Trick of the Dark- shoot 6

Here it is boys and girls, the last one, the final TOTD shoot, and what a scene to end on, the romance scene between Scott and Susie. I was originally referring to it as a sex scene but this really is over selling it, its basically just two people in a sleeping bag kissing and the rest is implied. The scene itself was once again in the cave and the reason I was shooting this scene was to give Alex more of a motive to attack Scott in the final cave scene because without this Alex is angry but its unclear what tipped him over and to be honest from an audience perspective it seems a little bit much, but with the addition of this and with Alex seeing the romance of the two and getting jealous he has a reason to react as his does when you couple it with them being trapped and tensions rising from this.

There weren't many production still taken on this day so Im using this rather nice one of Brad I took in the cave as a place holder as this is technically him producing on set. Back to the shoot, I went in with my shotlist but not storyboards, this was a conscious decision because my storyboards weren't made with the cave space we had in mind and as such they were less accurate to what I wanted to shoot than my shotlist was. With this in mind we reconstructed the set from the shoot we did in the cave just over a week ago and then set up an LED to mimic the cave opening as we did in previous scenes. We then got the actors in position and I levelled with them that this was my first time shooting anything even remotely intimate, to which they said it was a first for them too. This was actually useful because it meant there was no expectation from anyone to get this right first time an it relieved some of the awkward nature of the scene. In terms of coverage, we shot quite a few angles and distances in a relatively short amount of time, from memory we shot two wides, a selection of two shots as well as some over-shoulders before we started working on some shots that included movement. In terms of direction I do feel I was awkward at first, but after a few takes and seeing how comfortable the two actors were with each other I got into my stride a little bit and creativity from everyone on set started to flow, I got a bit more adventurous with shots and got much more comfortable with what I was asking the actors to do.

 Andrew was on sound for this scene and we found that the best pace for him to do this was on the ledge of a rock shelf in the cave which he climbed up to and planted himself in, this was ideal as it meant he was directly above the actors a could get the best sound without interfering with the shot because he was always above the camera but close enough that the sound was crisp and clear. In terms of camera work, for about half we were on a tripod and then the other Liam shot handheld due to limited space, however, this did not affect the shot in any way, he was always shooting from a stable position so the shots were in no way shaky beyond use or anything on that line. We also shot a few of the shots on the slider which proved to be a bit of a pain because the tension on it had been turned up before we picked the equipment up so the slider track was a little stiff which meant at times there was undesired camera shake as a result, but all in all this didn't prove too problematic, it just meant we had to do extra takes.

Like I say, I haven't received the production stills as of yet so here's a spider web in the cave with dew on which I liked the look of. After getting the shots from my shotlist we deliberated for a while about whether this was the time to call it a wrap or not, after a while we decided there were shots we could get which added to the other scenes, namely the scene where Alex is decided his action as he fixates on the knife while they sleep near him. So we got a shot of Susie turning over in the night to cuddle Scott and we also got a regular static of the two sleeping together for coverage, these were easy basic shots but I do feel they will prove useful so in this sense it was worth me and Liam talking over whether we should shoot more because we had the time and resources so it made sense to try and make more in case we needed it, it is a bonus in a way that the shots turned out so nice. However, all things must end, this shoot and the film in general are no different and with that it was wrapped and we set off back to the car and ultimately to the edit suite to make this film happen. It had certainly been a journey to shoot this film and it proved to be both challenging and fun at most points along the way. I will leave with this parting image of the crew walking along Blackhall beach one last time to return the equipment.

I would like to also just say that I had an amazing crew on this and I don't know if we could have pulled it off if we didn't have such a skilled and hard working group all pulling in the same direction, while this was my film because I wrote and directed it, it is just as much theirs because they made it happen as much if not more than I did and I am grateful for each of them. If the shoot went as well as I feel it did, we will have a good film on our hands and everyone should be proud of what we made.

Trick of the Dark- Shoot 5

Shoot 5 for TOTD, the final stretch is at hand for sure, this was the penultimate shoot and it marks the first instance of me taking advantage of the week long extension that I was given. So basically these scenes were in the original script in order to A break up the cave so the audiences weren't bored of one location and to B flesh out a relationship between Scott and his wife so that she didn't appear as some random woman at the end of the film who is visiting him in a hospital. In the original script this was their purpose, although in the reimagining of the film which Andrew created from the footage we had up to this point instead their purpose was slightly different though basically the same, it was still to establish a relationship between the two but in this case it was more vital as there was no prior mention or view of her before now so it was vital to get at least one scene of her to establish that she is not random. And while she is there to break up the cave, this is no longer as vital because the hospital footage was now also being used to do this.

So we had three scenes to shoot, though having seen the edit and had conversations with Andrew about what we needed to add to the film in terms of scenes, it seems that not all of them will be used but I wanted to shoot them all the same because it is much better to have them and not need them than it is to need them and not have them. That being said, the first scene was an early scene where Rachael is put through to Scott's answering machine and leaves a message saying that she hasn't heard from him all day and that they should 'go out or something'. This scene is important because it is an establishment of their relationship but also it highlights that something is awry. The scene itself was shot in my back garden and originally was where you see the above shot, however, we had to move to a different part of the garden.

So the reason we moved is because the area we were using would not stay lit, the security light we were using was on a timer and no amount of movement we tried would keep it on long enough, however, the side light which lights this shot would stay on indefinitely, no idea why but it worked. The reason that we had to use the security lights was that we had not gotten the LEDs that we had booked out, I did not pick up the equipment so as such cannot comment on why this happened but it meant we had to adapt and as such we decided to use the security light and the fading light of the day, luckily my garden is south facing so gets light for as long as possible. So we shot this scene with the lighting available and got a three shot coverage on Alicia of a Mid, a Wide and a Close-up, in doing this it meant we had ample coverage that would make a scene, which in all honesty would only be a few seconds when edited together. We then found that there may be a lip syncing issue so we started to shoot a reverse of the mid shot from behind Alicia as a safety shot in case we needed to cut away from her mouth to sync the sound.

This is where we encountered a potentially shoot ending issue, the camera died. Now this was a big issue as we had no spare battery and no charger. So, to adapt to this I borrowed my Dads DSLR, which coincidentally is the same model of camera we used to shoot Inheritance and Alice so the crew and myself were familiar with its operation, the only issue being the footage quality suffered because of the camera change and as such the footage we did take may be unusable due to the change, but again it was better to have it and not need it than to not have it and need it. This was the first scene done and as such we moved into the kitchen to get a second scene which in the original script adds tension because she is now more frantically trying to get through to Scott, this was a single short line over the phone which we got in one freehand Mid shot because there was no need for more coverage on this. Then we got the final of the intended scenes at a bus stop just outside my house. The reason for the location was that it was Rachael on the phone to the doctor and we assume from the location and the conversation that she is rushing to see him, in hindsight this makes little to no sense because when she sees him in the hospital it is clearly day and at the point of shooting it was very dark so it wouldn't match, in addition to this, there probably wouldn't be buses running at that time. All that being said, Liam did a beautiful shot where he started on the bus stop light and then came down to see Alicia on the phone, this was really nicely shot and the visuals in the scene looked great, though the issue remains that the footage in all likelihood wont match the black magic footage but we will have to wait and see.

Final Major Project- Learners Agreement Evaluation

Now that the module is drawing to a close I would like to take this opportunity to evaluate my performance in comparison to my learners agreement that I wrote at the beginning, this is a chance to look at my performance in the module next to my expectations for the module and to see how I did compared to how I wanted to, I will spend the remainder of this post looking at specific statements and then looking at how they turned out in practise, so without further ado, here we go.

So first up is the fact that I would be serving the role of director and producer on Trick of the Dark, the former of which I found a lot easier than the second role. Directing I found easier as this was the creative element, I found it relatively easy to shot list and storyboard the film as well as to script it, although there were some script changes to be made which did put us back a bit and I must say that while I did have a clear visual vision for the film in my head, I didn't do enough practise with the shots to make sure I could achieve the visuals I wanted, so to evaluate my role as director on this film I feel that I did well and had clear creative ideas I just should have done more practise shoots but this is on me and in all honesty, we did practise some of the more complex scenes so it isn't a massive problem. My role as a producer was somewhat less successful if I am being honest, though perhaps in hindsight I did do what I needed to do it just took longer than it should, particularly I am referring to casting, because this took a while it meant that everything else got pushed back (some of which shouldn't have but I talk about that in my evaluation). The next part of this I talked about was dealing with isolation and mental health, a subject which is very much in the public eye with the current 'campaign against loneliness' campaign that is going out. I feel the film holds true to the messages I set out to convey but they are perhaps not as clear as I thought they would be. Although I certainly achieved my goal of not covering them in a tasteless or offensive way, so in this sense I was successful. The final aspect I focused on was my cave, as you have seen in my research and blog, this is something we took great time in trying to nail. In the end we ended up going to a cave that we had visited many times but it was the way we shot it that made it in the end, mixing the studio and cave together proved to be very successful and I feel really sold the trapped feel of the film.

Just as there was not a lot to be said in my original learning agreement, there is not a great deal to be said about the production now, this is because what I do have to say is in my evaluation and there wasn't an awful lot I can say about how I performed in terms of sticking to my agreement. That being said I will evaluate how I feel I did in comparison to the small amount which I did write in my agreement. So firstly I was right about what my primary role on this film was, and that was paperwork, I was mainly responsible for the production logs which I did on the majority of shoots and I believe proved useful when it came to the edit. I also did a few risk assessments when I was required and got the actor's contracts sorted to upload to the VLE as proof of them signing to appear in the film. Beyond this I had little to do in terms of grade-able work, I tried to make myself as useful on set as possible and at times was like a runner, which I have no issue with as I enjoy physical work. The other role I assumed on set was on set photographer, we had a distinct lack of production stills in the early shoots so I took some and handed them over to Lee to edit so they could be used for promotional purposes for the uni and for the film. I was also correct in my prediction that this film would be of academic use in terms of working in a larger crew as it was interesting to see the division of work between departments and to find my place in all of that.

First off with regards to My Name is John, my role did become more clear and defined and I was as expected, there to give guidance for the most part and I also played my part in preparing the actors and getting them into character ready for the camera for when Sarah wanted to start shooting, this was ideal for me as it was what my minor project was centred around so I was going at this with a degree of expertise on the matter. I will say that I feel the film benefitted from the work I did do on characters, however, due to the tight schedule of the film and the fact that I was on holiday in Sweden during the bulk of filming (because it took place during reading week) I do feel that my input on this film was severely cut down because of this schedule of filming while I wasn't able to help out. However, there is no one to blame for this, it is just unfortunate that we only had John for such a small amount of time with John Archer (the lead) so on the whole I feel I contributed well but lament over unfortunate timing that I sadly couldn't give more.

I would now like to evaluate my performance on each of the three learning outcomes.

LO1

New creative practises is a strange phrase I feel and I am unsure exactly of what it means in terms of what that looks like within the module, however, I experimented with new sound techniques in using the radio mics and a boom mic, I also did ADR for the first time as well as attempting to build a cave (which is guess is experimentation) we also were using a new camera so there was a whole new list of challenges that we solved with smaller cameras but would have to be sorted again with a new, heavier camera, one that comes to mind is the fact we could no longer use the steadicam.

LO2

Demonstrate a critical and contextual understanding, I feel there is no issue with this as my film deals with mental health issues and family issues around isolation, so I feel I have covered this.

LO3

There have been a great many problems on Trick of the Dark which I feel have been resolved so I feel I have this covered with no problem. I have also conducted a great deal of independent research so I again feel I have no issue in covering this learning objective.

To quote a famous poem "The best laid plans of mice and men often go awry", this plan was in almost no way at all followed, the location and casting of the film took a long time and as such held everything up, I tried to do what I could up to this point but the film was inevitably delayed due to my inability to cast and my indecision in terms of what cave to use for the film. Now that that has been said, I feel that the issues we had in following this plan ultimately were ironed out or perhaps more accurately dealt with in that we still managed to make the film and make it well, perhaps not as well as we could have and unfortunately I did leave the crew with a lot to do but to go through this and still come out with a good film is somewhat commendable I feel and while I have been hard on myself for not following the action plan, I have given reason as to why and shown that I still managed to make the film despite the issues that came.

A lot of what I have glossed over will be covered more in my evaluation but that was a useful exercise I feel in gauging how I have done in terms of following what I set out to do.

Trick of the Dark- ADR

Having seen the things we shot edited and put onto a timeline with the sound synced up I realised two things, firstly that Andrew Rogers is one hell of an editor, completely of his own creativity he managed to put together a good film with some fragmented scenes and sections that didn't seem to have any way to fit together. And secondly, that we needed some ADR (truth be told, I knew I needed this anyway as at the very least we needed to record the closing line) but having listened to some of the cave scenes back there is other voices in the background of the scene from some people on the other side of the cave wall. That being said we had to get the three actors in to do some dubbing of the scenes, which I must admit was my first attempt at this but Ryan (who is on sound and in charge of the mix) has done it before so I was blessed in this sense to have his expertise.

The set up went something like this: A mic with guard (in picture) opposite the TV that was used to play the scenes we were dubbing, this is to help the actors in getting the feel for the emotion and also to help them with syncing their lines to their mouths. From the Tv there is a HDMI to the laptop which is where the playback actually comes from. Then the headphones that Stephen has on come from the back of the TV so that he can hear the original audio. Then the mic is hooked up to an audio mixer which in turn is hooked up to a mac which is running audacity to record the audio. A very simple but incredibly effective set up. So first up for dubbing once we were set up was Stephen, he had to sync his words with the footage of him getting up and trying to talk Alex out of his decision. This took a few play throughs of the clip before Stephen was comfortable to go for a take and then the first few takes were a little off, though this is to be expected and we had plenty of time, so we simply talked about whether he was a little fast or slow and went from there, after a few more attempts he had it nailed and Ryan said it sounded fine on his end so we did another take for coverage and then moved on. Next up was Gary, this was an easier thing to dub as there was no visuals to match up to, I just needed him to say "fuck you" a few times and in a few different ways.

So to do this with Gary I simply showed him the original clip so he could get the spacing right between lines and then we rolled one big take of him saying it multiple times and in different way so that we had a variety to choose form in the edit when we put it into the film. There was a line a bit later on with Gary that also needed dubbing and required a lip sync, however, we were accidentally very lucky with this in that in the scene he lifts his arm so we can't actually see his mouth and as such the only thing he had to do was the pacing so that it fit into the shot, matching the exact words wasn't an issue; I'd like to say I got him to raise his arm for this reason but it is not at all the case, we just caught a break on this one. It is worth mentioning at this point that Stephen also had more lip syncing to do but it went largely the same as his first attempt so there is not need in me going into great detail over this. Next up in the booth (not really a booth but it sounds cool to say) was Stephanie, she had the most to do in terms of scenes.

The first thing she had to do was the bit where she gets out of the sleeping bag and shouts at Alex. This was a fairly difficult piece because firstly there was the timing to nail of her getting out and giving the line as she does, this took a few attempts in itself but Stephanie was great in her defence and had the timing nailed fairly quickly, the next issue was the lip syncing, this was made easier by the fact that the timing was now spot on, the only issue was getting the pronunciation the same so that the mouth movements match up, in fairness, once the timing is the same it will match visually only the keenest of eyes will spot something wrong I feel, though that being said I am something of a perfectionist and wanted to nail it as closely as possible to the original delivery, needless to say after a few attempts more she had it and we did some coverage takes and moved on to the next bit. This was Stephanie saying that Alex made himself the bad guy. Much like Gary's delivery of the "fuck you's" we didn't see her in the scene and so the emphasis was on the emotion and range of delivery so we had plenty to work with creatively. So we did the line a few times and she gave a range and then I asked her to swap the line over so it went from "you did this yourself, you made yourself the bad guy" to "you made yourself the bad guy, you did this to yourself" after recording the second one a few times I felt I prefer the second but this may change when we get to the edit the point was we had the option if we need or wanted to mix the lines up a bit. The final piece of ADR that needed doing was the ending line of the film "it's amazing what you can create with a little imagination". In all honesty once Stephanie got past the fact that she said it fairly fast originally, she was fine with the dubbing and picked it up quickly, I think it may have been because she was determined to get it done quickly as she hated looking at her performance in that scene, though she did an excellent job both in the original scene and in the dubbing. It is worth me just saying that the actors were a godsend on this and were great at dubbing considering we all had limited experience between us.

Trick of the Dark- Shoot 4

Finally, we got to film in the cave, cutting it late but we had a productive day ahead of us to turn the shoot around, so whats the worst thing that can happen when you have a heavy schedule and a lot to shoot in one day. Boom, you have to spend 2 hours waiting for the tide to go out so that you can get to your set. This was because the tide time I looked at must have been simply wrong because me and Liam both looked at the tide times and planned accordingly. This wasn't a huge disaster though as it gave me time to go over what I wanted to shoot with Liam as well as to have a dinner break before we started shooting so we could do a solid chunk of filming with little interruption. We also took the opportunity to do some stone skimming but I don't think its worth me going into detail on that one.

Eventually I had enough of sitting around waiting for the tide and decided instead to wade through what was left with the equipment, probably not wise but with Ryan's assistance, we got the equipment through without a drop of water on it. So then when we got the actors across after us we set about shooting the first scene on my list which was the first scene in the cave within the film. This was a relatively simple task as we had already gotten the close-ups and mids on Stephen and Stephanie in the studio shoot so I asked Brad to shoot these on Gary to make up for him not being on the original shoot while Liam shot the wide for coverage. This was a relatively simple process which meant that we cleared this scene relatively quickly and got good coverage. The advantage of the two camera set up too was that it freed up Liam to be a little more creative and add movement in his shots a little to make the film that little bit more filmic.

 The second scene we shot was again another which we had coverage from the studio so this meant for the first half we had the same set up as the previous scene that we shot that I have just spoken about, until it lead to the second half of the scene when the two men stand up and confront each other. When it got to this bit we had Brad on one camera hand held and Liam on another so that we could follow them up and get close-ups on the two with relative ease. It is worth mentioning at this point that I was up on a ledge to fill in for the role of the Man in the scene and I threw down a banana to mark the point where the lunch box hits the floor and breaks the tension. This is why in the picture below I am triumphantly holding a script and a banana. This scene played out quite well as they were never sure when exactly I was going to throw it down and as such we get what are I feel authentic reactions to the action that plays out.

Then the final and most challenging part of the day was to film the final cave scene where we see the altercation with the knife between Alex and Scott. The issue with this was that we practised the spinning dark knight shot, however as we changed to a better lit location than originally planned, we sacrificed the space we previously had, this then meant that we could no longer do the rotating motion, after deliberating with Liam about how we still do this and do a similar motion we decided that with a backwards tracking shot on Gary and a forward on Stephen we would be fine and still create the mood we were looking for, I feel in all honesty that this worked and particularly I though Gary did a great job of getting on board and pacing the scene in a manner that reflected the anger and built up tension in the scene. After this we got cutaways and a shot of Stephanie getting out of the sleeping bag followed by a shot that dips in and out of focus that reflects Scott going unconscious, this shot took a few attempts but by the final one I feel Liam really nailed it and got an excellent shot.

This was all but the end of the shoot but briefly while we were debating if we were done, Liam suggested we quickly shoot a mini night scene whereby Alex is inspecting the knife and contemplating the actions he will do in the next scene, we agreed this was a good idea to shoot it and so we quickly got some basic shots and cutaways and packed up on what was a very productive although tiring shoot day.

Trick of the Dark- Shoot 3

Film shoot three, here it is, the other part of the ending, this is Scott in the hospital after waking up from the fight with Alex in the cave, this is when it is revealed that all was not as it seemed within the film and it is shown what the film was actually saying and how it revolves around the fact that the whole film represents an internal battle. So a lot of the film revolves on this scene but given that it on the whole was a very easy shoot and went smoothly but I will get to that because to begin with it started as all my shoots and potential shoots seem to, with someone dropping out, this time it was my actress who was going to play the wife, Rachael, so in this scenario I got very stressed if I am honest, with so little time left to shoot the film it felt somewhat like the whole thing was crumbling around me, as I do often in situations like this when things get overwhelming I spoke to my friend Alicia who then said she'd head straight to my set to fill the role, this was actually a huge weight off my mind and I know she has done acting previously so it wasn't as if I was getting an actress who would have no idea what she is doing, I don't know if she knows how much of a weight off of me it was but she definitely did me a solid. So now that the cast was consolidated and sorted the next thing was to finish off our hospital set, now disclaimer, I did not make the set and don't want to take credit for it, I told Andrew and Liam what I wanted from the set and then went to work and came back later the other day to a fantastic set that was almost exactly as I imagined it. So I then had to buy some hospital props and to move the bed around so that it was easier to get the shots we needed.

So now everything is ready we only had to shoot the scene now, we started with Roger's shots as the doctor, so we started on the set and shot his interactions with Scott in the scene from a series of singles on each character before doing a kind of two shot on the two of them so that we had some good coverage of them that edits together well. The next thing after getting this interaction was to get the part where Roger goes into the scene. We did this with a tracking shot along the corridor as he approaches the doorway. The way we did this was by putting a box on a wheelchair, securing this, and then taping the camera to the box and pushing this behind Roger as he walks toward the door, in this to make the scene more dynamic and authentic, we had Andrew push a cage for transporting boxes the other way so he was an extra that hopefully makes the scene look much more realistic and it makes the scene feel less like its in a uni and more like a hospital. In these scenes as well I feel I have really done well in making them vibrant to contrast the darkness of the cave, it was always my intent to have the hospital very light and bright to contrast the cave to highlight the light at the end of the tunnel and how he is out of the darkness in his life, I feel we really captured this and it will show in the final film.

So after shooting all of  Roger's shots we had a lunch break and settled expenses with Roger before we started shooting the section with Stephen and Alicia. A small issue arose in this scene that in the original script they had a child together and this meant there was no dialogue needed because there would be an unspoken moment whereby Stephen picks up his son and just watches TV with him, however, there was neither the need nor the possibility of having a child which meant me, the crew and cast had to think of a whether we needed to add a line in to the scene between Scott and his wife, after spit balling a few ideas we eventually came to the conclusion that it should remain unspoken and she should just grab his hand in support and sort of wait until he is ready to talk about it. So from here we did basically the same again, we got basic shot coverage as that was all that we required really, and then from here the only thing left to do was to get a pull-out shot as Scott watched the TV to match up with a pull-in on the screen as the weight of what he is seeing hits home, as we didn't have the slider, Liam had to do this by shortening one tripod leg and pulling the tripod back while tilting the other way to make a pull out which after a few attempts it worked fine and we got the exact shot I was looking for. Having gotten that shot we didn't get the reverse of the TV but this can be done anytime as we only need a monitor and a white wall so we will get this as a pick up at a later date. So we wrapped up shooting after getting some cutaways and such and now we can say we have the final scene shot and ready to be put into a sequence.