Story-telling Unit: Reflection

On reflection i have really enjoyed this unit. Screen writing is something i've always enjoyed for fun and it was a good to write something i wouldn't normally have thought about. I've definitely learnt a lot in terms of how to develop characters and layout etc.

The things that have worked well on this project are that i kept ahead of the game with the script writing and was able to write something that had a real message. I also felt the collaboration with Hannah and Roxanne was really good and it was great to work with people who really understood the project and i think this is a real deal breaker for me in the future.

The things that haven't gone so well. My pitching needs work. I really struggled to sell the initial pitch of the idea and feel like i maybe didn't do it justice or that people didn't really 'get it'. I don't think asking friends to help out on projects is ever a good idea and can lead to a lot of let downs. We are lucky on the course that everyone is like minded and is interested in film making but friends and family often don't share the same enthusiasm as me so it can be awkward and frustrating when people let you down.

My audio in the final edit is not how I wanted it to be. I feel if I could get the hang of Final Cut Pro and editing I will be able to produce higher quality final pieces. Over christmas, after I receive my mac, I am going to mess about with this piece and try and edit it more to my satisfaction and this will also give me good practise with using the software. What I've learnt from this is to give yourself plenty of time to edit so you can ask for help on things that aren't working and show other people and get their opinions.

I decided in the end not to use the music my producer had given me as the tempo didn't feel quite right. I instead used an instrumental version of One of the videos I had given him as an idea. I think in the future I have learnt to get the rough edit done for the music producer early. This will allow him to see the story in visual and not just the script.

I also never want to have to be in any of my own productions ever again! I feel like as i'm enjoying the camera work more and more i don't want to have to be infront of it and not get the chance to fully direct and get the shots exactly how i want them and keep en eye on colour changes and focus and audio levels. I'm incredibly picky and it really grates on me that my film has bits that are out of focus.

Overall i'm pleased with the final outcome of my project as a whole. For my very first attempt at using a camera and editing and writing a proper script im over the moon and cant wait for the next project!

Stay safe,

Helen

Story-telling Unit: Editing notes 2

So today I completed my editing for The Meeting. I'm really pleased with the final edit and I managed to get some good music and sound effects to really enhance the whole project. Below are some of the screen shots I took of editing. Including the muffled effect I used for the audio and the blur text I used for my opening and closing sequences.

It took me a while to get the audio just right as it sometimes sounded like it was in the next room rather than a faint daydream background noise. So I increased the muffle and added a similar effect to what I had talked about on a previous blog. Obviously as I'm still learning Final Cut Pro x I know I can edit this into something better in the future but I'm really happy with the outcome.

The added audio effects I used helped to add to the film. I added a girl gang sound for he outside to try and introduce the gang but in a small way. I also added tension sound for the blur sequence and also the vibration of a mobile phone ringing. I felt having these ass added sound effects was a good idea and although it's hard to get the right balance I'm happy with what I achieved.

In the future I think i might also film the sound effects I want to try and get a more natural sound. I feel I spent the right amount of time in editing so I don't think there is much I could have done differently there.

Hope you enjoy the finished project!

Stay safe,

Helen

Story-telling Unit: First 2 Minutes of The Meeting

Here is the First 2 Minutes of my first short film at uni The Meeting. Hope you Enjoy.

Stay Safe,

Helen

Story-telling Unit: Final Script

Here is the Final Draft of the Script for The Meeting. Just a few tweaks and added the scene numbers in. I'm really pleased with the changes I've made.

The Meeting Draft 4

Stay safe,

Helen

Story-telling Unit: Titles

When I began to think about the start of my short film, I had to think about what I wanted to have written and in what style. I knew I was going to have my production company logo at the very start. Then I initially thought I should have that fade to black and then have the film title and written by Helen Welsh. I was in 2 minds over whether to include the names of the actors and director. In the end. I settled for having the director only as this was suited the film better. Having too much text at the start of the film would distract from the images and didn't want that.
I have included my original Christmas Lane Productions logo and the new logo for this film.

I originally wanted to make a moving production logo but i am not confident enough with after effects yet so maybe by the next project it will be ready.

Stay safe,

Helen

Work Experience: Take Me Out

On Friday I was lucky enough to be asked to be a stand in and help with rehearsals for Take Me Out - a British dating show shown on Primetime TV. It was amazing and I learnt so much on the first day. I really tried to take the opportunity with both hands as you never know when you might get the chance again.

The rehearsals began with Hannah, Ren, CK and myself standing behind the buzzers while Paddy Mcguinness ran through his lines. We were told to turn the buzzers off near us when it got to a bit where his was needed. This was intresting for me as it was at this point that Paddy and the script team would change lines that didn't work or reword a sentence that was a bit of a tongue twister. It was a good process to see seeing as script writing is something I want to go into. It also reminded me of my own filming experience where Roxanne and Hannah helped me to change a line that really wasn't working. 

Next up was the boys rehearsal. This took roughly 2 hours. This is where the boys who will be on the show that night come to set to rehearse their performance for tonight and get an idea of what will happen when they come down the lift. During this rehearsal we were asked to help out by pressing the buzzers so the guys could get an idea of what will happen later in the show. We also had to answer questions that Paddy asked us about the boys so they could get used to thinking quickly of a comeback. 

Then, if we got picked by the boys to be in the final 2 we had to answer a question from them that we hadn't heard before. This was an nervous experience but it was good fun and it was nice to see the boys beginning to relax as the rehearsals went on.

After doing this for all the boys we took a break before getting to watch the girls rehearsals. This was great fun and good to see the difference between the girls and the guys. The girls were a lot less nervous and really went for it at rehearsals.

I was really impressed with the sound checking and behind the scenes things we gotta see. It was also great to be invited to watch the show in the evening. We sat behind the scenes and got to watch how the love lift worked and how the props department get ready to bring out things and prepare the stage between contestants.

I even got asked back to help for the rest of the week which I'm really looking forward to. 

Can't wait!

Stay safe,

Helen

Story-telling Unit: Filming Reflection for Shoot 2.

So today was the day of shoot 2. Due to hannah having commitments with Take Me Out we had to film on Friday. At first I was incredibly stressed about this because I thought this meant I couldn't reshoot at all as the camera was due back Thursday, but after speaking to Simon and a few other students I decided to shoot first thing on Friday morning, take the camera back the same day and then finish my editing. So after picking up Hannah we got down to buisness. This time Hannah and myself filmed each other's scenes and my housemate filmed the panning shot of us both together. We worked well together and were able to get the shots perfected in a couple of takes each.
I understand the nature of the whole business a lot more now from this experience. Things happen all the times and production can change at the last minute and problems occur all the time. Instead of giving up when things get tough you have to work around them and put the effort in to sort it out if you want the best results.
I'm also really proud of myself because I spent a lot of time trying out shots with the camera and trying out the different buttons on the camera I was able to change the white balance every time the light changed to keep the shots of a similar colour. On my previous shoot this was a nightmare and now I can fix it. I learnt this on Sophie's shoot and I'm so grateful for her and Roxanne for  teaching me because it's going to be so useful. I also surprised myself as I'm starting to really enjoy the camera work. Thinking about shots and angles and cinematography.  Even in the cinema I'm watching films and thinking 'wow that shot is amazing' and making mental notes. I never considered camera work as a career before and I know there is so much more to learn but I'm really excited.
I'm really happy with the shots we got and I'm over the moon with the panning shot and I think I'll be able to get the whole thing to flow a lot better now.

Now to get the final edit done!

Stay safe,

Helen

Story-telling Unit: Final Storyboard

Here is my final storyboard I made for the film. 

Stay safe,

Helen

Story-telling Unit: Updated Filming Schedule for Shoot 2

Here is my updated filming schedule for shoot 2.

Stay safe,

Helen

Story-telling Unit: Shot List for Shoot 2

Below is my shot list for the 2nd Shoot. It's a reshoot so is pretty similar to my previous shot list but with the added establishing shots but quite a bit shorter.

Excited to get it all finished now!

Stay safe,

Helen.

Story-telling Unit: Filming Schedule Shoot 2

I have made the filming schedule for the reshoot.

 

As I don't have that many shots to refilm I'm hoping the shoot will be done in a couple of hours and I can put the finishing touches to my current edit.

Stay safe,

Helen

Story-telling Unit: Class Collaborations

I've helped Hannah, Sophie and Roxanne with their shoots for The Meeting.

On Hannah's shoot I helped with audio levels and assisted with the camera, at Sophie's I was acting, and in Roxanne's i helped with audio and camera. 

It as really good fun on all the shoots and they are all really easy to get along with and know what they want. 

Here is a picture from Sophie's shoot of her setting up one of the scenes for her trailer.

Back to Preparing for the Next shoot.

Stay safe,

Helen

Story-telling Unit: Draft 3 of Script

After my 2nd tutorial with Simon I spoke to him about the ending of the script. In his feedback he had suggested that the ending needed work so I spoke to him about my ideas to change the ending to include a confrontation with the gang and have Leah be able to stand up for her friend. I think it will definitely mean there is more to learn from the story.
Here is the new version of the script with the new changes.

The Meeting Draft 3



Stay safe,

Helen

Media World: Trip to Amiens with ACT project.

I've just got back from Amiens after a great time.

Chris and I acted as Production assistants to help Nikki film the performance of Virginia Wolff's play, Between the Acts.

It was a great experience as it made me see how useful it is to have plenty of crew about to help when filming something. With the 3 of us it gave Nikki the chance to focus completely on focusing and getting her shot just right while Chris made sure audio was both good quality and coming through the mic at a good level. I was then able to hold the mic during interviews and give the interviewee a person to focus on and help them feel slightly less under pressure. I kept smiling and, although they mainly spoke in french so it was difficult for me to understand, i tried my best to keep eye contact and keep interested.
Filming the play itself was more set up for me. I helped Nikki to set up the cameras and help with white balance and all the usual checks. During the performance Chris was on the Sony camera on one side of the theater whilst myself and Nikki were the other side with the canon.

Working with Chris and Nikki was a really fun and useful experience and I would definitely work with them in the future given the opportunity.

Here are some of the pictures i took from the 2 days.

Were all off to Rennes at the end of the month for 2 nights this time so I'm really looking forward to it.

Stay Safe,

Helen

Story-telling Unit: Camera Workshop Video

Here is a video that Sophie, Roxanne and I made during the camera workshops. It's sound quality is not great as we had positioned the camera quite a distance from myself. We thought as the sound was loud through the headphones that this meant it was fine. However we know know the headphones is how you check quality and the on screen level is how you check how loud the sound is. This was a big Learning step for us and fergus pointed out that it is a common mistake to make and good that we made it now as we will never make it again.
We didn't really go for any different camera angles when we made the video as we were all a little bit scared to pick up the camera and move it as it is expensive. Something I later regretted as obviously on our own shoots we have to. I wish I had spent more time having a go with the camera rather than being filmed as although I learn better on my own I know I also learn better when I do things and watching and listening was never going to sink in for me. At least now for the next workshop I can be more proactive with using the camera.
Here is the video:

Stay safe,

Helen

Story-telling Unit: Editing notes

I haven't really had much experience with editing so when i had to edit my own work for my summer project i found an app on the ipad that was pretty simple to use. FCP is a giant step up from this so i was really worried i wouldn't be able to get the ideas i had in my head to work in real life because of my lack of editing skills. So i got a book from the library and slowly but surely got to grips with the basics.
After my Shoot i watched the clips back and started to get an idea of what would work and put them into my timeline and started to cut the clips to flow better. I decided i would only do a rough version first as i already knew that some of the clips were soft focus so the first go at editing was mainly to get a visual idea of the story and what it looked like all together and also to see if i needed any other shots. its at this point i could see that scenes 1 and 2 didn't work just being played straight into each other. I needed to find a shot in between. So it was back to the drawing board for that.

I also began to mess about with the blurs and found one that was perfect for my filming. Here is it in use.



In my film i want the first few shots to be blurred as they are hints to the rest of the story. I also thought it would be an interesting way of starting the film and ease the audience into the argument as it would be playing over the top.

Now to film the rest and get to grips with sound editing.

Stay safe,

Helen

Story-telling Unit: Reshoot

So after looking over the clips on final cut pro and showing them to Fergus it was clear that 2 of the shots were a bit soft in focus. As I had filmed pretty early on compared to other students it gave me the opportunity to book the camera out again. So I've booked it out for the 20th and 21st of November. I'm going to do a rough edit of the clips now and work out if there are any other shots I needed to add or redo. I think this will be really helpful and mean I can make a decent first 2 minutes.

 

Editing Time!

 

Stay safe,

 

Helen

Story-telling Unit: Soft Trailer

We were asked to get into groups and create a 2 minute trailer for the short film Soft by Simon Ellis. I paired up with Hannah and we began by watching the film. We made a note of what clips we liked and I told her an idea I had where the screen is black at the end of the trailer and all you can here is the sound of the gang beating up the boy. I thought this would be more effective than seeing that scene as it would make you wonder what's happening. I also had the idea of having a cricket bat leaning against the film title at the end. Hannah is brilliant with after effects and was able to create a moving image where the bat swings and hits the title and then the title changes into coming soon.
After picking all our clips we knew that the trailer would be dramatic in style so while Hannah created the end moving title I searched the internet for some music I thought would be appropriate. I found some really good music and after adding it to our trailer we began to order the clips and edit each clip more tightly.
The Feedback we received on the trailer was really positive. I was really pleased with the outcome and think it was good practice for when I go back to editing my first 2 minutes. Here is the original version of the trailer and the 2nd version with the feedback taken into consideration. We were told to always start a trailer from black and to make sure that if we were given a 2 minute target to hit the target always.

Stay safe,

 

Helen

 

 

 

Story-telling Unit: Filming Refection and Production Stills

So I've just completed my filming and I'm really pleased with how it went. Hannah and Roxanne are so easy to work with and really on the ball. It was so much easier to have someone just on audio and the other on camera as that was one of my biggest concerns after the problems we had during the camera workshops. Roxanne reminded me to place my Dictaphone on set to pick up the sound incase there was a problem but thankfully the audio has come out perfect.

Hannah and myself worked through our lines a few times and had feedback from each other and Roxanne, Will and Hayley on what they thought might be a better way to say them. 

After hearing back some of the lines, it became clear that some needed changing due to being unnatural to say and more formal than friend chat. Roxanne and Hannah really came through for me on this and as Simon had pointed out to me that my characters needed different voices it was great to have Hannah say the lines and bring Sophie to life. It definitely gave the character a more distinctive voice. 

After the worry I had after the feedback I initially received for this idea, it was great to work with people who really understood what I was trying to achieve and really focus on getting the best out of the project.

It didn't take as long as I expected to get the 2 pages filmed. After a few false starts with lines we really got into the swing of things and we could really tell when we had got a scene just right. 

When I get to the studios in the morning I'm going to upload the footage and have a look through it all and see if I need to reshoot anything or add any other shots. 

Here are a few production stills from the day.

 

One of the problems with the shoot we had was the lighting. It was a very sunny day but there was lots of clouds so the sun kept coming in and out and it made it very difficult to keep the same lighting for the whole scene. Seeing as we we're shooting close ups and mid shots for the same scene but at different times, editing may prove very difficult. Or atleast frustrating.

It wasn't great that I couldn't direct myself but I'm really happy that Roxanne was on board with the project. 

From this day of filming I've learnt:

It's a really good idea to have a good few members on your crew because it makes everyone's job a lot easier and the whole thing run a lot smoother. 

Having food on set keeps everyone happy.

If your not happy with a take do it again immediately. Stopping to watch it back loses momentum. 

Now to edit! 

Stay safe,

Helen

Story-telling Unit: Cast and Crew

So there has been a slight change to my initial list due to my actress pulling out.

Here is the final Cast and Crew list:

Fingers crossed everything goes smoothly and everyone gels well together. 

Stay safe,

Helen

Story-telling Unit: Actress Search

One of my main worries for making this unit was finding actresses. I don't know that many people down here yet and didn't feel confident enough to audition people. Therefore I was left to ask people on the course. Luckily, with a bit of gentle persuasion, Aquila and Hannah agreed to play the parts of Leah and Sophie respectively.

Unfortunatly due to a last minute scheduling conflict Aquila was unable to make the shoot and I couldn't find anyone to stand in at short notice. Therefore, I chose to step in and play the role myself as otherwise I wouldn't have been able to go ahead with production as planned.

Sophie played by Hannah Darby

Leah played by Helen Welsh

On with production!

Stay safe,

Helen

Story-telling Unit: Filming Schedule

Ready and raring to shoot now. Here is my Filming Schedule:

As Roxanne will be directing the film and i have talked about the filming order with her but i'm also giving her the creative freedom to take control and see what will work once we get into the shoot. As she may think due to lighting, that it would be better to shoot in sequential order instead.

Can't wait to get filming now.

Stay Safe,

Helen

Story-telling Unit: Music

Today I met with a local music producer to brief him about possibly using some music for the opening of 'The Meeting'. I had been thinking about having some music at the very start of the film for a while now as I thought it would link well with having the Christmas Lane Productions logo into the starting scene up until the shouting in the scene becomes distinct. I gave him a couple of songs that I liked the beat of as I didn't really want any singing, and explained the plot and scene that the song would feature in and gave him a brief idea of how I wanted the song to be. Later in the day he got back to me  with a few samples he'd come up with and one really stood out as a perfect for what I had in mind, so he's going to work on that and get back to me in a week or so with the finished edit so I can see if it will work with the filming I'll have done.

Below are 2 of the songs I gave to the producer as examples. They are very different but after a discussion we agreed the slower and rockier of the 2 would suit the situation more than a uptempo number.

Counting Stars by One Republic

Gentleman (Instrumental) - The Saturdays

Now to put the finishing touches to my Filming schedule and shot list for the weekend!

Stay safe,

Helen