Evaluation

As part of our preperation for our creative piece of coursework, we had to work in groups to recreate a scene from The Maltese Falcon. Our main aim as a group was to use the techniques we have learned about whilst making our film, including things such as lighting, Mise-en-scene, performance and cinematopgraphy.
We worked together as a group, which had benefits, but also showed that working in a group is quite difficult also. All four of us took part in the acting and performance part, aiding and helping each other as we progressed. Stevi and myself focused on the camera work and filming, which worked well because there were two other people who were performing whilst we took turns in using the camera. Using the camera was extremely helpful, as it gave me an insight as to what they are like, and has shown me that they are not as difficult to use as I had originally thought they would be.
Before our shooting of the film began, we went through the post-production process, which involved much planning and co-orperation from the full group. Stevi made some story boards, which came in very useful as we were able to look at them, and understand which scene to film and how the camera needed to be angled.  We also chose which locations we were going to use, although when it came to actually filming, the locations were one of our main issues.
After we had planned everything, we began the prodution process. This involved us bringing in costumes, which made the film look much more realistic as the actors created the image of the character in the film. We had some trouble sorting the lighting out whilst we were filming, mainly due to the fact that we had to keep changing our location as rooms were being used. The problem here was that some rooms had sunglight coming from one side, and other rooms had the sun completely blocked out, which meant that we had to keep opening and closing blinds, and dimming the lights at certain parts, which unfortunately can be seen when the film is viewed.
Because we had such a short time period for making the film, we felt as a group that we were pushed to try and get it all completed, and that it wasn't going as well as we thought it would have. Another problem which we had was finding props which matched or were as close match of the props used in the actual film. We eneded up using extra time during our lunch period in order to get more filming done.
Some members of the group also had problems with learning the script in such a short space of time, which lead to many mistakes in the longer pieces of speech throughout the sequence. Our solution to this problem was to have someone hold the script up when the front of their body was not in shot, so that the person who was speaking could glance at it briefly. This seemed to help quite a bit, and helped the process move quicker.

Overall, I think that our remake of The Maltese Falcon went quite well, in terms of working together as a group on something which was quite difficult. However, a downside to our remake is that it was shorter in length than it should have been, and some parts of the sequence were missing. This is something which I will need to work on when it comes to making my own film.
What I have learnt from this task is that the pre-production stage is both helpful and extremely vital. Much planning is needed for a project like this, in order to give yourself time to complete the project.  I have also learned that costume is important, as it helps the audience to define which character is which and can also help to tell the audience a characters story. I have also realised how important lighting is, and that hard work is need to get it right.
If I was to remake the film again, I would definitely make sure that I worked on the lighting more efficiently, and kept double checking that rooms are available. I would also work more outside of lesson time, and make sure that all of the group were there everyday so that we could do something everyday.