Since the semester started, two films have been done. The first was a 2 minute piece that had to be focused on a emotion, and the second task had to be a 5-10 minute which was supposed to include elements of the chosen emotion . In this post I will go through the process, pros and cons of the final two pieces of work as well as evaluate my own personal input, areas of improvement and other people contributions.
To begin with, the group consisted of myself, Bryony Rogers, Kieran Woodhall, Laurence Mcwhinnie and Marcus Owramenko. Some of us had fixed roles in both pieces while others had a mixture. I myself was cinematographer for the two minute piece and mixed the role of producer and Director of Photography for the 5-10 minute, so that other's could get in on the camera work. This meant that only Kieran never touched a camera during the process.
As with any project the first step is the idea. During our first meeting we discussed an emotion to portray which spanned from depression to isolation etc. We eventually got stuck on the idea of fear. I formulated a two minute where a woman is being called by an anonymous person, and gets steadily more fearful as the calls continue. The ten minute idea spanned from this at the hands of Laurence, who came up with the idea of two forensics cleaners that clean up the mess left but one unknowingly by the other. We established that the two minute would be simple and straight to the point, whereas the other would be more complex and harder to tell.
First I shall go through the pre production stage. For the two minute piece the plan was straightforward. We were using Laurence's house and Bryony was being our actress, so the only real decision was on what equipment to use. Organising the date for the shoot was simple enough as we only had to rely on each other for this shoot.
Rather than go through the process of both projects at the same time I will go through the process of the two minute piece first, and then go into the process of the 5-10 minute assignment.
The filming of the two minute piece was done in merely a day. Me, Kieran, Bryony and Marcus all collectively grabbed the equipment and proceeded to walk up to Laurence's house on Ecclesall road. From their we went and set up. Bryony was exceptional as the actress, she really enjoyed getting into this character, and though we had the odd banter moments, she remained professional. Kieran was a great help with the lights. I was left in charge of the lights mainly but we used a tip from our tutor Chris to put tinfoil on the window to block out light. That combined with the moonlight effect I created with the black and blue dedo filters, I believe we achieved an excellent representation of night, considering we filmed in the early afternoon, and it was for most of us our first attempt at using artificial lighting.
My contribution, as well as the lighting side, was also to frame the shots. I set up three key points in which to set up my camera so the angles were covered. I had chosen to use the XF305, as I wanted to grab more experience with that camera and experiment with it. While most people favour the DSLR, I feel that all the DSLR offers is default better image quality, that becomes by default an issue to colour correct as the image is so crisp already. The camera was large so it was difficult to move it round a small space like the one we filmed it, however I managed it. I principally recorded the scene over and over at different frames, then moved on to big close ups such as lighting the candle and Bryony's face being illuminated by the candle on the spur of the moment. We wrapped after about 4-5 hours with a great amount of footage.
The post production for the two minute, was mostly handled by Kieran, who spent hours upon hours editing several versions, uploading them upon completion to our Facebook group. From their we would all give feedback on certain shots, and sounds and suggest what could be changed. Other than that Kieran handled the post production fully by himself, and I must say he did a great job.
Looking at the final 2 minute piece, I honestly can say its been the best finished product I have been involved in since 'The Grass Isn't Always Greener' which was the first university project I ever completed. The fact that I was cinematographer for it, and handled the lighting aspect as well, makes this the most prideful piece of work. It evoked the emotion of fear very well, as we made the audience feel the fear as well as the character on screen which is not an easy thing to accomplish. Its unfortunate that this only counts as 30% of the overall mark, as we feel it was a well done piece of work, and the team worked together very well. The only negatives I can point out really is that some of the shots were a little to dark, and though no issues were raised over it, my perfectionism says I could have done more. The quality of the finished piece also added extra pressure on us to deliver for the 5-10 minute piece.
As I stated earlier, I was primarily the producer for the 5-10 minute piece. This meant that a lot of the pre production was weighed on me. To begin with, I had to find two actors, one being a young male and the other being a middle aged man with the potential of being older. Finding the younger actor was simple enough as I had the contacts of all the actors I worked with for year one. Once a treatment was written by our director Laurence, I sent it to these actors first. I then took to the website Star Now, and posted an add for both roles on their as well as advertising on three Facebook groups, dedicated to film making and acting. I received five responses for the role of Duncan, two being actors I worked with previously, and two being new guys. I arranged auditions for them accordingly on a Monday, with the filming intended to be on a Wednesday.
Unfortunately only one person responded to the role of Abe so it was essential that he was available. I maintained a highly communicated relationship to this man through email, with 12 emails exchange in the space of a week. Unfortunately on the day of auditions he had to pull out. He was coming down the motorway when he realised their were major roadwork's being placed at the time, meaning with his tight schedule, we agreed it was in the best interests for both party's.Regardless we cast the role of Duncan and pushed shooting back a week to allow a new Abe.
I did an updated post on two of the Facebook groups, and extended the application deadline on star now. It was with great relief that I received two responses, which allowed us to audition the role and get a feel for the character. That Monday, all of us attended the auditions, apart from Laurence, which again meant that a flip camera was needed. We cast our Abe and obviously as producer it fell to me to inform both the successful and unsuccessful candidates, and I made sure all the contact details of the party's were save both for this project and future opportunity's. From then on it came to securing a diner location, as the car Laurence intended to use no longer became available. So me and Kieran went out and checked out two places. I did the talking whilst Kieran was there purely for moral support. I insisted someone would accompany me on the location scouting, as I feel it is more professional to show that you are part of a team when trying to use someone's establishment. We managed to secure a Diner on Ecclesall road for the following week.
Before I go into the production stage, I just want to talk about my disappointment at Laurence's lack of attendance to key pre production events, and also the lack of effort by the others to acquire information. I would always post new developments on the group like dates and times, yet I would ring people up on the day and they would be surprised that their was auditions or meetings. As a producer I felt this left all my effort to keep both cast and crew in a constant loop of things, and organising schedules was unappreciated. The day before shooting I had the group sit with me and I showed them the full schedule breaking down the days up until the presentation, on where I would like the production to be at. I also typed out an equipment list and booked it all out, as well as finalising availability and confirming the plan. In amongst all this I was also the director of photography, so I was pre visualising the storyboards for both scenes, as well as thinking about what kind of lighting we would use. Needless to say, I hardly had a moments rest for the pre production.
The production was a generally confused affair, their were several hiccup's including one situation where Me and Kieran had to renegotiate with the Diner as one of the actors had to back out due to personal commitments. Filming was a fun process, but on the final day we were rushed, and I felt like Laurence was just wanting it to be over, which is the worst thing theoretically a director could do. His constant appeals of are we done yet did not help to boost moral and with that final shot being difficult to set up, it became frustrating at times. The post production became a rushed affair due to two incidences with mac books either crashing or going faulty, which meant thee full edit did not commence until the Saturday before the hand in. Me and Kieran had to salvage the sound editing on the final day which left us in the suite until 12:20AM on that Wednesday, and I myself had to export it on the morning.
Looking at the final 10 minute piece, I think we did a good job of salvaging a project that was plagued with setbacks. Me and Kieran both agree, had we had just one or two more days to polish the edit, we could have pushed it to a first class standard. Metaphorically speaking this project finished as a fine shoe, needing a good hard polish. Contribution wise, I put myself forward as much as humanly possible, With Kieran and Bryony both doing a great part. Laurence's contribution could have been better as he didn't even come in during the editing process. As for Marcus, he only did one full film day and never came in for the post production.
Area's for improvement would be to definitely secure the locations sooner, even before the actors just to have that breathing room, as waiting almost a week to use the diner was a set back that could have been avoided. Also people making sure they check the schedules, and a more hands on director would have helped the project a long way, as I feel we wasn't all going in the same direction. I believe if their was as much communication on set ad their was on the group, this could have gone a lot smoother. Also, having reliable macs to work on would have made all the set backs we faced time wise redundant, as we would have had the extra time if the technical difficulty's didn't arise.
On my own personal reflection, I believe that my camera skills have finally had a chance to bloom and blossom for this project which showed on the final film and well as the 5-10 minute. I also seem to have a good knack for producing, as I like things to be organised and in place, so the role came naturally to me, though its not something I want as a career. However, if I feel their is not enough effort being put in to organising, I will naturally try to organise things and make sure everybody is in the know. So as a final summary, my cinematography and camera skills have enhanced to a degree, my producer and lighting skills have increased drastically from what they were previously. As for the projects, I take great pride in the two minute, whereas the second, though pleasing, it is regrettable that we wasn't able to make it the best it could be.
Tuesday, 6 January 2015
Saturday, 3 January 2015
Editing and Foley
With the filming, though rushed towards the end, complete, it was time to get down to the visual edit. Due to our technical problems me and Bryony went into the edit suite Friday, and imported all but one set of visuals and the separate audio. Saturday was spend cutting up the sequence. Without a rough storyboard to go with it was down to Bryony to get a sequence going.
Sadly, due to Bryony's lack of experience with the software, and editing a piece as long as this, she wanted guidance so she knows what we are looking for. As Laurence wasn't here, it came down to me on assisting her getting a sequence. This scene was fought as we had to they and get this conversation between the two characters to flow. This was difficult as we were limited to two angles. I tried to get a two shot in their, but by the time I filmed that the audio equipment was packed, so any hope of getting a good synchronisation was diminished.
The challenge was also to get some sounds foleyed for the final edit. After me and bryony finished locking the sequence on Monday evening I looked through and made a note of every key Foley that was key to the film. As you can see in the various images below I made two lists. The first list being the Foley's I needed to get and the second list being labels of the sound files of the zoom.
Sadly, due to Bryony's lack of experience with the software, and editing a piece as long as this, she wanted guidance so she knows what we are looking for. As Laurence wasn't here, it came down to me on assisting her getting a sequence. This scene was fought as we had to they and get this conversation between the two characters to flow. This was difficult as we were limited to two angles. I tried to get a two shot in their, but by the time I filmed that the audio equipment was packed, so any hope of getting a good synchronisation was diminished.
The challenge was also to get some sounds foleyed for the final edit. After me and bryony finished locking the sequence on Monday evening I looked through and made a note of every key Foley that was key to the film. As you can see in the various images below I made two lists. The first list being the Foley's I needed to get and the second list being labels of the sound files of the zoom.
Wednesday, 17 December 2014
Sound Editing
With the edit finally locked, it was time to get a sound edit going. However syncing sound is a long and tough process, and as this was the final day, it was pretty much a rush job. Bryony's curse of panic caught up with her, and due to her lack of experience on sound editing Kieran took over as the sound editor, with me helping him along the way. Kieran was in charge of syncing the dialogue which took a few hours as some clips only had the in camera sound. This did prove a challenge, and levels on these particular takes had to be altered to sound as subtle as possible. After he finished syncing the dialogue, I was put in charge of adding in the atmospheres and the Foley sound, as I knew what they were and where they were. This again was a difficult process, as I had to sync up Foleys that I recorded out of pace, such as the moment where Duncan crosses the room to get to Abe. This was unavoidable as I hadn't a copy of the original footage, so I couldn't precisely estimate it and ended up using the same singular footstep over and over. In the meantime Kieran was hunting for a sound to layer over the scenes with Abe's headphones.
We ended up going for a particularly jazzy tone and layered that over top. It was not long enough for the whole scene, so I picked a moment where the music levelled out and copy and pasted everything after it. This allowed the piece to have that sinister yet comedic ending. After I spend a few hours getting all the atmospheric stuff and the Foleys locked in me and Kieran had to adjust the levels, remove any clicks and make sure the sound helped the piece. Out of the images below you can see in the bottom most one that me and Kieran were in their until quarter past 12 when we finally got down to exporting it. Unfortunately the export broke half way through, and security wanted everyone to leave the premises. I informed Kieran that I would arrive first thing in the morning to do it, so we would have something to show.
All in all this project, has been a long tough one, with countless setbacks which forced post production to be crammed in right at the end. These setbacks included the two computers breaking down, meaning we had to start over twice. It's by far not the worst piece it could have been. Me and Kieran came out prideful of the fact we have sacrificed a lot of free time to save the project that for the entire post production process hung on a knife edge.
If I had to sum up what we were handing in, I would compare it to a dirty shoe. With one or two more full days, we could have polished it up to an excellent piece of work. It is by no means a bad piece, in fact I see it as a rough almost finished draft.
The images blows show Me Kieran and Bryony at work. My only disappointment is that Laurence has yet to see the film, so I am unsure as to if he would approve of the finished cut, but at end of day, he could have came in more.
Presentation and Reflection
After the mad rush, and securing of a rough sound edit the previous night, I arrived in uni around 8:45AM, to ensure that the film got exported. The only changes I made to the locked sound edit me and Kieran completed the previous night, was to add our student numbers which I collected from the university email network. I exported the piece according to Kieran's instructions, and Kieran came in and compressed a version that would fit easily onto my USB drive. The effect caused the image quality, which already needed grading, to decrease. We got an uncompressed version onto Tyrese's hard drive, which was the better quality and the one we intended to show. However, when the presentation cam around that copy didn't work, so we had to settle for showcasing the compressed version.
Besides me and Kieran, no one else in our group had seen the final edit, Laurence himself admitting he hadn't come to see it. he commented at the end saying that it wasn't what he visualised, and stated he wanted the pull focus longer. I felt it was a tad unprofessional seeing as he hadn't made the effort to come and observe the edit. I as producer came in to see how it was going, and at times was willing to take over when it all became to much for the editor. If he had come in and told us exactly what he wanted from the edit. This being said, I am in no way 100% pleased with what we have got.
Firstly the levels failed us. On play back in a private edit room, the atoms came out clearly and the audio sounded decent. Sadly the levels proved to low for the presentation speakers. I believe that if we had just one more full day to edit I believe we could have sorted the project out. All it really needs is colour grading and more polish on the sound edit.
The project was praised for its black comedy elements, which was the intended angle we went for. This was a pleasing part of the presentation. At the end I asked the tutor directly if the phone scene worked. As the brief stated three characters need to interact in the scene. He responded by saying the characters work, which in itself lifts a weight from my shoulders, as I thought it would be that scene that let us down.
Though the project is not technically finished from a university point of view, for me it isn't. I do not want to hand the actors this project the way it is. I fully intent to improve the edit before the semester is up. All that needs doing on it is a finer sound edit and a colour grading. I will most likely do the colour grading first as the sequence is as done as it can be for now, yet I will extend the pull focus shot. Until my evaluation, I guess I can call this drama project complete, however I will be doing an extra edit which I will update on this blog.
Besides me and Kieran, no one else in our group had seen the final edit, Laurence himself admitting he hadn't come to see it. he commented at the end saying that it wasn't what he visualised, and stated he wanted the pull focus longer. I felt it was a tad unprofessional seeing as he hadn't made the effort to come and observe the edit. I as producer came in to see how it was going, and at times was willing to take over when it all became to much for the editor. If he had come in and told us exactly what he wanted from the edit. This being said, I am in no way 100% pleased with what we have got.
Firstly the levels failed us. On play back in a private edit room, the atoms came out clearly and the audio sounded decent. Sadly the levels proved to low for the presentation speakers. I believe that if we had just one more full day to edit I believe we could have sorted the project out. All it really needs is colour grading and more polish on the sound edit.
The project was praised for its black comedy elements, which was the intended angle we went for. This was a pleasing part of the presentation. At the end I asked the tutor directly if the phone scene worked. As the brief stated three characters need to interact in the scene. He responded by saying the characters work, which in itself lifts a weight from my shoulders, as I thought it would be that scene that let us down.
Though the project is not technically finished from a university point of view, for me it isn't. I do not want to hand the actors this project the way it is. I fully intent to improve the edit before the semester is up. All that needs doing on it is a finer sound edit and a colour grading. I will most likely do the colour grading first as the sequence is as done as it can be for now, yet I will extend the pull focus shot. Until my evaluation, I guess I can call this drama project complete, however I will be doing an extra edit which I will update on this blog.
Sunday, 14 December 2014
Its A Wrap! 9th-11th December
At 2PM on Thursday 11th December the filming of the working title production of 'Cleaners' officially wrapped. This has thus ended a highly stressful production, and with only six days remaining until the final presentation, it is crucial that we do not take our foot off the gas. This post will hopefully clarify the process over the last three days of shooting. I will then go on to analyse the strengths, weaknesses and improvements of the piece from several angles, including variety of shots, commitment of team members, and time constraints.
TUESDAY 9th DECEMBER 2014
With our schedule demanding a full days filming from 9AM to late afternoon on the 10th, I made two posts regarding the schedule. The first came on Sunday in which I quote the following snippet of the post 'Monday: look at brys edit, adjust and approve. Tuesday ADR dialogue for house, get equipment, Set Up the house Wendsday: Diner scene (must complete) rest of Phillips shots, the Final reflection shot, import and edit. Thursday: Callum's individual scenes to be finished.'. This has clearly stated my intention to collect equipment on that day. The screen shot confirming that post on the 7th December can be seen below.
To ensure that everyone was informed of the equipment collection, I followed up with the following post on the 9th December (see image)
With the equipment situation resolved, it was time to attend to some production work. Due to technical faults in the equipment on the first day of shooting, dialogue has become required to ADR (additional dialogue recording), so we brought Callum in to re speak his lines for the interior and exterior of the crime scene. The only thing that Phillip sadly could not make it in for some unknown reason, but I believe it to be due to the short notice. The only thing that went right on this particular day, was Callum's ADR which in itself went very well, and has hopefully given us a decent set of lines to dub over the footage.
That evening I received a producers worst nightmare, Phil responded to my confirmation text saying I can't make it tomorrow Josh' which for me personally was hectic, as we only had the diner booked for that Wednesday from 9AM-12AM. My first instinct was to cancel filming as around 70% of what needed to be filmed was involving Phil in shot. However once I calmed down a bit, an idea that Laurence thought of in the early stages came to mind. He basically had an idea, that one of us could get in the suits for those scenes as you don't see the actor per say. As we have shots of Phil up till the point where he has gotten his uniform on. So I brought up the idea that we can do all of Callum's shots in the morning as well as have one of is in Phil's suit so we can compensate for the montage. This I felt also brought us a unique opportunity. If we can succeed in making people believe that that is Phil in the uniform doing the cleaning, we have acheived the art of illusion. As big productions use stunt and body doubles all the time, it is a useful skill to try out.
I carried on to formulate the plan for Wednesday's shooting. With this idea brought out and confirmed, it was time to look into the matter of the diner. I decided that Kieran and Myself would go to the diner at the agreed time, and explain the situation. This I fought was more practical, as it meant me and Kieran could get to Laurence's and set up prior to Callum's arrival, and also show a sense of professionalism to try and secure the location for another day. Phil's reason of absence was a reasonable one, as he had to take his wife to hospital that day. I then collaborated to confirm if he could do Thursday as the plan was to shoot pick up's with Callum that day as well, to which Phil responded yes. With our plan for Wednesday secured, the fate of this project teetered on the edge until Wednesday, as it was essential to get the diner location. Below are two screenshots both before and after I thought up a back up plan.
WEDNESDAY 10th DECEMBER
As I had arranged with Kieran the previous night, I called on him at 8:30AM with some of the equipment, and thus we went to the diner. The owner Nicola was quite understanding about the reason, however she wanted us to check if the actors could come in Friday, but would do Thursday if needed. Her reasoning was to make sure that the cleaner wasn't around, or at least wouldn't be in our way. I texted the actors, but unfortunately Phillip works Friday-Sunday so I informed the location. It was now down to them to confirm Thursday's time. Between 9:30AM and 11AM Kieran and myself got to Laurence's and did two extra journeys to collect the equipment from mine. On the second return, Bryony had arrived with Callum and Marcus and we got to lighting the kitchen scene for Callum.
Callum got into his gear (see image) and Laurence went about directing the scene (see image)
.We did a full tracking shot and various close ups of the scene, including a shot from within the fridge, which will make a nice transition shot. We wrapped with Callum about 12PM and while everyone was at lunch, I was midway through packing up equipment, when I realised I forgot to do a birds eye view of his hand trailing across the counter. I decided to put the sleeve of the white suit on and one of the rubber gloves, and proceeded to record with the DSLR in my left hand while my right did the motion. I did around five takes in one shot just to get some variety. The shot itself almost becomes a first person shot. Lighting wise for the scene, we didn't want anything to sinister, and didn't use any filters. I made this choice as the lighting in the living room, was intended to give your a foreboding feeling. In the kitchen, we still wanted to catch a tense mood, but instead of playing with colour we simply dimmed down the dedo lights. this created the darkened effect without the use of colours.
In the living room we set up two dedo lights, with the previously used two orange and one black filter combination. The first thing we shot while Kieran for into the gear, was several close ups of out 'blood and gore' with the regular lights on it is pretty obvious what the items on the table really are (chunks of beef/chicken grinder up mixed with tomato puree and water). However with the lighting set up, the meat that I ground with a cleaver and knife mixed with a hefty dose of the puree and water, appeared to be blood and organs (see image). In one close up I filmed I actually was so amazed at the effect that I exclaimed it looked like brains. As well as doing this we also replaced the plastic sheets on the walls we only covered up certain areas that would be in shot (see images).
With the set and props prepared, Kieran geared up and we went to filming various shots that showed his progress through the room. This included close ups of the item's, sweeping guts into a bag and
walking round the room. In hindsight I am disappointed on the variety, as we filmed more close ups of the blood than we did of him progressing through the room. This means that we will have to intercut him and Duncan in the kitchen, to make the story flow better and keep it interesting. We did try and Foley stuff like walking on sheets, however Laurence failed to keep his flatmates quiet, and most of the foley was disrupted by back ground sound. This has proven a hindrance, and it greatly annoyed the rest of us. The strain of these two filming days being a 'do or die' situation, and with the dinner still unconfirmed, tempers were short. We came out of the shoot with 15GB worth of footage and a tiny amount of foley. Kieran managed to pull of the actions as he was directed, and I believe we may have pulled off the body double effort. Below are images of the days shoot.
We imported the footage to which we ran into another problem. The mac we were working on in the edit suite was about to white screen. So, we took all the footage and audio from the days shoot and the previous shoot, and put it on Kieran's hard drive. Bryony agreed to download Avids 30 day free trial, so she could edit on their. This way we would not have to rely on the macs in the edit suite. It was all doom and gloom, but then the location got back to me around 6PM telling us to come at 10AM. This meant we could finally get the dinner scene done, and finish pick ups on the house scene. With this plan, I posted the following schedule on out Facebook (see image).
With this plan organised, it was time to go into the final day of filming all guns blazing.
THURSDAY 11th DECEMBER
I was awoke at 7AM this day, to receive word from Bryony that she had a migraine and wanted me to tell Marcus to meet Phil. She stated that she could show up later after the migraine meant, and was really sorry. She was asking if she fucked everything up, and thought it was disappointing, I said we would work around it. After hanging up, I had a half hour nap then work up and decided to ring Kieran and ask him to meet the actors, as Marcus has thus far proved to be unreliable. I explained the situation to Kieran and he agree to go meet the actor.To ensure that the spirit was high, I went to Aldi after calling Kieran and brought a loaf of bread, butter and ham. I then set about making sandwiches from the whole loaf. This would ensure that Phil could eat something in the Café and also make sure that the cast and crew could eat something over what could have been a long day. I also packed a cup and plate to use as props in the diner. I got the location at 10, and Laurence Kieran and Phil (the actor) arrived shortly after, to which we began to set up. My intuition was right as Marcus didn't show up. Callum was running a bit late and informed me of his absence which was greatly appreciated, while we waited we selected a table to use then got some establishing shots of Phil.
Callum arrived and we set about doing the shots. To maximise productivity of the shots, me and Laurence filmed the conversation via cross coverage whilst Kieran acted as our boom operator. Sadly this would be the only source of dialogue sound we would be able to record, so we ensured that we got many takes of the audio. some of it was spoiled by background sound, but with at least ten takes of the dialogue, I believe we covered it enough. Laurence changed the way Duncan enters the diner, without informing me, so the POV shot I recorded proved useless. I filmed several close ups and with the phone scene, I tried to centre frame the phone as much as possible, and enhance its importance within the piece. One major positive from this scene, was the fact that we knew what to do should the audio mess up this time around. Bryony informed us that she could arrive to do the house scene, which definitely raised moral. We finished up at the diner around half 11, and Laurence ensured that we had the photograph of Phil in the diner. He took the photo, then removed the SD card to go print the photo off while me and Kieran packed the equipment and reached the house.
It was here that things went bad. I managed to reshoot the stuff in the hallway after tin foiling the window, and we did get the photo frame shot covered, which in itself was incredibly difficult, as the slightest move of the focus ring could put the reflection out of focus again. Laurence informed us that he wanted it done quick due to a house viewing at 3PM. This mean all of the pick ups I wanted to do couldn't be done as I was constantly being bombarded with questions of 'are we done yet?'. This I found to be highly unprofessional and annoying, seeing as Laurence is meant to be the director, yet didn't seem to be bothered about getting everything needed to make it a decent piece of work. I got Phil into the living room to ADR his interior lines and ensure we had stuff to work with. Sadly we were unable to film exterior pick ups as it was raining meaning continuity wouldn't succeed.
The plan now is to get down to editing straight away. Bryony sadly can no longer do it on her mac book as she is having technical difficulty's. Kieran now has everything recorded on his hard drive, and on Friday we imported it onto a computer with plenty of space.
On Monday I will be getting out sound equipment to record all foley we will be needing while Kieran and Bryony organise the sequence and colour correct. The final few days we will be cutting it tight, but I have every faith we can put together a decent piece considering the time period.
TUESDAY 9th DECEMBER 2014
With our schedule demanding a full days filming from 9AM to late afternoon on the 10th, I made two posts regarding the schedule. The first came on Sunday in which I quote the following snippet of the post 'Monday: look at brys edit, adjust and approve. Tuesday ADR dialogue for house, get equipment, Set Up the house Wendsday: Diner scene (must complete) rest of Phillips shots, the Final reflection shot, import and edit. Thursday: Callum's individual scenes to be finished.'. This has clearly stated my intention to collect equipment on that day. The screen shot confirming that post on the 7th December can be seen below.
To ensure that everyone was informed of the equipment collection, I followed up with the following post on the 9th December (see image)
 |
| 9th december post |
With the equipment situation resolved, it was time to attend to some production work. Due to technical faults in the equipment on the first day of shooting, dialogue has become required to ADR (additional dialogue recording), so we brought Callum in to re speak his lines for the interior and exterior of the crime scene. The only thing that Phillip sadly could not make it in for some unknown reason, but I believe it to be due to the short notice. The only thing that went right on this particular day, was Callum's ADR which in itself went very well, and has hopefully given us a decent set of lines to dub over the footage.
That evening I received a producers worst nightmare, Phil responded to my confirmation text saying I can't make it tomorrow Josh' which for me personally was hectic, as we only had the diner booked for that Wednesday from 9AM-12AM. My first instinct was to cancel filming as around 70% of what needed to be filmed was involving Phil in shot. However once I calmed down a bit, an idea that Laurence thought of in the early stages came to mind. He basically had an idea, that one of us could get in the suits for those scenes as you don't see the actor per say. As we have shots of Phil up till the point where he has gotten his uniform on. So I brought up the idea that we can do all of Callum's shots in the morning as well as have one of is in Phil's suit so we can compensate for the montage. This I felt also brought us a unique opportunity. If we can succeed in making people believe that that is Phil in the uniform doing the cleaning, we have acheived the art of illusion. As big productions use stunt and body doubles all the time, it is a useful skill to try out.
I carried on to formulate the plan for Wednesday's shooting. With this idea brought out and confirmed, it was time to look into the matter of the diner. I decided that Kieran and Myself would go to the diner at the agreed time, and explain the situation. This I fought was more practical, as it meant me and Kieran could get to Laurence's and set up prior to Callum's arrival, and also show a sense of professionalism to try and secure the location for another day. Phil's reason of absence was a reasonable one, as he had to take his wife to hospital that day. I then collaborated to confirm if he could do Thursday as the plan was to shoot pick up's with Callum that day as well, to which Phil responded yes. With our plan for Wednesday secured, the fate of this project teetered on the edge until Wednesday, as it was essential to get the diner location. Below are two screenshots both before and after I thought up a back up plan.
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| Initial plan regarding Phil's absence |
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| Final Plan post |
WEDNESDAY 10th DECEMBER
As I had arranged with Kieran the previous night, I called on him at 8:30AM with some of the equipment, and thus we went to the diner. The owner Nicola was quite understanding about the reason, however she wanted us to check if the actors could come in Friday, but would do Thursday if needed. Her reasoning was to make sure that the cleaner wasn't around, or at least wouldn't be in our way. I texted the actors, but unfortunately Phillip works Friday-Sunday so I informed the location. It was now down to them to confirm Thursday's time. Between 9:30AM and 11AM Kieran and myself got to Laurence's and did two extra journeys to collect the equipment from mine. On the second return, Bryony had arrived with Callum and Marcus and we got to lighting the kitchen scene for Callum.
Callum got into his gear (see image) and Laurence went about directing the scene (see image)
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| Laurence shooting close up |
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| Callum in gear |
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| Lawrence tracking Callum |
In the living room we set up two dedo lights, with the previously used two orange and one black filter combination. The first thing we shot while Kieran for into the gear, was several close ups of out 'blood and gore' with the regular lights on it is pretty obvious what the items on the table really are (chunks of beef/chicken grinder up mixed with tomato puree and water). However with the lighting set up, the meat that I ground with a cleaver and knife mixed with a hefty dose of the puree and water, appeared to be blood and organs (see image). In one close up I filmed I actually was so amazed at the effect that I exclaimed it looked like brains. As well as doing this we also replaced the plastic sheets on the walls we only covered up certain areas that would be in shot (see images).
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| tac on set dressing |
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| Me cutting up the meat with cleaver |
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| Set dressing |
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| Set dressing |
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| The meat without the deco lights switched on |
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| Marcus helping set up |
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| Cutting up met again |
With the set and props prepared, Kieran geared up and we went to filming various shots that showed his progress through the room. This included close ups of the item's, sweeping guts into a bag and
walking round the room. In hindsight I am disappointed on the variety, as we filmed more close ups of the blood than we did of him progressing through the room. This means that we will have to intercut him and Duncan in the kitchen, to make the story flow better and keep it interesting. We did try and Foley stuff like walking on sheets, however Laurence failed to keep his flatmates quiet, and most of the foley was disrupted by back ground sound. This has proven a hindrance, and it greatly annoyed the rest of us. The strain of these two filming days being a 'do or die' situation, and with the dinner still unconfirmed, tempers were short. We came out of the shoot with 15GB worth of footage and a tiny amount of foley. Kieran managed to pull of the actions as he was directed, and I believe we may have pulled off the body double effort. Below are images of the days shoot.
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| Kieran in gear |
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| me preparing a shot |
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| Kieran preparing |
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| Kieran |
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| Marcus doing close ups |
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| the set withoug lighting on |
We imported the footage to which we ran into another problem. The mac we were working on in the edit suite was about to white screen. So, we took all the footage and audio from the days shoot and the previous shoot, and put it on Kieran's hard drive. Bryony agreed to download Avids 30 day free trial, so she could edit on their. This way we would not have to rely on the macs in the edit suite. It was all doom and gloom, but then the location got back to me around 6PM telling us to come at 10AM. This meant we could finally get the dinner scene done, and finish pick ups on the house scene. With this plan, I posted the following schedule on out Facebook (see image).
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| confirmation on post |
With this plan organised, it was time to go into the final day of filming all guns blazing.
THURSDAY 11th DECEMBER
I was awoke at 7AM this day, to receive word from Bryony that she had a migraine and wanted me to tell Marcus to meet Phil. She stated that she could show up later after the migraine meant, and was really sorry. She was asking if she fucked everything up, and thought it was disappointing, I said we would work around it. After hanging up, I had a half hour nap then work up and decided to ring Kieran and ask him to meet the actors, as Marcus has thus far proved to be unreliable. I explained the situation to Kieran and he agree to go meet the actor.To ensure that the spirit was high, I went to Aldi after calling Kieran and brought a loaf of bread, butter and ham. I then set about making sandwiches from the whole loaf. This would ensure that Phil could eat something in the Café and also make sure that the cast and crew could eat something over what could have been a long day. I also packed a cup and plate to use as props in the diner. I got the location at 10, and Laurence Kieran and Phil (the actor) arrived shortly after, to which we began to set up. My intuition was right as Marcus didn't show up. Callum was running a bit late and informed me of his absence which was greatly appreciated, while we waited we selected a table to use then got some establishing shots of Phil.
Callum arrived and we set about doing the shots. To maximise productivity of the shots, me and Laurence filmed the conversation via cross coverage whilst Kieran acted as our boom operator. Sadly this would be the only source of dialogue sound we would be able to record, so we ensured that we got many takes of the audio. some of it was spoiled by background sound, but with at least ten takes of the dialogue, I believe we covered it enough. Laurence changed the way Duncan enters the diner, without informing me, so the POV shot I recorded proved useless. I filmed several close ups and with the phone scene, I tried to centre frame the phone as much as possible, and enhance its importance within the piece. One major positive from this scene, was the fact that we knew what to do should the audio mess up this time around. Bryony informed us that she could arrive to do the house scene, which definitely raised moral. We finished up at the diner around half 11, and Laurence ensured that we had the photograph of Phil in the diner. He took the photo, then removed the SD card to go print the photo off while me and Kieran packed the equipment and reached the house.
It was here that things went bad. I managed to reshoot the stuff in the hallway after tin foiling the window, and we did get the photo frame shot covered, which in itself was incredibly difficult, as the slightest move of the focus ring could put the reflection out of focus again. Laurence informed us that he wanted it done quick due to a house viewing at 3PM. This mean all of the pick ups I wanted to do couldn't be done as I was constantly being bombarded with questions of 'are we done yet?'. This I found to be highly unprofessional and annoying, seeing as Laurence is meant to be the director, yet didn't seem to be bothered about getting everything needed to make it a decent piece of work. I got Phil into the living room to ADR his interior lines and ensure we had stuff to work with. Sadly we were unable to film exterior pick ups as it was raining meaning continuity wouldn't succeed.
The plan now is to get down to editing straight away. Bryony sadly can no longer do it on her mac book as she is having technical difficulty's. Kieran now has everything recorded on his hard drive, and on Friday we imported it onto a computer with plenty of space.
On Monday I will be getting out sound equipment to record all foley we will be needing while Kieran and Bryony organise the sequence and colour correct. The final few days we will be cutting it tight, but I have every faith we can put together a decent piece considering the time period.
Friday, 5 December 2014
On set 4/12/14
After many setbacks, including the unfortunate fall through of Michael Slater, which caused us to push filming back a week, we finally managed to get on set to film. It was a mixed day, with a fair amount of technical difficulties, time wasting, long set up times, and underestimating the time needed. Here is how the days filming went on Monday 4th December.
Laurence had to stay at his place, to get it tidy for our arrival, so Me, Kieran and Bryony met up at 9:50AM to collect the equipment booked out. Our first setback occurred, when the Canon 60D was unavailable. Though it would only have been used for behind the scenes footage and production stills, it was still a slight blow, as it would have been useful to have the second camera just in case. We collected the rest of the equipment required, and were given a trolley to take down to the train station to meet the actors. Marcus text me asking where the meeting point was, which was slightly irritating, as I did say the time in our final production meeting, the time and destination, however I hid this fact and let him know to meet outside the train station. I proceeded to deliver the trolley back to stores, and whilst walking back I realised we had forgotten to take into account the fact we would need to record dialogue, which meant we needed a boom pole. I met the rest of the team, and grabbed the dolly off them and informed them not to record dialogue until I arrived, as I was going back to stores to book out the boom pole. I let Kieran know that the storyboard was in my red duffel bag, and to get recording as soon as possible but not to record dialogue. With that I left them and ran to stores.
I reached the location around 11AM, dead on time for the scheduled start. Sadly, nobody had thought to go through the equipment, so around twenty minutes was spent checking the camera settings, ensuring the appropriate frame rate and resolution were set. Marcus, Laurence and Kieran were in the living room set designing for the main interior pieces, so me and Bryony went to direct the exterior sequences. I had storyboarded the entire scene the previous night, so I had a clear vision of the scene. At first I was both directing the exteriors as well as doing the sound, however the team had finished setting up after about five takes and I passed the sound duties to Kieran, so I could focus more on my DOP role.
Unfortunately the production hit another snag. Though I would have liked to have got a couple more shots outside for variety. Kieran reported a high pitched sound coming from the zoom, which meant that our dialogue sequences were now redundant. We tried to figure out the problem, and came to the conclusion that the cables were to blame. However once we had finished filming we came to the conclusion that the battery in the audio technica had gone dead, which would explain why the sound faltered so suddenly. This over sight has left us now needing to ADR the majority of the dialogue, which had only been a possibility previously. This revelation, and the time it took to set up the lights in the living room, only lead to giving me a slight headache.
The lighting, I was in charge of deciding how to light it. I chose a autumn kind of feel, as we wanted the piece to be moody, but not as dark as we had used previously. The intention was to use the contrast of colour. Originally, I had put only two orange filters in each of the three Dedo lights to create this harsh autumn like sense. However, it was to bright, so as with the two minute piece, I added a black filter to darken the colour. This worked beautifully, adding a negativity to the usually bright and positive colour. Me and Kieran dimmed down the lights to try and reduce the shadows. Ideally, it would have been an idea to use the diva light as a backlight for the doorway, however the space was to tight, and the presence of lighting would have been clear. We had set the lights, and when it came to observing the lighting on the DSLR, with a subject in shot, the mood came a cross perfectly. It gave shadows across these characters and a darkened feel to the shot. We had not blocked out the windows with tinfoil this time around, and in hindsight it would have been a good idea to block the window above the door, as the light is clearly different to the lighting set up, and you can see the said lighting in a successive shot. This may lead to a reshoot of those shots, however I beleive that clever colour correction can succeed in hiding this.
The scene where Duncan is almost puking, has been shot differently to how I storyboarded it. This was due to the fact Laurence visualised it differently, and a directors decision came into play. I personally don't like the lack of coverage on the only dialogue part of the scene, however I trust Laurence's judgement and look forward to seeing it during editing. This change in shooting plan meant that I had to move a shot I was passionate about when drawing it. The shot is Abe's feet walking into frame, laying down his suitcase, and opening it. I had intended it to show him getting Duncan's uniform, however it has been decided that he will have left the uniform in the car or Abe would have given it to him in the kitchen beforehand. The shot now has transformed into a pull focus, as Abe walks in after sending Duncan away. This works well as it signifies that Abe is now in his comfort zone and is ready to work. We managed to get a few montage shots done before 3PM, at which time our actor Phillip has had to leave.
Overall, the day could have taken a turn for the worst, after the sound failed up. But the team managed to hold it together, and the filming has been rescheduled for next Wednesday immediately after the diner sequence, with possible ADRing on Tuesday afternoon. Id rather get the ADRing done before wends day, to take less of the pressure off Bryony. I have now made some producers decisions to take into next week.
Most important, the original 9Am-12PM call time has been extended to a possible 4PM wrap time. This will mean a longer day, and I don't feel it fair to keep the actors for to long, though they have agreed to the extension. Therefore, due to the fact that we filmed pretty much all of the dialogue in the house, I believe it would be a good idea to shoot in two units. Considering we may not need the two in the same shot again for that scene apart from the ending, and no dialogue required, it would be the most tactical idea for both getting the entire scene finished that day, and not keeping the actors for longer than necessary. If one unit does the Abraham montage sequence, and someone does the Duncan sequence, it will speed the time and coverage of the scenes. This will mean extra equipment, but with a week to go after the shoot before its schedule completion, it has now reached a matter or urgency.
We will also need to ensure that, all props are available, we don't spend time messing around, we cover the window to match the lighting in shot, and above all, ensure everyones happy.
I have only one photo taken of us on set, as our actor Phillip, spent time to take stills of us a work with his own camera, that we have requested be sent to our emails.
I have also taken a couple of photos of the lighting set up, as the plan is to get the equipment and set up the shoot the night before in Laurence's house, so it is ready for when we return from the diner.
Bryony has already imported the footage, and has been putting what we have into a sequence, which she is showing me today.
Laurence had to stay at his place, to get it tidy for our arrival, so Me, Kieran and Bryony met up at 9:50AM to collect the equipment booked out. Our first setback occurred, when the Canon 60D was unavailable. Though it would only have been used for behind the scenes footage and production stills, it was still a slight blow, as it would have been useful to have the second camera just in case. We collected the rest of the equipment required, and were given a trolley to take down to the train station to meet the actors. Marcus text me asking where the meeting point was, which was slightly irritating, as I did say the time in our final production meeting, the time and destination, however I hid this fact and let him know to meet outside the train station. I proceeded to deliver the trolley back to stores, and whilst walking back I realised we had forgotten to take into account the fact we would need to record dialogue, which meant we needed a boom pole. I met the rest of the team, and grabbed the dolly off them and informed them not to record dialogue until I arrived, as I was going back to stores to book out the boom pole. I let Kieran know that the storyboard was in my red duffel bag, and to get recording as soon as possible but not to record dialogue. With that I left them and ran to stores.
I reached the location around 11AM, dead on time for the scheduled start. Sadly, nobody had thought to go through the equipment, so around twenty minutes was spent checking the camera settings, ensuring the appropriate frame rate and resolution were set. Marcus, Laurence and Kieran were in the living room set designing for the main interior pieces, so me and Bryony went to direct the exterior sequences. I had storyboarded the entire scene the previous night, so I had a clear vision of the scene. At first I was both directing the exteriors as well as doing the sound, however the team had finished setting up after about five takes and I passed the sound duties to Kieran, so I could focus more on my DOP role.
Unfortunately the production hit another snag. Though I would have liked to have got a couple more shots outside for variety. Kieran reported a high pitched sound coming from the zoom, which meant that our dialogue sequences were now redundant. We tried to figure out the problem, and came to the conclusion that the cables were to blame. However once we had finished filming we came to the conclusion that the battery in the audio technica had gone dead, which would explain why the sound faltered so suddenly. This over sight has left us now needing to ADR the majority of the dialogue, which had only been a possibility previously. This revelation, and the time it took to set up the lights in the living room, only lead to giving me a slight headache.
The lighting, I was in charge of deciding how to light it. I chose a autumn kind of feel, as we wanted the piece to be moody, but not as dark as we had used previously. The intention was to use the contrast of colour. Originally, I had put only two orange filters in each of the three Dedo lights to create this harsh autumn like sense. However, it was to bright, so as with the two minute piece, I added a black filter to darken the colour. This worked beautifully, adding a negativity to the usually bright and positive colour. Me and Kieran dimmed down the lights to try and reduce the shadows. Ideally, it would have been an idea to use the diva light as a backlight for the doorway, however the space was to tight, and the presence of lighting would have been clear. We had set the lights, and when it came to observing the lighting on the DSLR, with a subject in shot, the mood came a cross perfectly. It gave shadows across these characters and a darkened feel to the shot. We had not blocked out the windows with tinfoil this time around, and in hindsight it would have been a good idea to block the window above the door, as the light is clearly different to the lighting set up, and you can see the said lighting in a successive shot. This may lead to a reshoot of those shots, however I beleive that clever colour correction can succeed in hiding this.
The scene where Duncan is almost puking, has been shot differently to how I storyboarded it. This was due to the fact Laurence visualised it differently, and a directors decision came into play. I personally don't like the lack of coverage on the only dialogue part of the scene, however I trust Laurence's judgement and look forward to seeing it during editing. This change in shooting plan meant that I had to move a shot I was passionate about when drawing it. The shot is Abe's feet walking into frame, laying down his suitcase, and opening it. I had intended it to show him getting Duncan's uniform, however it has been decided that he will have left the uniform in the car or Abe would have given it to him in the kitchen beforehand. The shot now has transformed into a pull focus, as Abe walks in after sending Duncan away. This works well as it signifies that Abe is now in his comfort zone and is ready to work. We managed to get a few montage shots done before 3PM, at which time our actor Phillip has had to leave.
Overall, the day could have taken a turn for the worst, after the sound failed up. But the team managed to hold it together, and the filming has been rescheduled for next Wednesday immediately after the diner sequence, with possible ADRing on Tuesday afternoon. Id rather get the ADRing done before wends day, to take less of the pressure off Bryony. I have now made some producers decisions to take into next week.
Most important, the original 9Am-12PM call time has been extended to a possible 4PM wrap time. This will mean a longer day, and I don't feel it fair to keep the actors for to long, though they have agreed to the extension. Therefore, due to the fact that we filmed pretty much all of the dialogue in the house, I believe it would be a good idea to shoot in two units. Considering we may not need the two in the same shot again for that scene apart from the ending, and no dialogue required, it would be the most tactical idea for both getting the entire scene finished that day, and not keeping the actors for longer than necessary. If one unit does the Abraham montage sequence, and someone does the Duncan sequence, it will speed the time and coverage of the scenes. This will mean extra equipment, but with a week to go after the shoot before its schedule completion, it has now reached a matter or urgency.
We will also need to ensure that, all props are available, we don't spend time messing around, we cover the window to match the lighting in shot, and above all, ensure everyones happy.
I have only one photo taken of us on set, as our actor Phillip, spent time to take stills of us a work with his own camera, that we have requested be sent to our emails.
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| Bryony on set |
Bryony has already imported the footage, and has been putting what we have into a sequence, which she is showing me today.
Wednesday, 3 December 2014
Finalising Pre Production
After our meeting with Chris, the group proceeded to establish the final meeting. During this I showed Laurence the storyboards and asked if he was happy with the way I visualised it. I described the location for the diner, and as a group we commenced in creating an equipment list and a Props and Costume List. Stills Below:
We originally intended to book two Canon 70D's out, however the booking system showed all would be booked out, but upon cropping it to just one 70D the timetable allowed us to take one out. We chose the 70D purely because Bryony, is assisting with the camera operating, and has stated that the 70D is the one she feels most comfy with. With her learning difficulty this meant it would be ideal for her to be using a camera she is familiar with. The intention to book 2 out was because I want to record behind the scenes stills and footage, as something to showcase. I like the idea of viewing how the film is made, as a lot of effort is going into it, and its good to see the people who make the film actually showing what they can do. Having seen a few 'making of' documentarys including 'The Worlds End' (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2WDf4lLe3IU) and 'Lord of the Rings Apendencies' (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2_8wt1Rs6dk) I find it an enjoyable aspect, and also embrace the fact that the 'making of' is in fact a whole other production in itself.
With the equipment list finished I set out and booked the stuff. The full list of the booking can be seen below.
With the booking confirmed, from 10AM Thursday to 2PM Friday, it was time to inform the actors of their contact time. I sent them both a joint text, and as an after thought, I personally checked Phillips train times, as he has to travel from Doncaster to Sheffield by train. The call time was 10:15AM so I sent him the time of both the last train that would get him here on time, and also one that would bring him in only slightly late. I have also confirmed the identity of the owner of Uncle Sam's so I have completed that location release which is now ready to sign. With Risk Assessments, Storyboards, Script, Release Forms, and Schedule also completed, the to do list for pre production, has finally been finished. This for me is a great relief, as a lot had to be left until the final minute, due to the lateness in securing a location and actor.
If we go in this with the passion and intensity we brought into the concept of the two minute, I believe that this will be a great shoot. Filming begins at 11AM tomorrow.
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| Props and Costume List |
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| Equipment List |
We originally intended to book two Canon 70D's out, however the booking system showed all would be booked out, but upon cropping it to just one 70D the timetable allowed us to take one out. We chose the 70D purely because Bryony, is assisting with the camera operating, and has stated that the 70D is the one she feels most comfy with. With her learning difficulty this meant it would be ideal for her to be using a camera she is familiar with. The intention to book 2 out was because I want to record behind the scenes stills and footage, as something to showcase. I like the idea of viewing how the film is made, as a lot of effort is going into it, and its good to see the people who make the film actually showing what they can do. Having seen a few 'making of' documentarys including 'The Worlds End' (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2WDf4lLe3IU) and 'Lord of the Rings Apendencies' (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2_8wt1Rs6dk) I find it an enjoyable aspect, and also embrace the fact that the 'making of' is in fact a whole other production in itself.
With the equipment list finished I set out and booked the stuff. The full list of the booking can be seen below.
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| Equiptment List |
With the booking confirmed, from 10AM Thursday to 2PM Friday, it was time to inform the actors of their contact time. I sent them both a joint text, and as an after thought, I personally checked Phillips train times, as he has to travel from Doncaster to Sheffield by train. The call time was 10:15AM so I sent him the time of both the last train that would get him here on time, and also one that would bring him in only slightly late. I have also confirmed the identity of the owner of Uncle Sam's so I have completed that location release which is now ready to sign. With Risk Assessments, Storyboards, Script, Release Forms, and Schedule also completed, the to do list for pre production, has finally been finished. This for me is a great relief, as a lot had to be left until the final minute, due to the lateness in securing a location and actor.
If we go in this with the passion and intensity we brought into the concept of the two minute, I believe that this will be a great shoot. Filming begins at 11AM tomorrow.
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| Text to actors |
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| Phillips train times for tomorrow |
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