For our media event i have been assigned to the technical group. So it is our job to make sure all equipment is booked, the rooms run smoothly, and we all know the exercises well enough to know how to get round any unexpected errors. Our groups role is more based around the event than pre production, and we will have the most work to do on the day. Although we will have more to do in the weeks before the event, than in early pre production.
So at the same time i haven't really had much to do in the earlier weeks, apart from help with ideas at the start before we were all assigned roles. I came up with the idea of doing the shoot out, in front of a green screen, but using the students teachers instead, i thought this would be good to do as an earlier exercise because it would break the ice, and make the students bond with us as we'd all have a funny medium to laugh at, rather than them feel like they were being put on the spot straight away. All the Ideas that revolved around practical activities were what i thought would be best, because i though back to when i was 16/17 and the last thing you want is to listen to people talk at you, you want to interact and learn in an entertaining way.
Brad came up with the big draw idea which i was keene on from the off, as its a fun and interactive activity and one which we are able to turn around and show them at the end of the day, and as suggested, give to them on DVD/USB key. I think this is important, because they will have something to take away with them, and can say they've achieved.
My individual role is to produce the final edits for The Big Draw, and burn to disk/USB drive if were going to be giving them out to the students. This will mean working under stressful conditions, and on multiple computers to get them all completed on time, which I am a little worried about because there is a lot that can potentially go wrong.
Tuesday, 29 March 2011
Saturday, 5 March 2011
Shooting Day 2 - Friday 4th March 09
Today we met for the second day of filming. We first headed to canterbury road to film the outside scene where hannah drops her phone. One of the first shots ed wanted was a long shot of the girls walking round the corner in to shot, with the idea of jump cutting this in the edit. Picking up the sound here was hard as they were so far away and there wasn't really anywhere close i could get with the boom, so i recorded the best i could, and then recorded wild sound of the traffic as a back up. The next part went rather better and we used some interesting shots. One of the hardest to get right was the tracking shot in front of the girls, as we didn't have a track, so David had to walk backwards with the fig rig, while myself and Ed directed him, and i held the boom over his shoulder. It took a few shots to get the hand of but I'm fairly confident the later takes went well. A track or dolly could have improved this shot and would have been better to use than the fig rig. It was also hard to get this shot right because we had to judge the distance between dan and the girls from the previous shots. In the previous shots he had been fairly close to them, so we chose to film it again with him a lot further behind, so that when hannah drops the phone we can cut to a close up of it, and then in the next shot of him picking it up it doesn't matter if he skips forward a bit. Well i though it would be better to do this way that have him to close to them, because then in the shot of her dropping it he would be right behind her. There were also problems with Dans acting when giving the phone back to her. This scene is supposed to show him being quite apologetic when he gives the phone back, and to show he's empathising with her disability, but after around six takes I'm pretty sure they will all look the same. He was blunt and emotionless and we should have thought about getting an actor even just to play this minor roll, as I'm not sure its significance will be the same as it should be in the edit. We did however try to get a varied amount of shots for this scene but I'm not to sure we got enough decent angles.
We then went to Mikes house and firstly filmed the entrance scene (girls arriving and knocking on the door) which didnt take long, while we waited for the extras to arrive. Slight issues with traffic interupting the sound, but we had it after 3 or 4 takes. We then filmed the rest of the scenes with chris and hannah, to use the time wisely. The extras arrived shortly after so we were able to start filming the party scene. We got the wide angles fist so the extras wouldn't have to stay very long, and we could focus on the fridge and sign scenes. The turnout of extras wasn't great and we could have done with a lot more to fill the space, hopefully ill be able to cover this up in the edit. For the party scene i recorded a buzz track, to lay over a montage sequence if i choose to do one, or to maybe have running throughout the scene, to give an even level and avoid jump cuts in the sound.
The Scene with the girls on the sofa went well, i thought the signing came across really well, and the acting was good. After this scene the extras left and we were left with Chris, Hannah and Jojo to do the fridge scene. It took along time and near the end i think everyone had lost their enthusiasm, as I'm sure will come through in the footage. It was a long day and shooting for so long in the same room really started to grind. I don't think the footage will be great for this scene, and may need to be redone altogether. There were also issues with the fridge 'humming' which i could pick up on the mic.
We then went to Mikes house and firstly filmed the entrance scene (girls arriving and knocking on the door) which didnt take long, while we waited for the extras to arrive. Slight issues with traffic interupting the sound, but we had it after 3 or 4 takes. We then filmed the rest of the scenes with chris and hannah, to use the time wisely. The extras arrived shortly after so we were able to start filming the party scene. We got the wide angles fist so the extras wouldn't have to stay very long, and we could focus on the fridge and sign scenes. The turnout of extras wasn't great and we could have done with a lot more to fill the space, hopefully ill be able to cover this up in the edit. For the party scene i recorded a buzz track, to lay over a montage sequence if i choose to do one, or to maybe have running throughout the scene, to give an even level and avoid jump cuts in the sound.
The Scene with the girls on the sofa went well, i thought the signing came across really well, and the acting was good. After this scene the extras left and we were left with Chris, Hannah and Jojo to do the fridge scene. It took along time and near the end i think everyone had lost their enthusiasm, as I'm sure will come through in the footage. It was a long day and shooting for so long in the same room really started to grind. I don't think the footage will be great for this scene, and may need to be redone altogether. There were also issues with the fridge 'humming' which i could pick up on the mic.
Thursday, 3 March 2011
Shooting Day 1 - Thursday 3rd March 09
Today we met up in oldfield park at 3pm to start filming for silent disco.
The first scene to be filmed was the opening scene, in Hannahs bedroom. The room worked really well and because of its length we were able to get a varied amount of shots from one end to the other. One shot that we tried to get was a pull focus, from hannah sat in front of camera, doing her make up, to her house mate walking through the door behind her. I really hope this came out alright because it was a really nicely framed shot, and will be an interesting way to bring a new character in to the scene. Looking back I would have liked to have done more takes to make sure we nailed it, as it might not come out perfect, and could look shoddy if it wasn't executed well enough. As my job was sound for the production stages I was opperatig the boom, although in this scene sound wasnt really too important, as it consisted fully of sign language. However i did still record sound to capture sounds from the characters movement, and doors, footsteps etc.
There were a few shots when getting the boom close ehough to pick up the sound was hard, as the shot above shows. I think i should have stood with the mic further out of teh frame but higher up rather than lower, this way i wouldn't have had to move it as much during the scene and would have picked up more sound than i did from this low angle. Looking forward to the edit im not sure what to do with the sound in the opening scene, as i think it might be good to have it silent to really ehance the fact she is deaf. Although i really want to make sure i record the best sound possible so we are not limited with our decisions.
After finishing the opening scene went on to our next location (Eds house) to film the morning/night before scenes, but after setting up and running the actors through scene directions we were losing light. And a few takes in to the scene we decided to scrap it and film on saturday. Which meant we filmed the night scene first, which was something we originally wanted to avoid because it was the first time 'Hannah and Chris' had met, and because the scene involves a kiss we thought it might be a little awkward for them, and hinder the realism of the situation. But alas they did a great job and i was really surprised by how much they went for it, and improvised the situation. We tried to get a lot of shots for this scene so there were options in the edit, we used the fig rig to get some moving camera shots and some static shots. The lighting wasn't very good in this scene as we were using an over head light. I would have liked to have used some seperate lights, a back light to bring the characters out of the frame and a softer fill light to light their faces, as they looked pretty dark during the shoot. Although the dark lighting should contrast well with the light in the morning scene (which is the scene after in the film) as we will be shooting it in the day.
The first scene to be filmed was the opening scene, in Hannahs bedroom. The room worked really well and because of its length we were able to get a varied amount of shots from one end to the other. One shot that we tried to get was a pull focus, from hannah sat in front of camera, doing her make up, to her house mate walking through the door behind her. I really hope this came out alright because it was a really nicely framed shot, and will be an interesting way to bring a new character in to the scene. Looking back I would have liked to have done more takes to make sure we nailed it, as it might not come out perfect, and could look shoddy if it wasn't executed well enough. As my job was sound for the production stages I was opperatig the boom, although in this scene sound wasnt really too important, as it consisted fully of sign language. However i did still record sound to capture sounds from the characters movement, and doors, footsteps etc.
There were a few shots when getting the boom close ehough to pick up the sound was hard, as the shot above shows. I think i should have stood with the mic further out of teh frame but higher up rather than lower, this way i wouldn't have had to move it as much during the scene and would have picked up more sound than i did from this low angle. Looking forward to the edit im not sure what to do with the sound in the opening scene, as i think it might be good to have it silent to really ehance the fact she is deaf. Although i really want to make sure i record the best sound possible so we are not limited with our decisions.
After finishing the opening scene went on to our next location (Eds house) to film the morning/night before scenes, but after setting up and running the actors through scene directions we were losing light. And a few takes in to the scene we decided to scrap it and film on saturday. Which meant we filmed the night scene first, which was something we originally wanted to avoid because it was the first time 'Hannah and Chris' had met, and because the scene involves a kiss we thought it might be a little awkward for them, and hinder the realism of the situation. But alas they did a great job and i was really surprised by how much they went for it, and improvised the situation. We tried to get a lot of shots for this scene so there were options in the edit, we used the fig rig to get some moving camera shots and some static shots. The lighting wasn't very good in this scene as we were using an over head light. I would have liked to have used some seperate lights, a back light to bring the characters out of the frame and a softer fill light to light their faces, as they looked pretty dark during the shoot. Although the dark lighting should contrast well with the light in the morning scene (which is the scene after in the film) as we will be shooting it in the day.
Tuesday, 15 February 2011
Location research
Possible Street locations:
My road (probably the most suitable in terms of how little traffic there is)
Canterbury road.
Theres also ST. Kilda's road, which is quite quiet at the right times.
And then theres another road near which is just terrace houses, and during the day is fairly quiet, could give more of a city vibe, and could maybe contrast this with my road to show there in a different part of town in the film? when really there next to each other. Also makes permission easier to obtain and less distance between locations. However it depends on the girls house, although we could just cut from interior in her room, to exterior somewhere else?
For the Bedroom:
Here is mine, its fairly big, and as its on the lower floor we could get shots from outside looking in, to maximize the space.
I was also thinking maybe Ed's room? It's a good size and offers space to get a lot of varied angles(which we will need as theres a big portion of the film is in this room) plus we know we can get permission to film there.
The girls bedroom is sorted, I've asked my mate and shes fine with it, Its a nice shaped room with the desk half way down the room, so we can shoot from infront of it at the rest of the room. (you'll see what i mean when we get there) and will be good to shoot in.
My road (probably the most suitable in terms of how little traffic there is)
Canterbury road.
Theres also ST. Kilda's road, which is quite quiet at the right times.
And then theres another road near which is just terrace houses, and during the day is fairly quiet, could give more of a city vibe, and could maybe contrast this with my road to show there in a different part of town in the film? when really there next to each other. Also makes permission easier to obtain and less distance between locations. However it depends on the girls house, although we could just cut from interior in her room, to exterior somewhere else?
For the Bedroom:
Here is mine, its fairly big, and as its on the lower floor we could get shots from outside looking in, to maximize the space.
I was also thinking maybe Ed's room? It's a good size and offers space to get a lot of varied angles(which we will need as theres a big portion of the film is in this room) plus we know we can get permission to film there.
The girls bedroom is sorted, I've asked my mate and shes fine with it, Its a nice shaped room with the desk half way down the room, so we can shoot from infront of it at the rest of the room. (you'll see what i mean when we get there) and will be good to shoot in.
Friday, 12 November 2010
Choices Filming Day 2 (12/11/10)
Today we met in bath at 9: 30 at Wetherspoons, where we had breakfast as a crew and discussed the previous days shoot and plans for today's. The first scene we shot was a short scene, where Dan shows Greg he can teleport. This didnt take to long and soon we moved on to film the next scene (where dan see's Olivia down the ally). The original place we had planned to film turned out to be to busy and soon after arriving we decided it was not suitable. A few shops opened out in to the ally and it would have been a nightmare trying to keep the continuity consistant with pedestrians/shoppers constantly walking through out 'set'. Also as Ed had not heard back from the Bath Film Office we didnt know weather we should film in a location we didnt have permission to. And also our main character had to go for an hour to help another group with there film, so we would have been pushed for time anyway.
So we instead decided to go to the Wier with the idea of filming under the bridge on the river. But shortly after arriving we saw a good looking ally way under GG's Steakhouse. Dani went inside to ask if it would be okay to film there, and as she did the owner came out and asked me what we were up to. So i told him and he was happy to let us use it, and to sign a release form, which was great as we were yet to be granted permission to film anywhere else. As our 'Dan' was not yet back we made a start by gathering the CU's and any shots we could of the other characters, to make the most of our time on location. After getting all the shots we could without Dan present, we took a short break to wait for him.
Once he was back we met him and headed for the location. We had already told the owner we would be back later on, so he was expecting us, but when we arrived he asked us how long we were going to be because he had to leave. So we quickly filmed all the shots with the ally in the frame, so he could lock up the gates and leave. By this time it was begining to rain and this conflicted with the earlier shots we had filmed. So we did our best to keep the actors and equipment dry (as you can see in the image below) but after a while there wasnt really much we could do. However we finished the shoot anyway and gathered all the shots we needed. I just hope that the change in weather is not to apparent in the edit, which im hoping it wownt be as it was overcast all day. So atleast the lighting will be similar from shot to shot.
The plan was to then walk to Dans house to film the remaining 2 scenes. But due to the heavy rain and having to carry all the eqipment, the group decided to get a bus there. I didnt have any money so i would have had to walk there, so everyone was happy to do the remaining scenes without me. Although i said if they needed any help they could ring me, and id go there if there were any problems. But in a way im glad i wasnt going to be there because i feel like ive had a strong input through out the filming so far, and this way itll be good to see how everyone handles there roles without me there. And i think they will do well, everyones taken on there roles very well and really adapted to working as part of a team. Im also looking forward to editing a couple of scenes that i didnt witness being filmed, as i think this will improve my editing skills, and be more like a proffesional editors role.
Thursday, 11 November 2010
Choices Filming Day 1 (11/11/10)
Today we met at 10AM at newton park to get started filming our version of Choices. Dani did a great job of sorting out the cast and equipment and by 10:30 we were started. Originally i was meant to be directing for todays session, but when i arrived i found out Hope was here, so i filled in sound recording as Ed wasnt available until the afternoon. I also helped with directing/ and setting up shots.
Unfortunatly the Sony Z1 was only available until friday and we had scheduled to film over the weekend, so we instead chose to use a Sony 3cmos which is of a similar spec, and is available to use for the whole of our production, this prevents having to use a different camera for different scenes.
I enjoyed doing sound for a few scenes and found it interesting seeing the production from a different view point. For one of the scenes we shot outside i thought it would be nice to use a high zoom from a long distance to create a real depth of feel in the frame. The only problem with this was that once we set up the shot, the boom mic lead wasnt long enough to reach the subjects! so i got as close as i could without getting in the frame. And just incase the sound wasnt strong enough i then asked the actors to record there lines a few times to the camera, so i then have some dialogue to fall- back on if i have to dub it in the edit.
We then had a couple of hours break, due to the fact we had to wait until 4PM to use Mike Johnston's office to film. This was because the office contains private/confidential documents so we had to be supervised while shooting. ALthough mikes current office was not the one we were intending to film in, so we asked and he kindly sorted out the other room for us. We completed the scene a little later than we had planned but we managed to get all the shots we needed, plus some extra shots we improvised on set, that i look forward to playing around with in the edit. We are next meeting tomorrow at 9:30 to film the scenes in town, so hopefully the weather will be kind to us!
Unfortunatly the Sony Z1 was only available until friday and we had scheduled to film over the weekend, so we instead chose to use a Sony 3cmos which is of a similar spec, and is available to use for the whole of our production, this prevents having to use a different camera for different scenes.
I enjoyed doing sound for a few scenes and found it interesting seeing the production from a different view point. For one of the scenes we shot outside i thought it would be nice to use a high zoom from a long distance to create a real depth of feel in the frame. The only problem with this was that once we set up the shot, the boom mic lead wasnt long enough to reach the subjects! so i got as close as i could without getting in the frame. And just incase the sound wasnt strong enough i then asked the actors to record there lines a few times to the camera, so i then have some dialogue to fall- back on if i have to dub it in the edit.
We then had a couple of hours break, due to the fact we had to wait until 4PM to use Mike Johnston's office to film. This was because the office contains private/confidential documents so we had to be supervised while shooting. ALthough mikes current office was not the one we were intending to film in, so we asked and he kindly sorted out the other room for us. We completed the scene a little later than we had planned but we managed to get all the shots we needed, plus some extra shots we improvised on set, that i look forward to playing around with in the edit. We are next meeting tomorrow at 9:30 to film the scenes in town, so hopefully the weather will be kind to us!
Choice's Roles
I am happy with my group for the choices script, after the first few meetings its clear that everyone wants to do well and are coming up with good ideas. Weve spoken about the script and decided that we want to end it with a bit more of a twist. So instead of both Greg and Dan getting stuck in the class room at the end, we are going to have dan escape without Greg, by using his power through a closet door. i think this will work well because through out the film we see Dan being pushed around by greg and never really standing up to him, so i want to make the ending show that Dan has the courage to stand up to him and NOT be a loser. I think this will also make the audience connect more with Dan and respect him, but also empathyse his position with Greg and understand why its such a big thing for him to stand up to him.
Dan is going to rewrite the script with this ending, and Kay is going to do casting. For the production Ed is going to take on the role of sound, David is going to be the camera man, and Dani is going to be the producer. I originally wanted to Direct the film, but after finding out Hope wanted to aswell, i decided to let her as she hasn't done it before, and instead i will just help with the over all production as ive had alot more experience with the practical side of things than anyone else, and am comfortable with any of the roles. My main role is going to be editing, which i am happy with as i think this is going to be an entertaining production and im eager to see how our script comes together.
Were planning to film on the thursday due to some of the actors/crews availablity, instead of the saturday. So we will aim to shoot all of the scenes at the uni then, this is also when weve been able to book Mike's office. Friday we will do all scenes in town and the scene at Dans house. And if all goes to plan we wownt have to film after that. Although we have scheduled to shoot on sunday just incase we miss anything, or cant fit it all in to friday.
Dan is going to rewrite the script with this ending, and Kay is going to do casting. For the production Ed is going to take on the role of sound, David is going to be the camera man, and Dani is going to be the producer. I originally wanted to Direct the film, but after finding out Hope wanted to aswell, i decided to let her as she hasn't done it before, and instead i will just help with the over all production as ive had alot more experience with the practical side of things than anyone else, and am comfortable with any of the roles. My main role is going to be editing, which i am happy with as i think this is going to be an entertaining production and im eager to see how our script comes together.
Were planning to film on the thursday due to some of the actors/crews availablity, instead of the saturday. So we will aim to shoot all of the scenes at the uni then, this is also when weve been able to book Mike's office. Friday we will do all scenes in town and the scene at Dans house. And if all goes to plan we wownt have to film after that. Although we have scheduled to shoot on sunday just incase we miss anything, or cant fit it all in to friday.
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