although fairly random in retrospect, I decided on these shots to somewhat amplify the beauty of the world that Amelia misses out on while she lives her straightedge workaholic routine over and over. The first shot includes a high angle pan of a tree with a bright sun behind. Unintentionally the sun bounces off the camera whilst the pan is in motion which i see to be a great shot visually. The second shot is a static long shot of two boys playing football with a hint of orange in the sky. This shot has a horizon feel to it, i feel it connotes how vast the world can be, this being in contrast to Amelia lacking liberal sensibilities in her life. These shots had a fair amount of improvisation, i was planning to adapt the shots depending on factors such as the weather and the amount of extras we were able to obtain. This mainly concerned the second shot, where i imagined to have several people playing football and have a slow pan across, however i feel the horizon shot works more efficiently and connotes more toward the film.

Scene 6 - Interior day School classroom 2

Scene 6 was used to compliment scene 5. This scene was only one shot and contained a shot of Amelia working. As she pauses for a brief moment from working on her computer, she looks up out the window and into the sky as it slowly jibs up with her. This was for the same reason as scene 5 in a scene, but the actual image of Amelia looking outside gave the intention she was trapped further putting an extend on how her lack of branching out takes a toll on her life.
This scene was easily shot containing only a small jib.

- House lights were used to add the realism of the scene. Additional lighting by the crew would effect continuity due to the reflection being shown in the window, and would of further ruined the scenery which Amelia gazes upon.

Scene 7 - Exterior day School gates

This scene contained two shots both of similar contents. Both shots are long shots of Amelia walking out of school alone, perhaps suggesting that she has stayed at school after hours, and panning across as she does so. These were filmed particularly quickly and had no technical problems.

Scene 8 - Interior night staircase

Scene 8 was only 1 shot. Although only a single shot and perhaps of basic quality, i feel this shot compliments our creativity and variety of shots in the production. The shot begins as an ECU of Amelia starting to walk up a set of stairs up to her bedroom. The shot tilts up until the door fits the frame and then becomes static as Amelia shuts the door eventually creating a MLS of a flight of stairs. The tilt creates a low angle shot, the whole purpose of the shot was the distance created, it connotes a segregated area were Amelia shuts herself away from the outside world. Although simple visually, practically it was fairly difficult to set up. The tripod was actually placed on the set of stairs rather than the end of the stairs, so the back leg of the tripod was extended for balance and the front two to steady. This was successful and did not effect the framework what so ever.

Scene 9 - Exterior house

This scene was only one shot also and was intentionally shot freehand. This was mainly due to the lack of space in which i needed to pan across with the character as she walked out of her house. The shot started with zoom out of the front door being shut, then simultaneously tracking backwards as she got closer to frame then panning across as she walked away. The shot only took two takes surprisingly and complimented our shooting style.

Scene 10 - Exterior day Bus stop

Scene 11 - Interior day Outside common room/canteen

Scene 11 was a single static shot of Amelia having a conversation with two other pupils. Visually the whole purpose of this shot was where the shot ends, this includes Amelia walking past the camera out of frame with a slightly distressed look, whilst her friends walked in the opposite direction up the stairs. Perhaps connoting that Amelia has taken a different path to them in how she goes around her life. However prior the characters walking out the scene is what concerned me most. The positioning of the characters in the corridor and the distance away they are from the camera effected the balance of imagery in the shot, this concerns what is known as the rule of thirds. However post conversation the images balance themselves in which the characters move, so perhaps it worked out as a progressive shot. Overall it was successful.

- Concerning sound, a boom mic was used successfully to record the characters dialogue.
- Mise en scene . There was a slight problem in which at the end of the small corridor where the scene was taking place, there was a glass cabinet capable of reflection. But this is barely noticeable.

Scene 12 - Interior day Library

Scene 12 included 4 shots. The first shot was a long shot of Amelia working on a table by herself. This shot was to establish the location of the library. The second was an over the shoulder shot of Amelia working, then picking up an article. The shot then jump cuts to CU of the article, it then cuts away to MCU of Amelia turning the article over and putting it down. The fifth shot however is slightly more creative than the previous ones, which involved a near 180 degree motion into a CU of the article which Amelia had put on the table. This shot avoided crossing the line for Amelia wasn't in the shot to begin with and had no relations with any other character in the scene. This probably could of been improved, in which i would of lessened the motion and focused more on the purpose of the shot, in that being to display the articles contents.

- One of the main problems in this scene was the lighting. We couldn't get permission to switch off the house lighting and use additional lights which we had previously planned to do. Evidently the light in the scene does appear fairly bright.
- There was a continuity error where some of the extras had moved positions in between shots.

Scene 13 - Interior Kitchen day

Scene 13 is one of our shortest scenes. The scene only consists of one shot, which includes a slow pan across the entire kitchen. The pan includes Amelia's mother making toast, then towards the end of the pan Amelia walks toward the camera and walks out of frame. There were no problems shooting this scene.

Scene 14 - Interior day common room

This scene was a single shot. Although fairly long in duration due to the dialogue, it was a simple shot. It begins as a static medium range shot, as Amelia gets up to leave there is a small jib up then a pan across to watch her leave, the shot then pans back to the other characters on the tables reaction. Originally the shot was a lot closer, but this lead to difficulty in jibbing upwards as Amelia stood, so i created more distance between the actors and camera to ease on the camera's motion.

Scene 15 -

Scene 16 - Interior night Bedroom

Scene 16 was one shot. The shot was quite long, it included a relatively high angled view with a slow pan whilst Amelia spoke on the phone. Practically this was quite difficult to perform, in that i had to time the pan to match the duration of the dialogue. Other than that it was straightforward and there were no problems technically.

- A light blue gel was used to emphasize that the scene was late at night, it gave off a somewhat dark feel which i thought was successful. In addition, the light made Amelia look pale, complimenting mise en scene.

Scene 17 - Interior day kitchen

Another single shot scene. Scene 17 contains a medium of shot of Amelia's mother sitting at the kitchen table eating toast. The shot then jibs up at an angle slightly as Amelia walks into the room, the shot then stays static as she walks out of the frame. This scene had no problems technically or difficulties practically.

Scene 18 - Interior day school canteen

Shooting this scene had some difficulty. Originally this scene had 4 shots. A MLS of Amelia approaching the till to purchase some food, an MCU of Amelia counting change, a reaction shot of the dinner lady waiting, and a cut back to the MCU of Amelia who apologises for not having enough money and leaves. However due to accessibility of the set we were short on filming time which further lead to the lack of time we had with the extra, that being the dinner lady. This lead to limited takes and the rushing of shots. For the most part everything went well technically and practically, the shots were simplistic and easy to carry out. The changes were not of our choice. However there were several continuity errors and shots with no use. Most disappointing was the dismissal of the reaction shot which i wanted to include.

- The main continuity error was that the dinner lady would look at the camera, breaking realism
- Sound was quite a problem, the canteen atmosphere was necessary but too much audio was recorded
- Another continuity error included Amelia walking out with the food she hadn't bought
- A dinner lady who was not being used in the production asked if we would leave whilst we were filming

Scene 19 - Interior school corridor

The scene was in the same location of scene 3. It was a one shot scene, Amelia walks down the corridor and gets barged by someone walking past. I filmed in freehand to make the impact of the person walking into Amelia and making her drop her bag more sudden and to add emphasis on realism. The freehand shooting included tracking backward as Amelia walked toward the camera down the corridor, and the a jib down to the dropped bag and back up to a static shot of Amelia walking away. I felt this captured the raw feeling of embarrassment and almost anger that Amelia has, the end of the shot is static and captures Amelia's distressed face she walks out of frame. There were no technical problems during this scene, practically it was quite difficult because of the amount of movements but still turned out to be successful.

Scene 20 - Interior night bedroom

This scene had the most amount of shots in the film, however i felt it was necessary to bring up the pace of the film for its climax. The scene begins with a slow panning medium shot of Amelia entering her room, she puts down her things then walks over to her desk. The next few shots are a series of close ups, including Amelia using a knife to cut at her work and her aggravation whilst her phone continues to ring. These shots all compliment the final two shots in which i see to be the climax. I began to shoot free hand once again to capture the emotion being portrayed. Amelia stands up and throws her phone across the room, this shot included me starting at quite a close range and tracking backwards into a medium shot with a quick pan across when Amelia throws her phone. The next shot is a cutaway to Amelia falling on the floor and curling up, this involved a slight tilt as well as a pan. Unfortunately some equipment was seen in this last shot very briefly during the pan. This scene went very smoothly and i wouldn't try to improve it in anyway. I particularly like the mix of freehand whilst serious matters are at hand, and then steady aided shots when Amelia is living out her routine. This happens during the entire film let alone this scene.

- Continuity error when equipment is seen.
- It is apparent that there is a brief moment when a crew members is seen


Scene 21 Interior day bedroom (repeat of scene 1 shot 1)