Kodak Awards- Time Film shoot 2

Man, was this shoot fun, every so often you do a shoot that makes you think, this is why I love being a film maker (the marina shoot on Brush Stroke was also one of these) and this was certainly one of them. We were shooting the cave man scene at Seaham beach on a very cold November morning/afternoon and just to see everyone working hard and grafting and being a part of it myself and seeing the scene being made how I had pictured it right in front of me, felt fantastic to be a part of.
We met Rachel (cave woman) at the location whilst Brad and Liam went to pick up Tony (cave man) from the station near by, then we carried a lot of heavy equipment down to the beach and to the cave where we were going to film. Then we dressed the actors and the set, both of which looked fantastic, although I must say it hurts your hands to finger paint onto a rock wall. Having done that, much like Preston Park it was simply a case of setting up shots and filming them, easy stuff really, one shot proved to be problematic however as we couldn't get the tripod close enough to the wall, the solution to this was to have Liam hold the camera in place while Brad filmed. As producer I made sure before we did this that it was safe, that Liam had sure footing and was at no risk of hurting himself or anyone else, or damaging the camera. Once this was assured we did the shot which again was no trouble and we moved on. At this point the actors were finished so I went with them to a nearby cafe to get them out of costume, to sign off paperwork and to sort out travel expenses. Once this was sorted I returned to the crew and helped with the establishing shot they were filming of the cave and filled in the shots they had done onto my production log.
Thus concluding another shoot more or less without any issues, looked great, was incredibly fun to be a part of and we had little to no problems with anything.

Kodak Awards- Popcorn Film Shoot 1

The first film shoot for Popcorn was supposed to be the only shoot for Popcorn but alas this was not to be, as everything that could have gone wrong, pretty much did. Bu there were good things too.
Firstly the amount we got shot on this shoot was enough for full coverage of the advert so if some kind of disaster happened that meant we couldn't have another shoot, at least we had coverage. On top of this the extras and set dressing were fantastic so no complaints here. As well as this we got very good coverage of the main couple in the advert so this is good.

However, we also had issues, we had 4 lights (3 Red Heads and a cool light) the cool light worked fine with no problems. 1 red head was broken before we even started shooting and then halfway through a take a second red head started smoking so we had to immediately turn it off and then we had no other light to swap to. As a result of this we had to send one of the crew to get a replacement which was a big delay. Then we had a problem putting a lens onto the camera which again was another delay, all of these added up and it meant that we didn't get as much covered as we would have hoped and as such had to organise a second shoot for next week. Another issue was that for some of the shots there was an ND filter on the camera which will have substantially darkened what we shot to the point where it may be completely unusable.

That concludes my account of the first shoot, the actors and crew were fine to work with for the most part and I felt I did a good job of directing so there's not an awful lot left to say about this shoot.

Kodak Awards- Popcorn Practise edits

As you know, we did a digital run through of the advert and then gave it to Shaun to edit together to get an early look at what the advert may look like when it's done.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B6GOrP_nhpstUW5Bc2I4S1pGRnc/view

This was the first edit he sent back to me without any of my input it was purely from my shortlist and storyboards and his own intuition that he put this together.

While there are some good things about this edit my initial feedback was that it needed slowing down a lot, for me there are way too many cuts in there and its almost non-cohesive. Shaun said that he was trying to use as many of the different angles as we had so that I could see all of the footage we had, which is a valuable thing for him to do. I also asked if he could create more tension in the scene with the first couple as this is the main section of the film. One great thing was that it was dead on 30 seconds which is obviously part of the brief.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B6GOrP_nhpsta0N1LWdRc0JLb3M/view

In response to the things I asked Shaun, he sent me this, already I could see a drastic improvement, although I still felt it to be a little fast, however, I do feel it was more coherent and there was a clearer plot line and It wasn't completely too fast to absorb, however I still do feel that the cuts were coming too frequently and so then he asked me how I would want it, under normal circumstances I wouldn't step on the toes of my editor by telling him how to do his job but since he asked I sent him this.
"Side angle>fiddling with popcorn> Liam looking>pan as Toni walks in and sits down> hand going towards popcorn> nervous eyes> hand > Toni's eyes > card being pulled out> back of card> hug"

This is just for the first half as I am more or less happy with how the second half looks and flows. So Shaun did one more edit with the order I asked for.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B6GOrP_nhpstcDVjelFjZEpqME0/view

This was, I feel, the best of the test edits, however, I am not 100% happy with it, if that were the real film I wouldn't be happy sending it off, however it is a good platform to build upon and as a result of these I redrafted my storyboards and redid my shortlist to fit what I now wanted having seen the footage edited.

Kodak Awards- Popcorn Practise Shoot

We did a practise shoot before the real thing for the popcorn paper chase advert, some aspects of this went a lot better than others, if I am honest.

I'll start with what went well I guess, firstly the actors were great to work with, really responsive to what I was asking of them and were courteous at all times and understanding when we had difficulties. Realistically this is all you can ask for from them, if they give a good performance and cause no issues then there is nothing more I would want. They did this and as such they made my life easies.

The lighting set up was somewhat challenging, we struggled to get the same aesthetic we had from the practise, I now realise that this is because of the change in camera and not knowing the settings on my DSLR from the lighting test so we had no reference point to match up the two of them so when we switched from DSLR to P2 the change was not accounted for. As a result of this I again experimented with lighting, which is not at all what this shoot was for. This is probably down to the fact that out camera operator was ill, although I am in know way blaming her, I take full responsibility as I was the one who didn't trust the original lighting set up we had. However we still got some fairly decent footage for Shaun (the editor) to work with. Which he then did several cuts with but I will discuss them in a later post.

Another good thing from this shoot was that we covered lots of angles and possibilities which gave me a good idea of how I would want things to be on the real shoot and also what wasn't needed from my original plans and also in some cases what I could add. But these are more things that would be evident after the edit.

Also something we discovered that didn't go well after the shoot was the sound, we found it to be quite static filled and not very clear, in response to this we have since addressed the issue and found that instead of recording off both an boom mic and the H6 built in mic we will instead only use the boom mic as the H6 mic is poor quality. Again this only serves to highlight the importance of the digital run through so that we didn't have this problem on the real shoot.

Kodak Awards- Popcorn visuals

So, I thought it would be a useful exercise to look at some visuals that are commonly used for cinemas in published images, whether that be stock photos or whether it be in film. To do this I googled cinema and picked out some of the visuals I thought looked best and had similar camera angles to what I may use.

This is an angle I definitely wish to use as we see a woman walking along the aisle before sitting down next to her boyfriend, while it may also seem a little vain, this angle will also let us show off a bit how many extras we can get to fill a cinema screening, this will make the advert look more professional and give it a higher production value.

This is the shot I will replicate almost exactly for when we see the couple, just before she puts her hand into the tub, this may tilt down slightly so we get a better view of the tub as she does this.

Finally, I looked for a film scene that is set in a cinema for a moving image reference instead of just some stills, the first scene that came to mind was Taxi Driver, although this has a very different tone and a very different genre, the aesthetic is roughly the same as what I am looking to capture. Also interestingly, every cinema picture I came across featured red seats, I don't know why this is but it is an aesthetic that I most definitely want in mine, with it being a valentines advert I think it is perfect that the seats would be red as this denotes love.

Kodak Awards- Time Recce

As one section of this advert is set in Victorian times, we went to look at Preston Park in Middlesbrough to see if this suited what we were looking for, all in all I think it fit the bill and not only did we find a location that we wanted but we also found a back up should it fall through, theres not much I can write about this and I feel that pictures will suit this post just fine.

This is the back up location which isn't owned by Preston Parks it should be relatively easy to get permission for, this was the original planned location but we decided that one of the cafe's inside Preston Park would fit better and have better production value.

This is the actual location we decided that we want to use, the only issue being that we would need to rely upon the weather as there is no where for lighting. this would be a good location however as the production value would be very good and on top of that it requires very little set up. This was a brief and more visual blog post but I believe that there is the necessary information about our recce.

Kodak Awards- Popcorn Lightest

In practise for the shoot of the popcorn advert we did a lighting test in Hartlepool FE's lecture theatre as this looks like a cinema. I must admit that when we suggested filming in there I wasn't sure it would look like a cinema but having done this lighting test I think it would not only be a suitable location to shoot, but ideal for what we want.

This is the seating layout of the lecture theatre, the only issue that I can see is that the walls in a real cinema wouldn't be white, however, with lighting and camera work this is easily avoided.

This is the initial lighting set up with a single redhead behind the main actor and a cool light in front to fill in the face so he isn't just a silhouette. From here we did some more experiments with lighting to see if we could further enhance the cinema look and feel.

We then experimented with different filters on the back (main) light to see how this effected the image and the lighting of Ryan, this had varying results and from this we decided we needed to add a third light to add colour so that the actor could have a light flicker so as to create the illusion of the actor watching a film.

From the addition of a second light we pointed it away from the actor and then used a reflector and flickered the light back on to the actor using the silver side of the reflector without the inside of it making it rigid.

This is essentially the final result, although it is somewhat changed by the fact that we have the light in shot, obviously this wouldn't be the case under normal circumstances but for the sake of this shot you can see how successful the lighting has been, I have now drawn up a plan for the lighting and we are now prepared for the shoot, we just need actors and to book the room.

Kodak Awards- Production management and actors contracts,

As I am producer on one of the adverts, I thought it would be a useful exercise to look into how to effectively manage a small scale production, another small thing I thought I should look into is actors contracts and I thought this would be too small to put into a single blog post so I have added this to the end of this one.

Production management:
I did some research into what makes a good producer and as such by extension how to successfully manage a small scale production like this. After doing research from a number of different sources, mostly on the internet, I found recurring themes and ideas and as such compiled this list of 10 things that will help me to be a good producer.

1. Understand the creative process and particularly directing
This is so that I can effectively work with the director and understand their needs when making the film. This is fairly easy for me as my other role on this unit and in previous units has been Director and as such I understand what is required by the director from the producer.

2. Be a creative force on the film and understand the basics of narrative.
This one again isn't too much of an issue to me as I am a script writer also so I to a degree know how narrative works as I use it often. This is a useful thing for a producer as they have final say on what goes into production and as such they have to make sure the script is fit for production.

3. Understand the basics of Character
In all honesty, I'm not sure why this is separate to narrative but places that I looked at had it as a separate factor so I too have added it as a separate factor. I would guess its because a film must have a good narrative but also strong characters to be good so it is important to distinguish the two as theyre both very important.

4. Have a basic understanding of sound and camera.
Put simply, this is because on set should issues arise then I can help out with sorting them or fill in for a role if needs be, also it will help to empathise with the issues that may arise for the crew members who are fulfilling these roles. I believe I have this skill as the previous modules and demos in university have given me an understanding of these roles.

5. Understand marketing and publicity
For this particular module this is not a huge factor to consider as it has basically already been done for me in the sense that we are making an advert for an established award ceremony and therefore I don't have to put any effort into the publicity of this film. However, this is useful on a more broad scale as when making something that requires this, I will need to make it so people will actually see the film, otherwise what's the point in making the film, should I ever require this, I will be sure to research and blog about it.

6. Learn how to find and discover talented actors
This is absolutely crucial when I am very limited to what is available to me considering I have a very small budget. This means that I have to put as much interest from actors out there and have to know which ones will fit the roles best as I cant afford to get the top level of actors I have to try and scout the best from the amateur level of actors.

7. Be strong willed and able to say no.
As the most powerful individual in a films production in terms of having the final say it means that I have to have the strength of will to make the important calls and to make decisions that may not be popular but they must be made for the good of the film. I believe that this is something I do need to work on as I am not the strongest of people in these situations but It is something I am consciously working on.

8. Have a good grasp of time management.
This is a no brainer that a producer needs to be able to manage a schedule and not spend unnecessary amounts of time on set so that everything can be done efficiently and effectively so that the film can be made in an effective amount of time. With regards to my self this is something I am a bit hit and miss at and I need to learn how to realise that somethings do take longer than I would like and this cant be avoided, the trick is to know how long things will take and plan accordingly.

9.  Know how to raise money to fund the film.
Like with the publicity section, this is not a huge issue on this module as the film stock is provided to us and we have a student loan to cover the rest of the things we may need, however in future this will be one of the most important skills a producer can have as it can make or break a production, whether to not there will be funding. Asking for money is not something I have ever done so to a degree, I am thankful that this module does not call for it.

10.Be organised.
Finally another no brainer, this ties into time management somewhat as it is about being on top of production but I think this more regards paperwork and making sure everything is in order to allow the crew to make the film. So this refers to contracts, release forms, call sheets etc. Making sure all of this is prepped is something I believe I will do well at as I am usually very good at making sure things are set up to allow the crew to work.

That concludes my findings on effective production management and thus I now feel more prepared in the role of producer.

I would just like to highlight some of my research into actors contracts and what they should contain:
The basics things it should include are the dates of filming, the payment of wages and/or expenses. The actor's entitlement to a copy of the film upon its completion. The companies right to distribute the film as we see fit and use the footage in any capacity we wish, thus meaning that what we have filmed is our property. They should also include working hours (estimated) and a guarantee that the actors wellbeing will be considered. These are the bare essentials of a contract and any other conditions are subject to individual actors or are more specific to the production. That pretty much wraps up this post, until next time.