Cinderella Swede

Recently, the class were set the task of making a 'sweded' film - a short, low budget remake of a popular film. Our group chose to remake Cinderella. The learning objectives were to learn how to use camera equipment and to make a short film.

Firstly, we had to risk assess the situation. Risks included tripping over, dropping the camera and falling when standing in high places. To avoid this, it was important that we looked where we were going at all times and didn't run about, we made sure that the camera was secure at all times (on the tripod unless completely necessary) and we didn't stand in places that we could fall. 

All 5 of our group acted in the film, and it was therefore very easy to decide who played who. Nobody particularly minded who they played, so we ended up with Cinderella (Bonny), the Prince (Amy), the Fairy Godmother (me), the Evil Stepmother (Georgia) and an Evil Stepsister (Eva). We also all took it in turns to film, depending on who was in the scene. We found it harder to find appropriate settings. One setting we used was in the toilets, where Cinderella was cleaning and this worked for that particular scene. However, we filmed the rest of the scenes in the corridor, meaning that the background was school displays which didn't fit what was happening in the scene.

While filming, we learnt how important it was to get good camera shots. A lot of the shot types we used are not directly relevant to the scene, however we did use of range of shots. If we'd have planned the shot types beforehand then I believe that they may have been more effective. In one shot, we chose to track Cinderella as she ran off, by rotating the camera slowly. What I didn't realise was that I would be in shot once the camera panned around, so I had to run off quickly. Before we edited it so that it was slightly zoomed, you could see me legs at the top of the shot, running away.

Time management was something that we shouldn't have had a problem with. We had almost finished filming when we realised that for all our shots, we had taken photos by clicking the photo button, rather than recording with the record button. By this time, it was almost the end of the lesson, so we had to run in to the next lesson to actually film our scenes. This caused a problem because Eva had a lesson so couldn't stay and film. Luckily, we filmed almost all of her scenes before she had to go, leaving only one scene, where the stepmother was forcing the shoe on her foot, to be acted by me as a replacement. Therefore, we learnt that it is very important to make sure we are using the correctly, and after making this mistake we know that we will from now on. 

When filming, we had no budget, so we used props from home and settings from around the school. This was an interesting experience because we learnt that we didn't need a budget to make a film. However, we did realise that if we wanted to make a really good film, a budget would be needed. 

Overall, making the film was a huge learning curve, however it will help is when we make films in the future. We now know how to use equipment, what shot types are appropriate and when, and how to manage without a budget.