I am a student at Bath Spa University and as part of my assessment I have to keep an online diary of my thoughts throughout the year. I will try and blog as freqently as I can to explain how I am finding each area of the production process, from writing a script to the final film screening itself.
I hope you find my thoughts interesting...
We had our showcase tonight, which was a great chance to see everybody's work! Although I had seen about three of them on Minerva already, all the groups have made considerable changes and improvements to their films and it was nice to see these differences.
I felt a little nervous about watching our film on the big screen! Unfortunately there were some sound problems throughout the film and they all seemed to be on the singles of Luke's character played by Ed. There doens't seem to be any reason for this as we checked the sound prior to the showcase and it worked fine! I did worry that it could effect whether people could understand what the film is about. After spending lots of hours trying to sort the sound out, it was frustrating to see it still not work properly. Our footage wasn't shown in HD quality either which was a shame because I could tell the difference but having said that it still looked nice and several people asked what it was shot on, so another thumbs up for the 7D! To top of the night when the awards were given out we won the audience vote! :) Were very pleased because we have put in so much hard work so it feels like it's paid off. So I just want to say thanks to the actors and everybody that helped us inlcuding Ciaran who was really helpful on shoot.
I forgot to mention in my last post that we tried to take into account what was said in the commments left on Minerva about our rough cut. Mike mentioned that our black and white stills were slightly confusing because it wasn't clear whether we were seeing Luke's POV or a real POV. We had managed to stage the park scene to look like a 'real' POV but had unsuccesfully done this with the office shots. Myles and I tried to correct this as best we could. We didn't have a lot of shots to choose from but we did add a picture of the post boy looking shocked, in order to signify that Luke's behaviour is out of order. We want Luke's voice over the top of the images to clash with what were seeing on screen, so that the audience can tell what Luke is saying is clearly his schizophrenia and not reality. I agree with Mike that we didn't emphasise the coke bottles enough throughout the film. If I could re shoot then I would make this more obvious so that at the end when Detective Stansfield opens the can of coke it would be a lot more funny. Someone else commented on it saying that they thought the coke bottle was uncecessary at the end but I disgagree as it is meant to be bring humour and tie the film together. Luke has been talking to the detectives the whole time explaining how coke is dangerous so when Detective Stanfield goes and drinks a can anyway, it confirms that Luke has been talking nonsense the whole time and it's down to his schizophrenia. The film is meant to be a comment on how our society is intolerant to schizophrenics but it is only meant to be light hearted and comical short. The comedy is supposed to derive from the confusion created between reality and what Luke's created in his own mind. I think the problem is that we have stayed rather neutral between the detetives and Luke, but because we haven't taken sides, the viewer feels no empathy to either character.
In regards to the other comments, Mike has mentioned that he seems to be more concerned about a job. This is meant to be the case as Luke thinks he's at a job interview so he is trying to impress them, part of this involves him explaining the reasons behind his actions. However, perhaps we haven't made this clear enough to the viewer. It is difficult to correct this at this late stage in the edit. I think it is perhaps a flaw with the story rather than anything we can do now.
I know what Mike means about the film feeling like an opening of a film and the ending of a scene. I think again the story is the problem and there is little we can do now but I do also like this about the film because when I watch it, it makes me want to watch more.
I am happy with the techincal side of things. I think our film looks very nice visually. I'm really pleased we decided to go with the 7d instead of the z1 because I think you can really tell the difference. If I was to make the film again or I could go back an alter anything I think I would rethink whether to use the stills. Although I like the black and white element, I'm not sure if it is the most effective way to tell the story. However, for practical reasons it made our film easier to shoot in the 48 hour time frame which we had.
It's been a while since my last post but that's not to say that I haven't been busy. We all decided that we wanted to do an individual edit, so over Easter holiday this is what we did. I found it really helpful to spend time alone using Final Cut Pro and getting used to the software. I feel a lot more confident now and have learned a lot through this process. When we got back in Bath, Myles, Josh and I showed each other our edits. We found each one had nice elements so have therefore tried to incorporate all of our edits into one. We used my edit as a base, as I had done a full rough cut and it was a good basis to go from. We did have a few disagreements on various things, such as whether the stills worked and where within the dialogue they should be placed but after lots of discussion we now have a complete edit.
Due to shooting on a 7D it has meant our editing process has been slightly more complicated than it would be usually. Our file is massive so it's meant we haven't been able to move it around easily. We've also had lots of problems trying to sort out our sound. We used a four track recording devise, which I won't go into in detail because sound is not my area of knowledge but basically sound was recorded at a low level during production. This was no ones fault, it was just that none of us had used the recording equipment before. The sound also alternates dramatically from shot to shot. This is partly because we had an old retro tape recorder which broke half way through the shoot. This means we have a sound continuity error where it goes from being noisy to quiet throughout the film. We recorded wildtrack of the tape recorder so that we could correct this in the edit but it hasn't been as simple as we thought it would be. Therefore, we've had a couple of meetings with Richard Wood in hope that he could find a quick solution to our problem. After several different attempts I think he has now come up with the best method. Unfortunately the sound hasn't been completed in time for our submission but it will be ready for our showcase at The Little Theatre.
Myles and I spent the weekend in the Gatehouse finishing off the rest of the edit for submission. We spent most of our time trying to colour correct. Bearing in mind neither of us have ever really colour corrected footage before I think we did ok. We have blackened up all the blacks and generally enhanced the colour throughout, which has given the film a rich and glossy look. It's amazing to see the difference from before and after. We did find trying to make the singles of our two detectives match up a bit of challenge because Guy has very light and fair skin, whereas Duncan has a more olive skin tone. The background is also completley different in Duncan's shots too. There is no yellow wall, which is very prominant in Guy's singles. Although the colour correction isn't perfect we will have the help from a professional editor in a couple of weeks time, who I'm sure will be able to give our film the finish it needs for the showcase.
We also added in Josh's bass which we recorded a couple of days prior to this. We have overlayed it on the opening shot, which I think works nicely. I'm hoping that the mixture of sounds present during the opening of the film will help draw in the viewer. We have a woman screaming for help, followed by police sirens and then the bass guitar comes in.
Overall I am fairly happy with the edit and I have enjoyed the process as I have learnt a lot!
Just spent the last week watching back the footage from last weekend's shoot and were very pleased with it! Although the weekend brought some ups and down's we managed to overcome them and produce what I think will be a really good short. The weekend started of suprisingly relaxed, with the bulk of the filming on the Sunday. We took some stills with our main actor Ed on the Friday up on the University campus and then Saturday we took a few more pictures in Victoria Park. I'm glad we had a filming permit because we did get some funny looks from people walking past!
Saturday afternoon was spent over at Josh's house, where we ran rehearsals for our three actors. I'm glad we allocated specific rehearsal time because it meant they were ready and knew what they were doing come Sunday when we filmed. It also gave the actors a chance to meet each other. As Co-producer with Myles, we went out and bought some snacks to keep the actors content, which ended up being quite a feast! Sunday was spent in Bristol at Brideswell Arts Centre (old police station). I was slightly worried on the way there because I couldn't get hold of the person who was supposed to be letting us into the location. However, all was ok on arrival and he was very hospitable, allowing us to stay as long as we wanted! This was a life saver because mid to late afternoon, we had a problem with the camera, which meant we had to stay later than planned! As we were shooting on a Canon 7D, it meant the footage was being stored on to a memory card rather than a tape. We had to upload the footage frequently to our laptop to make more space to continue filming. However, the laptop couldn't take the data... so Gus and Ciaran went searching around Bristol for a good two hours trying to find a big memory card. Unfortunately they had no luck and we only had two options. To shoot another day, which wasn't an ideal choice or to somehow get Ciaran's laptop over to the location, which we knew would work. Luckily our kind friend brought it round for us, which meant we could continue the shoot later than planned. We did have to drop a couple of shots which we had on the shot list but we made sure we got the most important ones and we still have plenty of choice. Myles and Gus quite freqently informed me that the quality on the 7D was amazing, but I still was suprised at just how nice it actually looks! I'm very pleased we decided to use this over the Z1, I think it has given a professional look to our film. I hope to make more films with Ciaran and use his 7D again!
All in all it was a great weekend of filming and I felt I learned a lot. Everyone took to their roles well and I think the actors enjoyed working with us too. They seemed impressed with the location and are eager to see the film when it's finished.
I will keep you updated with how it's going once the edit is underway!
There isn't long until the shoot and we still need to find actors. This propsect is scaring me a little. We thought we had two solid actors but unfortunately they fell through leaving us a couple of weeks to find some other people. Myles has contacted Chris Jury who has emailed the TV society and we have recieved a few responses. Weve just met up with one guy who seems promising. I think he would suit the schizophrenic man but he seems keen to play a detective. However, he is flexible to play either. He is also willing to grow facial hair if we need him to and his availability is good, so he looks like a definite. We have also contacted everybody at Liquid Soap who might be interested. I have contacted the Theatre Royal in town who have forwarded my request for actors to all the people in the youth group. I quickly recieved a response from a man with lots of experience on stage but also in TV and some film projects, which is great! Finally Myles and Gus also have a friend from home who is showing a strong interest to help out. So although we haven't got long left I'm hoping we still have a variety of people to choose from. We are meeting with some more actors Monday when we will do the final casting!
We have managed to find a perfect location for our film at Brideswell Arts Centre which is a converted police station. All the cells are still intact. Check out the pics! This is an old cell
Gus sat in the cell looking guilty as charged!
Atmoshpheric corridors
Cell door which even has a hatch :)
Real interview room- we will clear this stuff and put in a table and chairs.
This old police station is used for various filming. BBC's Being Humanhas recently used it!
Schizophrenia in Films Fight Club is one of the most noticeable examples of schizophrenia in mainstream Hollywood. This film shows how Edward Norton makes up the character Tyler Durden (Brad Pitt) in his head. The youtube clip below shows the battle Norton faces near the end of the film trying to get Tyler out of his head in order for him to stop the bomb going off.
Julien Donkey Boy (1999) This film is similarly based on a schizophrenic named Julien, played by Scottish actor Ewen Bremner. The film is shown through Julien’s eyes and is portrayed in a rather unique way. The film is shot using a handheld camera and the film was then transferred to 16mm stock before being blown up to 35mm film for the final print. This was so that it gave it a degraded look, like a home video. All the lighting within the film is natural and even some of the people Bremner meets in the street had no idea he was acting for a film. Director Harmony Korine also rejects classical storytelling and jumbles up the scene order. This has been described as ‘a gritty, surreal collage that powerfully and touchingly evokes the schizophrenic experiences as few films have.’
Here is the trailer...
Rabbit in Your Headlight This is a music video for Unkle, written by Thom Yorke from Radiohead. The film directed by Johnathan Glazer and has been well recieved by many, allowing for the audience to take their own interpretation on the film. The film consists of a man in a big parker coat walking down a busy car tunnel at night. Cars are swerving out of his way but he gets hit several times but then manages to get back up. He mutters and grunts to himself making little sense, perhaps showing signs of schizophrenia.Take a look to see what I mean...
Examples which use similar settings We have decided to set our film in jail and have changed the name of the film from Treatment to The Interview. Our main character originally named Vincent (now called Luke Phillps after the original screenplay writer) believes he is at a job interview, when in fact he has been arrested and is in a police interview. Therefore we need a prison cell and an interview room as our main locations.Here are some examples, which have used a similar settings.
A Prophet (2009) In terms of location this French film, directed by Jacques Audiard, gives us the right atmosphere. Malik El Djebena (Tahar Rahim)is sentenced to six years in prison, where he falls under the sway of a Corsican Mafia group, led by Luciani, who enforce their rule in the prison. The idea for the film came after Audiard screened a film in a prison. He was shocked at the conditions, which inspired him to make this film. In order to makesure the film looked authentic he hired ex convicts to advise him. Here's a short trailer which gives you an idea of the feel.
In order to develop the script we have all undertaken research so that we understand better what schizophrenia is. The following information is taken from a website.
Schizophrenia Symptoms
Usually with schizophrenia, the person's inner world and behavior change notably. Behavior changes might include the following:
* Social withdrawal
* Depersonalization (intense anxiety and a feeling of being unreal)
* Loss of appetite
* Loss of hygiene
* Delusions
* Hallucinations (eg, hearing things not actually present)
* The sense of being controlled by outside forces
A person with schizophrenia may not have any outward appearance of being ill. In other cases, the illness may be more apparent, causing bizarre behaviors. For example, a person with schizophrenia may wear aluminum foil in the belief that it will stop one's thoughts from being broadcasted and protect against malicious waves entering the brain.
People with schizophrenia vary widely in their behavior as they struggle with an illness beyond their control. In active stages, those affected may ramble in illogical sentences or react with uncontrolled anger or violence to a perceived threat. People with schizophrenia may also experience relatively passive phases of the illness in which they seem to lack personality, movement, and emotion (also called a flat affect). People with schizophrenia may alternate in these extremes. Their behavior may or may not be predictable.
We have just formed groups to make our second film. My group consists of Myles, Gus, Josh and Mark. After reading over the entire morning and afternoon groups screenplays, we narrowed down our script selection to three. They are:
The Industry by Liz Scott This is a mockumentary set on a film set, where we never see the director but he is constantly spoke about through interviews with the cast and crew. I think this is a funny script and could make a great film if shot well. The downside to it, is that it would need a lot of actors and a good set, which would be hard to make with no budget. The humour I would want to convey with this film would be very dry and therefore quite specific, which is a gamble if not everyone found it funny.
A Justified Presumption by Lyndon McGukian This is about an old man who helps a young boy from geting bullied in his local park. This causes them to form a friendship and the young boy helps the old man out with various things as his way of saying thanks. Through out the script there are ruours on the street that the old man is rather strange, suggesting he could be a paedophile without explicitly saying it. I think the story has a really interesting theme, which has a lot of potential to be explored in several ways.
Treatment by Luke Phillips This is about a man who suffers from schizophrenia. He wakes up and forgets to take his medication which gets him into all sorts of trouble. The ending suggests that his girlfriend is actually a form of treatment because she manages to calm him down without him having to take his medication.
We liked all three for completlely different reasons. However, as a group we all chose Treatment by Luke in the end, because we felt we could make the story more our own and we could also do some really cool stuff with the cinematogrpahy and in the edit. I like the idea of filming dual perspectives, so that the viewer sees both how the schizophrenic views the world and then how everybody around him sees the same situation. We could do this in several ways, through split screen or by filming the same scenario in completely different styles.
It's term two already and our work over the holiday was to write a screenplay which can be about anything as long as it last between 5-8 minutes. Before Christmas we already had to hand in a script proposal to see if our idea was good enough to turn into a screenplay. Mike felt my first idea was a bit weak and rather than tamper with it I felt that I would rather just start fresh with a new idea. So I did and I think it will work better as a short than my original proposal.
If I'm honest I didn't like writing the screenplay as much as I thought I would. I felt quite restricted in the sense that you're not allowed to put in anything that will be changed by a director, editor, etc. So I wasn't sure how to go about writing it at first. Obviously as the writer I have a clear idea in my head of how I would shoot the film, the kind of actors I would have star in it and even the music I would want as the soundtrack. However, I have done my best to try to forget about these things as they're out of my control.
I have currently handed in my first rough draft which will now be peer assessed. I'm not completely happy with my screenplay at the moment so I am looking forward to hearing some good advice from the other students. This will hopefully help me make some good changes so that I can develop my script from what it is now to my final copy.
After completing the filming it left us with two weeks to complete the edit. As Katy owned a mac book with Final Cut Express on it we decided to use that rather than one of the macs at uni. This was easier for us as it meant we could edit at home. Katy and I were the main editors for our film and Lyndon and Kay came to a couple of the meetings to help. I really enjoyed the editing process and I'm keen to get more involved in the post production side of things in the future. After uploading all our footage we first went through it and took out all the good footage and then cut all the scenes together for our rough edit. This was a long process but by the time we had done this we were pleased to see that our film was about the right length and only needed shortening a little more to tighten it up. It was then a case of putting in some transitions to make the scenes flow together more smoothly, adding music and credits etc. Katy and I luckily have a joint friend who does commercial music so he was able to help us with out and made a track. We wanted something quite melancholy that would be appropriate to put on in the background. He achieved this but when we put it against the film it didn't seem to work, it was slightly too sad for our film. We got him to take out the electric guitar melody and we just used the acoustic version, which I think worked a lot better. We still needed further music, which we managed to find on KPM music. This is an online site where you can download tracks from a wide range of music. We spent a long time trying to find the right music so that it fitted the characters mood. We also then had to try and make it flow with the next song so it took a while but I am pleased with what we managed to find and I feel it has really uplifted our film.
If I look at this film as a learning experience for the next film then I feel it has been useful because I’ve learnt quite a lot. I’ve learnt what is relevant to put into a screenplay and what you’re not meant to. I know now how to write a shot list to make it easier come shooting weekend. I’ve also leant a little on how to use the Z1 cameras and Final Cut. I’m also glad we got put into groups for our first film because although I originally wanted to choose who I was going to work with, this way I have made some new friends and it’s tested how well I can work with a group. As a screenplay on paper, I wouldn’t have ever picked it to make if I had a choice in the matter. However, it is almost quite good that I had no passion for the script as it enabled me to keep a level head in the whole process and possibly learn more. It was interesting to see how the other groups in the class interpreted the screenplay and to see what they did with theirs.
This is a short made by Paul Fraser. This film is an extension to the music video 'When the Sun Goes Down' by the Artic Monkeys. It's a very gritty film but one worth a watch. If you follow this link you can read some background information. Click here for background information
Last night I had a meeting with other Club Flix steering group members. This is where I help plan events with other young film makers. We have lots of excititng new events happening in the near future! So I just thought I would share some of them! As I feel all the opportunities coming up are relevant to this module and anyone who takes a keen interest in film making. Club Flix is open to trying to establish a wider network of people so if any of the ideas sound interesting and you would like to be part of it then let me know, as it looks like I will be running Club Flix from late January for a while.
In January we are hoping to film a music video, and fingers crossed Colston Hall maybe at our finger tips as a potential venue!
We are also trying to make a community based film in collaberation with the police around Bath on issues about citizenship, drinking etc. This should be fun liasing with the police.
We are also applying for funding with 'First Light' and if we are successful then we will have a large some of money to make two to four films with. This could be up to £30,000!:D
We are going to get some mentors in to give some training to those that want it on camera and Final Cut Pro. This will be really handy and will hopefully get everyone up to speed and at the same level.
We are having a meeting with someone from Bath Film Office about how to get permission to film in Bath. This is great as hopefully by the time we make our second film next term I will have a better idea of who to contact for my release forms etc.
Thats all that we discussed last night but we have new ideas for projects all the time which are great opportunities!
One of my fellow Club Flix members has won BBC Blast recently for his film 'From Choice to Change.' It was aired on BBC 2 just the other day and won the categories for its use of music and editing. I previously posted this film on my blog a little while ago but here is the link below to BBC i player where you can view it now if you want to in relation to BBC Blast. It is worth a look because we have to submit our own films next term to a festival and this programme tells you what the judges are after! Skip to 40 mins in to get to this bit if you want as it is an hour long programme!
Now that he has won the competition he has been given a bursery to make another film and has a mentor to help him. He also has made some great contacts in the process so it just goes to show it is worth getting youf films out there!
It is sunday night and we have just finished filming. It has been a tiring weekend but also a lot of fun! We started filming friday night and I'm glad that we did as it took the pressure of for the next two days. By the end of saturday we had shot most of our film and only had one location left to do.
Saturday morning was the scene that I was most worried about because we had to film inside Treds (shoe shop) in town but I was aware that we needed to be quite quick about it, so that we were out of the shop before it got busy. Luckily the shop assistants were very friendly and helpful towards us, so we managed to get all the shots we needed.
Despite the weather forecast, it was a blue sky at first and we couldn't believe our luck. However, we could see rain clouds coming! Mid shoot the rain got quite heavy so we had to get out all our umbrellas out and do our best to protect the equipment. However, it got too heavy at one point so we had to go under s shelter while the rain settled and then we continued filming. We all felt that the rain worked quite well with our film anyway because it added to the mood.
Today we shot the last two scenes up at the changing rooms at uni. This is our key scene in the film so we wanted to shoot it right. We took a little extra time so that we could get a variety of angles so that when we come to edit it we have a good choice of what to use. Some extra ideas sprang upon us during filming too which I think work well and will help create more suspense.
Overall I feel really happy with the way the weekend went. I think that we worked great as a team and everyone took on their particular roles well. Evie, our actress also did really well and she was very patient when we told her to re shoot things over and over.
With just a week before we go into production we need to finalise all our plans. As Producer my role is to sort out locations, so I went into town with Katie and we managed to get the all clear from Treds! This is great news and a great relief of my mind as I thought it was going to be a lot more difficult.
I have also had my Z1 camera and Final Cut Pro demo this week. Both were helpful and even though I'm not in control of the camera it was useful to be able to know how to use it in order to help out Lyndon come filming weekend. I have used Final Cut before but not for a while so it was also good to brush up and some things I had forgtotton.
I have been finishing of the storyboard too. I tried to use all the locations we will be shooting in. Although it doesn't match the script perfectly, this was helpful as it gave me a clearer idea of what the film is going to look like.
This week as part of my work experience I went to help out with a workshop with the Club Flix Juniors. Club Flix is a film group run by Suited and Booted Studios, for kids who are interested in film and want to start making some. All the children are under the age of 14. It was a very interesting day and the reason I am writing about it on my blog is because I feel it linked really well to what were are doing during our own film making process.
The group of children were given a genre of ‘Horror’, which made sense since Halloween is lurking over us. They then had to come up with an idea in a day and then make it in just two days. The filming process is the same as ours as they too only have two days of filming but to add to the pressure they only had one day of pre production, whereas we have several weeks, which allows us to be slightly more organised come shooting weekend.
As a starting point the children had to come up with examples of horror films and then specific clips within the films that they could storyboard to show how horror is conveyed cinematically. From this they came up with their own scary sequences. The workshop leader was very good at taking all their ideas and putting them into one whole short film. Once the idea was in place, a rough screenplay was written up, while the rest of us explored the building to find the best shooting locations. We also wrote up a list of props we needed to get hold of and talked about how lighting could be used. All this was done in a day, which just goes to show how much you can actually do in this space of time.
The script writing process was particularly helpful for when I have to write my own screenplay over Christmas. It was clear to me that there are just a few questions you need to be able to answer explicitly in your own mind before you have a really good screenplay and no matter how old you are making the film, the same rules apply.
To see an example of work completed by the Club Flix Juniors last year in also just three days, click on the following link which will take you to the Club Flix web page. You then need to click on the first film on the left where you will see a young boys face. The film is called 'Broken Circle'.
Katie, Lyndon and I met up this week to shotlist our new script of Shoes (which we still need to think of a title for). It was more straight forward than we thought it was going to be, as once we had the re written script in front of us, it was easy to number each shot. We went through the script together and discussed various types of shots for each scene and came up with the final decisions together.
We tried to make the shooting order so that it works to our advantage. For example, we are leaving the town shots until last as it will be quieter on a Sunday morning as the shops don’t open until a bit later. This will be easier when shooting as the busier it is, the harder it will be to film. We only have three other locations which will be the changing rooms up at university, and mine and Lyndon’s house. As they are interior shots they can always be shot at night if needs be, as daylight isn’t necessary.
We now need to start our storyboard. Katie is a natural artist so she is going to draw some of the shots and I (not such a good artist) am going to take out my camera and also get some shots. We are going to combine them and will hopefully end up with a comprehensive storyboard.
Cast wise we only really need one actress to play the main girl and luckily Lyndon has a little sister aged 14 which works perfectly for our film, so she is going to be our actress. We do need a mother and father but only the back of their heads so anyone could potentially play these characters.
We now need to start focussing on getting props, such as the shoes, which is obviously very important! We also need to finalise locations and start getting permission from the necessary people. Still so much to do... but I feel we are getting there!
We had our showcase tonight, which was a great chance to see everybody's work!
