Filming

We started filming with a flip-cam on a small 'pocket sized' tripod. We stood it up on a football table which worked for the angles we wanted but the tripod wasn't steady enough to pan with. Nevertheless, we kept filming until we got a steady enough pan as not to distract the audience. What would have improved the establishing shot (pan) is a full sized tripod with a rotating top.

However for a low angle scene as our friend walks through the door, the tripod was very useful, because we could get the camera low to the floor and still film steadily (without moving the tripod.)

For the close-up shots, we found it easy enough to film, but again it would have been even better with a large tripod.

After filming the conversation, we realised how important the lighting was as we re-watched the clips; we could see how the back light behind the victim had made him appear silhouetted which took away some of the emotion in his face.

The dialogue in the conversation, we realised, was too quiet and there was too much background noise from working machines in the location. We have concluded that a quieter room would be adequate and that the actor's we chose should make effort to speak louder.

The preliminary task had been a great eye-opener to the world of filming, and next time we have decided that much more care and thought about: 

Lighting, 

Camera Movement,

Dialogue and Ambient Sound, 

...as these are the most needy areas.