Monday, 15 March 2010
The Interview... Production Weekend
We started our production on Friday to take some of our stills which we then finished the morning after. The rehearsals gave us a chance to build a rapport between the cast and crew; and me and Elspeth provided food for everybody to create a nice relaxed environment in Josh's living room. This meant that on the day we were all prepared and all knew each other to an extent before production started, which I felt was good for the actors especially who didn't know one another before hand. As we had one location, with 3 scenes the set ups were simple enough.
Our problems on the day came from capturing the footage from the memory cards to laptops, as the scenes were long the 2 macbooks we had on location were unable to handle the files. This led to Gus wandering around Bristol with Ciaran (who owns the camera) looking for a new card to buy whilst we used Mark's small memory card. We wasted a lot of time doing this with something we could have been prepared by buying another beforehand, and when all the shops in Bristol didn't sell the right cards we had no option but to get one of our friends to drive a better laptop to the location. We won't make this mistake again! But I guess that's the gift and the curse of using newer, better technology that we were unfamiliar with; as the footage looks better than it would've on a z1.
To do our opening shot we used dolly tracks, but due to the harsh noise that they made whilst moving we are going to try and dub it. I hope this works well as the shot is one of my favorites from the day, but I guess we will see when we get to post production. We were very lucky when making this film that Brideswell Art Center aided us to the extent that they did. As in our schedule we did not make plans for running out of space on memory cards or have a contingency plan for losing 2-3 hours. Even though I did checks on the cards, I did not run one that was a video over 1gb. Without them allowing us to stay for those extra 3 hours, the film would not have been possible.
Wednesday, 10 March 2010
The Interview... Production schedule
The following is a brief outline of our plan for the weekend:
Friday:
- Meet Ed at 1.30 outside uni library.
- 1.45 start stills in university shop.
- 2.30 start stills in library office (finish at 3).
Saturday:
- Meet Ed and Brittany outside Victoria Park for 11.00am.
- Shoot park stills and get audio for the opening scene (finish at 11.45).
- 12.45 Meet Duncan & Guy on the bridge next to Bus Station for rehearsals.
- 1-5 rehearsals at Josh's house.
Sunday:
- 9.15 ALL OTHERS to meet Mark, Elspeth and Ed's cars at McDonalds (near waterside).
- 10.30 Corridor and cell scene.
- 12.00 Interview Room.
- 1.00 Lunch.
- 1.45 Interview Room until 6.00 for finish.
As everybody has a copy of the schedule and everybody is aware of where they need to be and when, we have a list of all the shots that we need to do. It seems as if this weekend should run smoothly; even though I have given almost 6 hours to do the interview room scene, this includes room for any small delays.
Friday:
- Meet Ed at 1.30 outside uni library.
- 1.45 start stills in university shop.
- 2.30 start stills in library office (finish at 3).
Saturday:
- Meet Ed and Brittany outside Victoria Park for 11.00am.
- Shoot park stills and get audio for the opening scene (finish at 11.45).
- 12.45 Meet Duncan & Guy on the bridge next to Bus Station for rehearsals.
- 1-5 rehearsals at Josh's house.
Sunday:
- 9.15 ALL OTHERS to meet Mark, Elspeth and Ed's cars at McDonalds (near waterside).
- 10.30 Corridor and cell scene.
- 12.00 Interview Room.
- 1.00 Lunch.
- 1.45 Interview Room until 6.00 for finish.
As everybody has a copy of the schedule and everybody is aware of where they need to be and when, we have a list of all the shots that we need to do. It seems as if this weekend should run smoothly; even though I have given almost 6 hours to do the interview room scene, this includes room for any small delays.
Monday, 8 March 2010
The Interview... Older Actors Please!
Sometimes, not all the time, but its safe to say that most of the time student productions are ruined by the involvement of only student actors, which makes a film look 'studenty' and aids the audience to not suspend their belief in what they are watching. Even if you may not agree with this, it is what we have decided as a group, so we need to find people that at least look a little older!
So after asking an actor that I know that used to go to Bath Spa Duncan Roe (24), who will fit the role of the good cop. I emailed Chris Jury asking for older students who may be interested in being in a short film, where I got a reply off a few students, but one stood out Guy Smallwood (26). This was good as we were making fast progress with choices over who we could cast. After meeting with the two separately and giving them scripts at the end for them to learn the lines, we only had one more to cast, Luke Philips! After getting home from speaking to Guy, Elspeth phoned me and told me about an amazing CV that she had received after sending a message to the theater royal, from Ed Browning who was on IMDB (click his name) featuring in Casualty, Teachers and Doctors with actual roles! Although we didn't really need to see whether or not he would be good enough for the part due to his credentials, after meeting with him today I can confirm that we have a full cast of actors in their mid twenties, which is better than most students. Only if we had a budget would we be able to get a more desirable cast! I'm Amped especially as we are now using a Canon 7d for our shooting, which means huge implications for the quality and look of our film!
So after asking an actor that I know that used to go to Bath Spa Duncan Roe (24), who will fit the role of the good cop. I emailed Chris Jury asking for older students who may be interested in being in a short film, where I got a reply off a few students, but one stood out Guy Smallwood (26). This was good as we were making fast progress with choices over who we could cast. After meeting with the two separately and giving them scripts at the end for them to learn the lines, we only had one more to cast, Luke Philips! After getting home from speaking to Guy, Elspeth phoned me and told me about an amazing CV that she had received after sending a message to the theater royal, from Ed Browning who was on IMDB (click his name) featuring in Casualty, Teachers and Doctors with actual roles! Although we didn't really need to see whether or not he would be good enough for the part due to his credentials, after meeting with him today I can confirm that we have a full cast of actors in their mid twenties, which is better than most students. Only if we had a budget would we be able to get a more desirable cast! I'm Amped especially as we are now using a Canon 7d for our shooting, which means huge implications for the quality and look of our film!
Wednesday, 3 March 2010
The Interview... Locations. Check.
For our film script we have one real location that we need for a long time, which is a police station (interview room and cell). As the other locations park, shop and office only include still shots.
Even though only pictures were being taken, the locations were nethertheless tricky to attain. As we are insured students with a film script about schizophrenia, we thought people would jump at the idea. However, this was not the case as Sainsbury's, Co-op and Tesco's (I only chose sainsbury's logo because it looks nice on my blog) would not allow us to film in their stores because the police were in the film, but Sainsbury's in particular didn't like the idea of a schizophrenic in their store! The police however, were very long winded about the procedure, as they never really gave us a direct answer, and kept asking us to call back later and call other stations, one of which didn't have a cell! But they are busy and do have crime to fight!
At the same time Elspeth had been in contact with both Bath and Bristol film offices, who helped us attain the park and an old police station, that was now Brideswell Art Centre, that still had interview rooms and cells! After visiting this epic breath taking dungeon, I knew that it was going to make the film epochal. Take a look for yourself!
With this out of the way we had less to worry about, and after walking around university we managed to get permission to film in the campus shop, and in the head librarian (Alison Baud) is allowing us to use her office. Although we highly wanted to avoid using any university locations as they will be in black and white it will make them seem very generic. Also even though they may be recognisable to our class, it won't be at all to wider audiences, and with all the shops I have spoken it is our only option.
Even though only pictures were being taken, the locations were nethertheless tricky to attain. As we are insured students with a film script about schizophrenia, we thought people would jump at the idea. However, this was not the case as Sainsbury's, Co-op and Tesco's (I only chose sainsbury's logo because it looks nice on my blog) would not allow us to film in their stores because the police were in the film, but Sainsbury's in particular didn't like the idea of a schizophrenic in their store! The police however, were very long winded about the procedure, as they never really gave us a direct answer, and kept asking us to call back later and call other stations, one of which didn't have a cell! But they are busy and do have crime to fight!At the same time Elspeth had been in contact with both Bath and Bristol film offices, who helped us attain the park and an old police station, that was now Brideswell Art Centre, that still had interview rooms and cells! After visiting this epic breath taking dungeon, I knew that it was going to make the film epochal. Take a look for yourself!
With this out of the way we had less to worry about, and after walking around university we managed to get permission to film in the campus shop, and in the head librarian (Alison Baud) is allowing us to use her office. Although we highly wanted to avoid using any university locations as they will be in black and white it will make them seem very generic. Also even though they may be recognisable to our class, it won't be at all to wider audiences, and with all the shops I have spoken it is our only option.
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