Full List of Pre Production Material

SCRIPT
Written by Tom Hesford (The Producer) and edited by myself

Ridley Final Script


MARKED UP SRIPT
Put together by myself, I originally started out doing it section by section based on what scenes we were shooting, but then altered it to contain the whole script as this meant I could make sure certain shots coincided with what we would shoot on another day.

Ridley Marked Up Script
Web Link: http://www.scribd.com/doc/213882933/Ridley-Marked-Up-Script

SHOT LIST
Chris set up a Sky Drive account for the Shot List, where he wrote part of the second scene, before I took over wrote the restt and when he came to do the storyboard he would make slight changes to certain shots that were unachievable.

Ridley Shotlist 2

STORYBOARD
Was drawn entirely by Chris. Some shots were not drawn in because we needed to see the location before we could creatively realise it, as Chris pointed out to me, although I have an idea in mind and a shot list, it may not be possible to do.

Ridley Storyboards

AUDITION REEL
Filmed by Chris

DIRECTORS NOTEBOOK

This is where I planned out each scene and shot to take with me on set. The general layout is Location: The Scenes/What Happens: How many shots. From there it is a case of me making notes prior to production, based on any adjustments I decided would be necessary in the rehearsal time. As I also took this book with me on set it also has notes on, how to change the shots/alternatives to film as a handy source of reference.

Annotated Directors Notebook

Production Day 1: Hotel Scenes

Because the the scenes taking place in the Hotel were in the evening/night we wanted to start filming at around 6:00pm when it actually started to get dark outside. We told the actors to arrive for 5:30/6:00pm and we got there ourselves to start setting up and blocking out shots at 4:00pm.

Unfortunately because we were using a room in the hotel on favours there was no way to see the room before hand, although Chris had described to me in advance the different sort of rooms the hotel had available. When we got there the room we got was decently sized and I began mapping out where I wanted what i.e.: The Camera and the Actors and movements of shots.

When both the actors had arrived I had a talk with them, describing what order we were filming the scenes in  and where I wanted them to stand and where  the camera would be and what kind of shots we were getting (establishing, close up, mid shot etc.) Then we went for it.

I ticked off the Shotlist as we went along, and used the Marked Up Script as the main point of reference during takes, referring to my Directors Notebook for any changes or additions I had thought up along the way, or had previously written down.

Filming took a lot longer than expected, even though I expected it to run over, but we got everything we needed from the Hotel room and then some. The actors and the crew all stayed motivated and pushed through to get the shots, no matter how many times I wanted it done again. There was one moment when the actors kept laughing in one shot and we must have done 5 takes before we got it right and I insisted everyone take a short break to get back in the zone. We had water and various snacks provided by Chris to munch on during the long shoot. In the end it was very successful first days shoot and I thanked the cast and crew for doing a great job.

Hotel Call Sheet (Production Day 1)

Hotel Call Sheet

(Done by Tom Hesford the Producer)

Production Prep

My preparation for the Hotel Shoot was basically me breaking down each scene in my Director Notebook. i worked out how many shots each scene had and also made side notes on specific shots within the scene. These notes were based on notes I made during the read through/rehearsals on Monday, what worked, what didn't worked and new ways to approach the shot.

This meant that unless anything was written down specifically in my notebook then everything was as per shot list/storyboard. As well as that, on set if I had to make any notes on a scene I had a specific section to add it too, which would make things less confusing for me.

Reshersals

Originally this week we had planned to do the outdoor scenes on the Wednesday and the hotel scenes on Thursday. After some thought I pulled Tom aside and told him that we weren't 100% prepared for the outside shoots so we should push it back to the second production week. As we were technically filming in the final week of pre production I felt we had the time push it back. With that decided we went about rehearsing. Tom had booked a room in uni that had ample space for the actors to move around.

The three actors we had turn up were
Josh who would be playing Ridley
Conor who would be playing Jeffrey
Scott who originally auditioned for Jeffrey

As Scott was eager to play a role we cast him as Richard, the director. That being the case, I was still open to using someone else as I didn't think that he had the right air for the role.

How I ran the session: 
I first got the actors to have a read through of the lines.
I asked whether the lines felt natural to deliver.
We got up to run through the actions.
I told the actors where to stand and gave them queues to execute certain lines and actions.
I checked that it all felt natural and if they had any queries.
I then proceeded with running it through a few times, making tweaks in queues, actions and gestures until it felt and looked right.

I first went through the scenes that involved Richard The Director so that Scott wouldn't need to be waiting around, and then we went through the hotel scenes using the aforementioned steps.

Josh and Conor were very forthcoming with questions and suggestions and letting me know if they had a problem with anything. One instance was in a scene where the action dictates that Jeffrey taps the bed and says "Sit Down" and then Ridley walks over to sit down.

Josh said that he was already moving towards the bed before Jeffrey tells him to sit down and Conor said that it felt weird tapping the bed and then saying sit down.

We ran the scene again with a few changes in place. Josh would just walk towards the bed at the same time Conor taps the bed, cutting the line "Sit Down" I felt  this way worked better because it shows a mental link between the two characters. Josh and Conor also said it felt a lot more comfortable running it that way.

During the session I gave each actor a character to research through watching their show or some clips on YouTube.  I asked Josh to look at the character Will Dancy on Hannibal. I wanted him to analyse how reserved he acts when he is around others, always folding in to himself with an air of haunting in his personality.

I asked Conor to look at The Joker in The Dark Knight. How has complete and utter faith in his beliefs and lunacy. Analysing how he sees through illusions and plays with Batman and can go from cruel to kind.

Research: Hannibal (TV Series)

Our next instalment was a suggestion by Neil, the TV series Hannibal. We watched the first episode and I was specifically looking at Tone and the artistic nature of shots i.e. framing

A lot of the shots were incredibly striking. This picturesque nature was then suddenly disrupted, making you feel unsettled.

This another example of disruption. There is a dead body in the middle of the shot but you are distracted from the five figures moving around, the majority of which aren't acknowledging it.

The second thing I noticed was that the camera focuses on only those that are important within a scene/clip. This means the audience are subconsciously focused on what is happening right in front of them.

Here we are supposed to be more concerned with Wills reaction than Jacks, and so Jack is out of focus.

Will and Hannibal and very subtly the man in the back is out of focus.

Alana and Jack during their tracked conversation are kept in focus and everyone around milling around them is out of focus, that way even though they are in a busy environment, our eyes can never wonder from what's right in front of us, what we're meant to be focusing on. 

The tone of the film was very muted, like you are listing to everything with water logged ears, and then things slowly come in and out of understanding

*After we watched the pilot episode of Hannibal we went through our preproduction material to make sure everything was in sync, and reconfirming shots that he may have been unsure of.

Discussing Sound

Today I met up with Owen who had comprised a list of about 10 sound pieces that best displayed the Tone of the film. From which, as suggested by Neil previously, I went through and picked the ones I liked and why and the ones I didn't and why.

As well as that I gave him the three tracks that I thought I wanted to emulate within the piece

Evanescence - Good Enough

From which I liked the instrumental and haunting sound of her voice and the lyrics seem to match certain aspects of the film. Something like this is what I would like to use during the Theatre scenes I know something similar would be hard to find but it works as a starting point.


Knife Party Rage Valley (VIP Mix) [1:15 - 2:15]

Knife Party Internet Friends (VIP Mix) [1:49 - End]

What I like about these is that I think the party like feel could be juxtaposed to with the killing as it feels out-of-bodyish and something that puts you in a Trance like state which is what I think that Ridley would be in while he was watching Jeffrey.

Once Tim had changed the script and I had gone over it one last time I was going to highlight specific sections that I wanted these sounds to be in for Owen.