Pre Production Unit - Music and Sound Design Research & My Choices

Since this production will be very visual and by looking at all my previous research, I realise that sound design will be really important to this project. I wanted to look at some tracks and sound effects that I feel will be really important to include. I started thinking about it when I was watching some experimental films for research. I particularly noticed it when watching 'INK by Jake McNeil. He uses sound a lot to amplify what we are seeing on screen. You can see this video below:

The video starts with the score straight away sounding ominous and setting the tone as the title of the film appears. As everything fades to black, we hear a sound effect of a match striking and then a candle being lit. The score is being played in the background with the match striking sound overlayed on top to give it more authenticity. What we get next is a short burst of clips distorted in colours of red and blue which appears to be the main colour palette of this film. As the clips appear, there is a sound that cuts in time with it also distorted. This really heightens the visuals that appear and makes it more effective. From black, we then see a girl appear, presumably the one who was in the distortion before. As she appears we hear a light switch sound. This is a nice effect as it is in sync allowing us to feel like she appears at the flick of a switch. At this time the score is still eerily played in the background. We hear more sound effects of her breathing but quite echo like as if it's distant and not there. There are 3 cuts when we hear the breaths but the sound doesn't jump creating a smooth transition between the shots. The score gets louder as the camera gets closer to her face creating intensity. At the end of this scene, we see her disappear and the visuals cut to black whilst hearing once again a light switch.

I feel like the sound design for this scene has really been thought about and really makes use of allowing the film to be a lot more effective. It not only heightens visuals but makes the film seem more fluid and professional. This is something I want to make sure we do with our film. I want the visuals to be clear on screen with a good appropriate score to what's happening and how I want the audience to feel. I then want to make sure sound effects are overlayed in order to compliment what we are seeing and making the film more professional and real.

The next piece I looked at was a short film by Julias Damenz who has a lot more of a complex sound design. Its called Infinite and has won many awards. You can watch the film below: 

The film starts off silent as it introduces the director. From black in a matter of seconds, we start to hear a whirring, rumbling sound just before the start of a voice over and then the first shot appears on the screen. I love how there are 3 layers to this all in a matter of seconds that when overlapped really create a seamless transition and build anticipation at the same time. I want to use this with our project preferably the intro as well as I feel this is really professional and effective. As the first shot appears on screen it quickly cuts to a different shot of a silver ball rolling. We hear a sound effect or some foley recorded of a ball rolling along the floor sped up. We then go back to the first shot and then back to the ball again before going to black. As the scene fades to black we still hear voiceover but all the other sounds have disappeared. I like the way this is done as it heightens the tone and mood of the film. 

The film then fades in with a different shot of a man lying under a sheet. A different piece of music comes in almost sounding angelic and soft. This gives a completely different feeling to what was happening in the first scene. Also, the man is moving around and placing a chair down but can't we hear him which works really well in letting us really feel the soundtrack that's being heard as well as paying attention to the voiceover. When the scene starts to intensify, a loud rumbling can be heard getting louder and louder. The man is holding the silver ball which we could hear from before. As he drops it we get a wooshing sound effect and a bang as it drops to the floor. The scene then turns white and before we can see anything but the man squinting, we hear the sound of the waves appearing as though he is by the sea. This is really clever as we are able to hear and sense things but we are not necessarily seeing them. I feel I could use this in our film creating noises associated with the scene but not necessarily seeing them. 

Overall this films complex sound design really creates the final piece to its professional level. I have understood how important it is to include sound design in our film to make sure we are hitting that standard of work. 

I decided I wanted to use a mixture of royalty free sound effects and music to make sure I am abiding by copyright laws but after listening to an array of music I really want to include some tracks that are owned by professional record labels. I have never done this before so I wanted to do some research to see if it would be possible and in our budget allowance. I had a look at a website called No Film School which had an article called "How to get a big budget song in your low budget indie film". The article explained that it is very possible to use a big budget song with hardly any money but there is a really important list of rules to follow. The first it explains is getting the artists permission. It's really important that you clear all copyright before using a song as this can create a lot of issues in the future. The next was then clearing the master rights which means going through the record label and making sure they allow permission to use the song. The third rights that you have to clear are publishing rights which is usually done on your behalf by the record label. Once all this is done the final step is negotiating payments. This can be tricky and the author of the article explained that he felt all of the rights would cost him thousands of pounds. When he contacted and explained his project and the film he was going to make as well as explaining he has hardly any money, they let him use the track for ten's of pounds let alone hundreds. 

I found a track called Movie by an artist called Habstrakt that I feel would really fit one of the scenes im planning to shoot when I visualised it in my head. I decided to find the record label and send them an email explaining I wanted to use the track. This is the email I sent: 

I got a phone call from them the following day as they wanted me to explain more information about what I was doing and the film. They told me that I was able to use the track in the film for free and they would like to review the final film before I put it into a festival to ensure it works well with their song. I'm so glad I did this and I have contacted other record labels for various different songs in a list that I compiled of all the tracks and sound effects I wish to use. You can see that list below: 

I created a colomn that said music followed by sound effects, website link and the label that its from. I feel that creating this list helps me to keep everything organised and find the sounds and music that I am looking to use really easily. I feel like I really understand sound design and realise its importance when it comes to using it in our film. 

Pre Production Unit - Casting

For the casting of this shoot I felt it was really important to get this right. I needed someone who could act really strongly to do the character justice. I also wanted to make sure I got the right look of how I was imagining the character in my head and bring her to life. I put an advert out on Mandy and star now, both casting websites that were really good at hiring actors for filming. I put the main characters name as Sophie and described what the project was about. I also gave a character breakdown so the people applying would know exactly what was expected of them. I got some applicants and I looked through their show reels to see their ability. When looking through them I didn’t feel like any of them were the right fit for the role. Some had the right look but their acting wasn’t strong enough for me to take them forward. One of them who I thought had potential was in London which wasn’t too far. I contacted them but they were not very responsive and would not reply for weeks. 

I decided that I would have to rethink and think seriously about where I could source the right actress from. I thought about previous actresses I had used which were Alessandra and Claudia. I compared the two and actually felt that Claudia would be really good for this role. She has the right sort of look I was thinking about and since I worked with her in the past I knew her acting was strong and she would have the ability to play the part. We also worked really well together on the last shoot and she said I was really professional and would love the opportunity to work with me again if I felt she would be suitable for a future role. I decided that I would give Claudia a message and asked if she would be up for working with myself and Andreya again. She replied back within the hour expressing she would love to and that she was really keen. I was so happy that she wanted to be part of the production and explained a bit about what we were thinking of doing. I also arranged a meeting with her and I went through my ideas for the script and went into a lot of detail that I knew already about the production. She said it sounded really interesting and expressed how she would be really up for playing the part. When we left the meeting myself and andreya had a long discussion and I came to the conclusion that she was the best fit for the role. I told Claudia the news and she was really pleased we had picked her to play the character. I look forward to working with her again and I know she is going to be really great in the film. After this another thing I did was arrange to meet her again to see her in a piece of costume that I had brought. She tried it on in a changing room and it was at that point I could really see what she would look like as the character. She really looked great and brought the character to life which got me really excited. I know that I have chosen the best person to play the part and I’m excited to get started. 

We are going to need a few extras in the film for the death scenes. I decided that I was going to place an advert out on Star Now as they have a section thats dedicated to people who are interested in being extras on film productions. Like casting actors, I put the name of the production and explained in detail what it was all about. I then explained what we would need for them and the type of look I needed them to be as well as when they would need to be available. After putting the advert out I have had a lot of response and I have looked through a lot of applicants to see who I feel would be ideal to be in the production. After narrowing it down I have picked the people who I feel would be suitable and have the look I am after. 

Casting has been a fairly straight forward process. I decided to start casting in my very first project back in the 1st year and this has given me a great advantage of getting to grips with the process. I feel I have casted well for the project and I cant wait to get started. 

Pre Production Unit - Choosing The Crew

Getting the right crew was a really important part of the project. I wanted to make sure I had a valuable team that would have the right skills and I would be able to work well with. We looked at people on the course going through their blogs and previous work that they had done. I was looking at some first years, second years, our year and also people that have been on the course previously. Collectively, one blog that really stood out was Cheyenne Joesph who graduated last year with a first. She had done a lot of work on her blog and showed a lot of skill in all the previous projects she had done. I then remembered how much I loved her major project last year and all the elements that went into that. When watching it, I paid particular notice to the sound. It all was very professional and had a good use of diegetic and not diegetic audio throughout. I know Cheyenne personally too as we were on the course together for two years also working with her in a professional environment for a work experience placement and she showed a lot of valuable people skills as well as dedication. We get on well which is always great to have in a team and I feel she would work hard on our production. I decided to send her a message asking her if she would like to be part of our team working on sound for our production. She replied saying that she would love to work with me and as things stand would be available at the time we are shooting. I am really grateful that she wants to be part of our team and I look forward to working with her. 

Cheyenne Joesph

I began to look at my list of who else I would need to help out with the shoot week. I decided that I would need someone who could help as a general production assistant. This person would need to have a good knowledge of all areas in the production process and would be able to assist where we need them. Again looking through blogs I found that Rebecca Bennett had a great portfolio. She graduated with a first last year and was really knowledgeable all round. I also was lucky enough to help out for her major project last year and saw she worked really hard and was really efficient in everything she did. She was specialising as a director so she would understand what I was doing in my role but also everyone else’s roles where she could help out with. I messaged her asking if she would be up for working the general production assistant role in our shoot to which she replied that she had nothing planned that week and would be really happy too. 

Rebecca Bennett

Since we wanted to do storyboarding for this project in order to give us the best chance to see how the project would look visually, Myself and Andreya both said we weren’t very good at drawing. We could have done the storyboarding but they would not look as professional as someone who had some art experience. Andreya looked into storyboard artists online but it was quite expensive as they would have to be paid by the hour. We then had the idea to use Megan who we know as I knew she had done some art in the past. She showed us her portfolio and I was very impressed with how well she could draw. It was a wide range of things like people, animals and general scenery which we both felt would be perfect to draw what we were looking for. She agreed to produce the drawings of the storyboards and they turned out really well. They helped so much in terms of being able to see the production before its been made and the drawings were really detailed and much better than if we had attempted to do them ourselves. Overall I think getting outside help to do this was a really important and the right thing to do for the project.  

Megan Sach

Lastly, I felt like hair and makeup was so vital to this shoot. None of us are experienced in this area at all and we wanted the character to look as good as we possibly could. Having a makeup artist would enhance the characters look along with the costume and since the character was elegant and quite glamorous I felt having one would be able to achieve this look as best as possible. Since I didn’t know any people that were in this field I decided to put out an advert on Star Now which is a casting website that specialises in hiring all areas for a production. After putting the advert out I got several replies and so I looked through each of the applicants. They all had photos that I could look through to see their work which was really useful. I then decided to contact the best 3 that I thought would be suitable. After looking at this I found that Rebecca Taylor was the best out of the three. She replied within 24 hours and I asked her some general questions like her availability over the shoot week, if she drove and if she would be able to do what we were expecting in terms of our characters look. She replied saying yes to all and so I decided to give her a call to speak to her. She seemed really nice and had a lot of experience in masterclasses for film shoot makeup and qualifications in hair and beauty. I told her she had got the job and she is really excited about working with me and the rest of the crew on the shoot. 

Rebecca Taylor

Overall I feel like I have assembled a really great cast. They all have the experience I am looking for and show promise through previous work and qualifications. I am very pleased with my choices and I can’t wait till we all work together in February. 

Pre Production Unit - Shot List

In previous projects I have always done as shot list. I find them really helpful when on shoot to make sure I am constantly following a guided list of what shot im doing, what framing it needs to be and whats happening in the scene. I wanted to take this one step further to try and make a shotlist that was as professional and as useful as it can be. I found a great article on a website called TechSmith called "How to write a shot list that will transform your video". On this, it explains all the in's and out's of what actually needs to be involved. It starts of by explaining that a shot list maps out exactly what will occur and what will be used in a particular shot, or scene of the film. It says that shot lists are a vital part of the pre production process and is really helpful for the director when in production.

 I decided to look into some research of previous film productions as I wanted a shot list of this standard. After looking through different ones I felt the best one that stood out for me was a shot list that Christopher Nolan had made for his feature film Memento. You can see this below:

I felt this was really clear and made complete sense to why he had done it in this way. I decided to have a go at creating my own for the shoot that I will be directing. You can see this below: 

I started with my shot numbers down the side followed by whether the scene was interior or exterior. I then put the shot type whether that was mid shot (MS), wide shot (WS), extreme close up (ECU) etc to tell me about the framing I needed. I then added a column that showed what level the shot would be like Eye Level (EL) or High angle (HA) which was then followed by what type of equipment we would need for the shot and the direction of movement. In the final colomn I talked anout the scene that the shot was from and again reilliterated what happens with the camera. I am really pleased with my production of this shot list as I feel its professional and will really help me with the shoot. 

Pre Production Unit - The Script 1st Draft

Writing the script was a very difficult process for me. Although I have done some research on how to format it and some writers, I always have found the task a challenge getting whats going through my head into words and onto paper. I can lay it out like a script, I can write a story, but it never really materialises the way I want it to. In my head I've got such exciting visions and I can see the whole film from start to finish, but when I put it in a script it almost seems dulled down and doesnt read in the way I want it to. In order to try and over come this I decided really early on that I have a better chance If I can get a clear structure layed out and have the visuals all wrote up on paper before hand which you can see I have done in previous posts. This really helped me to break everything down and understand where I was going when I was writing. Another struggle I had was that this was not a straight forward story and trying to work out how to write this down was becoming a bit of a battle but with my visuals I was able to make a start. Once I started writting I pictured the first scene in my head and I could clearly see it. Through previous research, describing the scene is important so the reader can try to understand your vision. I started describing the scene and eventually the story flowed. I could imagine the character and what was happening. Since I had chosen not to do a lot of dialogue as I wanted this to be all about what was seen, I realised I had to be really descriptive in order to move the story forward. I included the voice over of the poem in all the relevant sections but continued to describe what was happening to make sure the story was continuing to flow. There is a shock kill scene that breaks the story up and keeps it interesting about two thirds of the way through as I wanted to lead the audience into a false sense of security. Overall Im happy with what Ive done and will amend it with Simons feedback. You can see the script below:

Pre Production Unit - Budget Sheet

Through research I felt it was really important to create a budget sheet that was going to reflect our shoot well. I started by looking up a few examples online of how a budget sheet is created making sure mine will look proffessional and would contain all the relevant information. I found a few articles that explained I needed to break it down into catergories. This will make it easier to read and allows you to seperate where the money is going. You can see a few examples below:

I decided I wanted to go further and really break it down even more. I wrote up all of the things that I knew we would need to budget for and put it into a spreadsheet. I also added formulars to make sure as I was updating things along the way it would update itself making things accurate. You can see an example of the budget sheet I have created and what I have managed to do below:

As you can see I've split it into categories starting with travel expenses. This I based off how many people would be traveling with me in the car and how many people are getting the train. I worked out the train costs and added that into the sheet followed by the number of days they would be working on the shoot, how much it costs per day and the total cost per shoot. I lastly added a reciept column so we could keep track of the reciepts we have gained and whos paid for it. This format is the same for each one like food, equipment rental and location fees. The one thats slightly different is costume, props and micellaneous. I wanted to make sure on this table we had an item column and a company column so I could keep track what the item was and where it was from. There is also a delivery cost that I have factored in aswell. Finally I added a total costs section at the bottom which is all formulated with each table so that I can see how much we are up to on each section as well as an overall total thats displayed lastly on the sheet. Overall I am very pleased with this budget sheet. Its really easy to read, its useful and has helped me to calculate everything in a really organised and proffesional way.

Pre Production Unit - Mid Point Presentation

Yesterday we had a midpoint presentation. Since we have changed our idea from the green light pitch, we had to present an entirely new presentation. This included all of the work that we have done on the new idea right up until this point. You can see the presentation myself and Andreya made below:

As you can see we have a similar format to the last presentation but its all been redesigned to fit with the branding and theme we are going for with the new project. We went for a black background with yellow/ gold headings and white text. This is very much how the book is going to look. We also feel it has a classy look with 3 colours to keep it simplistic and not overbearing with colour as well as the goldish text against the black. I started talking to the group telling them that we had a completely new concept. I explained what the idea was and what the story entails. Andreya then talked about the branding work she had done before moving onto the scripting. I spoke about the script that is currently in development and how I was moving forward with the story and what I was writing about. I then talked about shot lists and schedules explaining where I was in development with that. I then moved onto locations explaining that we have some in mind and that some are confirmed and some are still in progress. There is a few images on the presentation and we talked about them in detail of how they are related to the production. I then talked about the crew and that we are still looking for people but that will come together soon. Although I am nearly finished with casting there is still a little bit of work to do so I made sure I touched on this. We finished the side showing the next steps that we are hoping to take forward as we want to show the class where we are at.

Overall we got some great feedback. Although we seem to be a little behind everyone else as we have started from scratch, people explained that they felt we had made great progress considering and are still on track to completing all of the work on time. Simon liked the new idea and also felt we had made good progress but I just need to make sure we are continuing to progress forwards to get the work done. We were told we presented really well and confident as well as being clear and easy to understand. I am very pleased with how the presentation went and will continue to push forwards in this pre-production unit.