Filming Process

Unlike our previous filming regime in which we designated certain days to get a lot of the work done, we have decided to have a more loose structure to this video. We decided to film when we had the time and not wait for certain days. We thought that this would be best due to the short amount of time we had and this way we wouldn't be relying on peoples schedules. It was also important to be flexible with this process as it took a lot of time to take all the pictures for the stop motion.

The Roaches

We decided to use locations which were readily available to us, such as the grounds of the school, but mix in some abstract, rural locations, such as the Roaches. The main reason for local locations was the time limit that we had and the lack of transport we had as a group. We were determind to not rely on people's schedules as we did not want to get behind and lose time on the editing process. However, we tried not to make our locations to repetitive and boring and so using places such as The Roaches (a rock formation a few miles from our hometown) and Rudyard Track created more variety in the shots which made it more interesting as well as indicated the length of the jouney for the letter. Using more rural locations enhanced the idea of isolation for the letter as well, therefore creating a deeper meaning. We did include a few urban shots, such as roads, to once again show diversity.


It took us around three weeks to film, which is reletively short considering the work that was created in the time limit. The majority of this time was spent taking photos of the letter to create the stop motion sequence; it can take hours to photograph only seconds of footage. During the filming process we took thousands of photos as well as gaining a decent amount of moving footage.

Of course, such a complicated procedure did create a few minor problems, but compared with our last video, these were nothing to worry about. One of the biggest problems we had was lighting. Because the majority of our stop motion footage was taken outside, the light changed every shot. However, from a quick look at the photos, this is not as noticable in some shots and in others it can actually look quite effective. Another problem was the weather. As we were trying to stick a piece of paper to objects outside, the wind tended to move the paper. For example, we wanted the letter to travel across the mouth of fountain but because of the splashes of water, the letter didn't stick to the stone as well as it should making the letter more susceptible to movement from the wind. When the wind moves the letter, even just a centimetre, we have to refilm the scene to keep continuity and to maintain the professionalism.