In-Class Group Meeting

    After the class had viewed our preliminary rough cut, it was important that we have a meeting as a group in order to discuss what our next move would be to fix the errors within our film. We discussed what we felt was lacking during the original, as well as possible solutions. From this came the primary question; would it be better to completely re-write the story and reshoot the whole film, or would it be better to re-shoot the story with minor tweaks? 

    Though all of us liked the ideas for a completely new story, it did not make sense to shoot an entirely new film. I argued that if we were to finish shooting and found more errors similar to the ones we found in this film then we'd need to reshoot again - using time we would not have. However, by using the original story we would know exactly what would need to be fixed and how to do so. Thus, we all agreed to reshoot, but using the same story.

    As the cinematographer some of the primary issues I needed to address are as follows:

• Mise-en-scene: Many of our shots lacked any usage of the rule of thirds, making them look thoughtless and lazy. The rule of thirds is an extremely important cinematographic tool, so making it more prominent with our film is important to its quality. Additionally, since mise-en-scene includes what is physically seen in the shot, I need to be more aware of what’s visible in shots. There were often cups, silverware, picture frames, etc. in the background. Thus, checking the background is a must. Beyond that, we are going to add more elements of Mexican and Hispanic culture into the house, so it feels more authentic.
• Re-Shooting Scenes: One of my biggest issues during our first time filming was that I did not want to be mean for saying that we needed to redo a shot. However, this caused there to be far too many mediocre shots, compromising the quality of our film. Overall, even if it takes slightly longer its important that we get the best shot we can - quality matters in the final product.

Below are my notes from the group meeting which have specific ideas from Gabby and Luise, as well as just some general notes.