Preliminary Sequence 'Feed The Fish'

Our preliminary Sequence of 'Feed the Fish' had its difficulties but I also really enjoyed filming and editing it. I had to work in a group of four with Asante Duhar, Billie Cobb & Shaq. This was difficult to begin with because we all seemed to have different timetables. In the end we had to make sure that the filming was done as quickly and promptly as possible during lesson time. However this posed as another problem because it meant that our group was under immense pressure to film and complete out sequence on time along with the other groups.

The plot of our sequence was to have a 'boss' who was violent and very aggressive towards his 'worker'. The worker had to 'Feed the Fish' and we played with this idea connoting it to be something to do with a murder, or something deviate with the intensions of a criminal act. Having created this idea, we then had to think about planning, location, mise en scene, and actors. Finding a location proved to be very problematic for our group because we all had different timetables; therefore shooting somewhere far away from school would have been difficult. Instead we decided to shoot on school grounds. Although this isn’t where we initially wanted to film we had to work with what we had. Shooting went well and I played the role of the 'Director'. This included me making sure Billie was getting all the right shots, the actors (Asante & Shaq) knew what to do and how to behave. I really enjoyed this role as it meant I had the power to overlook everything before it was done and I was in charge of planning etc. I also enjoyed this role because it meant that I became more independent as an individual and had to take responsibility for others in my group.

After shooting, Billie & I took on the role of Editors. I particularly enjoyed this task the most because I enjoyed seeing how everything worked for example being able to cut shots, change lighting and add different soundtracks. Being able to edit helped me understand why it is so important to take lots of shots of the same thing but in different angles. For example we were able to cut footage very easily and still have it look clean and fluent. An example of this is when Asante opens the door then we cut and she enters inside. It looked clean and professional.

As a group I felt we could have improved on our planning. This is because we were unsure of filming days and we didn’t really know what location we wanted to use etc.

Overall I think we worked really hard as a group. I felt very proud of our finished sequence. I really enjoyed directing and filming too and I realised that I could be really independent and take charge if I wanted to.