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.

Genre: Horror

As part of cinematography, we have been put into groups and given a specific genre to film a short film that cinematically adheres to the conventions of the genre. The members of my group are Corey Fuimaono and Matt Van Dorrestein and we are filming a short film idea that Matt came up with years ago and filmed with his friends. We plan on re-creating this film and are shooting a section of it each to fill the requirements of our brief.

Genre conventions to consider:

- POV shots let the audience see through the monster's eyes
- High and low camera angles to connotate fear and nightmares
- Handheld shots can make the audience disorientated
- ECU (extreme close up) shots to see the fear in the victim's face


Here is a link to a slide share by George Woodford, about horror genre conventions:
http://www.slideshare.net/marine18/horror-genre-conventions

We are planning to shoot the film in Queens Park and using Coronation Drive which runs right through the middle of the park and is lined with trees that look spooky and leafless which would set up the environment for a horror.

Coronation Drive, Queens Park

Here are some links to YouTube videos that discuss the conventions of the horror genre:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=oaHsEoZ3Gko

www.youtube.com/watch?v=0zosPpJepok

www.youtube.com/watch?v=aTgjqChqsJ4

We are filming this on the Blackmagic camera and I am a little nervous about doing this because it will be the first real time that I have used this camera but onwards and upwards and let's make a horror!!!!!

Script Post Mortem 27th April - 3rd May

This week in class we have read each others scripts and pulled them apart - post mortem time!!!!! Rat Race is the name of my short film ( I think I may have mentioned this in an earlier post). It is about a young boy at a funeral, who is meant to read a poem at the service for the dearly departed but instead ends up chasing a rat all over the cemetery because it steals his poem. The feedback that I received was good overall. I received good comments about my big print and the story. Rat Race was intended as a live action film but because I ended up giving the rat a name, everybody felt as though this script was written for an animation and I fully agree with this as well. By giving the rat a name it kind of became the rat's story (at the point that the rat was introduced) instead of the boy's story. All in all, I was happy with my script but could also see what could be changed to make it better.

We also did a session on writing scripts for the Rialto Channel 48 Hours Furious Filmmaking competition. We discussed how best to come up with script ideas and how to write a script to make the film compelling to the audience and most of all, the judges of the competition.

Things to remember for 48 Hours script writing:

- Observe the conventions of your genre
- Pick your model film(s)
- Identify key genre tropes (the skeleton of the genre)
- Don't fully copy tropes, just be aware of them
- Gimmicks are fine as long as they are backed up with substance
- Stinger (surprise) at the end of the film

These are all things to remember for the story and genre and the next list of things to remember is in relation to character:

- Character needs an objecive
- There needs to be an obstacle for the character that throws the character's objective out the window
- Antagonist: Can be either an inanimate object or person
- Character arc: What does the character give up or compromise/give up to find a sense of resolution

- Extra obstacles and challenges are needed for the character to progress through the story

This is my third year competing in the 48 Hours competition and also my third year in an animation team for the competition. Fingers crossed that everything goes well for the weekend and bring on the sleeplessness!!!!!

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!

Writing 'Rat Race' Week: 13th April - 19th April

I have named my non-dialogue script "Rat Race". I can see my script play out visually in my head but I have been having trouble forcing myself to sit down and write it. As I have commented in other posts, we have been filming the group project, so my head really has not been in a writing space.

I managed to lock myself in a room and write my script though and it came quite easily. I have written this script putting in most of the things that I have learned about 'Big Print'. I think it sounds pretty good (well, i hope it does because I have already submitted it) but I can guarantee that I will sit down and read my script and find things that I should have done better.

I wrote this script as it played out visually in my head and wrote done pretty much what the audience would see. I enjoyed writing this script because it was fun, quirky and amusing. The next thing to write is our tableplay script which is essentially a script involving two people and this means DIALOGUE!!!! Oh well, here it goes.....