The production process of our short film went reasonably well, when one person was acting, the other was filming and when both were in the shot, the tripod was used so filming was fairly easy. However there were some problems and bad points with this which were mainly down to the fact that there was only two people available during filming, meaning that they had to both act and film, or use the tripod, restricting the variety of shots we could use and the versatility of the footage. We also ran out of time on the first day of filming, meaning on the second day we had to re-film scenes we already had to correct imperfections. This meant we lost another whole day of filming, shooting the same shots that we already had to make sure they were exactly right. The majority of the other problems were also time related, we couldn't get a great angle with the camera on the tripod most of the time, so a lot of time was wasted trying to resolve that, and the characters starring in the film kept laughing and so many scenes had to be re-filmed.
The variety of shots were restricted by the fact we only had one person filming or were using the tripod, however we did use shots such as long shots, mid shots, high and low angle point of view (mid) shots and point of view shots. The long shot is useful as it shows the full body of the characters on scene while still including the background, helping the viewer to easily make out what is happening in the scene. We used this for the end shot so the viewer could get an idea as to how the short film ended. Mid shots give a good effect as it can vary, it is usually filmed from the waist up and is used when shooting dialogue or action scenes which was useful for the 'fighting' scenes and general kidnapping. The low shot creates height and tension, which was useful as the film was about a kidnapping. We used this in the running scene to create drama and to confuse the viewer as there is normally a lack scenery in the background and causes a sense of powerlessness and disorientation. The added height of the 'actors' may subconsciously cause fear in the viewer due to the dominating look of the character. The high shot makes the object/character you are filming seem insignificant. We used this with a point of view shot to make the characters view that is was, seem more powerful. This was useful for us and we used it near the end when we see one character taking steps and then kicking the other character in the face.
The quality of the shots were good, the camera was held and moved steadily so the shots came out well. The only bad quality shot is the running scene in which the camera man had to run and so the shot is not steady, and also the 'camera man' can be seen in the window reflection in the shot. As we had to re-film many scenes due to mistakes during filming or running out of time, we lacked variety of different shots to chose from and didn't have many scenes to make the film out of, however we had just enough to construct the sequence, and made sure it made sense on finish. Another bad point was the lack of sound and amount of background noise, such as wind in the background, making it difficult to hear the dialogue, especially when filming outside.
If we were to film 'The Kidnapping' again, we would change a variety of things. We learnt that we should have a group of more that two so that we can have different people filming and acting at various times to gain a better variety of shots and so we won't have to continuously re-film scenes. Also with a larger group and other people helping out, there would be less time wasting. We also learnt that we should add sound for a good effect and to stop interference such as wind and background noise. Lastly we learnt to take the filming seriously and try to prevent laughter during filming as this results in more re-filming of scenes and more time wasting, restricting the amount of time we have to film other scenes, and thus effecting the whole sequence as some scenes would be rushed to be able to construct a whole short film.
