Exhibiting our work

Our module stated that our film needed to be submitted to a film festival, which should have fallen parallel in with another Bath spa module which involved organizing a film festival, which was called Line Up. However, the dates did not quite match up which meant that in order to fulfil the course we would need to find an alternative festival to submit it to. It is fortunate that for the past three months Elspeth and Myself had been doing work experience for a local company called Suited and Booted which involved distributing their Club Flix young people films to free festivals. This meant that we were familiar with the process of trying to find festivals. However, all the festivals that we were familiar with had already passed their deadline dates, which meant that we needed to look for other potential options. Myles and Gus stated that they wanted to submit the film to one of their local film festivals back in London called Crystal Palace Film festival. Elspeth and myself decided that we were also going to send it to the local Bristol film festival called Encounters. It is unfortunate that this one now contains an entry fee that was £10, which when considering that this will be split between 5 of us, it works out to be a petty £2.

The other event that was organized was the Premier screening night at the Little theatre cinema, which was organized by Mike Johnston, our module lecturer. This was a very successful night that was very enjoyable. There were a few minor technical faults, which unluckily affected our film screening. This was brought about due to the fact that Mike was unable to play the films straight from a hard drive, which meant that he had to compress them onto a DVD format. This meant that the true quality of our camera (Canon 7D) would not be seen, and that due to the fact that we filmed on this great camera made if difficult to compress as it was filmed in a 24fps, which altered from the Sony Z1. Despite these technical problems, the audience awarded our film on the night as the best film. We won a bottle of Champagne, which was amazing, considering all of the time, and effort that was devoted to this film.

Here are some pictures of us after the event.

The edit.

At the beginning of my first year when I had signed up for a practical film module I decided to purchase Final Cut Express, as it would enable me to perform editing. Many of my lecturers said that it would be sufficient for editing. However, before we went on the Easter break, we all decided to do our own edits of the film. I bought a Lacie hard drive, so I could drag the Footage, and the synced audio and footage. However, when trying to edit it in my current version of FCE, it refused. After much research we found that this was due to the fact that Apple encouraged their customers to upgrade to the full FCP version, but however stopped people going back down the 'ladder'. This was extremely frustrating, especially as I was unable to perform an edit over the easter when I had FCE, and a suitably fast laptop. After much thought I decided to get the whole FCP version as it is something I was planning before finishing Uni anyway. Over the break I became very familiar with the software, completing In my opinion, a very tight edit. However, again I faced problems when trying to cut parts of my edit into the Uni machines, and this was because I had bought the latest version of Final Cut Pro, being the 7 edition. The one at university was the 6th, again I faced the problem with transferring my edit back down the 'ladder'. I am not impressed with Apple, all they are interested in is money!!!

We all had to do a complete re-edit on the uni machine. We incorporated the best parts of each edit, making it into one. Although we faced some big problems regarding the sound, due to the tape recorder not working. We had many booking with Richard Wood, trying to sort this. It's done now, but its not 100% perfect. I guess you learn from your mistakes. I certainly have anyway.

The filming weekend

We had secured the filming at the old Bristol Police station for the sunday, which accounted fro the majority of our film. However, we were not going to waste the Friday and the Saturday doing nothing, as we wanted to be completely prepared for the Sunday. As a group we had decided that we would be able to designate the whole of the Friday on getting all of the stills done. This was a very important element of the film as we were inspired by the short film shown to us in class called La Vie d'un Chien.

On the Friday we arranged with Ed to meet up at the campus to take a number of stills that we could use in the same way to the film above. Mark and myself both had SLR camera's which was handy as the other one could be taking pictures for the blogs as well as getting some potential back up pictures. Our first location was in the SU shop, where we wanted Ed to be snapped trying to take all of the coke off the shelves. This location was pretty hectic as we had actually scheduled to be there at the most busy part of the day...lunch time. We managed to get the shots that we needed though. We then moved onto the next location which was down in the library, as we had managed to get permission to use one of the office of the library workers. It was at this time that Mark actually needed to break away from this task in order to secure the lighting equipment for the Sunday. It was in this situation that it really helped having another SLR that I was able to competently use. After these pictures were taken We were able to call it a wrap for the day. I then went home and desaturated the pictures, to get a good idea of how they will look. The day was very relaxed, and was a good chance to actually get to know Ed, who was really nice. Looking back in hind sight, I think a little more thought could have gone into the schedule, as being in the SU shop in primetime made our task a bit more of a challenge. This was a small problem, especially compared to the ones we were to face on the filming day on the Sunday.

Anyway, on Saturday we had organized a time in the afternoon where all of the actors could get a change to meet each other, and go through the scripts. In the morning, we finished the stills which took place a victoria Park. It was also the time when we captured the sound for the opening. We first decided to get the stills for the sequence when Ed would chase the jogger in the park. We then went through a few run-throughs with just the sound, which we recorded straight into the sony Z1 which we had booked for the weekend. Everything in Victoria park went really well. The afternoon of rehearsals was also another great success as the actors went through the script, discussing and changing their lines to fit better. It was good to receive feedback from people who were not involved in the film, especially as they pointed out certain changes that we could make in the script. Obviously we didn't have to accept the changes, although in many cases we did. They were only little developments in slightly changed phrases. Myles and Elspeth went and got some food for the actors, to help break up the three hour rehearsal session. When everybody felt happy with the script we decided to call it a day.

The Nightmare on Sunday.

The sunday seemed to get off to a good start, as we managed to find our way to the location without any problems in a convoy. It was also fortunate that the parking on the Sunday was only £1, because this could have potentially been pretty expensive as we had three cars. The location was great, and we were given total freedom over what we did. The person who let us in was really helpful by helping us find props (tables ect). We seemed to breeze through the first few hours of filming, making great progress. We decided to call time for lunch, and gave ourselves an hour. However, when we returned back from lunch, everything seemed to go wrong. Firstly, as we were using Ciaren's Canon 7D, it meant that we did not have enough space to record onto his 16g memory card. He obviously accounted for this, and booked out a University laptop. However, when we tried to move the footage from the card onto the Uni laptop, the computer seemed to find it hard as many of the takes were very long and large. We tried Myles's laptop, but again it struggled and crashed. This was disastrous as it only left us with a few options.

1. Go and Buy a new card in Bristol.
2. Get Ciarens laptop from Bath.

The reason for Ciaren not bringing his laptop was down to the fact that he was not insured for the amount of his laptop and camera totaled together. He assumed that there would be no problem with the Uni computer and thought nothing else of it. This left us with the option of going into town and finding a new card, which was not ideal as the card would be so much more costly on the high street compared to the internet. Although this worry about the cost meant nothing as Ciaren and Gus both spent a good three hours walking around the whole of Bristol looking for the right card. It was Sunday after all, which meant that the possible retail shops that might have sold the card were closed. This was a frustrating three hours. There was little we could do apart from trying to delete bad takes, trying to make more room. I managed to get one of my friends to pick up Ciaren's laptop at his house in Bath, and drive it all the way to Bristol for us, obviously this did cost me, but trying to re-schedule another day with all the actors, crew and location was not really an option. After getting everything back on track, Ed needed to go back to Bath to go to work. This meant that we had to rush through his scenes and shots first. After he left, we then went on and all stayed much later than intended to get the filming done. We had to drop some of the shots on the shot-list, but got all of the important ones done.

Another disaster that happened was the tape recorder breaking. This rules out a number of shots that we wanted as some of the close ups of the tape player now have to be scraped, as we cant cut to it working from a shot where it is not on. This in affect also had some impact on the sound it was making. I am worried that this will bring some inconsistency in terms of verisimilitude.

When we finally got the film footage onto the laptop, I was truly amazed at the quality of the camera. The colors were so good, and it was crystal clear. When looking back over the events of the weekend, everything went to plan, apart from a small problem. This problem caused such a head ache though. I am very pleased and impressed with how we dealt with it, still managing to call it a wrap at the end of Sunday. Everybody did an amazing job! The commitment of the actors and the crew. Made me pleased to be in a group with people so committed.

Myles has made a good video highlighting the weekend.

The Interview Before The Interview (Myles McAuliffe) from Myles McAuliffe on Vimeo.

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.

Duncan Roe

Ed Browning

Guy Smallwood

Location

Finding the right location is fundamental, especially as it contributes enormously at the final aesthetic of the film. I was very against shooting in a location which the class might recognise as I felt that this would have brought the level of our film down. This is one problem I find when watching University films is that many of the scenes are often shot in student homes, on campus or even in town, which being in bath is especially a problem as it is so unique looking with the colour of the Georgian stone.

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.

Re-mold of the script, making it ours

We held a group meeting at Myles and Gus's house regarding ideas of a re-write. Mark was unable to make the same time as Elspeth and myself, so he went earlier and discussed some of his ideas with Myles and Gus. Elspeth and myself arrived about 15 mins before he left. We were informed that they were very keen on the idea of us showing the protagonist losing his mind in the form on an interview. Many of our ideas run very close to Luke's actual original script, as we where looking to show 'a day in the life' of this character with him losing his mind. However, our main idea was based on him trying to get a job interview.

I suggested that we have an extra character that he would bump into at the beginning, which he had not seen for a long time. This extra character could be with him through the day, attending all of the interviews with him. The film could have been shot from his their perspective throughout the film with this extra character prompting him to say certain things. The final image of this film would be the first perspective of an outsider who sees what appears to be this main character on a park bench talking to himself. We could then have cut to back to seeing them both talking on the bench on old times, and the days events. I thought that this was how it could have visually looked from one perspective...

However the general group feeling was that this would be too predictable. So we went back to the drawing board...then it hit me. We could put a twist on the interview with it being him getting interview by the police about a series of events. The group liked this idea, Myles thought of a good introduction, Starting from the cell and heading for the interview room. Initially I thought that this interview could be shot from our protagonists perspective with him trying to explain his events which lead to his arrest. We could then have shown these two police characters leave the room and showed them discussing how the character they had just interviewed made no sense. The final shot could have been one from a CCTV camera looking in showing the character to be mad. In affect, this film would have been in two, an initially coherent interview where our main character justifies everything rationally, which is from his perspective. Finally we would have jumped into a rational stance of the police...highlighting that nothing the insane character was saying made any sense. Gus and Myles again ruled this out...as they used a CCTV in their last film and didn't want to use the same idea.

Group Decision: Picking the Script

After reading trough all of the classes scripts there were a few that really stuck out. Our group organized a meeting where we would discuss the scripts that we thought contained good potential. As a group we finally narrowed the potential scripts that we could use down to three. These were three very different scripts that provided us with three very different films. Here are the three scripts that tickled our fancy...

1. The Industry- Liz Scott’s script is a mockumentary, which is set on a film set. One problem with this option is the comedy element. Our group where very split about this, as Gus and Mark thought that this would be a style and look that we would be able to achieve. I on the other hand felt very uneasy in taking on a documentary, especially one that relied so heavily on humor, for if we failed with the humour elements, the film would be a disaster.
2. A Justified Presumption- Lyndon Mcgukian’s script is about a friendship that is formed between a boy and an old man. The old man has a bad reputation when paedophilia is implied. The old men ends up dead, but was this murder? Or was he a miss-conceived individual that was simply isolated to an outcast? This strongest element to this story is also its weakest, the ambiguity. It would also be difficult to find the older actor as our provisional actors option are predominantly younger.
3. The final option is Luke Phillips story of a young man suffering from schizophrenia called Treatment. This is probably the strongest option, as the story seems to be the least worked, but also contains a strong theme that could lead us into many options. All of our group are also film students, which means that we are very interested in the aesthetic of the film. Schizophrenia is certainly a topic where we could do a lot visually to amplify the protagonist’s state of mind.

After much discussion we ruled out the Mockumentary because I felt very uneasy on making a comedy. This left just Lyndon's and Luke's, one being very deep and emotional with the other being about mental health. We decided that out of these two options that Luke's had the best potential in terms of us making it our own, especially visually. It contained a topic that gave us great possibilities of re-working the script. It was final, as a group we decided to commit to The Treatment. Now onto the re-write and making it ours.

The Group

This film is the first chance that we have at selecting our own group. This is something that I am excited at as I encountered some problems in our first film before Christmas in that many members of our group were not as committed as others. I personally felt that the two people involved in our group really, was Abi and myself. Yasmin played a strong part also, but got a little distracted on the actual filming weekend by other members of the group.

I had actually talked with other members of our group and organized our filming group with them last November. I wanted to be in a group with Miles and Gus as well as Elspeth. I also wanted Abi to be in our group, although all the other members in my group wanted somebody called Mark. I had not really had an opportunity to work with Mark before this group, but everybody else seemed to be good friends with him. Mark also had a lot of experience in the actual practical side of filming as he was heavily involved with Liquid soaps in both years. He had experience in operating camera's, as well as setting up lighting. Abi had found another group, which meant that our group was decided. This group was extremely different when compared to the first one. It excited me that everybody in this film seemed as committed to the film as me. It also helped that we were given the choice of picking from all the other courses scripts, opposed to being given one that we had to rework.

Here are the members of our group...

Lord Myles

Gus

Elspeth

Mark

And Myself...

Script-My first own nurtured idea

My Script.

Script writing for me seemed like one of the most boring and non important activity within

the whole film making process when I first signed up for the 'Planning and Making a film' module at Bath Spa. However, over the duration of this course, it has really hi

t home how fundamental scriptwriting is. For script writing fundamentally concerns the ability telling a story. It is certainly not one of my strongest areas, as I am familiar with studying directors and filmmakers, considering their themes and intentions hidden within their films. But to completely create an idea from the beginnings, and to then transform it onto paper is something I don't find easy. Although since this module begun, I have had two opportunities to submit scripts. This current script I am finding much easier than the first. One element that has played a significant influence in this current script for me is the fact we have just finished our first film. On the one hand, it has helped me produce a simple concept that would be very practical and easy from a production point of view as the filming locations are fundamentally set in just one room. Although, this film might have been restricted to some degree by this, as I was ruling out anything that I thought would have been difficult to shoot. To some extent this could be seen to have restricted my creativity. Although in terms of filming, it could be hard to get marked well, as there is little to do in the pre-production phase.

1st Draft

My first draft was ok for my first script writing attempt, however there were some weaknesses. For one, the script struggled in that it was not correctly written, littered with mistakes where it did not abide to the strict script formatting. I receive feedback from Mike (our lecturer), and also from some members of our class. My fellow student stated that they liked the script and that they thought it had good potential. They said that it reminded them of Groundhog day. Which is ironic as this was not going though my mind when I came up with the concept. Mike suggested that the script was lacking in terms of a good ending, he also suggested that the main character Leo could try and use this strange cycle to his advantage. With this in mind, I went back to the drawing board and re-worked my idea.

Final script

In this re-write I tried to think of something that could be used in the cycle process. Something that would it in, which leon could take advantage of. When sitting in the lecture it occurred to me that there was a very simple concept which could fit with this idea, Leon's incomplete Homework. Although this idea would fit with the morning sequence, I wanted to keep the initial shock and panic that Leon would have felt before he realized he could use it to his advantage. I was struggling with the repetitive cycle, as I didn't want the script to seem boring and repetitive. In terms of the ending, Leon needed to break the cycle. However, I didn't want him to get everything his own way as he after all neglected his college work. I thought it would be good to finish on his realization that all of the work and effort he had put into his homework in the morning, was wasted. I was contemplating him getting his homework done and returned to the point when he breaks the cycle and begins to get ready for school. I thought that it would have been pretty funny if his dog came up and ate his finished work. This would have been ironic as it is a typical excuse for many students. I didn't implement this in the story as I did not have enough time because I thought of it just a day before the final script hand in. Generally, I am really impressed with my first script attempt. I am grateful for the constructive feedback that my peers and lecturer have given me. I am hoping to film this script in the summer as a short film. I am a little disappointed that nobody actually decided to use the script for the second film on the course, however, I am a little relieved that nobody has attempted to film it as it is something that I want to film in the near future.

Editing.

This was the phase that Patrick and Chris had said that they wanted to do. I was being overwhelmed with other assignments from other modules and felt guilty in thinking that I should have let them take more control on the weekend. However, after contacting them a week after the edit it became clear that nothing had been complete, well apart from what we had done in class. Mainly Yaz, Abi and myself performed most of the editing with little help from Patrick. At this point it became a rumour that Chris had left University and that was the reasons for him not making a show. I do feel that he could have contacted us at some point to let us know that he was no longer playing any role in the group.

Down to the editing....

I love the fast cuts that represent an event that without passing through the lengthy process of something. Requiem For a Dream shows great example of this with the fast cutting that shows them taking a drug. In our film, I thought the scene with her preparing the pot noodle would be a to attempt this with. Here is a clip from Requiem For a Dream.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s_3BXG3texY&feature=fvw

This clips demonstrates this at the opening.

Another aspect of this film I liked was the speeding up sequence. This is something that would be easy to apply in our film. I tried this in our montage when Claire delivers the newspapers.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u0TedJ56L_w&feature=related

After fitting everything into a chronological order, it became clear that their were some key shots that we really needed. It also became clear that we had to much footage that we wanted to use,without the key linking shots. This meant that we had to make a last minute alteration with out script as we did not have enough time to re-film the missing shots. This was devastating for us as we had to remove our key idea due to lack of footage (well, usable footage). The weather really impacted us on the first day, distracting us from the story and shots. However, we did re-arranged the order of what we had and also used a large array of transitions to try to cover this up. I regret not going through the shot list with a fine tooth comb before we moved into the production stage as it would have made everything else that followed much more effortless. I am so happy that we have another film in which we can learn from our mistakes, hopefully resulting in a film I am more happy with.

The Filming Weekend.

Day 1: the living nightmare.

Sometimes life can be cruel, especially mother nature. It was the first day of our filming weekend and everything had been set up. I thought everything would run smoothly and that it would be a breeze. But how wrong I was. I didn't notice how bad the weather was until I was loading the Z1 into my car. I didn't have an umbrella as I usually bare the rain in a hooded coat, although I had never been solely responsible for a £3000 Sony Z1 before. I thought that other members of our group would have a solid umbrella, especially as half of our team are females. I'm not being sexist, but it is a known fact girls usually have amazing umbrella's due to their hair. But not in this case. All we had were small delicate fold down ones that did not stand a chance in these conditions.

Anyhow, the first location on the schedule that Abi had drew up was the Post office. So at least we would be inside for our first scene. In the post office everything seemed to go well, apart from the constant flow of customers. But we managed to find a gap and get the shots that we needed. The ladies in their were lovely and polite, however, it was only the first scene of our two day filming weekend and I already knew that nobody else apart from Abi and Yaz would contribute to any decisions regarding the scenes and shots. In fact, rather contrary happened. As the weekend unfolded it became a constant battle to keep the attention of all the crew. At points I felt like Abi and myself were like school teachers, struggling to keep to the schedule due to other members of the cast distracting our actor and other members of the crew.

Moving onto our worst scene of the whole weekend. This was the scene outside the Job centre when the weather was at is climax. What made things harder was the fact we were still very much ammeters in setting up the equipment promptly. It was hard for me as the director to pay attention to the framing due to the worry of the Z1 getting wet, especially as droplets kept collecting on the lens. Many of our shorts on this scene had flaws, either the umbrella was falling down into shot, or their was reflections of members of the crew in windows (Yaz's white coat). I like to think that these mistakes would not have have slipped through given a normal filming environment. I hope that even in these early scenes I would have spotted these silly mistakes. However, everything improved from this point. I am proud that we covered so much ground and did all the hard slog in our first day. We finished off at my flat to complete the end of the first day. Everything seemed set for the second day. Abi had previously arranged actors for the final day, and Mike contacted us to inform us he was going to be meeting with us early the next day.

Day 2: Town

The weather was so much better than our previous day on set. However, this was another day I was dreading because I imagined that there would be at least one member of the public looking at our camera in every take. Although, looking back in hindsight, things were not as bad as I had envisioned. There were obviously takes where people did look into, but on the whole...it was good.

On the downside, everything was a struggle due to the fact both of our actors did not show up and Treds was closed when we had scheduled to film. However, we did manage with these problems by simply shuffling around the schedule and filling these acting performances by members of the cast, with me included. I do like the idea of appearing in this film as both Hitchcock and Tarantino both make performances in all their own films. Generally, I am really pleased with today, especially considering how we have overcome certain problems.

This weekend!!!! My Official Directorial debut

This week has been mental as weeks go. I have so much other work to do from other modules as well as all the troubles that have faced us about our film.

Abi did not have much luck with any shoe shops as they all said that they were unable to allow filming to take place. Luckily I had spoken to one of my friends Elspeth who had managed to organise a filming slot with the newly opened Treds in Southgate. I decided to go into the shop in person and managed to talk with the area manager who said he was happy for us to film their, permitting we did not take up much room, were organised and did not disrupt his trade as it was going to be a busy weekend. He also wanted us to show the brand name in our film (i.e. the brand on the bag). This was such a result, especially considering that is was our last possible option of finding an actual shoe shop to film in.

Another location that has caused us a headache is the Job centre. I have been trying to organise a meeting with certain members for weeks now, but they don't ever seem to be around. I had eventually give up and passed the number onto Abi. She had more luck as they said it would be fine for us to film, although they would not be open any time over the weekend of our film. They did give us permission to film outside though.

In terms of Post office, Yaz managed to sort this out weeks ago. We had also arranged to use Yaz's garden for another scene. Abi has also arranged some actors from the drama department to come down and take part in our film which is great.

One aspect that really annoyed Abi and myself was the fact that Chris had not taken on any responsibility outside of the classroom, but had also failed to show up to the Camera demo, which was his only commitment to the project.

Luckily, Mike had arranged a practical workshop earlier this week which really helped put everything into perspective, and also allowed us a chance of a mock run through. It also provided Chris a chance to practice and pick up some key points in using the Z1.

The Demo's...

The first demo I was booked in for was the the camera demo. We had the opportunity of using three video camera's which included a standard Panasonic home camcorder, the Sony A1 or the beastly Z1. In the first year I made a short film, however, we were encouraged not to delve into the semi-pro equipment and to stick with the more simplistic Panasonic. This was due to the staff and their ability to help us with the more advanced camera's and also the difference in the price between the Sony's and the Panasonic. In the first year we were heavily marked on our narratives and stories and not so much how we explored the medium. This means I am new to this level of camera and would there for be in desperate need of the Demo given by Richard.

The Z1

This demo was a lot more detailed than I thought it would be. I am lucky though due to the fact that I enjoy photography and pursue it as a hobby. This meant that have some experience with the terminology, exposures and so on. The demo was structured in a way where we all were shown the basics of the general set-up of the equipment (tripod etc) as a group. We were then asked to go and set up the equipment outside as a group. This is so we could help each other if there were points and elements that we were not so sure about. It is also helpful to get some hands on as we had spent the first hour just trying to absorb as much key points and detail as we could. In the next session we were then given a more complex tutorial on the sound equipment and other techniques that included shot transitions. We were then meant to receive a test to finish, however, after Myles had finished his, Richard said that we all seemed pretty confident and that he felt there was no need for all of us to do the test. He also made sure there was no areas that we were unsure of before sending us home.

Other visited tutorials...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XNVsOTsho2o

and

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CbC5W_PVOhI&feature=related

Final Cut Pro

The final cut demo is one that I was booked in for but had to cancel last minute due to my part time job roping me in. I was meant to rebook another demo but found it difficult finding a time that would fit my weekly schedule with Richard's. It was not the end of the world as I have Final Cut Express on my computer and therefore had experience using it. Although this is not ideal, I have been trying to book myself on an official Apple certified Final Cut Pro course since the beginning of the year. I am currently on a waiting list, hoping that a position becomes available. Not re-arranging a demo with Richard is one of my biggest regrets of the preparation for this film.

Here is a link to the basics of Final Cut Express that are posted on Apple's website...

http://www.apple.com/finalcutexpress/tutorials/

These links really helped with the basics.

CeltX Software...

Celtx

what is it?

Celtx is free media pre-production software designed for creating and organizing media projects like screenplays, films, videos, stageplays, audio plays, documentaries, machinima, comics, games and podcasts.

The client-server application gives independent filmmakers and media creators an integrated and non-linear approach to the pre-production work phase, providing support for industry standard scriptwriting, story development, storyboarding, script breakdowns, production scheduling and reports. It also allows writers to attach images, videos, and audio files to a project, and provides features for collaborating with others online.

Using Celtx to write a script

Celtex is easy to use as it gives a format option for every type of text whether its character dialogue, Scene heading, action and transition. Whatever format you need you just select it from the drop down pallet and select before writing.

Another great aspect of Celtx is the fact that you can create a story board where you can add photographs of the type of shots in mind. This is going to be great in the next few weeks once we have re-witen the Script. When we can get out and start considering locations.

The best thing about Celtx though is the fact that it is free!

The Re-Write of the script.

When I took this course on the main aspect I was interested in was the practical filming side which involved using the camera's, sound equipment and Mac's for editing. I didn't think that every member would be as involved in the script writing phase. When found out that we all had to perform a script re-write I was gutted, especially when finding how fundamental the formatting general aesthetic look played such an important role. Format and punctuation has never been one of my strengths.

We were all told by Mike that for our first film we had to all use the same script due to the fact that we are new to script writing, and it would be good to manipulate a pre-existing script rather than starting off from scratch without any foundation. Mike sent everybody this script unformatted and asked us to re-formatte it using Celtex. At first it seemed really daunting, but because Celtex is so simple to get to grips with, it didn't take long. All I needed to do was to highlight the text and select the format from the drop down pallet (like I posted in last blog). However, the text did contain certain commands that should not be in a film script. These were commands that the director as power over, not the script writer. It was highlighted that the main role of writing a good script was to please the Director or producer by making sure it was formatted perfectly, with no comments at how it should be shot. The script is simply an idea they can work with. This is another element that I really don't like about scriptwriting is that the script can be changed as much as desired by the producer/ director once the copyright has been passed. It seems so disrespectful to change something that has had so much effort and time put into it. This point has also been highlighted in two another module's I have taken this year; Film noir and Hollywood. They both highlight how little control the scriptwriters have, especially in the early stages. It has been highlighted that the most common script writers came from the journalist industry as they are used vigorous edits to their work.

Now Back to the Team...

Now that we had our teams and we had all performed the re-write of Pascha's text individually, we needed to come up with a group version. On our first meeting in the class we talked about different ideas, but struggled because we didn't know how much freedom we had over changing the script. We found from other groups that some of them had made some drastic changes, keeping one underlying theme that they thought the script was about. The theme of desire was one that kept creeping up around the class. One weakness of the script for us was the fact that the main teenage girl character was painted to be a very hard worker that seemed to work for what she wanted, this is a trait that I personally respected in her. However, in the second part of the script she is described to have taken a purse and then buy the shoes she was working for with the old lady's money. I felt that the script contained two different characters, which is something i could not understand as the only motive was the fact that the old lady was snobby and rude. This in my opinion was not strong enough to convert the girl into what the actions that she later carried out. I could not see the young girl we had been introduced to being the same girl that took the purse and money.

As a group we talked through different ideas and then delegated Yaz as the re-writer as she enjoyed this aspect and was most competent with Celtx. One of the common ideas that we all agreed with was the idea that get to the point in the story just before she takes the purse (when she first notices that the old lady has left it). We thought about showing two different snapshots of her imagination of each scenario, her running the purse outside and getting treated really badly by the old lady when she gave it back to her, and the other of her taking the money, quitting her jobs and having the shoes. We all felt that this would strengthen her motive to take the money, while adding a little more complexity to the narrative. We also thought about using voice over to help define what was happening. Although this was something that Mike discouraged us away from, he said that short films should be showing and not telling. He said it's better if the audience can get everything visually. I personally still favoured the idea of a voice over though, who wouldn't if we had an amazing voice like Sir Ian McKellen. In my head i just imagined a voice over performance similar to the introduction of Stardust. None of us could think of anyone with a voice like that, so we decided to drop the voice over idea. Although I guess we could always use the voice over is everything does not seem to go to plan in Post production. It could be our safety net. Anyway, we are a long way off as we still need to form a group script. Without this script our project is motionless. We have planned to meet up later this week with the script so we can start organising locations, cast etc.

I feel a lot of pressure as much of our group keep making jokes about how important my role is. I hope everybody chips in in the production stages of this film because I don't feel every member of this group is giving it the same amount of effort.

Meeting on the script.

Yesterday in class we all met and have the final film script in which we were all happy on. Everything we talked about last week was included in the script as well as some really good ideas surrounding the reappearance of the charity woman. Everyone in the group seemed a lot more at ease as we could really get the wheels in motion now. Abi and myself started to take control over delegating roles to each member of the group. We decided to talk about possible locations in class that we would apply for permission. I said that I worked at Pret and that there was a high chance I could get us permission to film in their. I also said that I lived right in town and could approach the Job centre. Abi said that she would try to find a shoe shop that we could film in, Soletrader, Clarcks and Russel and Bromley as possibilities.

We also talked about the scene in the Post office.

There were two possibilities in both Twerton and New Bridge that would could approach. Yaz only lives 5min walk away from the New Bridge one and said that she does not mind sorting that out. Chris and patrick have been unreliable as they have not seemed to put much effort and enthusiasm towards this film outside of the classroom. One example of this is the fact that Chris was booked onto the Camera demo with me and did not show up. So we have not given them anything to do outside in terms of organising locations because we just want to get it sorted. However, if they asked for the responsibility we would have shared it with them.

Directing...

For me the idea of being a director would be a dream. It is what I one day want to aspire to be, but only with a collection of experience. I am currently arranging some work experience with producers and directors along with small publishing companies. I decided to study Film Studies over a more practical course because of my favourite directors, all of which have developed their own styles in relation to periods and directors within film history. Many of them are extremely educated in film and relate many of their scenes to a style, with film noir and expressionism as a key example of Tim Burton's iconic style. Love or hate him, Tarantino is another great example of a contemporary director who packs his films with film references.

Anyway...bring back to my blog point. This is a role I don't feel ready for yet, however is something I aspire to be maybe one day. Earlier this week we were divided into groups and asked to consider roles that we would play in our first film production. I initially put myself forward as a camera man as I wanted to get my hands on some more hands on action (One of the drawbacks of deciding to go for a non practical degree). When we all asked about who would go in for each role, nobody put themselves forward for the main role of director. Three of us all wanted to do be camera man. I briefly thought about it and through that as I am going to probably going to be making a film with my friends the next time, all of which will probably want to be director, this would be my only chance to go for director. It would also enable me to get hands on with all the areas, enabling me to book demo's in the camera and editing with Final Cut. So I put myself forward and everybody seemed happy. Abi took the role of Producer, Yaz said that she liked the idea of being the Stage Manager wile Chris and Patrick decided to split the Camera and sound. This is a real opportunity, especially considering how Mike is approaching and treating this film, with real professionalism. It's a good insight into the process and roles that the professionals undertaken every day in the industry.

At the end of this weeks workshop, Richard came in to organise the demo's. I wanted to book in for everything (and was also encouraged due to my role as Director). Chris and Patrick both wanted to take a more prominent role in the post production phase of editing and there fore both booked in for the Z1 and Final cut demo along with me. Abi wanted to do everything, but due to the amount of people booked in, she couldn't.

The Team

Groups.

We had been put into groups in our seminar in which we will be producing the first of two films. Our groups were purely based around our availability outside our study timetable. These were completely selected at random. It would be in these groups that we will begin our process of being presented with a script, to actually editing it in the final post production phases. I was entered into a group with four other students; Abi, Yazmin, Patrick and Chris. On our first meeting in the classroom we had to different roles and who would do what. The roles consisting of; Lead Director, Producer, Stage Director, Cameraman, Sound technician and producer.

1. Reformatting Script
2. Rewrite of Script
3. Location Hunting
4. Shot-list of shots
5. Shooting weekend
6. Editing

We were presented with out groups towards the end of the lesson and did not get a chance to organise ourselves into roles. I think we will have to do this at the beginning of next weeks workshop. I really want to be a Director but don't really feel passionate about this script. I also feel I have a lot of other work on at the moment and don't want to fall behind. I think everybody will want to be the Director so I am going to let someone go for it.