Directing/Producing

Directing

Overall, the directing process was simple and easy. I guided the cast and team in a positive way and let everyone have their opinion. The directing part worked hand in hand with producing so I felt I lead the production.  Directors usually focus on guiding the more visual side of the project. I knew that this would mean guiding the whole team and cast and making sure they were doing the right thing. With the actors, I went through the script with them and told them how it should be read out e.g. with emotional emphasis. Doing this before we shot the film ensured that the actors knew what to expect and covey the right tone and emotion for the scene. During filming, I would watch closely and observe the action. If something was wrong I would cut the scene. One instance of this was someone walking past the camera in the street and looking directly/speaking to the camera. I had to be assertive to make sure each scene was done correctly and to save time. I also worked with the cinematographer to establish where the shots should be set up and what type of shot this would be. We worked on shot lists beforehand and did test shoots to help the cinematographer know how the camera needs to be set up for each scene. As the director, I had to bring the script to life and one way I did this was by printing off a copy of the script and then write notes on it to help me know what was needed for each scene visually. I wrote a list of props and design aspects on the script and sent this to everyone involved - the cast and team. 

Producing.

The producing part was something I was doing even when we were sticking with the original first idea. Being a producer means supervising all aspects of the production and having the final say over all parts from shots to sound. It also means being organised and getting a team and cast together. As the producer, the team came to me with ideas and questions which I would sort out asap. The main part of my role for this project was getting everything organised from locations to actors. I am a naturally organised person and had everything already in place for both ideas so I continued with the role. During post production, I supervised all decisions made in the edit.

Preparation

To prepare for each role I did some research into the roles and their responsibilities. I did this so I knew exactly what to expect and how to mange my responsibilities.

Here are 2 brief explanations of the roles I took on:

http://creativeskillset.org/creative_industries/film/job_roles/758_director

Film art: an Introduction: Page 5-10

BORDWELL,David and THOMPSON,Kristin (2013). Film art: An Introduction. 10th ed., McGraw Hill, New York

Producers are responsible in 4 main parts of the production process: 

Funding and finding the scriptwriter.

Preparation.

Shooting.

Assembly.

With this in mind I had to make sure that I was always easy to contact and available to solve problems as soon as possible. I had to ensure that I planned for everything and constantly make schedules and team meetings to discuss the progress. As a producer, these processes will overlap so you have to be prepared for if something happens in each process. Keeping in contact with the team and cast ensures that you don't miss any changes because as the process develops everything will change from the script to the shot list. Directors however, have to be visual and creative throughout the process and work mainly on the shoot itself. Directors have to be able to bring the script to life and guide everyone. The director usually has assistants to set up shots and get everything in place. The director needs to know and be ready for all the questions people will ask as the team sets up. The director is asked questions about everything. Both roles are very demanding and need crucial amounts of detail and planning. Taking this on board, I need to constantly be able to answer questions and make sure I cover everything when talking to everyone involved in the process. I need to plan for any issue that might come up and keep preparing myself and my team to keep them motivated. 

2 Existing short films.

Sign language - Oscar Sharp 2010. Even though this film had more of a documentary feel I think that it's a really strong short piece of work that has a clear message and sets this message out in a way that doesn't feel rushed. It keeps the viewer engaged with the variety of shots included and doesn't break away from the story for too long. I really liked how the camera felt hand held as it felt a little more personal to me and told more of a story. I think in my piece this can be important as it will seem more real and not so staged and rehearsed especially in the narration pieces with cutaways. I really liked how vivid the colours were and this seemed to be an important factor in the story as I felt it showed the contrast between a man who loves his job as a sign holder and he rest of the world being more negative about theirs. The bright colours certianly added a nice contrast as it was a really dull and rainy day. It all brings out personality and narrative in a really interesting way. This has inspired my piece as I would like colour to accentuate characters personalities as they're both contrasting people and with the story and dialogue limited, it'll really help he story.    

Le Miror - Ramon and Pedro 2010. This piece felt totally different to Sign Language and was more of a dramatic and stylised piece of work. What first stood out to me was how the point of view shots really grabbed your attention and instantly make you ask about the films themes. It was done in a way that felt natural and realistic. In my film I think this could bring the narrated scenes a bit of depth and variety especially in terms of shots. The piece is repetitive in a really clever way and doesn't bore you it just makes you more interested. I really liked how the colours set the tone here and worked well with the repetition throughout. It's similar to the repetition of the job in Sign Language but shown in a more emotive way through showing darker colours. I think the sound in this film also makes you think more about the themes and narrative as there's no real dialogue only the sounds you would typically hear in the bathroom. You really sympathise with the character and wonder what has triggered him and I think to do this in 5 minutes is difficult and this has inspired me to write strong stories for my characters. 

Character Bios

To help the actors get an idea for the character in terms of costume, personality and the more visual aesthetic I created small character bios for them both. It helped them to prepare for the role and know what kind of character I wanted. As you can see, I included details of their personality and  what they would act like. 

Pitch & Treatment

Idea development and process

As a group we came up with 2 ideas that we could work with. We had a team meeting to discuss the 2 ideas and found that my idea wasn't quite there yet and was lacking an ending to the piece. Due to the time limits we thought it was best to go with the first idea. Throughout the process however, I kept working on my script and getting an idea in place as a contingency.

The first idea:
This was our first idea that we started developing as a team. It was based on dream sequences and awkward relationships between a couple and an ex partner, set on a plane going to Kuala Lumpur. We had a lot of ideas that would have developed this idea further, however as a group we decided this story was lacking a strong narrative and was too difficult for a 5 minute short film. We also had an issue with locations as a plane was too difficult and some team members did disagree on the location. This could have been communicated better to save us time. We did do some research into other options such as tutorial videos and different locations such as trains or waiting rooms to give that inescapable feeling.
http://www.videocopilot.net/blog/2012/03/new-tutorial-mid-air-emergency/

The second and final idea:

Whirlwind.

A story about infatuation and young love that's positive and changes the way we think about love. 

As the first idea fell through I made sure that as a team we worked together to help develop the idea I had created as a contingency. We were really lucky that we had a contingency with everything in place. After we changed our idea our communication and team work drastically improved as I made sure everyone contributed and no one was left panicking about the process. We changed idea mainly because mine was achievable and ready to film straight away as I had been working continuously on a script and story. Through email communication I got the help of my team to help me develop a visual idea for the piece. 

I also created short back stories for the characters by answering a series of questions. Even though I didn't answer them all it gave me an idea of who the characters were and what they would act like and wear.

We looked at existing short films on Vimeo that were similar to how we wanted to structure our piece. This helped us to think about how we'd tell quite a developed story into a simple short 5 minute drama. 

https://vimeo.com/63898509 - what I liked about this and took on board the most was how the music and sound stood out. It wasn't over the top so your attention was never diverted away from the story - which is based on real events. The sound and music was really crisp and clear and worked well with the theme of the piece which is why it was so subtle.

https://vimeo.com/60959747 - as a short film I felt that the story fitted in very well in 17 minutes and didn't feel rushed. The camera moves fluently and helps you glide through the story.

overall process

The overall process has been a mixture of learning and doing. We've all had to work really hard as a small team to get this project finished and I am really proud that we got it done despite all the changes we had to encounter. Even though there are parts of the film that still need a little improving, as a team we've done really well at learning new techniques and getting this project off the ground in the short time frame we had.

Things were extremely difficult in pre production as we never got chance to pitch our first idea and get feedback from it. I feel this hindered our work and we weren't prepared for reactions to the script/idea. I think changing to a simple idea really paid off and the idea was well organised and structured. Due to the filming times we had to use though, it didn't quite bring the script to life, especially in terms of location.

I think the shoot was the easiest part of the process despite there only being me and Myles available to shoot. Because of the strong and positive relationship we had with the actors however, I feel that this is why it was so easy. None of us felt pressured to get it filmed, we took our time and made sure everything was planned out perfectly so we didn't feel overwhelmed especially as it was 2 of us filming instead of 4-6 people like most other groups. I think that having a small group made us have more work but through communication managed a fine balance.

I feel that sometimes people in the team didn't communicate well and either never replied to messages or gave very late replies. I think that this made us have some differences when it came to what would be in the edit. I think the teamwork was good but often felt a little awkward when people didn't reply when we all needed help and opinions. I think after having tutorials we realised that we all needed to meet up and discuss what had been done so far and move on. I think our teamwork overall has maybe given off a bad impression but it was actually really good and I think the small problems we did have we came to terms with and learnt from. Overall, it didn't affect our edit, or anything in Post production. The edit was difficult as we had to learn new techniques such as syncing sound and mixing the levels. This still isn't perfect but as a learning curve is definitely something to reflect on and keep working on.