Tutorial 03/12/2012

3rd December 2012

  During this tutorial, we showed Annie what we had put together so far using the scenes we had shot and explained what was left to film. She appeared to like what we had done so far but suggested that a nice idea would be to include Lola walking past the pirate scene in the day on her way to the park. This would therefore provide a great contrast of emotions from when she sees them in the dark at night. Because of this, we planned to film this extra little bit of footage. Apart from that, she looked pleased with what we had completed.
  Around this time with more of a rough cut, Myself and Hannah B showed Chris a copy of the film to gain some feedback. Overall, he had very little criticism and this helped me relax a lot more throughout the rest of the edit. A concern that Chris did have was that the sound design was going to be very complex, something that we already knew.

Filming Day 4 - 02/12/2012

2nd December 2012: 7pm - Late
Crew: Myself, Leon, Hannah B, Jen and Jacob

  On December 2nd, I met Fiona at the train station after I had finished work, before making out way to Bramall Lane in Sheffield to film the car scene. This night of filming was particularly cold and I really wanted everything to run smoothly to avoid staying outside any longer than we needed to. Thankfully, all the crew worked really well.

Lola's reaction to the bright headlights and beeping horn

  Because the shot demonstrates Lola as she walks into the road without looking just as a car heads towards her, we had to be careful that none of the crew would be in shot. As well as this, I needed to stand on the corner between the car and Lola in order to shout to Hannah (who was driving) when to start. We had to do a couple of takes just to get the timing right but I think we got a good one eventually. We also shot a nice sequence from within the car, which gave a good view of Lola's expressions.
  After viewing this sequence within the film as a whole, I had reservations that it did immediately go right into the action, however, it does show that she jumps straight into the deep end and doesn't realise how scary the outside world can be from the start.
 

Original shot list - Although Driver arguing sequence was taken out.

Filming Day 3 - 29/11/12

Originally, this day of filming was scheduled to take place on November 28th, however, our actress Fiona texted me to say she was working till late and wouldn't have been able to arrive for the time agreed. Although this set us back a little, I organised a shoot on the 2nd instead. As I was due to meet Fiona at the train station straight after I had finished work at around 5:15pm, I was a little disappointed that I was the member of the group left to text each of the crew to let them know what was happening and if they thought we had enough time to film. It proved difficult as I was travelling and also had to write on the Facebook group on my phone to contact everyone as a whole because a couple did not reply. I would have ideally liked the producer to take control of this situation.

29th November 2012: 8.30am - 10.30am
Crew: Myself, Leon, Hannah B and Jacob

  In order to gain some day time footage, Myself and the crew stated met in the city centre at early that morning. I was a little late due to my printer not working and I needed to print the shot list. However, when I arrived around 15 minutes late, I was surprised to see that everyone was waiting for me. I expected them to have begun setting up as they knew which scenes we planned to film and could have made a start to not waste time. However, after apologising, we begun filming.

Frame from the sequence we filmed.

  The particular section that we shot was of Lola as she walks out of the alley the next morning, along with her journey to the park in the light of day. I gained the shots I wanted, however, some point-of-view ones were a little shaky because Leon was so cold, yet there was not a lot we could have done about it.
  Jacob had to leave early to make his lecture at 11, and so this meant we were down a member of crew that was essential in that sync sound would have been ideal.
  This shoot was quite successful and we gained every shot on my shot list.

Filming Day 2 - 27/11/2012

27th November 2012: 6pm - Late

Crew: Myself, Leon, Hannah B, Jen and Jacob

  On November 27th, we met our Actress met at University before filming. Because Me and Leon had a seminar until this time, I sent the rest of the crew a copy of the script and asked them to go through it with Fiona, our actress. However, I was a bit disappointed when I arrived to find out that nothing had been done. This in turn meant that I had to spend precious time we could have used filming, talking the actress through what she needed to do. 

  Once Fiona was happy and had read/learnt the sections of the script we were to film - these being planned scene 7. Although this seems to be a lot, many of the scenes are relatively short.

Lola walking around the christmas tree - this shot had great production value as a gentleman looked at the map in the right third of the shot as we were filming, demonstrating how clueless Lola is.

  Initially, we filmed the sequence where Lola walks through town, looking confused. We wanted the setting to look overwhelming and so I chose to have her walking around a large christmas tree in the city centre. This gives the illusion of her being 'small' and young in comparison. Throughout the film, it was planned to present her next to gates and fences to symbolise Lola being 'caged in' her own body and not being able to escape from her child-like persona. I will speak more about this later in the blog and include frames of the end piece to demonstrate.

  When filming the scene, the sound recordist had initial problems with the SD card in the Marantz, so I therefore had to help him solve that issue through taking the card out and unlocking it. He then proceeded to have issues of the sound not working - this turned out to be quite a trivial problem as it was due to the headphones not being plugged in! Much like the last shoot, I also found it hard to communicate with the sound recordist as he would often leave the space we were filming to record atmos tracks instead of syncing what was being shot - this became even more complex when he would stand in the frame whilst Leon was filming and would have to be asked to move out of shot. Apart from this, I have however found that Jacob has been very organised and contributed to some ideas for the piece.

Frame of POV sequence of Alley.

  Once we had completed that section of the filming, we went for food to warm up. On the way to our next location, we walked past an alley that I thought would be perfect for the scene where Lola sleeps alone on the street. Originally, this was written to be a park bench, however, I felt that this mise-en-scene would create a more eerie atmosphere and help get the desired reaction from the audience more easily.

Frame from Alley Sequence.

Frame from Alley Sequence.

  When walking down the alley, we noticed that a light would come on through the use of a sensor, so I asked Fiona to jerk as this came on to highlight her character's sensitivity to light. I found that I worked very well with Fiona and she had no problems completing any of the directions I have her. The purpose of this section of the film was to demonstrate Lola's fears and how they appear even scarier as she tries to sleep. My plan was to use sound design and editing as a huge factor to put this across - through overlaying scary images, symbolising whats happening in her mind, along with the use of sound that overlaps and gets increasingly louder.

End result of what I envisaged.

  After filming the alley section of the piece, we progressed to film elements within a 'pirate scene' that had been staged within the city centre as part of the christmas decorations. Because a lot of these models had quite a scary look about them in the dark, it gave us a good template to portray Lola's emotions when she is alone in the city. Lighting played a great part in this scene as not only did is cast sinister shadows upon the faces of the model pirates, but also presented a great shadow on a building of a sword as it lifts up and down. We used this particular shadow to our advantage and also filmed a nice close-up of Lola's reaction.

  Overall, I think that every member of the crew worked really hard on this shoot as it was incredibly cold and got quite late. I think that the shoot could have been a lot more efficient if the producer was there to ensure things worked smoothly, for example, helping with the issues in sound, as I found that this did distract me as I was trying to do my role as director to the best of my ability.

A section of the shot list - Many more were added due to the impulse scene in the alley.

Tutorial - 26/11/2012

26th November 2012: 4pm

  On November 26th, we met before the tutorial to go through the footage. Hannah B had already re-named everything and sorted it into folders once I had got there. I viewed the shots we had and was happy.

  Throughout the tutorial, we showed Annie what we had filmed and she gave the reaction I wanted to that section of the story. 

  I found the tutorial helpful as I told Annie about my concerns about the project. A particular issue we were having at this point was that everyone was rarely available to shoot at the same time. Because of this, it was suggested that we film at night, which we had already spoken about as a group. I think that because of the christmas decorations and festivities in the city this idea seemed to work so we went with it. The use of lighting is a vital part of our piece as Lola's disability means that she is very sensitive to light and the brightness of town at night is a great way to expose how overpowering it is for her. It will also be aesthetically pleasing.

Filming Day 1 - 23/11/2012

23rd November 2012: 1-5pm

Crew: Myself, Leon, Jen and Jacob

  On this day, Myself, Leon, Jen and Jacob attended to the shoot to film all of the park scenes. Hannah B and Luke couldn't be there as they had an editing seminar. We all met with the actress Fiona in town before making our way to the park.

  Initially, we planned to film at Endcliffe Park in Sheffield, however, the day of filming was quite sunny and I had concerns that it would be relatively busy, making it not only complex to film through having to ask permission to each and every parent, but I also envisaged the park to be quite dull and empty, in that Lola sees it to be amazing when in reality it is not. Because of this, I suggested we went to a smaller park about a 10 minute walk from town. In the end it seemed to work well.

Location:

Journey Made 

Original Journey Plan

  I think the first day of filming was very successful as the shot list I created helped us film efficiently in the time we had:

  Using the shot list, I went through the shots needed with the cinematographer Leon before filming, and checked I was happy with them after we had.

  I think that Fiona took direction very well. She acted just as I wanted her to and fulfilled the child-like role well. 

  I contacted the actress with a list of the kind of clothing Jen wanted her to wear before the shoot. She arrived wearing what I think Jen envisaged and I was happy with it.

  Problems that occurred on the shoot included the sound. It is hard because if I mentioned to the sound recordist that something needed to be recorded in a particular section of the shoot - for example, a car goes past in the background of the shot (something that would help avoid the use of foley), he would then spend his time recording the sound of every car that drove by. I think he may have mis-understood some of my direction, however, I do think that he should have used more initiative throughout the shoot.

  Overall, I was happy with most of the elements of the days filming and I think that we have some interesting shots to use in our piece. A particular section that I like is of Lola as she swings with the sun streaming through the crease of the houses behind her. It is an attractive shot and also helps distinguish the time of day to the viewer.

Me helping Leon to distinguish the focus when Lola swings into the frame.

Mise-en-scne

Pre-Production

  As for pre-production, I haven't seen any documents from the producer, although I know that he has contacted the council to notify them that we would be filming in the city centre. 

  I have found that I have had to take on a lot of the organisation for the 10 minute project as I have had to regularly contact the actress and crew to let them know when and where we film. Ultimately, this was the producers job and I would have liked to have had some input from him - especially through the form of some kind of schedule!