I was not planning to have a 4th filming day but found I wanted to add some extra footage to my trailer. In order for me to do this i organised that one day after school James (dr. Jones) and I would film a scene in the toilet. It did not take long at all as i entrusted the camera with a film studies student who helped and i explained to him what i wanted and he totally understood. I explained to him that I wanted a over the shoulder shot of dr. Jones washing his face and slowly looking up into the reflection of the mirror. At this point i slowly open one of the cubicle doors and dr. Jones spots me in the mirror. I wanted to create the impression that when he turned around that patient 13 wasn't there anymore and did this by coming out of frame and just a couple of shots of the cubicle being empty. Both mine a James's costume remained the same. the lighting was also fine and did not need adjusting so the shoot went perfectly and didn't take up too much of anybody's time.
I wasn't planning on having this filming day and did not have a shot list so most of the filming was totally independent. This definitely concludes the filming for my teaser trailer and I am now confident I have enough footage to make a teaser trailer.
Thursday, 9 December 2010
Wednesday, 8 December 2010
Filming: Day 3
Today Filming started a little later than planned as I had to get together the resources for the shoot and the actress I was using was running a little late. Nevertheless all film was completed and was done to perfection. everything I wanted to shoot got shot and even some extra stuff was shot too.
Today's objective was to film the bits that will go inbetween the footage that i filmed on day 2 of filming. Today the filming will be based around a previous doctor that attempted to look into the case of patient 13 but fell mercy to patient 13 and died. In addition to this i filmed parts that would slot nicely to work with what Dr Jones is saying.
Firstly I began by filming the parts with the actress that agreed to film with me, Emily Day. Her character was that of a previous doctor that tried to crack the mystery of Patient 13 but failed. The location for the day's filming happened at a friends house. initially i hoped to film at my college but I was not able to due to events and the availability of the classrooms i wanted to use. Even though my friends house was second choice it still worked really well for what i wanted to capture.
Before I filmed anything I made sure that my actress was in costume, which consisted of a formal white shirt, glasses and a black shirt. also I asked if her hair could be tied up in a bun to add to that formal doctor look I was trying to convey. I chose the costume that I did, because I thought that it would relate closely to Dr Jones, as he wears a similar attire. In addition to this, it would help the audience to parallel these two characters and follow the similarities. The first shot of the day was that of my actress walking through a door which resembled that of an office door. I thought that this would establish her character and authority as she is walking into what looks like an office. Next, a close up of my actress looking puzzled and taking off her glasses in a stressful manner, which was instructed by my self, gave a sense of curiosity. next i orchestrated an over the shoulder shot to see what she was looking at, which was a file. Still sticking with the over the shoulder shot I instructed my actress to open the file, where a piece of torn paper with weird drawings could be seen. this would set the tone that my actress's character has previously managed to be puzzled by patient 13's drawings.
Next was the shot where this previous Doctor was dead. In order to do this she had to lying on the floor and looked a little roughed up as if she has been struggling. I panned the camera from her feet up in order for when its edited it will build the suspense for the identification of this body. I stopped panning at her waist and then did a close up of her head and facial area to distinctly show that she was dead.
Although this does not sound like a lot of filming, it was. I had to do many takes and test angles and movements in order to get it perfecta and I acknowledge that it is part of my process as it takes time to get it to what I actually wanted. Lighting was also key and found that the natural lighting of the location, which was the the kitchen, worked like a treat and it gave the kitchen a sense of an office.
The next half of filming began with myself being the actor and using my actress from before to operate the camera under my instructions. We began with getting the location prepared for the filming which meant the desk in the bedroom we were filming in being cleared and the positioning of blank paper on the desk. Luckily the desk was positioned next to the window and gave the footage a blue-ish tint which worked very well and no artificial lighting was needed. The filming started with some close up of Patient 13's (me) hand holding a pencil above the paper, and some extreme close ups of my fingertips about to draw and also starting to draw the images. Next I instructed for a side profile close up of my face whilst twitching to show the audience what type of character Patient 13 was. Other shots were also tested such as a close up front view of my face whilst drawing and other types of movement which included panning from left to right behind patient 13 to make it look like it was the Doctor that was observing him. An over the shoulder shot of showing the two separate drawings, on of patient 13 as an angel and the other as Dr Jones as a demon was instructed as I wanted the over the shoulder shot to provide an opening for the audience to see what Dr Jones is watching. This particular scene ended with a birds eye view shot of the two drawings so that they are seen more clearly.
The teaser trailer's filming ended with a couple of shots of Patient 13, different shots were taken: Close ups, long shots, low angles, high angles. This was more experimenting than instructing as one of the problems was the lighting in the corridor. It looked really dark through the camera and I hope it is clearer on the computer.
My trailer's content has been shot and now it leaves me for the editing process in order for me to complete my visualisation of what i want my teaser trailer to look like. I believe I have followed my shot list and storyboard throughout my filming an i hope it is enough to construct my teaser trailer.
Today's objective was to film the bits that will go inbetween the footage that i filmed on day 2 of filming. Today the filming will be based around a previous doctor that attempted to look into the case of patient 13 but fell mercy to patient 13 and died. In addition to this i filmed parts that would slot nicely to work with what Dr Jones is saying.
Firstly I began by filming the parts with the actress that agreed to film with me, Emily Day. Her character was that of a previous doctor that tried to crack the mystery of Patient 13 but failed. The location for the day's filming happened at a friends house. initially i hoped to film at my college but I was not able to due to events and the availability of the classrooms i wanted to use. Even though my friends house was second choice it still worked really well for what i wanted to capture.
Before I filmed anything I made sure that my actress was in costume, which consisted of a formal white shirt, glasses and a black shirt. also I asked if her hair could be tied up in a bun to add to that formal doctor look I was trying to convey. I chose the costume that I did, because I thought that it would relate closely to Dr Jones, as he wears a similar attire. In addition to this, it would help the audience to parallel these two characters and follow the similarities. The first shot of the day was that of my actress walking through a door which resembled that of an office door. I thought that this would establish her character and authority as she is walking into what looks like an office. Next, a close up of my actress looking puzzled and taking off her glasses in a stressful manner, which was instructed by my self, gave a sense of curiosity. next i orchestrated an over the shoulder shot to see what she was looking at, which was a file. Still sticking with the over the shoulder shot I instructed my actress to open the file, where a piece of torn paper with weird drawings could be seen. this would set the tone that my actress's character has previously managed to be puzzled by patient 13's drawings.
Next was the shot where this previous Doctor was dead. In order to do this she had to lying on the floor and looked a little roughed up as if she has been struggling. I panned the camera from her feet up in order for when its edited it will build the suspense for the identification of this body. I stopped panning at her waist and then did a close up of her head and facial area to distinctly show that she was dead.
Although this does not sound like a lot of filming, it was. I had to do many takes and test angles and movements in order to get it perfecta and I acknowledge that it is part of my process as it takes time to get it to what I actually wanted. Lighting was also key and found that the natural lighting of the location, which was the the kitchen, worked like a treat and it gave the kitchen a sense of an office.
The next half of filming began with myself being the actor and using my actress from before to operate the camera under my instructions. We began with getting the location prepared for the filming which meant the desk in the bedroom we were filming in being cleared and the positioning of blank paper on the desk. Luckily the desk was positioned next to the window and gave the footage a blue-ish tint which worked very well and no artificial lighting was needed. The filming started with some close up of Patient 13's (me) hand holding a pencil above the paper, and some extreme close ups of my fingertips about to draw and also starting to draw the images. Next I instructed for a side profile close up of my face whilst twitching to show the audience what type of character Patient 13 was. Other shots were also tested such as a close up front view of my face whilst drawing and other types of movement which included panning from left to right behind patient 13 to make it look like it was the Doctor that was observing him. An over the shoulder shot of showing the two separate drawings, on of patient 13 as an angel and the other as Dr Jones as a demon was instructed as I wanted the over the shoulder shot to provide an opening for the audience to see what Dr Jones is watching. This particular scene ended with a birds eye view shot of the two drawings so that they are seen more clearly.
The teaser trailer's filming ended with a couple of shots of Patient 13, different shots were taken: Close ups, long shots, low angles, high angles. This was more experimenting than instructing as one of the problems was the lighting in the corridor. It looked really dark through the camera and I hope it is clearer on the computer.
My trailer's content has been shot and now it leaves me for the editing process in order for me to complete my visualisation of what i want my teaser trailer to look like. I believe I have followed my shot list and storyboard throughout my filming an i hope it is enough to construct my teaser trailer.
Tuesday, 7 December 2010
Filming: Day 2
Day 2 of filming was the most filming I had to do out of all the days, even though it was only in one location, as I had to film the main bulk of the my teaser trailer. I set out with a plan of action and checklist in order to control my time management and deadlines. One limitation to the days filming was the amount of time I had with the actor that I was using as i he had work. With this in mind I we began filming as soon as I got everything ready. The things I needed for today's filming was my main actor James a video camera and tripod. I also decided to have a person to assist me with moving things around in the room that I needed. The room I decided to use for filming was a unused piano room I found whilst I was scouting for locations. The main part of my teaser trailer that I filmed today was the video diary of Dr. Jones in his office over a period of two weeks, but for the purpose of the teaser trailer it would be a only 5 diary entries, showing his slow journey into madness.
I prepared the room, with assistance, so that the piano and other objects were out of the way so that the camera wouldn't catch it on tape. In addition to this, I placed a table in the room to make it look like a work desk for Dr. Jones. I asked my actor to remove his earring and badge on his blazer and we were ready to start filming. I had to adjust the tripod at the right height and placed the camera. I placed the recording screen facing the actor as he felt more comfortable and confident that way and turned night vision on to create the sense that Dr Jones made a diary entry after his days work, in the evening.
Before I actually began recording anything I directed James to do what I wanted him to do for the first day of his 'video diary' for the teaser trailer. DAY 1 of the video diary was Dr Jones' first day at his new job. He has been brought in to examine the mysterious case of patient 13. I directed James to be very high class in his speech and manner in order to convey the intelligence of his character. Additionally, his costume was a black suit and tie with a white shirt, this would also help convey this. I instructed James to tap the camera at the beginning of the recording as I played record to make it look like his character was operating and it was just him and the camera for his diary entry. Working together, we both improvised and came up with some dialogue for the first part of it and came up with something that showed that he was new and was going to analyse and have his first meeting with patient 13 the day after.
Similarly, for the recording of DAY 2 we improvised a dialogue based around the night after Dr Jones' first impressions and meeting with Patient 13. One thing I made totally important to mention was the drawings of that patient 13 drew and how he drew Dr Jones as a demon. I directed that James looked a bit disturbed by the fact his character was drawn as a demon, but at the same time not be too disturbed as he has dealt with other cases in the past. Another idea I came up with was that as the days roll by, that Dr Jones appearance looked like it was deteriorating. For Day 2 I made sure that Dr.Jones undid his top button and pulled his tie down to give the impression it has been a busy first real working day and shows an acknowledgement that this isn't going to be an easy task. The whole mood of this section of the video diary creates a platform to skip to about a week as everything cannot be squeezed into a teaser trailer.
Since I was filming for a teaser trailer the next day of the video diary was DAY 7, one week on after Dr jones' first meeting with patient 13. To maintain the sense of a breakdown happening I instructed James to modify his outfit by taking his blazer off and tie as well so he was just left in a shirt and waistcoat. The distress would also be shown in the glasses being taken off to start the diary entry. The dialogue for this was to be made a lot more distressed as if the case of patient 13 is starting to annoy the character of Dr Jones. One of the props used for this part was folder to make it look like Dr Jones has been studying and working hard to try and solve this mystery and ambiguous character if Patient 13.
After this was shot we skipped to last couple of days of his meltdown. For this I instructed James to take off his waistcoat and roll up the sleeves of the shirt to make it look like he is nearly on breaking point. I recorded a few of these scenes as they I was looking for different reactions showing this transition into insanity. again the dialogue was improvised to give that authenticity of madness and instructed for his tone of voice to be serious and really angry and distressed, throwing away his folder and cup of water. Furthermore, I shot some scenes with Dr Jones breaking down complete holding the camera and shaking whilst crying. To finish the day's filming I directed a hanging scene and found that the best way to do this was to get James to stand on top of a chair just to film his mid section (waist to the bottom of thigh) and filmed him swaying from side to side which made it look like he was hanging create the sense that he was dangling. I only filmed the mid shot as i believe it was the shot that fitted the 'not giving too much away' category as it would create conversations and a buzz form the audience viewing it.
That concluded the days filming and I feel that I achieved everything I set out to film and feel like I worked really well with the actor and interlinked ideas to make my work feel a lot more easier and creative. The reason I wanted the dialogue to be improvised was so that the acting looked a bit more naturalistic and the actor I was working with was very confident with naturalistic acting. Day 2 of filming went very well and leaves me with only one more day of filming which should tie together all the raw footage for my teaser trailer. Fingers crossed.
I prepared the room, with assistance, so that the piano and other objects were out of the way so that the camera wouldn't catch it on tape. In addition to this, I placed a table in the room to make it look like a work desk for Dr. Jones. I asked my actor to remove his earring and badge on his blazer and we were ready to start filming. I had to adjust the tripod at the right height and placed the camera. I placed the recording screen facing the actor as he felt more comfortable and confident that way and turned night vision on to create the sense that Dr Jones made a diary entry after his days work, in the evening.
Before I actually began recording anything I directed James to do what I wanted him to do for the first day of his 'video diary' for the teaser trailer. DAY 1 of the video diary was Dr Jones' first day at his new job. He has been brought in to examine the mysterious case of patient 13. I directed James to be very high class in his speech and manner in order to convey the intelligence of his character. Additionally, his costume was a black suit and tie with a white shirt, this would also help convey this. I instructed James to tap the camera at the beginning of the recording as I played record to make it look like his character was operating and it was just him and the camera for his diary entry. Working together, we both improvised and came up with some dialogue for the first part of it and came up with something that showed that he was new and was going to analyse and have his first meeting with patient 13 the day after.
Similarly, for the recording of DAY 2 we improvised a dialogue based around the night after Dr Jones' first impressions and meeting with Patient 13. One thing I made totally important to mention was the drawings of that patient 13 drew and how he drew Dr Jones as a demon. I directed that James looked a bit disturbed by the fact his character was drawn as a demon, but at the same time not be too disturbed as he has dealt with other cases in the past. Another idea I came up with was that as the days roll by, that Dr Jones appearance looked like it was deteriorating. For Day 2 I made sure that Dr.Jones undid his top button and pulled his tie down to give the impression it has been a busy first real working day and shows an acknowledgement that this isn't going to be an easy task. The whole mood of this section of the video diary creates a platform to skip to about a week as everything cannot be squeezed into a teaser trailer.
Since I was filming for a teaser trailer the next day of the video diary was DAY 7, one week on after Dr jones' first meeting with patient 13. To maintain the sense of a breakdown happening I instructed James to modify his outfit by taking his blazer off and tie as well so he was just left in a shirt and waistcoat. The distress would also be shown in the glasses being taken off to start the diary entry. The dialogue for this was to be made a lot more distressed as if the case of patient 13 is starting to annoy the character of Dr Jones. One of the props used for this part was folder to make it look like Dr Jones has been studying and working hard to try and solve this mystery and ambiguous character if Patient 13.
After this was shot we skipped to last couple of days of his meltdown. For this I instructed James to take off his waistcoat and roll up the sleeves of the shirt to make it look like he is nearly on breaking point. I recorded a few of these scenes as they I was looking for different reactions showing this transition into insanity. again the dialogue was improvised to give that authenticity of madness and instructed for his tone of voice to be serious and really angry and distressed, throwing away his folder and cup of water. Furthermore, I shot some scenes with Dr Jones breaking down complete holding the camera and shaking whilst crying. To finish the day's filming I directed a hanging scene and found that the best way to do this was to get James to stand on top of a chair just to film his mid section (waist to the bottom of thigh) and filmed him swaying from side to side which made it look like he was hanging create the sense that he was dangling. I only filmed the mid shot as i believe it was the shot that fitted the 'not giving too much away' category as it would create conversations and a buzz form the audience viewing it.
That concluded the days filming and I feel that I achieved everything I set out to film and feel like I worked really well with the actor and interlinked ideas to make my work feel a lot more easier and creative. The reason I wanted the dialogue to be improvised was so that the acting looked a bit more naturalistic and the actor I was working with was very confident with naturalistic acting. Day 2 of filming went very well and leaves me with only one more day of filming which should tie together all the raw footage for my teaser trailer. Fingers crossed.
Monday, 6 December 2010
Filming: Day 1
Today was the first day of filming was probably the day of the least filming to do. However, it was still important as it would get the process of filming underway. Today filming took place purely in one location and required for me to shoot some establishing shots for the exterior of the hospital where the content of my teaser trailer will take place. The location for the filming of the exterior of the hospital was a building of posh flats which was converted form a mental institution. The basis of my filming was just getting some long shots and extreme long shots of the exterior of the building. Luckily for me the weather was stormy and the sky was filled with light and dark greys giving me the perfect natural light to capture shots of the building to create that mystery, eerie feel to my teaser trailer.
The filming of these shots did not take long at all and i was not able to film anything else because I didn't have the resources or actors on hand, due to me thinking it was going to take longer. As I had more time on my hands I asked the security guards for permission to go inside and film the interior just to have some extra footage to work with to vary the shots and expansion of my teaser trailer. Unfortunately, I was not able to get access inside the facility due to security reasons and was only limited to sticking with footage from the exterior.
One limitation of today's filming was that i wasn't able to obtain a tripod so the footage I got looked a little shaky, but I believe I will be able to alter this when editing the footage together and it should hinder my work too much.
Day 1 of filming ended in what i set out to achieve but I was set back from achieving more due to lack of resources and accessibility to facilities. I am hoping that Day 2 of filming allows me to get more done than just what I've got planned , but more in order to get 110% out of the time allocated for each filming date.
The filming of these shots did not take long at all and i was not able to film anything else because I didn't have the resources or actors on hand, due to me thinking it was going to take longer. As I had more time on my hands I asked the security guards for permission to go inside and film the interior just to have some extra footage to work with to vary the shots and expansion of my teaser trailer. Unfortunately, I was not able to get access inside the facility due to security reasons and was only limited to sticking with footage from the exterior.
One limitation of today's filming was that i wasn't able to obtain a tripod so the footage I got looked a little shaky, but I believe I will be able to alter this when editing the footage together and it should hinder my work too much.
Day 1 of filming ended in what i set out to achieve but I was set back from achieving more due to lack of resources and accessibility to facilities. I am hoping that Day 2 of filming allows me to get more done than just what I've got planned , but more in order to get 110% out of the time allocated for each filming date.
Scripting...
The scripting of a film is very important but I have decided to take a decision that will work best for my teaser trailer.
I have taken the decision to have improvised dialogue for my teaser trailer. The reason I have decided to take this decision is that there will only be dialogue for the 'Video diary' of Doctor Jones and by improvising the dialogue I believe it will produce a more naturalistic approach to the acting and give more of a raw emotion to the trailer. also since it a video diary and realistically if anyone did a video diary they would never have a script that they read before they turned the character. Instead of a script they would have a concept that they would work with and the right concept will produce a natural approach to the dialogue. This is what I am hoping to do when I fill the parts of my teaser trailer that require dialogue. I will look to work with the actor that play Dr Jones on the day of filming to come up with some concepts and ideas for each day of the 'Video Diary'.
As well as deciding to have a an improvised dialogue, I have decided to compile a shot list for the filming of the footage for my teaser trailer. This will give me a guideline for the shots I will be taking. I can also take other shots in order to be able to experiment with not just the shots on the shot list. Before I made a shot I decided to do some research into all the different shots, angles and movements of the camera so that it would be able to help me choose the right shots for my visualisation. I found this helpful resource which explains graphically what each shot, angle and movement look likes.
Shot list
I have taken the decision to have improvised dialogue for my teaser trailer. The reason I have decided to take this decision is that there will only be dialogue for the 'Video diary' of Doctor Jones and by improvising the dialogue I believe it will produce a more naturalistic approach to the acting and give more of a raw emotion to the trailer. also since it a video diary and realistically if anyone did a video diary they would never have a script that they read before they turned the character. Instead of a script they would have a concept that they would work with and the right concept will produce a natural approach to the dialogue. This is what I am hoping to do when I fill the parts of my teaser trailer that require dialogue. I will look to work with the actor that play Dr Jones on the day of filming to come up with some concepts and ideas for each day of the 'Video Diary'.
As well as deciding to have a an improvised dialogue, I have decided to compile a shot list for the filming of the footage for my teaser trailer. This will give me a guideline for the shots I will be taking. I can also take other shots in order to be able to experiment with not just the shots on the shot list. Before I made a shot I decided to do some research into all the different shots, angles and movements of the camera so that it would be able to help me choose the right shots for my visualisation. I found this helpful resource which explains graphically what each shot, angle and movement look likes.
Shot list
Scouting for locations
Over the last couple of days I have been thinking and locating possible locations for the filming of the content of my teaser trailer. It has been a pretty long process in scouting locations as I have been thinking about locations ever since casting. Picking a suitable location is probably one of the hardest parts of filming a film as there are a couple of things you have to find out before you can use it:
-Before a location can be used, permission needs to be acquired, meaning that the person in charge has to know. Not having permission for a location could mean filming time could be cut short because of an event. Also not having permission, could mean that filming in certain locations could be illegal and consequences may follow.
- In addition to permission, the availability of the room needs to be known. For example, at college, if a certain classroom is in use when you were planning to film, it will cause a set back and shooting will have to rescheduled. Knowing the availability of a location is very important for sticking to time scales and schedules.
- The safety of a location. The safety of a location is key as a thorough safety check needs to be put into place so that whilst filming it isn't dangerous to film. This is important as you do not want to breach the safety of thew actors and helpers around you aswell as the safety of yourself.
-Finally, the suitability of the location so that it fits the purpose of the project and ticks all the boxes. This is important as the location you choose for the Mise-en-scene you want to portray in a teaser trailer. A bright colourful place wouldn't be suitable for a horror film. Whereas, a dimly lit location would be suitable for something of the horror genre.
After thinking about a few locations I decided I only needed a few for the 3 days of filming I had in mind. I chose the locations needed based on the four principles above: Permission, availability, safety and most importantly suitability. I also chose suitable backups that can substitute for 2 of my 3 initial locations. Almost like for likes, although they are my last resorts.
Spare room on music corridor- Whilst scouting for location i managed to stumble across an empty room on the music corridor in my college. I acquired permission to use that room during one of my free lessons and made sure that the actors and equipment I needed were available at the same time that I was planning to use the room. The safety of the room was secure as all there was, was a drum set, piano, a chair and a table. When I film I am planning to move the musical instruments and keep the table and chair for the character of Dr Jones. the suitability factor of this location is perfect as I believe it gives the perfect sense of an office. The lighting is also good as it isn't dark and has a window on the roof letting in the natural light from outside. For this location I didn't need a backup as it is hardly used so there wouldn't be a problem with the availability of the room. This is important incase I ever have to reschedule the shoot, as I am guaranteed I can still use the same room.
Princess park manor- Whilst scouting for locations I also looked in my local area and I found a estate called princess park manor. These are very stylish modern flats and is where a few celebrities live. I also found out hat it used to be a mental institution and thought it would be an ideal location for the establishing shots of my film. I got permission to film the estate from the outside but I had to ask on the day of filming whether it was ok to film inside. I was told that I was allowed to film the front whenever I wanted which gives me a lot of availability to get everything ready. It is perfectly suitable and is completely safe. However, I cannot take any risks and have decided to use my college building as backup location as I know I can film it whenever I want as I do not need permission.
Classroom at school- My college has some very suitable locations, in particular an English classroom that I am looking to use for some filming. I acquired permission form the teacher that teaches in that classroom and he has given me permission to use it whenever it is free. This means that there is limited availability of this room and might need to revise and reconsider shooting in this location. The safety and suitability is fine. Just in case I found a backup through my friend kindly letting me use his house to film.
-Before a location can be used, permission needs to be acquired, meaning that the person in charge has to know. Not having permission for a location could mean filming time could be cut short because of an event. Also not having permission, could mean that filming in certain locations could be illegal and consequences may follow.
- In addition to permission, the availability of the room needs to be known. For example, at college, if a certain classroom is in use when you were planning to film, it will cause a set back and shooting will have to rescheduled. Knowing the availability of a location is very important for sticking to time scales and schedules.
- The safety of a location. The safety of a location is key as a thorough safety check needs to be put into place so that whilst filming it isn't dangerous to film. This is important as you do not want to breach the safety of thew actors and helpers around you aswell as the safety of yourself.
-Finally, the suitability of the location so that it fits the purpose of the project and ticks all the boxes. This is important as the location you choose for the Mise-en-scene you want to portray in a teaser trailer. A bright colourful place wouldn't be suitable for a horror film. Whereas, a dimly lit location would be suitable for something of the horror genre.
After thinking about a few locations I decided I only needed a few for the 3 days of filming I had in mind. I chose the locations needed based on the four principles above: Permission, availability, safety and most importantly suitability. I also chose suitable backups that can substitute for 2 of my 3 initial locations. Almost like for likes, although they are my last resorts.
Spare room on music corridor- Whilst scouting for location i managed to stumble across an empty room on the music corridor in my college. I acquired permission to use that room during one of my free lessons and made sure that the actors and equipment I needed were available at the same time that I was planning to use the room. The safety of the room was secure as all there was, was a drum set, piano, a chair and a table. When I film I am planning to move the musical instruments and keep the table and chair for the character of Dr Jones. the suitability factor of this location is perfect as I believe it gives the perfect sense of an office. The lighting is also good as it isn't dark and has a window on the roof letting in the natural light from outside. For this location I didn't need a backup as it is hardly used so there wouldn't be a problem with the availability of the room. This is important incase I ever have to reschedule the shoot, as I am guaranteed I can still use the same room.
Princess park manor- Whilst scouting for locations I also looked in my local area and I found a estate called princess park manor. These are very stylish modern flats and is where a few celebrities live. I also found out hat it used to be a mental institution and thought it would be an ideal location for the establishing shots of my film. I got permission to film the estate from the outside but I had to ask on the day of filming whether it was ok to film inside. I was told that I was allowed to film the front whenever I wanted which gives me a lot of availability to get everything ready. It is perfectly suitable and is completely safe. However, I cannot take any risks and have decided to use my college building as backup location as I know I can film it whenever I want as I do not need permission.
Classroom at school- My college has some very suitable locations, in particular an English classroom that I am looking to use for some filming. I acquired permission form the teacher that teaches in that classroom and he has given me permission to use it whenever it is free. This means that there is limited availability of this room and might need to revise and reconsider shooting in this location. The safety and suitability is fine. Just in case I found a backup through my friend kindly letting me use his house to film.
Sunday, 5 December 2010
Storyboard...
Today I storyboarded my idea for my teaser trailer. I thought it would be important in preparing a storyboard, aswell as a shot list for the things I want to include in my teaser trailer. To storyboarding of my idea took a while to work out what I wanted and where I wanted to put it. The whole process of story boarding took the majority of the day as I had to sketch out each frame/scene of my teaser trailer. The sketches I drew are only a rough guideline to what I want to capture during filming and are subject to change as other ideas and thought can influence to final product of my teaser trailer. For each frame/scene I wrote a description of either character action, scene action and the dialogue and sound.
For the character action, I described what the character in the particular scene that I sketch would be doing. I came up with a general, vague concept so that any ideas whilst filming and the process of thoughts could fit into the concept and still make sense. The next section I filled out for each scene was the scene action. For most of the scenes I wrote that the scenes would be stationary and the only thing tat would be in action would be the character and the Mise-on-scene and the rest of the frame would be still. Other scenes there would be objects moving in the Mise-en-scene such as doors. Another key aspect of my storyboard that I filled out for each scene was the dialogue/sound that was being used. For the scenes that had dialogue I wrote in that there would be improvised dialogue as i have taken the decision to have an improvised dialogue to provoke some more natural acting. In addition to this, the dialogue would be diegetic and part of the the scene, whereas the sound FX of the scene would be non diegetic and is an area that needed deep thought as I had visualise what type of music I wanted for each scene. For example , for the scene where Patient 13 is drawing up the images I have written in that I want a thud sound effects to link them all together so there is continuity in my work.
Apart from this, there were also some additional information about the timing of each scene. I realise that I didn't have to fill this information at this present time as the timing of each screen could be subject to change and will be based of the experimentation of what works best in the teaser trailer.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)