Trick of the Dark - Update (17/05/18)

Today we finally wrapped on Trick of the Dark. As the deadline of our extension is on the 21st, today we had our final shoot in time for the footage to be edited for the hand-in date. Our final shoot was in the cave, the location where more than two thirds of the film takes place. The shoot was in place so that the director could shoot some scenes which were narrative potholes within the film. The scene we shot today will hopefully add onto what is already a semi-coherent narrative. I was there today to be of service as producer. We were originally set to turn up at 10 where we would meet our actors, but we pushed that back to 11 this morning due to the fact that we had to get the equipment first. Evidently we have learned from our past mistakes on this project. There have been times when we have turned up late for our actors, on numerous occasions. Today ran a lot better. We got there for around quarter past 10. It takes us roughly 15-20 minutes to walk down to the beach with all the equipment, and when we got there I said that I would set back off to meet the actors whilst the crew set up. I was enjoying the fresh air and I would have had little to do anyway, so I made the trek back to the car park. The actors arrived around 20 past 11. I escorted them down to the cave where the crew were all set up. From there on out we had an extremely punctual shoot, lasting until around one o'clock. The director got all the shots he needed, and I was there to mark everything down on the log. The footage and the log have been passed directly on to the editor who started editing the footage shortly after the shoot. Despite the shortcomings on this project over the last few months this was a nice way to end it, and I hope we've eventually made something of redeeming quality. 

Below is the production log from the shoot. 

Trick of the Dark - Update (15/05/18)

Today we had another shoot for Trick of the Dark. Over this week, between the 14th and the 21st, our deadline extension is in full effect. This extra week has been given to us to see the completion of the film. Today we had organised one of the shoots for the evening. The content of the shoot was going to be the interior scenes with Scotts wife, a character who appears in the current cut in the film without any prior mention. The aim of this shoot was to establish the characters position, and that is the fact that she doesn't know where she is. We of course already know that he is trapped in a cave. The scenes we shot today were essentially information fillers as I would call them, which make further sense of the story we currently have. 

When we arrived at the location which was a house, we got there around 7:00PM. We soon realised we had all the equipment aside from lighting. Something either went wrong in the booking form or the collection of equipment for this to happen, but instead of focusing on it we had to figure a way around it. I suggested that instead of using the indoor lighting which would look harsh and flat. In my experience house lighting can never light your subject properly as it comes from top down, and cannot be moved or adjusted to highlight or shadow a subject. Whilst I'm not a cinematographer, I understand the basics enough to point this out. Instead I suggested we use the dying light in the back garden. This offers you more stylistically and even though the lighting isn't perfect, it would be ten times better than standard house lighting. We went into the back garden and there the director and the d.o.p were able to work out what they needed. I was on production log duty, which was easy enough as there was only 10-15 shots and the sound was being recorded there and then, that way I could make note of the success of the visuals and the audio based on crew feedback. 

The shoot went smoothly in parts, though at times there was no sense of urgency. Despite the extension, there is still a clear lack of motivation for this project. It's hard to put a finger on what that is. I can only guess that it is due to this project being shot over a long period of time and not nearing completion, that this lacklustre feeling has manifested itself in everyone involved. My role is to sit quiet on set and monitor the progression. And as I have previously stated, my role on this project is not a creative one, but I will do anything I can to see it finished. 

Below is the production log from the shoot.

FMP - Summary

Today, on deadline day, I stand at the end of my degree reflecting on all the things I have done. Despite being able to weigh up the good and the bad, and all the decisions I have made as an individual and as part of a collective, there isn't a single thing I'd say I'd like to change. And that to me is the perfect way to conclude an incredible experience. The mistakes I have made may have been costly, but I never like to see them as a mistake, only a lesson. Two days ago I was on an ITV set of Dickinson's Real Deal. I had landed myself some paid work as a runner. It is on that day that I realised how much my degree actually meant. Being able to see professional camera operators, sound mixers, producers and directors in one place working as a collective made total sense. It wasn't all that different from the structure we know within our crews, and despite the scale of it all the informality was still there. I was boom operator for the day, shadowing a camera operator and recording the sound in camera with a guy named JB. We got on really well on the day, and as I previously stated, I had always undervalued my degree in all honesty, seeing it as nothing like the actual industry. I had built up this romanticised idea of the 'industry' in my head where everything runs like clockwork and there are no mistakes to be made, with no spontaneity. I was very wrong. The spontaneity ran the show as we circled the venue shooting anything of interest. One of the most intriguing things for me to have seen on that day was a fully qualified camera operative with 30 years in the industry struggle with a tripod screw as we do on a daily basis. Even better, being able to help him pack up the equipment without struggle due to all the experience I have had doing just that. We also had a fantastic discussion over our dinner break about film stock - in which JB was extremely surprised and somewhat enthusiastic about the fact that CCAD offers us an opportunity to work on 16mm film. His own words were - "the fact that you've had experience on film leads me to believe you will have discipline within the field" meaning camerawork. He is right in that sense, and even though that was repeated over and over again during the 16mm film module, when it comes out of a professionals mouth it all makes sense to you. I thoroughly enjoyed the day and I had the chance to speak to some ITV producers, the only thing that could top that would be to eavesdrop on ITV producers. Which I did. All day. At the end of the day I shook hands with JB, and we both admitted it had been a pleasure. We got on really well and after a bad start with sound operating side of things, he taught me a hell of a lot. The guidance he gave me will stay with me for a long time. He told me to add him on Facebook, and as I had mentioned my interest in camerawork he said his best friend and business partner is looking for a camera assistant. I will undoubtedly follow up on that lead. Another crew member even had the chance to get a snap of me at work. 

In terms of my degree, this year has really ramped up the pace for me and that's the way I like it. I have that one of the most important elements for anyone involved in a production is momentum. Once you get into your research and the shooting of a project, the creativity flows naturally and takes on forms of its own. Its when you stop for a brief period - such as Easter, that the momentum breaks down and comes to a halt. At that point it becomes difficult to pick up the pace again, for everyone. As a director or as a producer thats where you have to step up and show people why the project is worth it, and lead by example. Even though admittedly it has been very hard to do that at times, you have to get your head down and get on with it, and without a doubt that momentum will pick up again. This is what has made FMP such an incredible experience. For 7 months of my life that momentum has been ongoing, and each day I have woken up with a vest and a new outlook that has enabled me to continue with my work. Although FMP officially began in January 2018, for me it began in November 2017 with the screenplay. The writing side of Echoes of Silence was quite a lonely thing. You have to sit on your own, creating a world of your accord. The exciting thing is the thought of then creating sets, gathering your crew, and going out to shoot that screenplay. For me thats where the fun begins, the sociable and tiresome side of filmmaking where everyone is walking through blistering rain with a heavy piece of equipment just for a shot or two. There's no reason to be doing it if you don't like it, and with my Final Major Project I have loved every minute. 

I have discussed many times in this blog my ideas about going forward. Despite my love of this degree and the people I have met, I somewhat feel that only half of my passion has been catered for. I equally enjoy the academic side of the process. Reading and writing on the subject of film studies, and contextual understanding. This is why I am going forward onto a MA degree in the field of film theory. Not only this but the degree caters for the side of me that loves practical filmmaking. Although I do feel that I am ready for the industry, I am holding off right now by going into my MA degree. I am confident in my abilities and although I feel like I can offer something to the film and television industry, I want to fully understand my craft before I can do that. I anticipate that my MA degree will allow me a greater understanding of both theoretical and practical filmmaking practices. In two years time when I am 23 years old, I will have had 6 years of theory and practice experience in my arsenal. Whilst I am always striving to be better, I understand and acknowledge that there is no limit to this profession. I will never be the best I can be, and I will never be content. I can fully accept this as part of my life and be happy with it. 

I would ordinarily be quite sad to be leaving CCAD behind, with all the great people I have met and all the great times I have had. But as I discussed in the beginning of this post, I would not change a thing for good or bad, and that is the perfect state of mind to be leaving behind something which has been part of my life for 3 years. It may be deadline day today but my degree is far from over. Over the next few weeks the time I have will play a crucial part in the success of Echoes of Silence. There are a lot of specific details which have to be acknowledged and altered in the edit in time for the VUE show, the deadline for that is June 1st. I hope by then that Echoes of Silence is as good as it can possibly be, as a testament of my time at CCAD and for the audience on the 11th of June. 

GoFundMe - Completion

Today the GoFundMe was completed, just in time for hand-in! We reached our goal of £500 with the help of our friends and family collectively, and through sharing the campaign across our social media platforms. At the start of the campaign over a month ago, I thought we would struggle to reach this amount. Whilst at times it did seem like we weren't going to get there, we had the occasional surge which edged us closer and closer each week. I feel like the importance of the money coming in from the GoFundMe page has been understated. Without this funding the film would not be what it is today. The money has allowed us to achieve everything we set out to achieve with production design, costume, props, and has now allowed us a leftover amount which is to be dedicated to festival entries. 

I strongly believe that this campaign demonstrated our commitment to the project, which ultimately bolstered the amount of donations. I like to think that with each donation people have invested in our passion for our chosen area. Looking back I don't think we would have reached our target without the GoFundMe video which we made a few months back. On top of FMP I see the GoFundMe as a worthy side project for all of us. We were able to demonstrate professionalism in front of camera, and in doing so I think we were able to grow as individuals. Doing anything that makes you uncomfortable can so often make you better at that thing, so I'm really glad everyone on the crew agreed to do it and presented themselves so well. 

In summary the completion of the GoFundMe tops off what has been an incredible Final Major Project for everyone involved. It has given us a platform to create this film to the standard it is currently at. 

Echoes of Silence - Film Poster

Today I received some alarming news in regards to the film poster for my final major project. In the past module Professional Practice, I submitted a very bland and simplistic poster that was not fully ready. I did so because I wasn't able to have a professional photoshoot in time due to availability of the photographer. After hand-in I made plans to shoot a poster after the next hand-in which was for Final Major Project. I made this decision because of how busy I was with shoots and editing for the project I was supposed to be making a poster for. I decision to make my film poster after deadline was so that I could still make it without interruptions which have previously forced me to either reschedule or miss out completely. 

Today I found out that I do actually need to hand in a film poster for Final Major Project, which is something not many people were made aware of. It is too close to hand in for me to organise a shoot and make a poster through photoshop, so I'm forced to use the poster I submitted for Professional Practice. I was even told a few days prior that I shouldn't have to worry about a film poster being submitted, but today I've been told a totally different story. It's all quite confusing at the minute in terms of what has to be submitted for academic purposes, but despite all of that I still plan on making a high quality film poster to promote the film after deadline. I have spoken to Ryan who created the concept art for the GoFundMe campaign about helping me create that poster after it has been professionally photographed. We have spoken over the artistic direction of the poster, and I am eager to get it sorted in the coming weeks. Below is a few images of film posters that I am taking stylistic influence from in achieving a design for Echoes of Silence. 

Trick of the Dark - Update (10/05/18)

Despite all of my previous worries and reservations about this project and my involvement with it, we have reached a point where we are able to showcase a coherent film. Though at the same time, it is maybe not the film we collectively hoped to make. From the initial emergence of the project, it was clear that it was to be a 10 minute film. We were all quite happy with this, as it meant that it wasn't a wildly ambitious project, and with projects like this you can harness the energy of a would be 20 minute film and focus more on your micro elements - camerawork, sound, editing etc. It gives everyone that extra leg room. The first few months were extremely slow and confusing for everyone. There was a lack of communication, motivation, and willingness to make the film succeed based on the aforementioned issues. We were indecisive on the main piece of the puzzle with this film, which was the central location. As it is almost all set in a cave, we played around with the idea of how to shoot it for too long. We initially had a real cave location, then a set, then ended up bouncing somewhere between the two shooting stuff that hopefully matched. This week, we had to make a final decision which was to shoot inside of the cave, which is located at Blackhall rocks, a 20 minute drive away from the uni. 

Much like Echoes of Silence, Trick of the Dark has slowly progressed giving the editors time to consume the footage that was coming in and work on it right away. The issue with Trick of the Dark on the other hand, was that there wasn't enough being shot, and this was inevitably going to mount up on our editors right next to deadline. We were forced to reshuffle the crew and bring in a new editor, to free up space for another editor due to double booking which would cause immense stress around hand-in. Once we made that head on decision to shoot in the cave, things have vastly improved. The large volume of footage which we shot in the cave, which I also mentioned in a previous post, has been worked on over the past few days. The editor has instantly shaped that stuff into a coherent film, which is all thanks to the directors preparation prior to the shoot, which enabled them to see exactly what was needed to achieve that coherent film. Though a film now exists for Trick of the Dark, it is less than half of what we wanted it to be at the start. It is around 4 minutes in length, and excludes much of what was originally planned in pre-production. At present their seems to be a divide in what we should do from here on out. There is a feeling of 'this is as good as it can get' which is definitely the case prior to hand in. The film we have crafted over the course of this week is an acceptable submission of our efforts, which is somewhat annoying as we all know we could have done better, but it is what it is. I'm one of the crew members whose stance on it is that we should continue after hand in to make the film that was planned all along. Theres no reason for us not to meet the next deadline which is the 1st June for the Vue show on the 11th with a much better, fully completed and polished film. I will be pushing for this in the near future, in the hopes of convincing the director and the crew that we can achieve great things with it. 

Echoes of Silence - Update (10/05/18)

Today I was able to see a good 80% of the film in an edited timeline. Over the past few weeks we have shot a large chunk of the film - around 40%. During that time our editors have been working away on the footage that has been coming in, putting that in a timeline based on the script and storyboards and colour grading the footage. This is where a lot of the pre production planning came in handy. From the earliest stages of the film I provided a big canvas which was filled up with the storyboards and shot lists. I also left notes for the editors on specific images which were tagged with importance in regards to visual effects or some sort of elaborate editing technique. Over the past few weeks the narrative timeline and colour grade have progressed nicely, and now it's reaching that point in post production where I have more time to sit down with the edit and work out the finer details. At this point its all about the specifics of the story, and the edit is the time and place to focus on nailing the characters, dialogue, theme and timing all in one coherent fashion. In the past I have had some great experience in working with an editor/editors in post production. One of the main things I have learned that is essential in the edit is patience, and that is something I inevitably going to take into the post production process of Echoes of Silence. 

Today was the day, as I mentioned, that I got to see a lot of the film. As things stand I'm extremely optimistic about the few weeks ahead in post production because there seems to be less technical issues than we usually have. The quality of the sound seems a lot better than our past projects, which have required hours of work in immense detail, often leaving us stressed about the project and wishing it to be over. With Echoes of Silence that isn't the case. So far we've hit no real issues in the edit, and everything is going extremely smoothly. As the footage has been coming in regularly over the course of 3-4 month, it has given our editors time to perfect sequences in advance. I anticipate that in the next few weeks we will be fixing and changing things in meticulous fashion, which I see as a great thing. Our quality of work now means we aren't faced with huge issues, but small ones which are either easily fixed or worked around. We are now four days from hand-in as I write this, and we are almost in the perfect position. We still have one and a half scenes left to film, and unfortunately one of the important final scenes may be missing from the hand-in version of the film. This was down to a deeply personal issue with one main member of the cast. We were supposed to shoot that one full scene today, and the half scene tomorrow then we would be all finished for hand-in midday Monday. However last night I received a call from a member of the cast who was scheduled in today that they would not be able to make it for personal members. I understood their position and I sincerely empathised with them, telling them not to worry and that we'll shoot that scene in due time, and that they must take the day off to get their head around things. I made this decision on the basis that we have already committed ourselves to our best work of our degree, and despite the film not being perfect for hand-in, I undoubtedly believe we have outdone ourselves in every way possible. We are extremely privileged to be in this position, to be able to do what we love as a group of likeminded of individuals, which is why we have to remember that we are only human at the end of the day. If something arises which makes someone upset or takes them out of the mindset required for a day of filming, I'd much rather see them rested than force on them a feeling of discomfort through what would be selfishness, and my desire to see the film done. Despite this major set back, I followed up with our cast member in question today and they have informed me they're willing to film tomorrow to complete our half scene. I anticipate that like all of our previous shoots, the one tomorrow will go smoothly and will fill the gaps in the edit for Monday. 

Echoes of Silence - Parallelisms

In this post I will be discussing the artistic parallelisms that exist between Echoes of Silence and other films. As an avid cinephile I aim to explore my influences within my own films, and I believe that the essence of influence itself plays a huge part in every form of art. I will be illustrating the homage I am paying to films through a series of stills, following on with a discussion around that particular similarity or parallelism.

Her (2013)

Echoes of Silence (2018)

These two images clearly distinguish the similarities between Her and Echoes of Silence. Her is one of my favourite films of all time. The way it explores the complications of human loneliness is perfect, and it is what comes to mind when I think of melancholy cinema. Visually and thematically, I wanted to build on what I love about Her in Echoes of Silence. Echoes shares distinct similarities with Her, through the exploration of the relationship between humans and technology within a contemporary/near futuristic society. I wanted to ask the same questions that Her does, without feeling the need to outright answer them, rather to leave the viewer with a decision to make of their own. Questions such as, what does it mean to be human if an A.I can perfectly replicate our emotional responses? Does that make them as human as us? Furthermore, does that give them the same rights and stature as us human beings? These questions are all central to the narrative of Echoes, and they are often explored in Her. The above shots are extremely similar in composition and both manage to capture the raw emotion of the characters in frame. Where they differ is what mood they set out to create through colour palette. The soft glow of the first image leads us to believe the subject is in a positive mental state, whilst the below image from Echoes does the exact opposite with its cold tones and textures. This is the kind of detail I want to go into with my filmmaking, where a discussion can take place regarding the micro elements of a film. 

There Will be Blood (2007)

                                               2001: A Space Odyssey (1968)

Echoes of Silence (2018)

The above images show three shots, the first from Paul Thomas Andersons Oscar winning drama 'There Will be Blood' starring Daniel Day Lewis. The second is from Stanley Kubricks magnum opus '2001: A Space Odyssey'. Then below is a still of our main actor Graham Saxon in Echoes of Silence. All three images are linked together by their composition. As they are all low angle shots, they allow the subject to appear dominant and overbearing. This shot is often conforms to the codes and conventions of the action adventure/superhero genre, in which the camera will be at a low angle to depict the villain as physically overbearing. The same can be done with the protagonist, but as with all composition it is discretionary to each and every filmmaker/D.O.P. The parallelism that exists to both There Will be Blood & 2001 was an intention of mine from the start. I am a huge admirer of PTA and Kubrick, and the scenes which these stills belong to in particular. In the case of There Will be Blood, the character of Daniel Plainview (DDL) is a revelation, and the raw intensity of this scene comes to boiling point with this low angle shot of him smashing down on Paul Dano with a bowling pin. PTA is a vastly knowledgeable and experienced filmmaker, and I highly doubt this shot was unintentionally paying homage to Kubrick. Going back to my previous point about influence, I often find its importance understated. 'Originality' is only applicable in the context of a films potency. In other words, a film can freely borrow and steal from previously existing sources and work on many levels as long as the filmmaker keeps their artistic integrity. Case in point, the entire filmography of Quentin Tarantino. 

The link to 2001 takes us to the plains of the earth prior to human beings. An ape beats down on a skull with a bone in hand, signifying the primitive nature of man, which masterfully then cuts to the juxtaposing space exploration of man some thousands of years in the future. Echoes links in with both There Will be Blood and 2001 through the fact that I wanted to showcase the primitive nature of Julians character, and in doing that the audience can hopefully see and feel that same nature inside of them. In the context of the scene, Julian finds a casket on a beach inside of his nightmares, in which he thinks his dead granddaughter is inside of. Out of desperation, he takes an axe and aggressively hacks open the casket. This for me was a perfect opportunity to explore the use of the low angle shot to present a character who is dangerous, lead to that point by his grief. 

The Tree of Life (2011) 

Echoes of Silence (2018)

The Tree of Life (2011)

Echoes of Silence (2018)

The Tree of Life is a critically acclaimed mix of arthouse and high profile hollywood filmmaking with a stellar cast. Director Terrence Malick is fiercely divides audiences and critics all over the world, which is one of the reasons I hold him in such high regard. In the film The Tree of Life, Terrence Malick explores the contrasting and conflicting nature of nature and nurture. Two of the characters who play parents, are both nature and nurture. Nature having a progressive and passive presence whilst nurture is fierce and interfering. This is similar to what I wanted to explore in Echoes of Silence. I wanted to take what Malick has done through his visuals and his storytelling style, and offer my own take on the theme of man vs nature. I wanted to achieve this primarily through the production design in the film. I wanted a clear clash between the electronics and the neons (man made design) and the greens and yellows of nature. What I have ended up with is in some way no clear way to decipher the influence that has reached me from directors such as Terrence Malick, but I know on a personal level that it has taken place in the film. This is less homage to a genre or to an image as the previous posts, and instead provides a subtle admiration and attempts to mirror the atmosphere in films such as The Tree of Life, where all of the themes are the unanswerable aspects of our existence. 

Echoes of Silence - Beach Shoot (08/05/18) PT2

Today we finished the beach shoot, and by this I mean getting the remaining shots we needed. As I have discussed in a previous post, due to the limited availablility of our actress we had to go ahead and shoot half of the scene with our actor alone last week. I went through the storyboards (thankfully this was a scene without dialogue, which allowed me to make this decision) and sorted through all of the shots which had just the actor in the frame, without need of the actress. Whilst this isn't usually advised, and it isn't something I'd ordinarily decide to do, I realised that this was a big scene and we needed to take a chunk out of it at whatever cost. The glaring issue was always the fact that we were shooting outdoors. The British weather is forever unpredictable, making this shoot a massive gamble. The two shoots were five days apart, and the differences in weather had the potential to be catastrophic. Keeping the eye on the weather weirdly enough been one of my major strong points with working on this film, as producer that it. It catches many students off guard and it has done me in the past. I'd evidently learned from that, and in deciding to shoot over Thursday and Tuesday, I made sure that the weather predictions were similar in advance of each day. The advance predictions up to a week can be quite inaccurate, nevertheless I had to take the risk as both days were showing sunny/partially cloudy predictions. I have to say the risk massively paid off and the predictions were spot on. The fact that we had intermittent clouds during the day helped us massively over both shoots. In terms of continuity, it guides the viewer to understand that the sun isn't simply disappearing, that it is just gone periodically before returning in a later shot. 

We turned up to the beach to shoot at 12 o'clock today. We brought our actor with us, and met our actress there. We quickly set up the initial wide shot we needed overlooking the vast beach with our actress in frame. This is the first shot we were missing from the previous shoot. This was an easy shot for us to get once the cast were in costume (all black funeral attires on a hot day didn't go down well). After that shot we moved on to the over shoulder shots. As I mentioned in the previous post, we managed to trick the over shoulder shot by using black clothing to dirty the frame. Despite already having a usable take I deemed it necessary to get that shot again as there were subtle circumstances that changed for example the angle of the light from the sun. After getting those shots we were at around 2 o'clock, so we had a dinner break as the cast were quite hungry and parched. We were forced to trek back to asda in Hartlepool for refreshments as our cast were getting thirsty due to the heat. This took half an hour out of our schedule, which wasn't that much of an issue on the grand scale of things. We still had plenty of time to shoot, from 3 when we returned up until half 5. 

Throughout the day, together with my D.O.P I managed to get everything I needed to make the scene the way I wanted it. This was in conjunction with the previous shoot the week before. Despite our complete lack of sophisticated equipment, we did a good job with what we have like we always seem to do. Our equipment to move the camera is what is lacking, not the cameras themselves. The quality and capabilities of our cameras is great, its how we use the cameras to create tracking shots and moving sequences. I have raised this issue many times with absolutely nothing back from the institution. It's an amateur approach to have when pushing students to achieve good things. We have a short slider, and a very poor performing tracking dolly which takes ages to set up and ends up giving you terrible results due to the chips in the track and because of how old it is. I have suggested a gimbal many times, which balances the camera through a calibration system and is a cutting edge piece of modern equipment. I have rethought out many shots through not having a way to track etc, which has damaged the quality of the film. 

Trick of the Dark - Cave Shoot - (07/05/18)

Today we shot at Blackhall rocks for Trick of the Dark. After numerous months of indecisiveness and slow progress on this project we finally bit the bullet and decided to shoot the bulk of the film on location. Running massively over schedule, this was an extremely important day for all involved with this project. We had all of our primary cast on set, which was a difficult thing to pull off due to their limited availability. As co-producer I was feeling the pressure from the weight of the project, being worried about the fact that a cut of the film may not be complete for deadline. 

We set off around half 8 to reach the location where we were meeting the actors. We hit some issues early on as we realised one of the props we had was unacceptable. It was a small knife which was to be used as a weapon. Not wanting to sacrifice on quality, the director decided to attempt to get another better knife. We did do this but it pushed the shoot back by an hour. We got there around 10 o'clock, to some disgruntled actors. 

We pushed on and we collectively head down to the cave to set up for the shoot. There we encountered another significant issue. The tide was in, meaning we couldn't round the cave systems to get to the cave we needed to be at further down the beach. This set us back a few hours as we had to wait for the tide to go out. This was an incredibly frustrating issue to have, because we had everyone there ready, which is difficult enough to achieve. But we had nothing to do but wait. After little over an hour the tide started to go out and we made our way to the cave. By this point it was around 12 o'clock. We had our actors until half 4. Those few hours we lost inevitably came back to haunt us later on in the shoot. 

We reached the cave and set up eventually. The director spent the previous night breaking down the script again to see what we needed to create a solid structure for the film to be coherent. I felt like this was a good plan and gave us incentive to act on the day. The set backs prior to our arrival at the cave also presented a good opportunity to discuss the shots. On the day we had two cameras, and as since we don't have two camera operating roles on the crew of Trick of the Dark I was able to operate one of the cameras. I was fully confident in doing this, as from my experience of directing over this academic year has given me an in depth understanding knowledge of the black magic mini ursa. This second camera meant that we were making the shoot time shorter through getting two shots simultaneously, just like we do on the crew of Echoes of Silence. 

The primary cast on set. Scott, Susie and Alex, talking over the script. 

Once we got underway the shoot went really well. We quickly caught up on lost time and we were extremely effective in setting up the equipment ready to shoot. The actors were great in their readiness to deliver and we quickly got into the flow of things. It was an intensive shoot, as that was always going to be the case as we knew, but that was at the back of my minds as we were shooting to avoid rushing the shots we needed. The shoot was also extremely safe under the circumstance, as co-producer on set this was something I had to be mindful of, a couple of times I went ahead to scout out any potential hazards (all of which are covered in the risk assessment) to make sure the cast and crew were not heading into any danger. All in all it was fine, it was a nice sunny day with plenty of people around who would occasionally pass through the cave. A few people would typically stop and ruin our sound, but other than that we were tucked away nicely in the corner of the cave providing the cover and lighting we desired. Below are some BTS shots from the shoot of the cast and crew at work. 

Going forward with Trick of the Dark we still have a lot to do when it comes to creating a solid coherent film. I'm staying active with the film up to and after deadline to make sure it is completed and we are currently working on organising ADR and intensive editing sessions to meet the current deadline on May 14th. 

Echoes of Silence - Flashback Scene (06/05/18)

Today we shot the flashback scene from Echoes of Silence. This scene is to be part of the first scene in Julians workshop, where we first fully meet the character of Emily. In that scene, Emily plays a song for Julian which takes him to his distant past. The song provokes a blissfully memory for Julian, which we are transported into. I wanted this to be an incredibly nostalgic sequence, one which we attach notions of our own nostalgia to. With nostalgia, I believe we remember the texture of a memory, the warmth of a moment and specific details. I wanted to capture this on film through a transcendent sequence of images including Julian, his daughter Grace, and his granddaughter. This would build the world of the character, and establish his loss as the characters in the flashback are no longer present in his life. I organised the shoot around the availability of our three actors who are to be in the scene, the actor who plays Julian, the actress who plays Grace, and the child actress who plays Graces daughter/Julians granddaughter. As with most of the shoots across Final Major Project, this was the most difficult aspect of the production. The availability of everyone is so wildly varied that everything must be meticulously planned in advance. This has been the least rewarding aspect for me being the main producer attached to the film. I have had to separate the producer from the director on numerous occasions. 

We arrived to shoot the scene at 6 o'clock where we were to meet our main actress, as we had already brought the actor along in the car with the crew. We got there on time at our location, which was Ward Jackson park in Hartlepool. I'll start off by saying, for a shoot that wasn't storyboarded or shot listed at all, I throughly enjoyed the shoot and got exactly what I wanted from it. This was as enjoyable as a shoot can get. There was a great atmosphere, everyone knew what they were doing - cast and crew, and having everyone on the same page always serves the film well. The fact that the scene wasn't storyboarded or pre-planned made the process a lot better for me. Contextually, the scene is non-linear and dreamlike, so having a rigid structure in place to tell a story through the standard 'this shot follows this shot' technique was in some way unnecessary. 

Our cast naturally had a great rapport. They all had a laugh with each other and that aided the performance. I was really looking to create a feeling of nostalgia, looking back to a happy time in the characters lives. To do this I needed warmth from the cast, and I certainly got that. I look at our casting decisions and I think they're as good as they could get. Graham being an obvious example as the main actor in the film, I'm incredibly happy and in some ways proud of his involvement in the film. From a very early stage I was committed to getting the most out of Graham, and elevating him from character actor to giving a full nuanced performance. The actress following the recast has also been great, and somewhat looks like the child actress who is playing her daughter. Despite discussing the acting capabilities of our cast it was equally as important getting the generational age gap right. This is another glaring issue I've witnessed in many a student production. Casting age ranges is usually way off, but for Graham who looks 45-50, it makes sense that his daughter would look 25, and her daughter would look 10. So far from the feedback I've received it looks like it is all making sense. 

Echoes of Silence - Beach Shoot (03/05/18) PT1

Today we had our beach shoot at Seaton Carew. From the very early days this was one of the most important scenes in the film for me. To get it right we had to establish the dynamic between the two characters in the scene, Julian and Grace. This scene is in place to show the different ways that the two characters have dealt with the death of a member of their family. Grace is passive and distant, whilst Julian is frantic and animalistic in his movements. The context of the scene is that Julian has a nightmarish fever dream where he is placed on a beach. On that beach is Grace and in the distance, a closed casket and beside it an axe. Both Julian and Grace are wearing fully black attire, to give us the idea that they are in mourning. Once Julian sees the casket, he hacks it open with the axe and finds the body of his granddaughter inside. With this scene, I am paying direct homage to one of my favourite films from one of my favourite filmmakers. With all my films, a lot of what I do is about exploring influence through visuals and themes. Below is a scene from Akira Kurosawa's 'Drunken Angel' which was the inspiration for the beach scene in Echoes of Silence. 

From a producing point of view, this scene was planned months in advance. I co-ordinated this with our co-producer, who was working on getting permissions from the council to shoot on the beach. This was an elongated process due to the fact that weapons were involved. Secondly, I worked with our production designer to create the props which would contribute to the scene. One of those was the casket that Julian would hack open. This had to be planned and crafted weeks in advance of the shoot. On top of both these points we had to work around the availability of our cast and crew with their involvement in other projects. Due to all of these reasons, this was a difficult part of the production to organise and manage. It required meticulous planning in pre-production, which obviously meant our focus must follow on the day of the shoot. 

Below are some BTS shots from the shoot. 

The shoot was a success, but right now I am not looking at it and forming any sort of opinion because this was only one part of what was required. Due to our actress being unavailable today, we were forced to shoot without her. This meant that we had to get the shots that were planned by shooting around where our actress would be. This proved to be quite difficult, but we conjured up some decent ideas on set to get around the issues. This is an example, the shot below shows a member of crew standing in front of camera (foreground) and the actor in front of them (background). We managed to achieve a balanced shot by using the member of the crew who was wearing black to dirty the right of frame. Our actress is going to be wearing black in the scene anyway, so we were able to trick the shot to make it seem as though she is actually there. I think from watching the footage back this actually works. We also had to take into consideration the wider environment, especially within the shots. The black magic cameras have a massive depth of field so we had to take care to ensure certain elements of the surrounding landscapes were out of shot - e.g. the nearby down of Seaton Carew. We managed this by using the reverse shots to show the sand dunes behind the subject - which were established at the beginning of the scene. 

Once again despite the obvious issue of our actress not being present, we worked around it and achieved what is essentially a big chunk of the scene. We have planned to return next Tuesday when our actress is available to shoot her part of the scene that is currently missing from sequence. I looked into this a little further to make sure we are getting the same weather so that our shots match up. Today was mostly cloudy, and Tuesday is set to be the same. I've also taken into consideration getting permission for a separate day, which our co-producer confirmed today. We will therefore be shooting the second part of this scene on 08/05/18 between 11AM - 4PM.

Echoes of Silence - 30/04/18 & 01/05/18

Over these past two days we have shot two scenes for Echoes. The first scene we shot yesterday took place in the sound stage set. Within the context of the film the scene is the very last scene of the film. Emily says goodbye to Julian, and leaves behind an image for him in the form of a panting, which makes sense of all the sequences we see of Julian being painted throughout the film. The second scene we shot today was the scene in the Winter Gardens, with Julian and the character of Grace, his daughter within the film. The scene shows us them reuniting after lost time, and not seeing each other since the passing of Julians granddaughter (Graces daughter). Overall, the two shoots went very smoothly once we actually got on set. Before that point we faced some huge issues, which I will go into within this post. 

For the scene in the sound stage, the main requirement from the production design was that we deconstruct the walls to make them look bare. Within this scene we are establishing that Julian has fulfilled his purpose of creation, and now he doesn't need his workspace. We hinted at this by placing cardboard boxes within the shots to add a layer of realism to what we were trying to achieve. I organised for our main actor to arrive between half 5 and 6 o'clock. We started deconstructing the set around 4 o'clock and setting up the cameras simultaneously in time for his arrival. Once our actor arrived we went ahead with the shoot. We only needed a total of five shots, which we got without any issues. Again, we were unable to record sound in the sound stage, but within this scene there was only a few lines of dialogue which can be done in ADR. I required a sense of grief from the actor which I managed to get. As I have previously discussed, I'm finding it increasingly easy to work with our actor and get the range of emotion which I desire. We've found a way to communicate which only requires me to establish what I want in terms of how I want a scene to feel. From there we successfully work on moulding the lines take by take. With yesterdays shoot, we had a very limited amount of takes whilst maintaining a high level of quality. We wrapped on the shoot after around 2 hours and packed away in time for closure. 

Below are some BTS images from the shoot:

Prior to the shoot in the sound stage, I received the news around midday that our main actress, who we have held off shooting with until now, had dropped out of the shoot that was organised for the following day (01/05/18). This shoot had been organised weeks in advance, from back in the middle of April when we found out the availability of the actress. We found that she wasn't available at all during April. Taking a risk based on prior experience of working with her, I decided it best to use the first week of May to have all the shoots which the character appears. There are four in total. Yesterday, when the news was broken that she was unavailable for the rest of this week, I had an extremely tough decision to make. I had two options, either I work with the actresses extremely limited availability, and at the same time run the risk of her dropping out again. Or, I attempt to recast. After mulling it over for a few hours I realised that it was approaching 5 o'clock when we were due to shoot. I didn't want to have that weighing on my mind during the shoot, and I didn't want to attempt to sort it after the shoot because it would be too late to contact people. Based on all of this I decided to have a crack at recasting. Someone came to me with the idea of approaching the actress in Trick of the Dark, which I was attached to as Producer. I asked the Directors permission to 'dual-cast' as we may call it, and I was given his permission to do so. I rang the actress up and explained the situation. I also had the nerve to ask if she was available in the morning for a shoot. Fortunately she was, and we organised it. A situation that was originally a nightmare quickly became ideal. I now have a reliable actress who I really like the look of performance-wise, and I really feel like we can have those scenes done in the time we have left. 

As for the first shoot we had with our new actress on 01/05/18, it went extremely well. Based on the extremely short notice, we all met up at the location, which was the Winter Gardens museum in Sunderland. We had previously been on a recce, which alleviated the 'what on earth do we shoot' feeling that can come over you when you haven't been on location. I find that even if you story board and shot list whatever you want to shoot, an unvisited location will distract you making you want to shoot unrelated stuff, taking you off track and behind schedule. Even though when we met up this morning at 10 with the shoot feeling rogue with us hurrying to organise it the day before, we had the comfort of knowing that we had the shots planned based on the pre-production work and the recce. I let the crew set up and get cutaway shots whilst I sat down with the actor and actress and went over the script. I felt it was my duty to do that to get everyone on the same page. The segment of the script we were shooting was the only bit of the script the new actress had read. Myself and the actor introduced her to the world by slowly revealing details and by giving ideas into how the character and script should play out. After that we went in to shoot the scene itself. The shoot went as well as it could have. We were finished within the time frame that we estimated, which was 11-3. We had written permission to film during this time. I shot this scene the way I wanted and I even had time to experiment with interpersonal direction. Even though I was happy with the dialogue that was happening in the takes, I suggested different ways for the actors to approach the scene. This was refreshing for myself and for our main actor, who has consistently been bogged down throughout the production as he has had no one to act with face to face up until this point. 

Going forward with Echoes of Silence, we are planning to shoot the remainder of what we have left to shoot over the next week. Our next shoot is Thursday, then Sunday evening, following that Tuesday all day, then we should have all we need. From that point on we'll be fine-tuning the film in post production with visual and audio editing. This is where I feel the film will need the most work, however my task as director at this moment is to continue to utlilize the cast and crew around me to make the best film we can under any given circumstance. We continue to persevere and overcome any issues that come our way, in the hopes of creating a polished film.