Film Blog eight

08 – 11 -10

Meeting.

Today I explained in full the casting rearrangements, what happened, why it had to be changed and how this affects us now. Everyone was in agreement that this was probably the best thing to do at such short notice, and that we could all work around filming on Thursday and Friday instead of Saturday. Ed still has not heard back from the film office of SU manager, and so he will email them again about the change of dates. I will rearrange the rooms and gardens. I also contacted Mike regarding collecting the camera early and using his office, both of which he said was fine.

We went through the story board which David had made. Dan will edit the shooting script, and move the university scenes from Saturday to Thursday. Once he has done this he will send it to us all.

After the meeting:

Dan sent us all the edited shooting script.

I changed and confirmed all the university locations for filming on Thursday 11^th November.

I contacted the cast I had arranged (including extras, but not Rosie or the bully who are Kay’s responsibility), informing them of shooting dates, times, locations, costume etc. I ensured they were happy with these arrangements, and if they had any further questions to let me know.

Blog Seven

03 - 11 - 10

Meeting.

We began the meeting by discussing locations and permissions. Ed had created a table that showed which locations we need and what we need from them. An example of this is the house we need; it must also have a back garden and a window or view from the kitchen to back garden. This enabled us to see exactly what we must find location wise. Dan offered the use of his house, as he has a fair sized living room and garden which we need. He also has the view from kitchen to garden. Dan will speak to his landlady about permission for this.

Ed will look at locations in town to find appropriate places for our scenes. Once he has found suitable areas he will contact Bath Film Office to attain their permission. To help him with the locations planning, I will take on arranging on campus locations.

This includes:

·         One classroom

·         One office

·         One outdoor location with seating

We then began discussing a shooting schedule so that Ed and I will be able to book locations according to this. We plan to shoot:

Friday – Dan’s house

Saturday- All university locations, town in the evening

Sunday – Town in the day time

I will get in contact with the rooms and gardens managers at Bath Spa, regarding filming on Saturday.

We also decided in this meeting that we will not change the costume of Dan or Olivia in his imagination scene. It seems to cause too much difficulty regarding continuity, more so than it is worth.

I then urged Kay to get on with casting. She said she had people in mind and had spoken to them, and that she would get on with casting them. We had previously decided that Kay would arrange an audition but Kay had found it difficult organising a room. She said the only room available this week was Friday pm. I told her that if she could contact the actors and arrange time slots of the audition to go ahead and book the room. If she was unable to do this, I suggested holding one to one readings with whichever actors were available and sending the script to any other potential actors to have a look at.

Previously we had talked about using the Students Union Bar as one of our locations, as we thought this would be a good place to use as the store that Dan and Greg break into. After the meeting Ed and I went to the SU office to see if this would be possible as Ed had not yet received a reply to the email he sent enquiring about this. We spoke to one of the Su managers who said he had received an email about this from Ed, but hadn’t had time to reply yet, that it should be possible and to send him another email with the dates and times on it.

Ed will follow this up during the week.

After the meeting:

I photocopied several copies of the release forms to ensure we have plenty for production weekend.

Kay sent me the facebook pages of some actors she thinks may be appropriate. I have sent them messages regarding this and to see how Kay has organised auditions with them. The actors who replied I sent copies of the script to.

After the meeting; an update.

I have found actors to play Greg and Sophie, they are both people I know and who I feel will do well and be reliable.

After talking to two actors Kay forwarded to me, they told me that they went to the audition on Friday and were happy that they got cast.

On Sunday I received a message from the actor playing our lead role Dan. He told me he was sorry but he could no longer be in our film. I immediately rang Kay to see who else she had seen may be suitable to play Dan. She wasn’t sure, and so I suggested that we may have to move the cast around, to upgrade a smaller role to Dan and find a new minor character instead. She suggested one of the actors she had sent me on facebook, and I asked who she had cast him as previously. Kay replied that she had not cast him, nor the other actors she had sent me links to. It was then that Kay told me she did not hold an audition at all.

I then realised we had no main character, as he had just dropped out, and no smaller characters as Kay did not hold any auditions or readings. The only actors we had confirmed were the two friends of mine who will play Greg and Sophie. I told Kay I would work something out and find a new lead actor.

After talking on the phone to one of the actors who thought he had auditioned for us, but had infact auditioned for another group and got cast, I decided to cast him as Dan. He could film with us all day Thursday, Friday and half of Sunday. I decided that we would have to work around this as we had no other options. This was a decision I made on my own as I was the only other person besides Kay who had been in contact with any of the other actors, and I felt as producer it was my responsibility to confirm the cast when the casting director did not. I then got on to contacting the members of my group and letting them know. Luckily, it turned out that everyone could make the new arrangements, except for Kay who would have to miss Thursday.

I then found some actors to be extras, and Kay found two smaller roles. I believe the casting is complete now; I will discuss this and all other final arrangements with the group in our meeting tomorrow.

Film Blog Six

Today we began by disussing terms used on set and how we should use them to help us on our production weekend. In professional filming there is a sequence used by the crew and director prior to a take, which helps enable a successful shot.

Mike’s example of this sequence was as follows:

DIRECTOR

Stand by

CREW

Standing by

DIRECTOR

Run to record

Camera person starts recording, check the Time code is running.

CAMERA PERSON

Recording

FLOOR MANAGER

(Usually correctly marked up on clapperboard)

Scene X Shot X Take X

DIRECTOR

(Pause)

Action!

They do this in order to ensure that once the director is ready (stand by), the crew are also ready (standing by). Sometimes quick final checks need to be made to lighting or sound, and so the crew only reply when everything is absolutely ready for a take. If there is a problem or adjustment to be made instead of calling ‘standing by’ they inform the director and correct the problem. Then, once again, the director will call ‘stand by’ to check everything is ready once again.

‘Run to record’ is the director’s cue for the camera person. Once the director is confident the cast and crew are standing by, this is how they communicate to the camera person to start rolling the tape. When the time code is running the camera person calls ‘recording’ and the stage manager steps into the shot, with the clapper board and calls the scene, shot and take.

Clapperboards are used mainly for editing purposes. When the film editors are rewinding or fast forwarding the tape they look out for the clapper boards as signs for the beginning and end of each take.

When the director is ready, the crew are standing by, the camera rolling and the shot set up by the clapperboard, it is then that the director shouts ‘action’ and the actors begin.

When the take is completed the director, and only the director, calls ‘cut’. Sometimes the actors are still and the camera keeps rolling before the director calls ‘cut’ .This can be because the director or another crew member is checking levels on the camera or sound to ensure the clip was recoded correctly. All cast and crew must remain in position until the director calls ‘cut’ and the take officially completed.

After the take the crew perform a technical check, to make sure that everything was hot successfully. Mike explained to use how important it is to do this, and how especially important it is to mention if there is a problem. It is easy to redo a take, but much more difficult to edit a dysfunctional tape or sound problem. After these checks the director may or may not decide to do another take.

After this discussion Mike set us up with a kit to film The Eager Student. Using our logged shot ideas from the previous workshop we began shooting. Today there was just the four of us and we didn’t film all the shots we had hoped to. Even so it was a helpful experience as it gave us the chance to use the equipment for the first time and get a taste of the production weekend. David will be our camera man, he attended a camera workshop last week and he will continue this workshop next week as well. I was useful to me in particular to see David operate the camera as I can now see that he has learnt what he has so far had the opportunity of doing so well.

We then went to the editing suit to capture and edit our clips. Here we had a brief on how to use final cut pro. Harry will be editing our film, along with Dan to assist him and Ed to edit sound. Dan edited our shots and made them into a short clip. Mike informed us of an editing workshop next week, which Dan and David will attend. Harry already has experience in editing and final cut pro, so although he will be main editor it is not necessary for him to attend the workshop.

We then organised our next meeting to be on Wednesday, with our main concerns being cast and locations.

Film Blog Five

29 – 10 -10 Meeting

Today we scheduled a meeting in the group study room so that we could further discuss our script ideas. We each rewrote the script, writing it how we think it should be. We began by reading through the script, and then we read the scenes that we had changed. When we got to David’s version of the script, he had made the most dramatic changes to the script. This included changing the time line, adding more definition and personality to the characters and changing the ending with the ideas we had previously discussed in mind. It worked brilliantly. Everyone in the group agreed that it was a huge improvement and that there wasn’t anything we would change about David’s version of the script.

His changes include starting the script not at the beginning of the plot, but at an important part in the near the end. This I thought was a really effective and interesting way to intrigue the reader and keep them watching. He also further developed the character Greg, who in the original script seemed very much to be a tool used to influence Dan’s decisions. Now, he has more depth and we see much more of his personality while keeping his strong influence on Dan. In the last meeting we had discussed Dan leaving Greg behind at the end and escaping in a more imaginative way. David used these ideas and wrote an amusing but believable ending. We were all really impressed by David’s script. For the next meeting Dan will edit the script and make all the necessary adjustments. Overall I think this script is much more suited to us as a group, it has elements of comedy and I hope the final product will be as entertaining as we imagine it will be.

In David’s script there is a scene where Dan is day dreaming about Olivia and what would have happened had he saved her. I came up with the idea that they should kiss at the end of this scene, and that it should be a really over the top, cheesy moment as it is Dan’s imagination and therefore gives us leverage for some comedy. Everybody seemed to really like this idea and we came up with some further suggestions. One of these was that the lighting and colour of the scene should be really bright and vivid to further enhance the idea of the day dream. We also thought about music, and that it could be quite funny to have some typical romantic music playing in the background. It was also suggested that Dan wears a tuxedo, as he seems himself as the smooth hero in this day dream, and for Olivia to be dressed glamorously.

This reminded me of a scene in an episode of Buffy The Vampire Slayer. In season six there is an episode called Once More With Feeling, where the entire town is under the power of a musical loving demon. At the end Buffy shares an over the top dramatic kiss with a vampire, as loud overture music plays and the credits appear.

The scene I'm referring to is 7 minutes in to the clip below:

 

This is the sort of vision I have for the day dream scene and think it could work really well in our new, edited script.

We then moved on to discussing casting. Kay brought in the character profiles she created and read them to us.

The profiles Kay created are as follows:

“Dan

·         Laid back

·         Easily swayed

·         Not very tall (average height)

·         Not very strong

·         Quiet looking

·         Sheep like character (not a leader)

·         Brownish like hair

Olivia

·         Pretty

·         Blonde

·         Bright eyed

·         Looks out of Dan’s league

·         The pretty and smart girl of the university, wanted by all the lads

Rosie

·         Red faced

·         Big mouthed

·         Red hair/dark haired

·         Bossy

·         Might have braces

John and Ryan

·         They are like one (Ant and Dec)

·         Both silly

·         Both lazy

·         Both crazy

·         Star wars fans

·         Hate Rosie

Greg

·         Black/dark hair

·         Feisty

·         Flirty

·         Better looking than Dan

·         A bully character

·         Cocky and confident

·         Flirty with the girls

·         Rude

·         Not that muscled but has a strong mouth

Mike

·         A little like Greg in confidence

·         Less cocky and rude than Greg

·         Likes Sophie (might go out with her)

·         Bigger

Sophie

·         Bubbly

·         Blonde

·         Simple minded

Guys bullying Olivia

·         Rugby players

·         Big

·         Grunty voices

·         Some facial hair

·         Look like they’re on steroids

They are all around 19-20 years old. “

I have asked Kay to arrange a casting for next week. We decided that 2pm – 4pm on Thursday would be best because we can all make it for at least some of the time. Hopefully Kay will arrange this and we can confirm the casting on Monday, including where it will be held. We can also make copies of the new script to give to the actors. Kay also suggested that I play Olivia, as she thinks I would suit the part. I think it would be best to hold the auditions first, to see how that goes and if we can’t find the right girl to play her then I shall step in.

Ed shared his ideas on location, and we had a talk about where we could film the house scenes. Dan suggested his house as he has quite a large living room and we would need as much space as possible. He also has a male and female bedrooms which we would also need. Ed and Dan will sort this out later on. We also decided that it may be better to film in the SU rather than a pub, as it would be easier and would work just as well. Ed will be in touch with the SU manager to see if this would be possible. Ed will also try and create a list of locations and a filming schedule, which will help us organise our shooting weekend and what scenes to film in regards to location and time.

Film Blog Four

25 – 10 -10

Workshop.

Today we were given a hand out showing examples of different kinds of shots and what they look like. These shots ranged from Extreme long shot (XLS) to Extreme close up (XCU), and we discussed the different affects they can have on the viewer and what they are commonly used to portray. An example of this is in a very famous scene from The Shining.

There are two shots that stand out to me the most in this scene. The first is a medium/medium long shot of Jack swinging the axe all the way behind himself in order to gain further leverage. The purpose of this shot is to show the audience the strength, power and insanity Jack is portraying in this scene. The second key shot is a big close up of Jack hacking through the door with an axe. The purpose of this type of shot is to make the audience feel really close up to the action and feel frightened. Extreme close ups are also used to show character’s eyes, and the expression or thought behind them. A common occurrence of this is when a character realizes something or holds a menacing stare.

After looking at shot types, we were then given an example of a shooting script. This allowed us to see what a shooting script should look like and what we must include in our own shooting script. We then went through an example script called The Eager Student, and marked the shots and shot types. Mike then gave the groups a camera and a time slot, and told us to go through the shooting script we just created and take photographs of the shot types. This included putting ourselves in position as characters in the script and using the camera to portray the distance, angle, etc of the shot we planned in the shooting script. We did so, and then went to the editing room to log our photos on to final cut pro.

Once we had completed this we had a brief meeting about our film group. We had previously discussed what roles we would each like in the production, but I thought it was time to decide on roles and assign jobs to everyone. I said I would still like to be producer, and that I would take on organising and over seeing the production. Everyone was happy with this and I began suggesting job roles and job ideas from the research I had done last week on film production jobs.

Eventually we decided on the following job roles:

Danielle – Producer

Hope - Director

Harry – Production assistant (general camera, directing, etc), film editor

Ed – Location, sound on set, sound editor

David – Story board, Camera

Dan – Script editor, shooting script, assistant editor

Kay – Casting, Character profiles, on set lighting

Everyone said they were happy with their roles, and I encouraged them to let me know if they would like anything changed or were not entirely happy. I then gave everyone the contact sheet I created so communication between us should now be really easy.

We arranged our next meeting for Friday at 2pm. For this meeting Kay will bring a character list and ideas for each character. We will each rewrite a copy of the script, so that we can discuss and edit the script in this meeting. We will also each think about possible locations, props and costume ideas.

Film Blog Three

18 – 10 – 10

We began this workshop by each person sharing their log line for the script Choices. I found this was an interesting exercise as it allowed me to see the different ways in which people view the script as a whole.  For example, the plot of the script stood out to me and so my log line was fairly narrative based and quite brief as I did not want to give too much information away. Others however were based more on the themes of the piece, asking questions about good, bad, greed and laziness. Some focused on character, introducing the protagonist, his personality and power.

We then got into our groups and began looking at the script together, focusing on the beats we had each marked. We discovered that we had most of the beats in the same place and we agreed on where to add more beats. We then moved on to talking about what we all thought of the script. We all seemed to agree that the script was ok, but we would make several changes. None of us were very enthusiastic about the ending and so we decided that we would rewrite the ending. We decided this would be something we would think about and consider this week, ready for discussion in our next meeting. Ed then mentioned that he didn’t like the way the split screen and choices were portrayed. Again we all agreed that this needed to be changed. We discussed ways in which this could be done, and decided to rewrite this also. We discussed the idea of playing out one option, and then rewinding back like a video tape and playing out the second. I think this is a great idea and that it could look really effective if we could get the right editing, backwards motion and sound effect of a rewinding tape. Another idea was to play out the options, then simply cut back to reality.

I then asked the group which roles each person was interested in. Some of us already had an idea in mind, while others said they weren’t sure yet and would be happy to do a number of things. I expressed an interest in producing, as I think it would be an interesting experience to be in charge of the organisational aspects of the film and making sure everything runs smoothly. I am a very organised person, confident in leadership and working in groups which I feel are necessary attributes in the role of producer. In anticipation of this I said I would organise a group email where we can discuss our next meeting, contact people via Facebook in order to create a group page and email everyone in anticipation of creating a contact sheet for us each to have.

I also made a list of scenes in the script, noting the scene number, location, characters and a couple of words of description. This I will use later on in production as I think it will be useful to see who we need and where we are in each scene. After editing the list when the script is finalised this will hopefully help us organise the filming on our production weekend.

Halfway through the work shop we moved to another room where we created our blogs. Our blogs will act as our film journals and be assessed later on in the year.

After workshop.

After the workshop I researched different roles and jobs within the film industry.

I did this by researching sites such as Film Making Careers and Media Match

I then compiled a list of job titles and responsibilities each role entails. Although I understand that we will not be working in the same manner as a large scale film production and that we will all be playing several roles, I thought this would be a good way of ensuring that all the important aspects film making are allocated to individuals. This will help me, as producer, see all the things that must be done in the production and make sure they are completed. In the next meeting I will discuss these job roles with the group and hopefully finalise who will be doing which jobs within our film production. Once this has been done I will be more aware of who is doing what, and as producer I can make sure I get in touch with them regarding the specific roles and make sure all jobs are completed.

I then researched specifically into the role of film producer to make sure that I am fully aware of my responsibilities and the sort of things I must do as producer of our film project. I found Prospects to be a useful website regarding the roles of a film producer.

I have also contacted all members of the group via email or Facebook, and have created a contact sheet with our names, email addresses and mobile numbers. I will give a copy to each member of the group in our next meeting. This will hopefully ensure efficient and straight forward communication between all members of the group. I have also created a Facebook group for us so that we can also keep in contact in a friendlier, sociable manner.

Film Blog Two

11 – 10- 10

In our second workshop we began with a brief explanation of the broadcast lab and its Youtube channel which hosts the BSU student films. Mike recommended we watch Every Four Years in particular, and a book titled On Directing by David Mamet.

We then moved on to watching a collection of short films by Futureshorts on DVD.

After watching each of the selected short films we were told to create a log line for each film, and to ensure that it was catchy, not too long and would make an audience want to watch.

Here are some examples of the log lines I came up with:

Can we kiss?

-       “An aspiring actress intrudes upon a man sat unhappily in  a French cafe, asking him simply to help her with her lines. He does so, and shows the girl how to spark some real emotion in her performance.”

She loves me, she loves me not

-       “The trials and tribulations of a young couple pre-break up.”

La vie d'un chien (The Life of a Dog)

-       “A scientist revolutionises human freedom by creating a gene-mutating drug called K9. He and many others discover a life altering new world which changes the way they live forever.”

We then discussed key features in short films and the sort of things all short film should include.  This included few locations and few characters, as there is usually limited budget and time. Also, a key storyline with a clear interest in its audience and where the story is going; in a short film there is no time to waste and the story must be achieved and the audience intrigued throughout. Repetition and particularly rules of three are also common in short films.

After watching these films we discussed the first assessment and each person had to write down their availably in order for the groups to be organised. We were each given a copy of the script Choices which we will be creating. We were told to read through the script, create a tagline and to mark the beats.

After the workshop.

Choices is a script which I feel would be fairly simple to create on a low budget. It uses few locations, all of which are easily accessible (a house, an office, university grounds) and a handful of characters. However there are several things I would like to change. I do not really like the ending, I think it is too cheesy and because of this, uninteresting. I would also make it clearer which choice the protagonist Dan made and make focus emphasis on the results of his decision.

The script is written with certain scenes being split across the scene, with one scene playing on the left side and another on the right. This was done to represent the two directions Dan could follow. These are acted out side by side, followed by an imagination scene of what could have been. We then see the actual ending. I found this to be a confusing and fairly boring way of showing the choices. I feel that it would be better to play out the two options in full, that way we would be able to make the most of the visual and sound effects. I think it would also be much clearer to play out one option, and then cut back to Dan contemplating this idea and dismissing it. Then I would play out the second option which is the path Dan decides to take. This would make the first option appear as thought and the second option as action. I would delete the imagination scene as it would then be unnecessary.

By doing this I think the ending would be clearer, as it will be more distinctive which choice Dan made. I would then rewrite the final scene to work around this idea. In our workshop next week I will discuss these ideas with my group, and I look forward to hearing their ideas and opinions on the script.

The log line I created for this script is;

“A lazy student discovers he has the ability to open the door to any location he desires. With great power come many opportunities.”

First Film Blog

04-10-10

Workshop.

Our first Planning & Making a Film workshop began with a discussion of recommended reading and a read through of the student handbook. Mike Johnston particularly recommended Voice and Vision by Mick Hurbis-cherrier and The Film Makers Handbook by Steven Ascher and Edward Pincus. We discussed the information in the student handbook, paying particular attention to the assessments for the year. This year will be assessed in three ways; an independent short screen play, a group short film (where we will be put into groups) and a second group short film (where we can choose our groups). Mike also informed us about how the group projects we will be marked, and explained that there is a point system which will be discussed between tutor and group to ensure everyone is marked fairly for the amount of work and effort they put in.

As well as these assessments we must write a reflective journal throughout the year. Some of the questions I will think about while writing this journal include; what are my ideas? What do I think are the key things to include in the script/production? How am I influencing the group? What am I contributing to the group? How successful am I in doing so? What would I change about the final product? What I think worked well in the final product and why? How well do I think we are working as a group? What ideas have I seen in other films and feel could be useful in our production?

Mike also gave us a pre-warning that we will each be attending two production weekends this year. The first will be either the 13^th and 14^th of November or the 20^th and 21^st of November, depending on which group we are in. The second production week will be the 26^th and 27^th of February or the 5^th and 6^th of March, again depending on our groups.

I will also research the following to aid my short film knowledge;

·         Futureshorts YouTube channel

·         Encounters Film Festival

·         Danny Stack (Writer’s blog)

·         British short film collections

·         Online film scripts

Mike also urged to us to watch as many short films (between 3 – 10 minutes long) as possible, in order to gain knowledge and ideas for our own production later on in the term.

After the workshop.

After the workshop I researched Futureshorts online, and discovered that they are a short film production company, YouTube channel, and that they are interested in sharing and increasing the popularity of short films. I watched several short films on the YouTube channel, and wrote the following notes on the films which stood out to me.

 The Head, 2:29 minutes.

Characters/art/composition – Matias Vigliano

Hand drawn, traditional animation. Sound effects and music; no dialogue. Comedic. There is a structured storyline (beginning, middle, end), but no sense of definite story or plot (random, wacky style). Cartoon fiction.

The Cemetary People, 3:58 minutes

A CRF Production

Text introduction. Speech, narration. Non-fiction. Serious, factual. Variety of shots and camera angles. Real people, no characters. Documentary.

Words, 3:18 minutes

Everynone

Play on words, neither fiction nor non-fiction. Music, dialogue, sound effects. Playful. No regular or repeated characters. Poetic.

Words; play, blow, break, split, run, fly, fall, light, space.

Esther’s, 6 minutes.

Amon Tobin

Structured story line. Dialogue, music, sound effects. Action. Acting, scripted characters. Fiction. Interesting plot, characters and special effects. Surprise ending; a romantic twist. Fiction. Robot/sci-fi theme.

Lucia, 4:01 minutes.

Directors: Cristóbal León, Niles Atallah and Joaquín Cociña

Structured story line. Art/animation, no physical actors. Spanish dialogue, English subtitles. Narration. Sound effects and music. Interesting story, fantastic animation and art work. One main character. Suspense. Horror/thriller style.

After watching these videos I began thinking about which films I enjoy and why. Out of these films I particularly enjoyed Words, because it was clever and imaginative, and Lucia because it was tense and unusual. Mainstream films I really enjoy include;

The Orphanage – For the suspense, horror theme, surprise ending, and interesting location (remote Spanish house).

The Wizard of Oz – For its fantasy element, imaginative set and costume design, and originality. Also for its use of colour, particularily the way in which it is used to differeniate between the real world and Dorothy's dream.

The Shining – For its original horror theme, suspense, action and high class acting (Jack Nicholson).

I particularity enjoy films that surprise me or keep me guessing. A great example of this is Sixth Sense with Bruce Willis. Throughout the film I am kept interested by the horror elements of the film and the ensuing action, but the twist at the end of the film is what, to me, makes it worth watching again and again.

I also really enjoy comedy films, particularly those based around real life situations such as The Hangover. The plot of The Hangover’ is wildly over the top and hilarious, but it is based around the idea of a group of friends going out, drinking too much and in the morning finding themselves unable to recollect all of the previous nights antics. This is something I think most people can relate to, as we have all had a bad hangover at least once in our lives. Being able to watch funny characters mimic things we do in real life, but with much funnier consequences, is something present in most of my favourite comedy films.

In the future I would like to create a horror short film and a comedy short film, as these are the genres I enjoy the most and as an audience member feel that I know the most about.