Fiction Adaption: Editing

I have been editing my final film and I am really pleased with the final outcome. I have put into practice all the research about colour correction and making the tone of the scene darker to give a different feel to the footage. I think it works really well on the flashbacks to have the blue tone and be darker. My main issue was that when I did my rough cut of footage it was nearly 8 minutes long after various edits it was still down to around 6 minutes. I then watched the film again and was a lot more brutal with the story, what was adding to it, what was distracting, what shots work, what order. Being the Director/Editor/ Screenwriter of this project definitely helped me to get the best out of the story as although I had to remove some aspects of my script, it has made for a far more professional and crisp story.

Pacing of the film was also one of my main problems, I found that the start of the story was slow and it builds to a faster paced climax. Without the music this really was distracting and I was really annoyed with how it was going. It really didn’t work at all but as soon as I added my score it just worked perfectly. The pace of the music really helped to peak and dip in the key moments and keep the pace moving without rushing or slowing it too much. It also helps to build for the climax really well.

Sound design on this film was another stumbling block. I spoke with ferg about how I wasn’t sure how to harmoniously have all the different sounds going on in the scene with the music and narration but he mentioned a few directors and editors work which I took a look at. I found that having the narration as the over arcing sound with the music and scene sounds softly placed in the background worked the best rather than fighting to hear everything. Someone mentioned that you can tell what’s going on in the scene without having to hear it but hearing just enough is ominous enough to work. I have added various layers to my audio to add a more real nature to it all. This includes the punch sounds, buzz track, hitting the ground sounds, footsteps, running, leaves rustling. I feel all of these layers contribute to making it a better piece.

Stay safe,

Helen

Fiction Adaption: Final Reflection

I have really enjoyed working on this project. I feel it gives me the opportunity to do what I want to do in the future which is write screenplays and also bring my own spin on things. I went into a lot of detail analyzing the poem and choosing the meaning for each line for my adaption. I feel my script was very strong and original and also well thought out. When editing and looking back on my footage I found it difficult to fit every detail from my script in and some bits really didn’t translate aswell in visual form as they did in writing. For example the bit where jack was to dip a stick into the water/ concrete didn’t come across aswell and looked a little silly. I think looking at it visually it was clearer that it didn’t work and I think cutting it not only helped with timing but made the plot more realistic.

I’m really pleased with how my day for night shoot worked and how I managed to set it all up on my own after my research. How filming with the prime lens worked under the night conditions. I think this is something that I’ve learnt from this unit – research is very important!

The things that didn’t go so well were sourcing actors. I found that even though I had found actors through well known sites I was let down and sometimes it is better to have back up options in mind so you do not have to take just anyone. Luckily the people I chose to help me were brilliant and if anything made my film much better than I expected. Louis pulled off something I didn’t think he could, as it was very difficult for anyone to be able to capture my vision of this character but he really became the role. Danny also did a fantastic job, he managed to be this person that is completely the opposite of him and hopefully both of these performances were contributed to by my direction.

Another thing that didn’t go so well was the organizing part of shoot days. Like I have said previously I think perhaps working with an actual producer will help with this problem as then I wont have too many things to think about at the same time.

Overall I am thrilled with the final film and I hope that it is something I can make a difference with.

Stay safe,

Helen

Digital News: News Final Version

Here is the final version of the digital news piece for Tekkers TV & the Teaser.







Stay Safe,

Helen

Digital News: Final Reflection

Overall i think this project has been very successful and enjoyable. I feel that the team has worked well together and although at times it has been challenging in terms of organising 2 different news pieces it has been a big learning experience.
I have found that although i intensely dislike the producing side of the work, i am fairly good at it and although i have found it difficult at times to be 100% organised i think that it has helped me to realise the importance of this. As the producer it has been my role to make sure we stick to the schedule and work to the tight timeframes that have been involved in our film days and one of our major stumbling blocks and issues was during the filming for roller derby where we had the problem about how to film jamie's interview. I think looking back on that moment now, if we had been more organised that issue wouldn't have been addressed at that moment and already would have been considered by all team members with the ability to discuss it in more detail without worrying about time.
I definitely see the importance, more so now than ever, of having a solid script and i feel letting jamie and fran work of my script and change it to bring their own personality to it really worked well for the natural and approachable side of our brand. We don't come across as too informal but we do still have a professional vibe.
Everything about this project has been throughout in a lot of detail by myself and the boys and i feel really proud to be able to have this news feature as i definitely think we have found a gap in the market for this sort of news and could potentially work well on youtube. I think our news channel has a unique brand and style to it which sets us apart from other channels and therefore we have been able to create something a bit different.
Things i would do differently in the future would be to be able to go on location scouts. Unfortunately with both our subjects this wasn't possible but it made planning the script very difficult as we did not have a clue what to expect although we did guess a mirror on one wall for the pole fitness. This gave us problems when producing a clear shot list as although we had vague ideas we could not pick out for certain any exact shots or ask the subjects to do anything in particular as we weren't familiar on their routine. It would have also helped to suss out the location in terms of lighting space and potentially speak to people about any issues or filming limitations we may come across.
I think making an actual website for our channel was a good idea and the idea of including myself danny and chris in the about us page was really cool and was all the boys idea. I think its definitely very sports themed and really suits our brand and approachability factor. We want to find new and interesting sports stories so we want people to feel able to contact us directly and know who we are and what we are all about.

Stay safe,

Helen

Fiction Adaption: Filming day 2 Relection

Today we filmed the narration and present day shots with Louis.

The narration part we filmed first so that we could spend a fair bit of time getting the correct phrasing and emotion behind each line. I explained my thoughts behind each line and we briefly discussed what Jack would be feeling so that Louis could really capture the right tone of voice. He did a great job and even brought new things to the table and I think really gave the right voice to jack as a narrator. I’m really pleased I decided to go with having jack as the narrator rather than his mum as it better suits the film.

The filming we began by filming by the park and had Louis approach and stand and look at the merry go round. It didn’t take long but as the day was sunny it also gave a different feel to the film. Then we filmed the garages, again the lighting really helped to create a ‘different’ day feel and bring a different tone.  Then was the reshoot of some of the footage in the woods. When I checked the footage there was 1 shot where Louis’ face was blurry so I needed to refilm this however due to the sun light the tree we had used was not going to work for day for night so I found a different tree and just reshot all of louis’ woodland scenes and I feel it really works a lot better this time.

Then we filmed the 1 shot of Louis opening the curtains that I had an issue with. It worked a lot better this time with the use of the aperture and wasn’t too dark or too bright.

Then we went to the river while it was still light to film the last few scenes. Unfortunately I had work at 5 and we arrived at the river at 4 so we had 20 minutes to shoot the whole thing and with Rochester carnival being on parking was a nightmare. Luckily we found a space straight away, and quickly went to the location. The path was empty so we had Louis run through each scene and then went for a take. It went really well and despite the rush we managed to get everything done in the time frame.

Things I would do differently is allow for enough time to film and not to rush. It isn’t a great idea to have pre existing plans on shoot days so next time I will make sure I have all my shoot days free and expect the unexpected incase of any emergencies. I am overall pleased with my filming ability as it is something that I really had to research to get right and I think that paid off.

Stay safe,

Helen

Fiction Adaption: Shoot Day 1 Reflection

Today we filmed the 1st lot of scenes for The Death Bed. We had quite a few problems but i do think ultimately we managed to get some great shots and i was really pleased with how the team worked in general. After picking up danny from rochester, louis arrived at my house just before 10am and we began by filming his waking up scenes as the light wasn't too harsh. looking back on these shots now i feel they were a little rushed but there also isn't a lot going on but one of the shots i did i was really pleased with as its really cool. I think in future i would send slightly more time getting the right shot as i found it difficult to get just the right amount of light when he opened the curtains as it was either too dark in the room but clear outside the window or completely bleached out light outside but inside it was visible. This is the issue with camera's but i think I've found a way to work around it when i reshoot that one scene tomorrow.

Fran, Josh and john arrived at 11 and we then moved onto filming the woods scenes. After a short walk to the location i explained to everyone the order of scenes, fran doubled up as make up artist for this shoot and was able to create a really effective look and with the right colour correction and camera angles it will look good. In the end we used fake blood and eyebrow tint and eyeshadow. I explained to the actors that I wanted the gang to say things that came naturally to them rather than stick to the script in terms of dialogue, as it would appear more realistic. We first filmed the day time woods scene and found that it flowed really well. After a few takes of each scene we moved onto the day for night.

This was one of the things I was most proud of as after following all the things I had researched and learnt how to create the effect but it came out so much better than I expected. Even the actors were really impressed with it especially danny as we are both not as confident with camera’s as chris who usally takes up this role in our team. After filming what was needed we moved on to the next location.

At the garage’s we had a small problem where my housemate needed me to go and help her so I had to get Louis to drive to chatham while the other actors had a lunch break. Once back Louis had his lunch and I decided to film only the flashback/gang scenes today as were running short of time and light. We filmed the park scenes first and then the garage scenes. Both of these scenes needed a little choreography to get the right sort of vibe and flow for the scene but I feel this is where my direction was really needed and I managed to bring the best out of my actor whilst keeping the realistic nature of the scene.

Finally we shot the night time sequence at a different location than I had originally thought. Fran had somewhere in mind along Rochester espionage that she felt would suit the film a lot better and so I trusted her judgment and we went to her location. It was perfect. It even had a white street light just above us to help with lighting. We first filmed the gang walking along the riverbank as danny had to leave and then moved onto the death scenes. Not many members of the public walked along the path while we were filming but I had already received permission to film on both sides of the river after speaking to the Kent film office.  Although it was very cold and wet Louis was a trooper and really managed to give a solid performance. I was really pleased with how john filmed the lights sequence as it really turned out exactly like the image in my head so im thrilled.

Overall I feel the day was really successful. In future I will try and be a little bit more organized in terms of prepping my actors so that we do not waste valuable shooting time arranging scenes. If I was to do anything differently I would make sure I have plenty of full charged batteries for the canon as at the end of the day both batteries were flashing red and so we could have almost ran out of battery.

Stay safe,

Helen

Fiction Adaption: Actors

I originally posted a advert on a few casting websites to which i got a reasonable response. After a few auditions i decided to hire 2 lead males for the roles of Jack and Cal and use various friends to play other gang members. However a few days before filming both my actors dropped out and luckily i had spoken to a work colleague who had mentioned he wants to be an actor. After looking at his show reel and speaking to him a bit more his previous roles i found out that he had previously played an autistic boy and so i asked him to play the lead of Jack for my film. I really struggled to find someone to play Cal at such short notice but was pointed int he direction of an actor but his look was more stereotypical bully than i would have liked. I decided to go with him after looking at his previous work, however he also pulled out 2 days before filming so i then resorted to asking Chris to step into the role as i didn't now anyone else who could fit the bill. Unfortunatly the day before filming chris found out he had an appointment and wouldn't be able to make it so i spoke with danny who was already a gang member about if he could play the lead. He had more of the boy next door look about him but i wasn't sure if he would be able to pull of such a horrible character as he's always very funny and friendly. He agreed and i gave him the brief that he should play the role in a sort of milwall football fan sort of mode as i knew that he would get the character a lot more if i gave him direction that he could relate to. These problems have obviously meant my gang has dwindled slightly but I'm still hopeful it will work. Hopefully the shoot will go well and i can rely on my friends to pull it out of the bag for me.

Louis Jones as Jack

Danny Hewitt as Cal

John Briddon as James (Right)

Josh Rowe as Connor (left)

Francesca Georgiou as Female Stranger

Stay Safe,

Helen

Fiction Adaption: Locations

Today i went and took pictures of some of my locations. I had visualised these places when writing the script so i had a good idea in my head of where i wanted them to be set. I always find it useful as a writer/director to have a place in mind especially for these sorts of projects as it could be a lot more difficult to source if you hadn't fully thought through the location in your script.

The garages 1:

The 1st garage location is on an estate but not on a side street. i want the garages to be more secluded and also a little bit more run down than these ones

Garages 2:

The 2nd garage location is just off this street..

The estate is further up the road but i feel that this is slightly more reflective off the location i have in mind. This panoramic view shows the garages on either side of the street, but the garages i want to use are down the side street where the rspb sign is pointing. 

These are the Garages i have in mind.

I like the run down aspect of the area, although there isn't any grafitti i think the leaves and rubble still gives a good image of run down, especially being off the other street.

The woods:

These woods are where i am considering having the woods day for night scene, i feel that in parts their is good enough coverage for us to not see the sky and therefore give a good darkness impression. I also like the trees being near the path as they could be a good depth of field shot and also a good place for Jack to try and hide. 

Stay safe,

Helen