On April 16, 2016 I competed in the Ontario Technical Skills Competition Qualifiers. 16 teams that had also won their regional competitions then gathered at Humber college to compete. The goal was to create a 30 second PSA about how to reduce your carbon footprint. Unfortunately, my partner and I did not place so we could not move on. While editing our PSA I noticed that we had made some mistakes when we were shooting, and due to time constraints were unable to go back and re-shoot the scenes. I noticed that there were some out of focus shots, and some cuts we were planning to do ended up being awkward and out of place. These mistakes may have cost us the competition. I was upset with the mistakes, but I was even more upset that I was responsible for the out of focus shots, and awkward cuts. I hadn’t thought out the details, until it was too late. From this point on I could’ve easily just gotten upset and never look at the project again. Instead I used this experience to help better myself as a filmmaker. Below is a shot of my settings when I was shooting.
First, I took a closer look at why the shots were out of focus and how I could prevent that in the future. I realized that I was shooting at an aperture of f2.8, which gave me a very shallow depth of field. I had no reason to shoot at such a wide aperture. I had plenty of light in the scene, and could have easily shot at a higher ISO, this would’ve allowed me to shoot at f4 or something similar. I had also moved the focus ring a little too much when racking focus which is the main reason I missed focus, had I practised the rack focus a few more times before shooting I may have hit the focus. This is one way that you can use your mistakes to improve your future work, finding ways to prevent them now so you won’t make them later. Below is the shot that was out of focus.
Secondly, plan everything out ahead of time. Create a storyboard, shot list, script, and schedule. A storyboard will allow you to visualize each scene and shot, this will allow you to plan your settings, the type of lighting you need, and different angles to shoot from. A shot list will keep you organized when shooting so you aren’t scrambling to find the next shot during the shoot. Writing a script will give you a blueprint to follow to create the rest of the previously mentioned documents. The script will help you figure the 5 Ws who, what, where, when, and why. Who’s in it, what are they doing, where is it taking place, when it is happening , and why is it happening. The schedule will help you organize your shoots, you can plan out how much time each shot and scene should take. Another way to plan ahead is to talk to your editor, since they are the ones putting it together to have a rough idea of what needs to be shot and how it needs to be shot. Better yet learn to edit yourself, so then you know what to look for when shooting. Spending more time in pre-production will help you foresee any future problems and correct them before they can happen.
Not every one of your projects is going to be a display of the best you do, but every one of your projects should help you learn to be the best that you can be.