Film Post Mortem

I handed my short film assignment in and what a mission it was! I am not so strong at editing and I have pretty much never colour graded film footage in my entire life! To top it off, it has been two years since I have used Pro Tools for sound.

I managed to attend one and a bit DaVinci tutorial classes. I did not find the software difficult to use at all, I did however, find the actual colour grading difficult. A lot of the time I doubted whether all the shots matched in colour within the same scene. I found that even having a break from the screen and looking at something else did not help me much. Instead, I would get one of my class mates to look at it and give me advice on it. I think I need much more practice with colour grading but I do not think I did too bad at it in the end.

I also need much more practice with editing although I did learn a few things along the way. I learned that having somebody on continuity is a brilliant idea. This ensures that the actor moves and says things in the same direction or manner throughout each shot of the same scene which makes it easier to put the shots together. I had a few issues trying to put shots together because the movement from my actor was different or they had a hand under their chin in the close up but not in the wide shot so things just did not match. I also learned that cutting shots on movement made the scene look seamless as long as the two shots were cut together at the right place. I realised once I got into the edit that I needed a few more ahots than I had but unfortunately, I was not in a position to go and film some pick ups. This meant I had to put my scenes together with the shots I had, which was challenging to say the least!

Some of the sound recorded for my film was not ideal at all. Unfortunately, I was almost completely missing my sound for an entire scene and some of it was a little quiet. I decided to leave my sound edit until last which became a disadvantage because when I tried to import my OMF sound file, Pro Tools would not bring it in properly so all of my sound clips showed up in the right place but without any waveforms meaning my aound clips were empty. It did not seem to make a difference no matter what options I changed every time I imported the sound files into Pro Tools. I spent a number of hours trying to get Pro Tools to work but in the end I had no choice but to render my final film out with the raw sound on it. Some of the sound was so loud it pierced your ears when listening to it and then there was sound that was at the opposite end of the scale that was almost non existent. This was most disappointing for me.

Even though the sound is not great, I still plan to edit it until I am happy with it. I enjoyed the whole process of making my short film from script to screen and I have learned a lot along the way. There are possibly a few other tweaks that I could make to my short film but I will look at that when I edit the sound. As the academic year comes to an end, I guess it is time to look towards my future prospects and decide which direction I want to take my career in!

Busy Times!!!!

This past 40 days has been an extremely busy time. There have been at least 10 films or trailers shot in this time. I have been the caterer on most of these shoots but have also produced a few.

I have produced films for four of my class mates short films, have helped source items - props, costumes and art department items, have scouted for locations and gained permission for them and have generally given a hand to all of my class mates whenever possible.

I have enjoyed helping out on so many different films and trailers and have faced many challenges due to the diversity of all of these projects. Each project comes with it's own set of demands and problems that are unique to that specific project. Working on all of these different proje ts has definitely strengthened my skills as a Producer and has helped me to become a better problem solver.

I have done little bits of editing here and there in between all the other work I have been doing. It seems to be going alright but I am a little worried about this grading thing. The only grading I have ever done was on my cinematography reel and we are learning how to use DaVinci Resolve at the moment to do the colour grade on our final films. DaVinci doesn't seem to look too scary but I guess I am a wee bit nervous because I want my film to look good once it is done.

Well, we are on the home stretch now..... only two more days of filming left for our final class mate and let's get this short film edited, colour graded and sound sorted!!!!!

Filming, Directing and Everything in Between!

Well, I did it! I filmed my short film! And what an experience it has been! On the 7th, 8th, 9th and 10th of September, I filmed my end of year short film. I had an amazing time and enjoyed every moment of it - good and bad.

I spent the two weeks before my shoot preparing everything for the film. Neville Hayes from E. Hayes & Sons loaned me his Chev Camaro SS for my film. He had his van driver pick the car up and drop it off to my location. He left it there (with the keys in it) and just told me to text when I wanted it picked up! I was totally amazed by this as it is an expensive car and someone had spent a lot of time and money on it to restore it to the condition it is in. So, for the owner to leave it with virtual strangers was amazing and I am really thankful for their help!

I also went to the Pawn Shop to ask if I would be able to use their jewellery department to film in and the manager Keith Kennedy said I could use their jewellery department but also recommemded I go and ask his friend Ashley Skelt who owned Skelts Jewellers. I called in to Skelts Jewellers and spoke with Ashley (who knew I was coming because Keith had called him to let him know) and he was more than happy for me to use his shop to film my scene in. He even offered to give me a ring to use but unfortunately because I had another scene that had the ring shown in it at another location, I was unable to use one of Skelts rings. I did, however, get a shot of the outside of the shop (with the shop name and signage on it) to use as an establishing shot and also to provide a little advertising for Skelts by using this shot in my film.

So..... the things that didn't go to plan........The first thing that happened was that the owner of the house I was using (including the garage) had left his keys for the garage in his mate's car and the night before (at like 11.30pm) we were due to start shooting, he texted his mate to ask for his keys and his mate replied with, "sorry I am in Te Anau". This meant no access to the garage and so half of the shots we intended on doing on the first shooting day were meant to be done in the garage. I spoke to my 1st AD and we rescheduled in the hope we could get the keys for the garage the next day. Unfortunately, rescheduling meant that instead of only filming for three days, we had to film for four days!

Neville Hayes also forgot what time and day he was meant to loan me his car. This held my shoot up a little but he was very apologetic and explained it had been a really busy time for him so it had slipped his mind. That was all the main issues we had on my shoot!

I spent the first day standing back a little and watching Dan direct the actors. Dan gave me heaps of opportunities, guidance and advice on how being a Director works. By the end of my shoot, I was in the swing of things and was confident with the role of the Director. I am glad I made the decision to co-direct because I really had no idea what I was doing and this gave me the chance to learn and build some confidence in the role.

All in all my shoot went well and I am happy with what I have done so far! I am glad I chose the crew I had because they had my back the whole way and they were very strong in their areas. I am now getting into editing as well as catering and producing my other class mates film projects. I am only producing a couple but I am catering nearly everyone elses films from here on in which I don't mind because it is not a hugely stressful or a time consuming job plus I have my partner to help me with it too.

This past weekend I have completed some internship hours with SIT Productions. It has been a fun experience and interesting so far and I have been helping with the art department. I have only got another five hours left to complete for my internship paper! Well, everything is full on and busy but I am loving it all the same and onwards and upwards we go!!!!!

One Week To Go....... Agggghhhhh!!!!!

One week until I shoot my short film!!!! I still have a few things to organise but things are slowly coming together..... I hope! This past week I have been busy yet again organising things for my shoot.

I have decided to share the directing role on my short film because I am not really interested in directing as a career. Also, it's a huge work load to produce and direct at the same time, so I wanted to cut some of my work load down as well. I want to co-direct because I still want to be able to have an input on how the actors talk and move. I wrote the script and have a vision of how the characters act and how certain dialogue should be said. I have been working with my Co-Director for the last few weeks to bring him up to speed and to essentially get him into my head so that he understands how I would like my short film to look and feel. So far, it seems to be working great!

I took my Co-Director and DOP to my main location, so that they were able to see where we would be filming and how different shots could work. The location that I am using is perfect as there is not much art direction needed at all. While we were there we took some photos of parts of the location that we will use for filming. We discussed the kind of lighting that we will be using and how we will get the actors to move around the space. Attached to this post are some photos of a couple spaces within the location that we will use for filming.

I have managed to find a Chev to use in my film! Neville Hayes from E. Hayes & Sons has one in his shop and when I called him about it, he told me that getting cars out of the shop is difficult but he had one at home that I could use!!!! I am going to see him this week with my schedule so he knows when him and his car are needed. Super stoked about this!!!!

I am also going into the Pawn Shop to talk to the manager about using part of his shop for filming the jewellery shop scene in my script. I am hoping that he will give me permission to use his shop.

I have cast one of my male characters and I am just waiting to hear back from someone about the main male role that I have left to cast. Fingers croased he says yes. So, I only have one character left to cast and that will all be sorted.

The plan for this week is to get some rehearsal time in with all my actors, confirm my actors, confirm the shooting schedule and get call sheets done, organising transport for gear, cast and crew, to confirm my last locations and to sort out catering for my shoot - my partner will be doing the catering for me.

I am nearly there so fingers croased this week goes to plan!!!!! I am planning on inviting my whole crew and cast to have dinner at my house the night before we start shooting to get everyone to meet each other before we film and as a tjank you to them all for being involved in my shoot. I hope this will also boost the morale of my cast and crew before we shoot, in the hopes morale will stay high and my shoot will run smoothly!!!!! Aw here we go!!!!

Shooting Dates Confirmed!!!!!

I have my shooting dates confirmed!!!!! Our entire class has now got their shooting dates and we will be filming back to back for 40 days straight!!!!! Aaaagggghhhhh!!!!! In 15 days I will be starting to shoot my short film and I have lots to get confirmed and done in the next 15 days.

I still need to find my two male actors, confirm two locations and get together some costume and art direction things. I have put together a good team to work on my film though and am working to get everything confirmed and sorted within the next two weeks.

Myself and two class mates went on a location scout during the week to track down locations we need fornour projects. I am from Invercargill (born and bred) and they are from the North Island, so I know my way around Invercargill well and was able to take them around places that I knew of, that possibly fitted the description of locations that they gave me. It was also helpful for myself to find my own locations.

This weekend, I have been to my main location to discuss with the owner exactly what I need at the location and to discuss with him what I will be doing there. It probably helps that he is an old friend of mine so he has been very accomodating but in saying that, I do not want to be taking advantage of that and I endeavour to be respectful and as undisruptive to his home life as I can possibly be. As for my other two locations, I need to confirm a playground/park that I want to use - I have a few to choose from but I think I need to take my DOP to have a look at these to pick the best one for the shots we need. The other location is a jeweller's and I think I may need to fake this somewhere else some how. (I will add photos of all locations in my next blog entry.)

As for my actors, I have the main female and the two children confirmed but the two male leads are freaking me out! It is so hard to find the kind of people I am looking for but I may just have to go with two actors that may not necessarily be exactly what I want and compromise to get two male actors.

I need either a '55 or '57 Chevrolet Bel Air and I have a couple of possible options but need to confirm them still. I have a couple of other art direction things almost sorted - they just need to be confirmed this week.

I will be meeting with my DOP and Co-Director this week to discuss the cinematography, shots and vision of the project and I will also be meeting with my 1st AD to sort out scheduling and call sheets, shot lists etc. Once I have spoken with my DOP and Co-Director, I will sit down and discuss final art direction with my Art Director.

This week, I also need to submit a director's manifesto, storyboards, budget, camera and lighting schematics and risk assessment forms (and at this point, I may have left something off this list but will check the descriptor again!!!!) for my project as an assignment.

I am very busy this week and I am determined not to let the stress get to me! As I commented earlier, I have chosen a very good team and I think that this will help lessen my stress significantly! Awwww here it goes!!!!! LET'S GO FILMING!!!!!

Suspicions! BDM331: Digital Video

'Suspicions' is a short film aimed at people aged 25 to 35 years old. The genre of the film is drama. I originally wrote this script for screen writing class last year and I rewrote the script this year. After some feedback, I further edited the script and have now submitted it to my tutor.

'Suspicions' is about a man named Tony whose life is perfect. He has his loyal best friend who he has known since kindergarten and he is about to ask his high school sweetheart to take the next step with him and marry him. Unfortunately, things start to happen that are just not the norm - lies, secrets and deceit. He's never had trust issues with his best friend and his partner but suddenly it seems that there might be a cause for concern. Tony needs to work out whether there is a reasonable explanation for all this or whether there is something unsavoury going on.

The film is a New Zealand film that shows aspects of the bogan culture of New Zealand. The characters are upper class bogans - they come from bogan backgrounds which include cars, heavy metal and motorsport. They are not stereotypical bogans though, they are well respected members of the community and are well spoken and dressed.

I think I am going to have issues casting my two main male characters as after holding the casting call earlier in the year, it appears that Invercargill has an age gap/shortage in actors. This shortage is exactly the age range of the two actors that I need to cast. I think I may need to walk the streets and find some talent by approaching people. The look of my actors matters a lot to get the tone and feel of the film correct. I have a couple of friends that fit the parts but there is no way that they are keen to get in front of a camera. So, I guess my search will continue!

On the bright side of things, I may have found my female actor and I have my main location which is my friends house - it is an upmarket, modern house with modern new furniture which is exactly what I need. Slowly but surely, things are starting to come together.

Shoot Week! Week: 13th April - 19th April

We started filming Beast of Fawkes this week! Our first shoot day was called off because of the atrocious Southland weather - rain, hail, snow, wind and just terribly yucky, crappy weather! The shoot was called off because of safety issues for the crew, cast and equipment. The second day went ahead as the weather was better and we shot what we had intended on shooting during the first day. The weather got better each day until the fifth day when it poured down again but we had not officially scheduled any shooting for that day anyway. 

We managed to get everything shot that we had intended on shooting during the three days that we had scheduled. Overall, I felt that the shoot went very well. We had a few minor hiccups like costume pieces getting left in town by accident and needing things that we had to send runners back to town to get for us. The reception in the location that we were shooting in had very limited or no cellphone coverage which made it difficult for communication between unit base (Speed Boat Club) and anybody that was in town. Somebody would either have to drive all the way out to unit base and then back to set or had to drive out of our location to somewhere that had cellphone reception. Other than these few issues, the whole crew worked very hard and nobody let the rest of the team down at all.

I feel privileged to be a part of this group and to be a part of this project as I have had quite a few positive experiences during this shoot week. Check out some photos that were taken on set!

Thai (played by Luke Page) lining up his shot

Aaron Askew - Gaffer Assistant

Krai (played by Gabby Mainland) getting make up done

Thai getting blood make up put on

Art Director, John Mellor makes some final adjustment to Krai's costume

Film crew at Sandy Point

Behind the scenes crew getting set up

Camera and sound teams getting ready to shoot

Krai in the protective tree 

 

Well, now all we have left is any cut aways or pick up shoots and all the green screen shooting to do. We still need to find a location to hang the huge portable green screen up in, so that we can shoot a cave scene and an interior spaceship scene. I can not wait to see the finished product and am so proud of the whole team for all the hard work that they have put in. Not one member has slacked and this year's project feels as if it is going much better than the project I was involved in last year! Different project, different people, different attitudes = different result!

Chaotic Madness Week: 6th April - 12th April

Well, what a week this has been! I have had many really late nights this week but I hopefully have everything sorted now (fingers crossed). I have been busy doing all the things that I put in my last blog that I needed to sort this week.

I finally got our Pledge Me project completed with rewards and information for submission to the Pledge Me co-ordinators. They will look through it and make sure that everything is in order, approve it and then I will be able to make the campaign go live after adding a few extra things to it! So, in a few days, I should be able to put up our crowd funding campaign and fingers crossed we reach our target.

I also created a website for Small Colossus Media. I used wix.com to create the site. It is a free website making site and is so simple to use. I used concept art from the project for the website.
Check it out at: http://smallcolossusmedia.wix.com/smallcolossusmedia

I have sorted out the catering menu and Tony, Iris and I will be sorting out the food and unit stuff for every day of the shoot. We have been given permission to use the Speed Boat Club rooms as unit base, where we can cook food and go back to eat under cover out of the weather. Food is such an expensive thing to buy, although we have come in under budget for the catering budget, so that's a bonus!

We have had the film crew out this week doing some test shoots and they have worked out how to film a few things. Oh, I forgot to mention that all of our crew is back after their internships!

Last but not least, Sarah and I worked together and worked out movement orders and logistical issues. We are pretty much ready to go film a movie! So, fingers crossed we have sorted everything and haven't forgotten anything! Let's make a movie!!!!!

Oh Here it Goes! Week: 30th March - 5th April

This week has been an intense time. I have pulled in our 1st AD, Sarah to help me on the production team until our 2IC comes back. So, I guess I will write about my progress on the project so far.

I have sorted out getting two vans booked for us to use over the next two weeks, organised camera, lighting and vfx gear, got the key for the greenscreen studio for us to use as gear storage, had our budget finalised, confirmed and sorted out permission for our filming locations. I got our Production Assistant, Iris to put the logo on all our social media and do some other odd jobs for me - mainly administrative stuff. Iris has been amazing at carrying out any tasks I have given her.

We have filmed our Pledge Me video and it has been edited by the talented Corey Fuimaono. It is now my job to come up with rewards and put together our Pledge me campaign and finally put it live online! we also managed to put together a production pamphlet to give to people to explain our project to them. This came in handy when we went on material sourcing missions. I stayed at the tin shed (our home base) while different groups went to different areas of town sourcing materials. All the teams did a great job and we sourced a lot of utilisable materials.

So from here on in........ I have test shooting to organise for next week, a website to create, a catering menu to come up with, shopping and more shopping and logistical organisation to consider for our shoot week. Slowly but surely we will get there and I can't wait until the rest of our crew comes back!!!!!

THUMBS UP!

Time Flies When Your Having Fun!

Location scout selfie

Well, where to start? I shall start with a bit of an update on the things that I spoke about in my last post. I have opened a bank account for the project (with Callum - the 2IC), been on two location scouts (which we have finalised some filming locations from) and have had meetings here, there and everywhere. So for this week, my production team and I have heaps of jobs to get done as we film in two weeks time! The list of things to do this week are:

- Put Small Colossus Media (this is the finalised name of our production company) logo onto all of our new social media
- Film our Pledge Me video and publish our project
- Organise camera, lighting and vfx equipment needed for our film shoot (this includes gaining permission to have the gear from SIT for two weeks solid and finding storage for all of it too)
- Create a pamphlet to explain our project and tell people about us
- Get our budget finalised
- Confirm and get permissions for all of our filming locations
- Book vans to use for the two weeks of test shooting and actually filming
- Complete a website for Small Colossus Media
- Complete a material sourcing run
- ORGANISE! ORGANISE! ORGANISE!

Brain Overload!!!!!

As of Monday 30th March, we have at least four team members away on internships on the Pete's Dragon feature film shoot in Tapanui for at least a week. We have our Director, 2IC, 1st Assistant Camera and our 2nd Assistant Camera going away to do internships on it. We should be fine while they are gone, as I have orgasnised with these people how we will deal with not having them around for this week.

So..... THERE'S HEAPS TO GET DONE!!!!!! But I am just going to work through each task to complete them all in time for filming. BRING IT ON!!!!! AND REMEMBER........> BREATHE AND KEEP CALM!!!!!

Peace and Tranquility

Busy, Busy, Busy

We have finally confirmed our script for the collaborative project!!!! I have been busy sorting out heaps of things this week. First of all, my production team and I cleaned the greenscreen that we will be using as there were marks left on it from last year. It looks beautifully clean now and you can not even tell that they were there and where we cleaned it. It did not take long at all either - just a danp sponge and some wiping and boom it was done!

Sarah and Iris cleaning the greenscreen

Selfie with Sarah, Iris and the greenscreen

So, I have sorted out the schedule a little bit, moving deadlines and adding more things that need done. The schedule is a gantt chart that I made using Ganttology. It is a free online gantt chart maker, that can be shared to other people to look at, so they know what's going on and what is due when. I have also completed the budget but I am sending it to my tutors to get their approval and see if anything needs changed. Hopefully, the budget is good enough to get our funding.

There have been meetings that have been had about script, storyboards, concept art, behind the scenes, camera/lighting and vfx/animation. This week coming is full on and we have a million things to get done! I have to open a bank account, have to do meetings with the heads of departments, then the full team not to mention individual meetings when people have issues for me to solve. I also have a location scout to go out on (which is a little bit fun, I guess?!), and a PledgeMe campaign to work on urgently. To be fair there are probably heaps more things that I have forgotten to add to this list but as I get further on in the project, those things will come back to me! Getting excited now! SO STOKED ABOUT THIS PROJECT & I RECKON WE GOT THIS!!!!!

STOKED AS!!!!!

Rough Script Confirmed - Casting Call Time

We now have a couple of rough script ideas for our big project. By the end of next week we should have the final script and plan on having character biographies and some concept art to go with it. I am starting to get really excited about this project and we have started to get very, very busy.

Casting Call Poster 2015

Today and tomorrow, we are holding a mass casting call (auditions) for people of all ages and all skill levels. The people that come along to this casting call will have their details, photos and footage (of their audition) uploaded to a database for all digital media students to be able to use to find actors and actresses for film projects and voice actors for animations. The database will keep all the auditionees details confidential from the general public and will only be accessible by using a log in and password.

So far, there has been some really talented people come through the casting call. They have been all ages and skill levels with many different cool and wonderful talents. Our first auditionee today, was an amazing 11 year old girl who had the most amazing singing voice! 

Director

We plan on holding auditions next weekend, specifically for our project. Any talent that our director (Dan DeLaet) decides will fit the roles in our script will be called back and invited to our special auditions. I am looking forward to seeing what talent Southland will bring us tomorrow and I am hoping we may find some talent that will fit the roles of the characters in our big project script.

Cutting Out the Fat - Scripting

Our project is starting to come to life! We have ideas flowing and scripts being written and decisions being made! Last week, we cut down all our possible story lines to two main themes. One was the idea of an alien bounty hunter and the other was about people getting lost in technology. This week we have cut it down to one theme - alien bounty hunter/encounters involving a different planet and the genre is Sci Fi. So, now it is up to the script team to come up with something for us to create.

Sci Fi setting

Everybody has been advised of their role in the crew now with some roles yet to be named, particulary the post production roles. As well as the script team being hard at work, we have our art team busy at work on researching ideas for possible styles and concepts of characters, the setting and environments.

Little Miss Busy - This is me from here on in!

My work load has become busy from this point on as I have to set up a bank account, work out a budget, set up social media for promotional purposes, find a location to set the greenscreen up, organise people to make sure everything that needs done is worked on and completed on time and I have to work with the HOD's (Heads of Departments) to write up a massive schedule that includes deadlines for every step of every different department.

I am starting to get excited about this year's project - the people in the group are a great bunch of people who are motivated, focused and hard working! This project feels well organised and the whole team is driven to making this project become a great success! Onwards and upwards from here on in and keep watching this space!

Excited!!!!!

Group Collaboration - Major Group Project 2015

With this new year of study comes a new collaborative group project. Last year, I worked on this same project but I was an animator then and now I am a filmie (film student). I am looking forward to working on this project as I will be working with a whole different group of people with only a small few familiar faces.

Study, study, study

The brief we have been given for this project is different to last year's brief. This time it is up to the group as to what kind of product we are going to create - short film, trailer, cinematic, game. We are currently working towards creating a concept for this product and then we can decide which format would suit the concept.

I have been given the job of Producer which is what I requested to do as a job because this is the area that I want to head my career path down. It would have been pointless to me if I had have been put elsewhere because this is my last year of study and I want to make it as productive as possible to help me head my career in the right direction.

Watch this space for some awesome ideas and updates on the whole process. Bring it on!!!!!

Achieve, learn, inspire