Major Project Production Unit - Assisting The Edit 4

Now that we have got feedback from both Beth and Simon, we once again worked on trying to get the end scene looking as good as it can be. We both looked at experimenting with it in different ways. We first of all tried to make the scene more fast paced however this didnt really work as the shots didnt really work together and the film did not flow quite right. I then suggested about putting the shot of Sophie at the dressing table in for longer to help transition into the final scene better. This really helped and made the ending seem less rushed as it gave a more gradual build.

I next had a look after the dialogue part. As it stood it felt like the dialogue happened and then she just walked over and went to hit Karen with the iron. I felt there needed to be a transision that felt connected to the film as a whole. I was thinking of a few ways we could do it but the strongest possiblity was to add an extra bit of voice over at the end that signified everything before that scene was her reveling in what she could have but hasnt got. I also felt the voiceover could help disconnect dreaming from reality. I managed to get Claudia back to the voice over recording room to do a few different lines for us. After this we over laid them in the edit and worked out what fitted best. We finally settled on the line "a time never more perfect... to stop dreaming". This line worked really well as it did everything I wanted it to do. It helped make it clear to the audience that now was reality and before was just dreams and hopefulness but it also helped transition into the final scene better.

I then suggested about putting some flashbacks in which Drey put into the edit. This worked well giving a little overview of what we have seen in the film and reinforcing that she was wishing and dreaming. I then had an idea to put in flashes from the part where Sophie was fantasising about Killing Lorna overlayed with the fact that this time she was doing it for real. This I felt worked really well and also connected the film even more. I also changed the music for the ending which helped it flow better and made the scene more exciting to watch being more dramatic and helping it build to its pinnicle point at the end. Overall I feel the edit is a really great as we borth poured so much time and effort into it. We spent a lot of time perfecting it as much as we could and making sure the story was clear and that the twist was understandable. I am very pleased with how the film has turned out and I cant wait to see what the grade looks like on it.

Major Project Production Unit - Feedback From Beth and Simon

Its really great that we were able to get some important feedback today from both Beth and Simon as we are at the point where all the film is on the timeline and at a fine cut. Although the ending needed tightening, I felt this was the first time that they could see it as a whole and see if it all comes together well. We had scheduled to have a tutorial with Beth in the afternoon and see Simon after but unfortunatly the computers were down due to an IT issue and we were not able to access the edit. Myself and Andreya both spoke to Beth and explained our situation as we would still of loved to get her feedback. She understood that it was a situation we could not help and she would still be willing to give feedback if we sent her a link through Simon to review it and send us an email back.

Once the computers were back up we sent Simon a link to the edit. The following day myself and Andreya recieved an email which had both Simon and Beths feedback on it. You can see the email below:

This feedback was really helpful for us to move forward with the edit. I feel Simons comments about the audio are exactly what we need to focus on to make sure everything is up to standard. Beths comments about the grade are something that we plan to do when the edit is finished so this is something that I will ensure we focus on once its done. Both of them mention the ending which is what we both expected. They explained that the ending feels a little bit rushed and that I needed some different music. It also could be experiemented with more with different shots and angles to make it work well with the other scenes. Myself and Andreya will work on this to make sure we get it looking as good as it can be.

Major Project Production Unit - Research And Blocking

Blocking was something that was very important to me. I knew some of the scenes would be quite complex with what I wanted to do. I first of all decided to do some research looking at how blocking can be done effectively. When looking at articles I came across one on a website called New York Film Academy. This explained that there are 5 stages to blocking effectively.

1. Determine where the actors are going to be

2. Work out the lighting

3. Rehearse the blocking

4. Make Adjustments 

5. Shoot the scene

It also explained that its good to know where you are placing the camera to make sure the action is captured in the best possible way. Since Andreya is focusing on the lighting as it helps to coinside with camera settings and the way a scene looks, I decided my soul focus should be on how the rooms and locations are laid out as well as where the actors are, where they are heading, and where the camera is pointing/ moving. To give me a better idea on how this is done, I looked into some images from professional film shoots to make sure my blocking would be as affective as possible. You can see some of them below: 

From these I have produced my own plans. When I was certain we were filming at a location and after I had done a recce, I was able to produce the plans more accurately to each room. I used my shotlist and worked out where the actresses and cameras were for each scene. Ive selected some extracts from the plan so you can see what I have done. 

Bradbourne House:

With bradbourne house, this was the first location that I was filming in so in order for it to go smoothly I had to make sure my blocking was all planned out. One of the more complex shots was for the opening scene where Sophie is walking through the house. She walked through 3 different rooms and ended up by a piano. I wanted to try and do this all in one take to show her journey through the grandness of her house. Starting from the hallway, she walks forwards through a corridor, into the large open grand entrance room and then turning left into the piano room. It took some time and planning but I worked out the best way to do this with the camera in front of her. The camera would track backwards through both the first rooms and then turn into the piano room whilst backing into the corner to let her come past and stop at the piano. This was really complex but doing the blocking diagrams really helped me to understand how its going to work and helped me to explain to Andreya and Claudia where I wanted them to be. You can see a copy of this shot below as well as another shot in the piano room.

London:

The London scenes were a bit different in terms of blocking. I wanted to get so many different shots but I could not allow for the public that would be around us. I had to block as if it was an empty place but think carefully about what may be too difficult or potentially dangerous like crossing roads. following my shotlists I was able to plan effectively and it gave me a clear guide to all of the shots I needed to get and the overall movement of both Claudia and the camera.

Stonewall Park:

Stonewall park had a lot of scenes to block for. These ones took the most time as there were so many objects to allow for in each room but drawing them I felt was really important as I could plan paths around them. One scene in particular that I feel really helped to block was the dinning room scene. When going on a location recce I realised there were a lot of mirrors in this room. Drawing out the room and looking at where the mirrors were, I could find out what was going to work in terms of shot types and angles. I could tell that putting the camera to the right of side of the room would work a lot better than the left side of the room as you would see the camera in the mirrors. Another scene that I found interesting to block was the corridor walking scene. I found it very useful to block going from one floor to another as it was something I could not see when just looking at it. Blocking these scenes meant I could be on both floors looking at how the shots will move. 

Who'd A Thought It: 

This location was interesting to block for as I had to try and find a way of utilising a smaller space to what we had shot in all the other locations. In one of the scenes there was also 2 characters interacting with eachother with dialogue and a lot of movement all in one shot. The blocking for this scene really helped me to understand the whole scene knowing where the characters come in, where both of them are going and where the camera is and the movement of it.

Overall I feel that blocking has been a huge learning curve for me. I really understand how much help it can be to map out everything in a scene before you get to a shoot. Understanding where the actors are, where they are going and whats in the room really helped me to know where to put the camera and make sure I am capturing all the action in the right places.  

Major Project Production Unit - Assisting The Edit 3

Now that we have shot all of our scenes we could both start to see the film coming together as a whole. Now that I have chosen new music for the edit I can really visualise the film as one piece. Changing the music was a really good decision as I feel it has really taken the project up a level sounding professional and linking all the scenes together really well.

Over the past couple of weeks, Myself and Andreya watched the film several times and made tweaks and adjustments to try and tighten the edit as much as possible. We have also worked on a new scene that we re-shot at The Who'd A Thought It. This scene was the part at the end of the film that really resolved everything. I felt that this scene had to be really strong or the whole point of the story would not work. Drey laid out all the clips from the scene on the timeline and cut them together to get a rough idea of how the scene looked against the whole film. I was so relieved when I saw it to see that It did work really well although it would need a lot of work to get it working as best as it could. I worked with Andreya on getting the flow right especially from previous scenes as this scene was so different. Its still not quite there yet but hopefully the feedback with Simon and Beth can help us to make sure it gets to the point it needs to be at. 

When looking at all the previous scenes, I would watch the whole thing through and then suggest to Drey how we can tighten everything up a little bit more. I helped with trimming a few scenes down as well as re cutting a bit at the end of the garden scene to flow more with the music and fit better. I also made a few shot changes in Picadilly to help with some continuity issues like seeing her walking one way in one shot followed by her walking in the opposite direction in another which really looked strange. I then helped suggest to Drey about tightening the voiceover. It was coming in where it need to be but I felt it a few of them needed to hit at different points. Moving these around a little bit helped to really impact what she was saying against the visuals that were on screen. 

I watched the whole thing through again and I realised there was one part of the film that really did not work. This is the scene where Fiona is hiding in the wardrobe and Karen is laying on the floor dead. I feel this scene was taking a way from the film. It was almost like it was not needed and did not even need to be there. It was adding complications that I feel people would be confused by and was the weakest point in the film. I asked Drey to cut the scene completely and we then re watched to see the difference. The film worked much better with out the scene being in there. It allowed the film to flow well and get rid of any unnecessary complications that had no real effect on the overall story. Im really pleased I decided to cut this and feel it really has benefited the film as a whole.

Major Project Production Unit - Shoot Day: The Who'd A Thought It

Since this is a reshoot I already had a good idea of how I am going to do the scenes that we needed to shoot this day. I had sent call sheets to everyone a few days before to ensure that everyone knew what time to arrive as well as a schedule break down of what we were doing on the day. Being producer, I also had to ensure there were no schedule conflicts and that the date coincided with everyones availability.

Since this was an afternoon shoot, this allowed my self and Andreya to go down to the location in the morning and set up in the room we are using. We arrived at 8am and set up all the equipment ensuring everything was working and in place. I also wanted to use the track for these scenes to continue with fludity and movement of shots. Once everything was set up I went through my blocking and shot list to ensure I knew what I was doing in each scene and that the lighting all worked. I had a few issues with mirrors and this was meant to be an upstairs bedroom however the room was on the ground floor so I had to ensure there were no shots showing outside which took some minor reconfigurations. Happy with how everything was looking, we decided to break for lunch and then pick up Claudia our actress and take her back to my house. Its there she would be able to do her hair and make up and then get changed into her costume before heading to the shoot.

Once we got to the shoot I went through all of the blocking with Claudia showing her where I wanted to stand at certain points as well as where the camera will be on each shot and the type of performance I wanted her to deliver. This took a little bit of time as I wanted to ensure she was completly confident in what she was doing. After this, Karen and Fiona, our other actresses, arrived at the shoot and I was able to do the same with them. I also went through some rehearsal scenes with them all as these were shots where they were going to be interacting with eachother so I felt it was important that they got that right.

After the rhearsals, we were ready to begin shooting. The first scene we did was the wardrobe scene. This is where Fiona was hiding in the wardrobe and claudia discovers her. I wanted these scenes to be long and drawn out to build tension so I used the track and dolly to slowly move forwards towards the wardrobe as you hear fiona crying. This I feel worked really well. Next we shot Claudia walking towards the wardrobe with the iron. I feel this works really well and I wanted to focus on claudia expression as you heard the crying in the background. She looks unphased and quite happy which really heightens a different side of her character and makes her look psychotic. We ran through this scene a couple of times with a few different angles as I wanted to ensure we had enough to work with in the edit in terms of cuts. Once this was done we then filmed the scenes where Karen was dead on the floor. I was a little bit unsure about how this bit looked. Although I specificallly did not want there to be blood as this is meant to be a dream sequence, it felt staged and unnatural with Karen laying on the floor but I feel with the right editing the scene could work. I wanted a few takes and different types of movements to ensure we had the best chance with making the shot work. We then moved onto the scenes where Sophie comes in and hits Lorna over the head with an iron. I decided to go with what we had done last time as after reviewing the shots, I feel it works really well. Claudia would approach Karen slowly before leaping towards her and prentending to strike. I then wanted  different shot where Sophie hits Lorna so I made it low angle pointing upwards and quite tight replacing karen with pillows so that when Sophie strikes it looks like shes hitting Karen but she isnt. My goal is to get the right cut between the shots in the edit so it looks authentic and realistic.

Finally we moved onto the dialogue scene. This was the most challenging as I wanted the performances to be spot on and not cheesy. I wanted to do over the shoulder shots as well as a close up of Claudia, a close up of Karen, mid shots of them individually as well as a long shot of them both. I decided to get this scene as good as I could get. I would run the whole scene atleast 6 times for each shot to enable the flow and motion between shots to be right. This took up a lot of time and it was really tight towards the end but overall I am really happy with how these turned out.

Overall I am pleased with this reshoot. After seeing the footage I am really glad we did this. I feel the shots are a lot more elevated compared to the last ones and the whole scene flows really well. The room decor is a lot brighter, cleaner and more elegant than the last but It also matched with the other locations so in the edit it should all come together as one house. Im really pleased with how this all went and I cant wait to see how it all fits in the edit.

Major Project Production Unit - The Who'd A Thought It Call Sheet And Schedule

Just like the other shoot days, I find call sheets really important for everyone to know what they are doing on the day. Making these and sending them out have been a key part of making the shoot day go smoothley running on time as well as letting people know what time they have to be ready by, where they have got to get to, and what is expected from them on the day. I decided to do the same for the reshoot as although we have acted the scene out before, its in a new location and at different times so I felt it was important to give an updated version. You can see a copy of the call sheet below: 

Major Project Production Unit - Location Recce: The Who'd A Thought It

At Stonewall Park, we shot a scene were Lorna is killed with the iron and the dialogue scene towards the end of the scene. We had some camera issues here and the shots did not turn out as I had hoped for. There was grain and the audio did not sound great. I felt in order to keep the standard up with the rest of the film, it is really important that we redo this scene. I was not happy with the decor of the bedroom at Stonewall park either so I felt it was important that we shot somewhere that was glamours and would tie in with the elegant theme of the film and what I feel Lorna's bedroom would look like.

I began to research online and look at places in Kent that could convey this look as well as matching the other locations we filmed at to ensure it all looks like one place. I emailed Chilston park hotel, Barham Court and a few other places but no one was getting back to me. I suddenly remembered that there was a place called 'The Who'd A Thought It' that I had heard about and had seen on TV and was known for being extravagant and luxurious looking. I looked on their website and some of the rooms I felt would be perfect for what I am trying to achieve. I sent the owner an email to which he replied with interest in helping us and to give him a call. I phoned him and explained what we was filming and what we needed it for. I explained we were students on a very tight budget to which he said he would do it for free. I then asked if I could come and have a look at the place which he agreed to go and see later on that afternoon.

Myself and Andrea arrived and met the owner as she showed us around the suites he could offer us. The first one was called The Ace Of Spades Suite. This room was a lovely size but was really dark which I feel would be a problem for us to work with lighting issues. The room was also a little too much and I feel would not fit in with the other places we had filmed at. There were also a lot of mirrors which could complicate things with the scene we were trying to film. 

The next room we looked at was the Coliseum Suite. This room was brighter and more colourful but was really over the top for the style we was going for. Although I want it to be luxurious and grand, this room felt a little bit too much and would not connect with the other scenes well. I also feel that Lorna's bedroom would not look in this way and she wouldn't choose the decor. There was also a huge picture of the Rome Coliseum which wouldn't have looked right. 

We were finally shown a room called The Roederer Cristal Suite. This room was perfect and I felt would really work with the film. It had a glamours decor but was a lot more understated than the other rooms. The room had a lot of space which would work for me blocking wise as well as neutral colours that would match the other locations. It also had a large chandelier in the middle which added a nice touch. 

After speaking with the owner Joe, I have decided to go with the Cristal suite as I feel it fits the film best. Although its subject to availability being allowed to film in there as long as its not booked out, I feel this room will work really well.