- Go and Buy a new card in Bristol.
- Get Ciarens laptop from Bath.
Monday, 22 March 2010
The filming weekend
Thursday, 18 March 2010
Actors and our roles
Being heavily involved in film, especially in the creative, practical process is something I have always thoroughly enjoyed. In the first film of the year Soleless, I was given the opportunity to direct the film. Building on that experience with this film is something I would have loved to do, especially as I knew that all the members of the group were so committed. I would have been able to rely on members to perform the roles assigned to them. However, as I have had the opportunity at Directing, I felt it would only be fair at leaving the role to somebody else. It was Gus who decided to go for the directing role, Myles and Elspeth both decided to co-produce, Mark said that he wanted to be camera operator as it is where his passion lies, which meant that I was left with doing the sound. It is a role I have not done before, which meant that I did not mind doing it, as I would be learning another aspect of the practical filming process. I also have a passion in playing the Bass guitar, which meant that I would have an opportunity at writing and having complete control over the sound of the film.
Gus: Director
Myles + Elspeth: Producers and Stage management
Mark: Cameraman
Me: Sound and Music
This was an area that predominantly involved Myles and Elspeth, as they were both co-producers. Obviously we all had a say over who would be involved in the film, but it was these two that had the challenge of finding people who would play a role in our film. The typical avenues that they initially pursued involved approaching Chris Jury, and his Creative arts section. One problem Myles and Elspeth had with looking internally at Bath spa possibilities was the ages of the potential actors. Being police detectives, we were ideally looking at the mature actors, especially as we had achieved the great location in Bristol. Elspeth contacted the Theatre Royal and asked if there were any possible actors whom might be interested in our project. Luckily they responded positively and put a young actor called Ed Browning in contact with us. This was a breakthrough as he had done things on television before, and had worked on camera at a high professional level. Myles knew Duncan Roe and asked him if he was interested in playing a role in our film. A mature student called Guy was an older actor who was put in touch with us through Cris Drury. Now that we had our cast, we needed to decide who did what. We decided that Ed was the best option for our main character Luke Philips, and that Duncan should be detective Charlie Vincent, while Guy played the unstable Detective Eric Stansfield.
Ed Browning
Guy Smallwood
Friday, 5 March 2010
Location
So finding an independent location for our film for me was paramount. As we had decided to shoot our film in a police station, it meant that we would be moving away from places that fellow classmates might recognise, unless they have a criminal history. For the initial scene of the main character in the cell, our options were narrowed to actually finding a Police station. Gus, Myles and Elspeth started to pursue local Police stations, which included Bath and the local villages. We were waiting for about a week for a response from Bath station at giving their verdict as to whether we could film there. I have a cousin who is a armed response police officer in Bournemouth, although this is not ideal for commuting, it was a possible option at filming in an official station, and away from Bath. Luckily the station in Bath got back to us with a final answer, and although it was a disaster at the time, it helped us find our actual location. The police suggested that there were a few old stations in Bath that were no longer used, but still had cells. This opened up another branch of possibilities, as it was not something that we initially considered. Finding an old police station meant that we would not be under the same time constraints, as we would face filming in a current one. It also gave us the option of organizing lighting a dolly tracking.
Elspeth contacted the Bristol film office and asked them if they knew of any locations in Bristol where there were some old cells. Luckily they informed her of a location that which was now an art gallery, which had also been used as a location in various television productions like Being Human.
This was perfect, as they were so relaxed with dates, times and above all…everything. Elspeth, Gus and Myles visited the location, and judging by their excitement, it was ideal. Here are some of the pictures that they took on the initial visit.
This meant that we could go all out with lighting and time ect. This was also the bulk of our location. There where some other locations that needed securing, but this was only for the stills. Elspeth contacted the Bath film Office and got permission cleared for the stills planned for the Saturday at the Park. Mark organized the locations for the stills at the Bath Spa University campus, including the SU and the Library office. Although this went against what I wanted, we could manipulate the still images in a manner that would disguise that they were taken on the Uni campus.