I'll admit, i'll put my hands up and admit that the regular blogging id planned hasnt gone exactly to plan. That however is the past, and whilst we are on the subject:
Past Month's Break Down:
Its over, it may not have gone perfectly, but its over.
MULTICAM
After the script was finalised weeks ago we were then asked to write a 'back up section' for romance, this swiftly replaced romance. Judging by audience reaction though this last minute section seems to have gone down pretty well.
So we panic, we find actors, we rehearse, we hope, we plan, we pray and we try not to sleep.
4:52 on wednesday 19th January hits and its over.
It didn't go perfectly by any stretch, my biggest complaint was myself. I feel i dropped the ball a bit on some of my camera choices/movements. I know ive done its better during the rehearsals, unfortunately its just didnt go as well on the day. But hey, no big deal, it wasnt a massive disaster, the majority of things went to plan and all in all the show looked pretty good.... i think.
WOOLROOM - INSTANT COMFORT
One nicely organised day later we have the footage in the can.
What can i say? The day of the shoot went really well, shot some 'football crowd' stuff in the morning at a local stadium. Short break for lunch. Onto the scene in the bedroom which was shot in quite a small, but managable, room (1 actor, camera op and director became a squeeze even after we hauled a chest of draws out). And finally to wrap it all up we had a fake birthday party for our producer's little sister. All in all the day just went really well, the footage looked good and we were headed straight to the edit.
So we hit a bump or two in the edit, nothing major. A few scares about shots being overexposed after exporting but thank god this came down to an issue with the suite's equipment.
Add some music, tweak and leave to simmer for 20 minutes.
Cant complain really, pretty happy with this one... no doubt my tutor will rip it apart, but let me have my moment.
Tuesday 25 January 2011
Friday 3 December 2010
"Since we've no place to go...
... Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow"
Yep, my first encounter of the weather actually haulting production, sure we've had slow down before. But putting a complete stop to? Now that's an achievement.
So as the list of work continues to grow and grow the world continues to snow and snow (ok last use of repitition with snow, i promise). As we've all learnt over the years the frozen wonder falling from the skies brings with it a wonderful phrase children everywhere are able to cry out far too few times a year: 'Snow day!'. But those days too taught us that as we get older we also get more miserable.
Rather than run to the window looking for a winter wonder land in hope of spending the day wrapped up in front of a movie marathon, our view point somewhere along the lines gets twisted into thinking only of the horrors of traffic and somehow getting into the office. Ok, that may now quite be me.
I am however a little worried I've just lost a week of uni. Don't get be wrong, i've loved every minute of it... on the other hand though it's not only knocked back any work i had to do with our studio project, but has also gone hand in hand with haulting The Water Woman that was due to start shooting tomorrow.
I'm sure i should have a reason for not spending this time locked in doors on constant blog updates... movie marathon anyone?
Yep, my first encounter of the weather actually haulting production, sure we've had slow down before. But putting a complete stop to? Now that's an achievement.
So as the list of work continues to grow and grow the world continues to snow and snow (ok last use of repitition with snow, i promise). As we've all learnt over the years the frozen wonder falling from the skies brings with it a wonderful phrase children everywhere are able to cry out far too few times a year: 'Snow day!'. But those days too taught us that as we get older we also get more miserable.
Rather than run to the window looking for a winter wonder land in hope of spending the day wrapped up in front of a movie marathon, our view point somewhere along the lines gets twisted into thinking only of the horrors of traffic and somehow getting into the office. Ok, that may now quite be me.
I am however a little worried I've just lost a week of uni. Don't get be wrong, i've loved every minute of it... on the other hand though it's not only knocked back any work i had to do with our studio project, but has also gone hand in hand with haulting The Water Woman that was due to start shooting tomorrow.
I'm sure i should have a reason for not spending this time locked in doors on constant blog updates... movie marathon anyone?
Monday 22 November 2010
To Do
Ok, ill admit its been a while since i last posted. No doubt too long.
Turns out playing catch up on work youve missed takes alot of time! Who would of guessed!
So when in doubt, turn to a 'To Do' list:
- Batter's up, time to pitch!
Specialism pitch needs to set done and sorted by the end of this week. And considering i recently opted to forget my original idea and charge forward with a new, currently undeveloped idea, i may have a lot of work to do.
- Counting sheep
The Woolroom. With so much focus on getting the multi cam's script good to go, which no doubt i may rant about later, i've neglected my live Woolroom project a bit too much. So as soon as we're in need of; set locations, actors and the props we require. Hopefully this will alow us to set a date to start shooting.
- Who do you think you are?
Character bios and a treatment. Ok this ones a little different, i've actually finished this one. Why am i still talking about it i hear you ask? Because i'm still waiting on the rest of the scriptwriters to get their's in! Fair enough it was only due in last thursday (please note a bit of sarcasm, it is after all monday now). It's starting to get a little unfair for the producers, and ofcourse the actors who are waiting on their actors packs.
Well wheres the fun in productions if there arent any set backs. Sure, i may require a weeks straight sleep with the sheer amount of late nights i've been having recently, but what else would i be doing at 4am other than storyboards?
So its time again to bury my head, block out the distractions that surround me and head back to my cave where no doubt i'll surface yet again holding another glimpse of that precious gem found only in the dark.
Turns out playing catch up on work youve missed takes alot of time! Who would of guessed!
So when in doubt, turn to a 'To Do' list:
- Batter's up, time to pitch!
Specialism pitch needs to set done and sorted by the end of this week. And considering i recently opted to forget my original idea and charge forward with a new, currently undeveloped idea, i may have a lot of work to do.
- Counting sheep
The Woolroom. With so much focus on getting the multi cam's script good to go, which no doubt i may rant about later, i've neglected my live Woolroom project a bit too much. So as soon as we're in need of; set locations, actors and the props we require. Hopefully this will alow us to set a date to start shooting.
- Who do you think you are?
Character bios and a treatment. Ok this ones a little different, i've actually finished this one. Why am i still talking about it i hear you ask? Because i'm still waiting on the rest of the scriptwriters to get their's in! Fair enough it was only due in last thursday (please note a bit of sarcasm, it is after all monday now). It's starting to get a little unfair for the producers, and ofcourse the actors who are waiting on their actors packs.
Well wheres the fun in productions if there arent any set backs. Sure, i may require a weeks straight sleep with the sheer amount of late nights i've been having recently, but what else would i be doing at 4am other than storyboards?
So its time again to bury my head, block out the distractions that surround me and head back to my cave where no doubt i'll surface yet again holding another glimpse of that precious gem found only in the dark.
Thursday 4 November 2010
Evening Gazette
You've go to love the digital age we live in. Turns out they were right when they said everything get put online these days.
The article in the Evening Gazette newspaper i recently mentioned, detailing the use of our film at a roadsafety roadshow, has been put up on their website. 15 minutes of fame for eternity:
http://www.gazettelive.co.uk/news/teesside-news/2010/10/28/film-shows-danger-of-driving-while-on-phone-84229-27558103/
The article in the Evening Gazette newspaper i recently mentioned, detailing the use of our film at a roadsafety roadshow, has been put up on their website. 15 minutes of fame for eternity:
http://www.gazettelive.co.uk/news/teesside-news/2010/10/28/film-shows-danger-of-driving-while-on-phone-84229-27558103/
Back on Track
So BBC Blast is over and done with, it's time to get back to work and play a bit of catch up with work for the course.
First off; Script.
Getting back on monday the first thing on my mind was to get my section of the multi cam script up to date. After completing my treatment i was swept away for 3 weeks to be enlisted into the Blast, leaving the rest of the scriptwritting team to get on writting their first drafts... Well, that was the plan. Sure the guys had done the majority of their first drafts but there is still a whole lot of formatting still to do as well as the ending and the beginning to smooth out.
But my thought was typically, why not lead by example. So monday night i sat down and knocked out my first draft for the scifi section, swiftly followed by the action section on tuesday night. And here we are Thursday, 11:58, watching the inbox as i pray each one of those perfectly formatted scripts will be dropping in any minute. So i raise my glass, and heres to wishful thinking.
First off; Script.
Getting back on monday the first thing on my mind was to get my section of the multi cam script up to date. After completing my treatment i was swept away for 3 weeks to be enlisted into the Blast, leaving the rest of the scriptwritting team to get on writting their first drafts... Well, that was the plan. Sure the guys had done the majority of their first drafts but there is still a whole lot of formatting still to do as well as the ending and the beginning to smooth out.
But my thought was typically, why not lead by example. So monday night i sat down and knocked out my first draft for the scifi section, swiftly followed by the action section on tuesday night. And here we are Thursday, 11:58, watching the inbox as i pray each one of those perfectly formatted scripts will be dropping in any minute. So i raise my glass, and heres to wishful thinking.
Tuesday 26 October 2010
Too long too much
Wow, I think simply wow is the best way to describe what's going on at the moment.
Ok first things first.
I haven't updated my blog for a while, but i think i have good reason. That thing called life, has just been so hectic! The big thing right now is deffinatley the Blast. Basically, a while back i applied for a 3 week work experience placement with the BBC. A month or so ago they got in touch and told me i had been short listed, which i was happy enough with. However after going down for an interview they called me back and said i'd got it. So the 11th of October rolls around and i get ready for my first day, and my last day of free time.
So the BBC Blast:
3 weeks:
- 1 week of school assemblies promoting it.
- 1 week of 'taster days' around various schools and college onboard what has been dubbed the 'BAT' van.
- 1 week to finish up, host the actual 3 day event in Middlesbrough town center and a final showcase of work to be put together by myself and the other 3 work experience guys.
So there's the BBC Blast work experience program flattened out. Now let me try to put this into perspective. First day, get to know each other, do some training and some flyering, fair enough easy stuff. Second day, myself and 1 other work experience sent to host an assembly to around 200 kids. Wow.
Now i should be clear, when i say wow, its wow in the best possible sense. This is wow, someone is letting me do this. This is wow, when do i ever get the chance to do these things. This is wow, i hope this could be the start of something.
Ok so week 1, check. Week 2, check. Week 3 starting now. But after a day of advertising the event yesterday it's not the BBC Blast thats giving me a wow moment right now.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rTkoPURQWUs
^ That. That right there is what has given me quite a bizzare day. After that little piece won the 18+ age category of the Brake! road safety competition (of which it way inital made for), it was later passed on to a member of the Redcar & Cleveland police, who thought it would be ideal for their one of their road shows and to use to help demonstrate to kids the dangers of mobile phone use while driving. Now a member of the police passed it onto someone at the BBC Tees radio, who would like to interview me on air. Wow, i don't know why anyone would like to listen to me ramble about a film incoherently, but i'll take it.
So todays agenda:
- Photo taken for a few newspapers
- Film to be shown as part of the roadshow
- Talk about the film on a local radio station
To me, that's insane. I'll admit i'm having a little trouble getting my head around why anyone would be interested in what i always consider to be 'that daft little film i flung together'. Yeah, a fair bit of work went into it but i always think when you look at the bigger picture, people are exposed to such high quality film making on a constant basis now that i do find it hard to figure out how and why people seem to be so accepting of low end film making. I'm not saying its a bad thing, quite the contrary, i think its fantastic that people dont need a high end gloss to enjoy a film. I guess i'm just doubting my work simply because its that, my work.
Well maybe i'll come to accept my own films a bit more later down the line, but for now i'll remain confused and just accept those 'wow moments' with open arms.
Ok first things first.
I haven't updated my blog for a while, but i think i have good reason. That thing called life, has just been so hectic! The big thing right now is deffinatley the Blast. Basically, a while back i applied for a 3 week work experience placement with the BBC. A month or so ago they got in touch and told me i had been short listed, which i was happy enough with. However after going down for an interview they called me back and said i'd got it. So the 11th of October rolls around and i get ready for my first day, and my last day of free time.
So the BBC Blast:
3 weeks:
- 1 week of school assemblies promoting it.
- 1 week of 'taster days' around various schools and college onboard what has been dubbed the 'BAT' van.
- 1 week to finish up, host the actual 3 day event in Middlesbrough town center and a final showcase of work to be put together by myself and the other 3 work experience guys.
So there's the BBC Blast work experience program flattened out. Now let me try to put this into perspective. First day, get to know each other, do some training and some flyering, fair enough easy stuff. Second day, myself and 1 other work experience sent to host an assembly to around 200 kids. Wow.
Now i should be clear, when i say wow, its wow in the best possible sense. This is wow, someone is letting me do this. This is wow, when do i ever get the chance to do these things. This is wow, i hope this could be the start of something.
Ok so week 1, check. Week 2, check. Week 3 starting now. But after a day of advertising the event yesterday it's not the BBC Blast thats giving me a wow moment right now.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rTkoPURQWUs
^ That. That right there is what has given me quite a bizzare day. After that little piece won the 18+ age category of the Brake! road safety competition (of which it way inital made for), it was later passed on to a member of the Redcar & Cleveland police, who thought it would be ideal for their one of their road shows and to use to help demonstrate to kids the dangers of mobile phone use while driving. Now a member of the police passed it onto someone at the BBC Tees radio, who would like to interview me on air. Wow, i don't know why anyone would like to listen to me ramble about a film incoherently, but i'll take it.
So todays agenda:
- Photo taken for a few newspapers
- Film to be shown as part of the roadshow
- Talk about the film on a local radio station
To me, that's insane. I'll admit i'm having a little trouble getting my head around why anyone would be interested in what i always consider to be 'that daft little film i flung together'. Yeah, a fair bit of work went into it but i always think when you look at the bigger picture, people are exposed to such high quality film making on a constant basis now that i do find it hard to figure out how and why people seem to be so accepting of low end film making. I'm not saying its a bad thing, quite the contrary, i think its fantastic that people dont need a high end gloss to enjoy a film. I guess i'm just doubting my work simply because its that, my work.
Well maybe i'll come to accept my own films a bit more later down the line, but for now i'll remain confused and just accept those 'wow moments' with open arms.
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