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This was an amazing experience in which I learned that each job is the most important and that every problem has many solutions. The amount of stuff learned this week surprised me considerably. It was a lot more than I ever learned in school in one week! - Student Quote
First Degree ©1997
Behind the Scenes
Due
to the limited amount of time available for production, it
was agreed upon by the student team and professionals,
before the making of "First Degree", that the primary focus
of the project would be on the "process" of filmmaking and
not as much on the final "product." The student production
team quickly learned their roles and by the end of the
second day of shooting they were performing together as if
they were seasoned film professionals. Students learned how
to be resourceful on the set and how to create "movie
magic": Making prison bars out of duct tape; Shining a
light through the wooden slats of an upturned park bench
to
create the illusionary shadows of prison bars on a cellar
wall; Turning day into night by covering windows with dark
cloth; Turning night into day by shining high powered lights
from outside of a house in through the windows; Turning a
kitchen into the outdoors by turning out the lights and
filling the room with dense fog from a fog machine.
Student crew members used cardboard and white T-shirts to
reflect light to create a number of desired effects. Windows
were created where none existed before! Students learned
about the "Center Line" or "Imaginary Line" that all
directors must be aware of when setting up a shot to ensure
that each take will look 
correct
on screen once it is edited. Student filmmakers were exposed
to a number of shots including: the establishing shot,
master shot, full shot, medium shot (especially the
two-shot, reversal, and over-the-shoulder shot), close-up,
cutaway shot, reaction shot, pull in/pull out, and others.
Meg taught the students how to operate the boom microphone
and to monitor sound. The students learned the importance of
recording "room noise" to assist in giving the film a
consistent audio mix during the editing process.
Click on a link below to view a number of
"Behind the Scences" images fom the making of "First
Degree":
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