Post Production

Jess had been ill recently so I wasn't we haven't been able to meet up in uni, so I went over to her house instead as she has been editing on her mac. I watched through the piece and commented on what I liked and didn't like as well as suggesting alternatives. At this point the film was around 8 minutes long so we talked about certain sections we could get ride of.

It was difficult as the script flows in such a precise way that every scene is relevant in the development of the character, it just so happens that our actor speaks quite slowly and so that meant there was more than there needed to be. Jess took notes on what I said but I also told her to do what she thought worked best for the edit of the film and we arranged to meet again on Tuesday as it had been agreed that she would hand the edit over to Owen on Tuesday to allow her as much of two weeks as was possible as it wasn't her fault thaht the production process got delayed.

Rough Cut Screening

Because we missed the first screening last week we came to this one with a rough edit. The feedback we received was pretty neutral and some very good constructive criticism was given. Something that Ron said about sound allowed me to have some clarity. As per my working process I normally have some sort of feeling or understanding of how I want a piece to sound but so far nothing had been coming to mind for this piece. Ron talked about the simplicity of the project and that he couldn't really think that any sound had to be added, and it occurred to me that silence is a sound and that maybe nothing was needed. This doesn't really leave a lot to Owen to do other than add foley sound here and there, but there will definitely be a lot more for him to work with in the final piece.

Post Production

Jess, our editor, had had the footage for a few days now and had made a very basic rough draft that I looked over. We talked about where to go from there and I addressed any issues she had with the script/takes etc.

The Art & Science of Screenwriting with Susannah Part 3

This week we analysed Scene and Narrative Structure

The first we looked at in the session was Andrew Thomas Huang’s; Solipsist a piece that I have come across a few times before that still never fails to captivate me. 

We looked at this experimental piece of filmmaking in order to understand that the three act structure to filmmaking can be applied almost anywhere. We talked about how the audience subconsciously bring is with them when they watch a move and with this in mind if we wanted to veer away from the structure to do it with caution, otherwise use it well.

We then tried to articulate our own films in terms of structure on graph, based on the highs, the lows and the plodding along of the plot. When plotted my was a big like a roller coaster; waves/hills going up and down. It was suggested to make it more “peaky” like a mountain so that events were more dramatic and the audience could differentiate between two sides on an enticing incident. Susannah also mentioned that due to the plot of my film I should try and take into consideration the triangle we were talking about last week whereby you as a Filmmaker play with the Character and Audience expectations.

We then had a look at the seduction scene in the movie The Graduate.

This showed how the director used the three act structure within one scene. The framing and shots were all very tidy and although it was filmed in a hotel room the space doesn’t feel small due to the angles the camera was placed in.

We talked a little about a shooting schedule and what to film on certain days. In this example we were discussing within the realms of a five day shoot.

Day1: Minor shots to get everyone warmed up as this is where the most mistakes are made that you learn from, the cast and crew get used to one another.

Day 2/3: Where you would film the major scenes and biggest chunks of acting as everyone in in their stride after getting through the first warm up day/s.

Day 4/5: Move on to smaller scale things, such as filming in a studio and doing effects as by now everyone can see the finish line and morale sags a little as people want to be finished

Finally we looked at a scene from the script “Magnolia” where we analysed how the dialogue played out between the two characters and how there was a sort of push and pull cat and mouse effect, as one character would say something and their demeanour would change depending on the response. We need to fully interrogate our scripts and always know the answer to any question thrown at it and know the reaction you want from people in terms of what they see and how they feel.

Research: Framing

Master Shots by Christopher Kenworthy

This book is great because it visually describes the types of camera movements and what effect they have on the viewer. Suspense is something that I want to create for the major project next year, and it's something that I'm unsure how to construct. Referring to a section on Anticipated Motion in Chapter 4: Suspense, Searching and Creeping.

This example will show me how to construct the scene to give my audience the feeling of tension. This book also has a number of other sections such as Fight Scenes, Revelations & Discoveries and Dialogue. It will make a good referral point for when I am unsure of how to shoot a specific element.

Production

Although it had been worked out that we could get all the filming done in a single day we still had a short time frame on the shoot day to get everything done as we were working within the actors availability.

I did learn a lot from this day of production for example when the actor asked what part we were doing next I would refer to it by a scene number forgetting that he didn't have a shot, and no such number appeared on his script. Something to remember for the next script, add the shot numbers perhaps with the scene headings so that communication flowed a lot easier between cast and crew.
The marked up script was surprisingly more useful than I thought it would be. Although I understood the mechanics of why we would need it, actually putting it into practice worked even better as a tool for understanding.

There were a number of problems that we had along the way which I think I managed to solve and remain calm and level headed throughout.
The first problem was with the camera, where wave/ripples were appearing on the screen. Unsure of if this was a screen issue or an actual technical problem I told Chris to record a little then transport the clip to a computer to see if it was still there.
It was and while Chris was trying to figure out what was wrong I gave him a time limit to find and fix the problem other wise we would have to borrow a camera from Tengs friend who lived around the corner. I assure you this sounds a lot harsher than it was, but I felt it was important not to dwell on the problem for too long especially within the time constraints that we had. Luckily Chris figured out the problem and we were soon able to start filming. Luckily as we picked up the problem whilst we were setting up we didn't eat in to more than 10 minutes of film time where the actor ran through the script as a warm up in the mean time.

The second problem was that the people upstairs were making noise during filming and after checking with Owen he said that it did come through on the marantz. To solve this I asked Josh (The actor) to pause mid way through his lines and look up and say "Sorry, housemates/Neighbours" just in case the noise persisted during a later point in filming.

Unfortunately towards the end things got a little rushed as the actor was pushed for time, I decided to prioritise and get all the main shots done and only get in a couple of the close ups.

Something that I had to be aware of was costume changes. Even though the character only had three I had to try and account for what he wore when, as we didn't have an art director to keep track. Also the space we were working in was very crammed and it was hard to keep track of my papers

In some ways wish that we required a few more days in order for me to use what I learnt and improve with each new attempt, but overall I think we were all happy to get started after the delay and it worked out to be a successful day of filming.

Side Note: Before the actor arrived and as everyone was setting up the space me and Chris went to the corner shop and bought some snacks and drinks for the lot of us including the actor. After we finished shooting the day scenes and was setting up lighting for the night scenes the actor got a little break and was grateful for a few things to much on as he went over the next scenes.
[Mentioning in reference to a website I quoted earlier in the blog about having food on set for cast and crew http://jensmajorproject.blogspot.co.uk/2013/11/directing-research.html]

The Art & Science of Screenwriting with Susannah Part 2

Continuing from where we left off in last weeks session we looked at the Audio/Visual style of the Narrative Matrix.
The elements that this includes is; DOP, Sound, Art Department (Costume/Make-up)

CRAP                                   MEDIOCRE                               AWESOME  |_________________________|_________________________|

Using the above scale we talked about what would put us in the "Crap" region or the "Awesome" region in terms of the Script and Teamwork as well as the flaws of a "Genius" Filmmaker

Script: Preparation, and by this keep writing until it's perfect

Teamwork: Prepare by briefing the department heads on what you want from them//the film. Keeping everyone on the same level of understanding. Communication.

We also talked about how every filmmaker thinks they're a genius (No objections there) but how there is a difference between being selfish and closed minded to the suggestions of the departments and ultimately trying to make the film alone and only using the people around you as tools and just being confident and making decisions carefully.

We then analysed to films. Wings of Desire and City of Angles, whereby the latter was based on the former.

We watched the opening of both of these films and then pointed out the differences in the audio/visual style of each of them.
For example in WOD the wings themselves are present in the opening to allow us to immediately associate him with being an angel. In COA on the other hand, we can guess that he is an angle, no such obviousness is required, whether that be because the audience can predict as much from the films title or by knowing and understanding the rules of angles. Another interesting point in terms of costume that I picked up on is how they wear black, which is normally associated with darkness/death/the grim reaper.

The purpose of this exercise was to show what different connotations you can get from two similar films with different audio visual agendas based on audience.

We then watched two clips, one is taken from Alejandro Jodorowsky's The Holy Mountain [The Conquest of Mexico scene] and the second from Steven Spielberg's Saving Private Ryan [The Omaha Beach scene]

By looking at these two different scenes we then talked about the different forms of chaos and the psychology within the. What effect they can have on the audience.
For example in Saving Private Ryan, despite all the craziness going on around them, the audience have an anchor, which is Tom Hanks. By reverting back to him and his reaction the audience don't feel so lost amongst the chaos. As well as this the way that the audio is muted puts us in the same mind scape as the character we are anchored to.
Jodorosky's method is going from silent calm to enraged bloody violence out of the blue, which will shock the audience, and force them to keep it in their mind, voluntarily or otherwise.
We then thought of our own films and renvisioned a scene based on the Jodoroswky or Spielberg method.

The last few points we looked at in the session:
Using one good shot to help elevate the entire film
Can you loose the dialogue and tell it visually?

Even though I'm not writing the script for the major project, when I get a look at what Tom has written I will be able to go over it with these points in mind and whilst working with the cinematographer I can determine the best ways to portray certain events.

Production Set Back

Today we were supposed to film our piece, but there was a problem with the Location that we had in mind to use and we couldn't find anywhere else to use that last minute, so we had to abandon all hopes of filming, the next time that our actor was available to film was Wednesday afternoon so we rescheduled with him for then and went about finding a new location.

The downside to this was that obviously that we couldn't film and wouldn't have anything to show for the review session the following week (As we would be filming while it was on). I wouldn't necessarily say that there was an upside but we there was definitely a learning curve in that we should have double checked the room that we booked.

For next time I would just have to make sure that everyone was on point for the following Wednesday when we try again at shooting.... and that we have a solid location.

The Art & Science of Screenwriting with Susannah

Using Philip Parkers book as a point of focus we talked about the elements of screenwriting, namely inspecting The Narrative Matrix which he talks about in Chapter 2 of the book

(pg.13)

Susannah's version was slightly different but she said that she had adapted it slightly to include Tone and indicated that the style section should be in relation to audio/visual. 

These are the elemenst that make up a script/ film and the white all around in the creative space.

We're planning to study a few of these elements from week to week, this week we looked at Form and Tone.

Form is how we view the film in a then and now sense. Different kinds of Form include Linear, Associational, Episodic and Circular the final two mainly being linked to television but can also apply to film. Episodic is how each episode is different but has underlying overall link. Most crime shows are like this, they have a major crime that needs to be solved but each episode they have a separate case on top. Film wise what came to mind for me was Valentines Day(2010), New Years Eve(2011), Love Actually(2003) having a six degrees of separation type movie is one of the many things on my long list of types of movies that I would like to make.

I mentioned that I was confused with the definition of Tone so we went through some of the parameters.

     TRAGIC                                            DRAMATIC                                   COMEDIC

          

Death & Disaster                                      Bit Of Both                                   Life & Success

Comedy has little bits of tragedy in it between so that it can bring you down before bringing you back up

Tragedy needs to have comic elements punctuated within it
Drama  is dramatic because it needs to incorporate the other two factors as well.

________________________________________________________________________________

For the second part of the session we looked at Miracle Fish by Australian Director Luke Doolan.

I personally found the film predictable, having picked up on certain shots and just by the vibe of the film but I am rarely ever surprised by movies. I did think it was very good and would class it under the "Dramatic" Tone point. It wasn't comedic but it had a lot of soft elements that would I would put under that category.

Then using information taken and adapted from the UK Film Council: Introduction to Screenwriting workshop we placed this short film and our own within two criterias

Major Themes: The desire for justice, The pursuit of love, morality of individuals, desire for order, pursuit of pleasure, fear of death, fear of the unknown, desire for validation.
Story Types: The romance, the unrecognised virture, fatal flaw, the debt that must be repaid, the spider and the fly, the gift taken away, the quest, the rites of passage, The wanderer, The character that cannot be put down

It was clear that although some fit within the boundaries others did not..... such as the film for my major project; Ridley It's not a bad thing that it didn't fit but just a point of thought we were asked to consider: If it didn't fit, why, what would you change to make it fit? Would it work?

Lastly we looked at the relationship between the Filmmaker, the Character and the Audience

                                                                Filmmaker



                                     Character                                           Audience

We have to make the audience feel like they have the upper hand are in complete light about the situation with the director over the character. It is then the filmmakers job to the change expectations by revealing an unforeseen event that then puts the Audience and the Character one the same page, a peg below the director.

Research: Directing a Crew

Although I have directed a few student projects this time around would be different as it will only be me "in charge" whereas before even though we were all supposed to have definitive roles we all just jumped in and helped with every aspect. I researched a number of texts on the best way to direct a crew to try and prepare me for the week of production.
[http://www.lavideofilmmaker.com/filmmaking/how-to-direct.html]

Key sections for me was How to Direct the Cinematographer and How to Direct the Music composer. There was nothing on directing the editor but here is the section on How to direct: general principles 

1. Know exactly what you want. This needs a lot of preparation!2. Be polite and low-key with everyone — it is worth repeating.3. Know every aspect of the project inside out: camerawork, design, overall tone — absolutely everything.4. Directors are leaders. Believe it or not, actors and crew members LOVE directors who have a clear vision and communicate it clearly. They want to be directed, so do your homework and direct!

One good thing is that I had the chance to explore each role over the past three years and so I at least understood the restrictions and capabilities of certain aspects which at least meant I wasn't then going to ask for something that was impossible to achieve. Something that I do struggle with is articulating my words, and so more often than not end up making vague hand gestures and expecting people to catch on to my self playing game of charades. I need to know what I want inside and out and find a way to express it in words easily. 

I also found and looked at [http://nofilmschool.com/2013/07/directing-tips-seth-hymes/]
key texts I took from this article....Basic Personality AwarenessEven though this example is talking about a hired crew and being able to fire people and we don't have that luxury it was still applicable in how it talked about knowing and appealing to the individual personalities of your crew members and working with it.

Beware of the demands you will be placing on people 
Making sure everyone is doing their own specific role and not crossing over into areas that aren't their speciality, and if so questioning why that is happening
Quite often, simply maintaining an upbeat attitude and acknowledging your team for doing a great job is half the battle
You shouldn't forget the crew are people and not tools, if you over work the they won't look forward to working with you again and so show them some appreciation.

The Power of Good Food
The point is in the title, providing things fr people to eat will keep them motivated and focused, and will also call for a shortened break if everything they need is on shoot.

These tips all made for good starting points but I do know that each individual has their own technique and style of directing and I known mine is based around certain aspects of my personality whereby I am more than happy for everyone to give their opinion and if it doesn't take away from anything then I am more than happy to allow it, but at the same I have a clear directive and end point. In some ways I have already been directing the crew throughout the pre production stage and as long as everything stays on that same level of communication I can't see there being any real problem.

Group Meeting (04/11/13) (06/11/13)

(04/11/13)
We met again briefly to make sure that everyone booked out what they needed to for the following week of filming, then later on I met the actor Josh and did a little practice run through of the script with him.

(06/11/13)
Today was just me and Tom and we went over a few final details for the following week making sure everything was booked and the actor had the final script etc.

Documentary Filmmaker Jeanie Finlay

Jeanie Finaly is a documentary filmmaker who has made films such a The Great Hip Hop Hoax, Goth Cruise and Sound It Out amongst other.

I had done some research on her prior to her talk and watched The Great Hip Hop Hoax and enjoyed her style and the sort of topics she chose to make movies from.

In this session we talked not only about specifically making documentaries but aspects of filmmaking that apply across the board no matter what genre you were interested in.

The three top commissioning questions
-Who Are You? What have you made and why you have made it
-What Is It? Say in the most eloquent of words what the film itself is about
-Can We Afford It? How much do you want and can you account for it.

She talked about learning to talk about your film (Description happens to be one of the things that I am not very good at) her tips were to not over complicate the brief and have a specific sentence/tagline that you can personally use as a synopsis.

The importance of good sound over visuals
Get it finished and move on
And lastly that the word "No" can sometimes just mean "Not Yet"

I think that overall it was good being able to talk to someone who is out there making films and she gave me a lot to think about that I hadn't even considered past the "Finished Film" point. Such as where it would be shown and even getting the money to finance making your films once you leave the system and just how long it can take to get made.

Final Documentation

Script

The Making Of Ridley 2 Final

Web Link: [http://www.scribd.com/doc/183973813/The-Making-Of-Ridley-2-Final]

Marked Up Script

The Making Of Ridley Marked Up Script Final

Web Link [http://www.scribd.com/doc/183973815/The-Making-Of-Ridley-Marked-Up-Script-Final]

Shot List 

Shot List for The Making Of Ridley Final Draft
Web Link [http://www.scribd.com/doc/183973814/Shot-List-for-The-Making-Of-Ridley-Final-Draft]

Note: Chris (Slater) drew the storyboard where I just confirmed what he had done or clarified anything he didn't understand from the Shot list. I wrote the script and comprised the shot list.

Audition Tape

Tom already had a person in mind to play the lead role, and he was available but he still tried to find someone else who would be interested. Sadly the other alternative said they were no longer available so I had my first "Audition" with Josh.

                

It would have been good to have a few more people to audition as after I had finished I realised a few places that I could majorly improve on. I did use some of the tips that Rachel had suggested during the working with actors session but not really anything from Film Directing Fundamentals which I was looking forward to putting into practice. Either way it was my first time auditioning somebody and there was definitely a lot I learnt and a lot left to be learnt that I can put into practice when it comes to auditioning for the major project.

Films that use video blogging

Easy A


Protagonist Olive Penderghast is using a video blog as a form of storytelling unlike my next example it is a key element to the plot as using this technique allows for a multi linear structure as she tells a linear unfolding story of the past in the present. Olive uses her video blog as a confessional whereas our character starts by using it as an "Acting exercise" but as things develop it turns into a confessional/personal understanding format. 


Avatar [1:00- 1:107]



This trailer only shows a brief insight into how a video diary is used in this film [No other more explanatory clips could be found] Through Jake Sully's video blog we can see the progression of his personal character, as he goes from being a man on a mission to a man questioning his reality and beliefs, and even though we can see this through the acting, the video diaries feel much more powerful as he shows vulnerability and compassion that he can allow no one else to see. This is something that we want to create in the piece, our character has less time for the change to take place, but we hope to show the change in character and change back in the time we have.

Video diaries are very uncomplicated as it is a single shot to make the audience relate with the storyteller. This method is bias as the audience have no one else to form the same sort of connection with, the claustrophobic sense will be useful in our piece as it mirrors that of the characters, who is almost "cooped up" within a "Frame" allowing his delusions to consume him.

Chapter 10: Working With Actors

I have already look at one section of Proferes' book Film Directing Fundamentals: See Your Film Before Shooting, but now I will be analysing a section that we briefly looked at in session; Working With Actors.

If the directors main concern is with the camera, the actors can be made to feel like orphans. It is much wiser to make them feel like they are the centre of attention - that the director needs them ans is counting on them. (page 130) This a point that I am fully aware of but just because that is the case I still need to be constantly reminded of this in my head. Beforehand when I have worked with actors, it was a little different as they were friends with someone in the crew, and so they wouldn't necessarily always feel out of place amongst the crew. In this case they won't be familiar with anyone and so I have to be the one to make sure that they are comfortable and are completely clued into what's happening and assure and direct their acting whilst directing the crew. This can get very complicated and I know that itf I'm not careful I may get to focused on one aspect. I need to be able to balance all of my responsibilities.

I really enjoyed 'The Kazan Method' in the paragraph headed Speak to the Character; where it talked about how director Elia Kazan a Greek-American Director who worked with the likes of Natalie Wood and Marlon Brando. Kazan would address the actors as their characters for example in between certain scenes/shots, he would pull them aside and talk to them separately. Saying things like "Are you going to let her walk all over you like that?" to one of the actors and "If this guy had any respect for you...." to the other. (page 128). I think this method is a fantastic and fun way to get actors engaging with their roles and hopefully allow them to perform to the best of their abilities with every take.

Lastly the section entitled What are you looking for? The following casting consideration to keep in mind and it's subheadings; Is the actor right for the part?, The actors attention to simple reality, Can you work with the actor? (page 126) Were very useful as it allowed me to know what to bare in mind while I went through the casting stages aside from whether or not they can act. Don't get me wrong an actors acting capability is a fundamental element, but as I've come to realise through this chapter, not the only element to consider.