Saturday the 23rd of November- Unit 2

Editing workshop, which was a bucket of fun. I managed to turn an innocent missing the bus set of clips into a gets ploughed over by a bus clip with Sophie.

Scripting was less smooth. I was hoping we would have a new script, revised a little from the last time, but not too evolved. Turns out the professional script person thought it was too simple now, so we went into panic mode and pretty much re-wrote it. This is it approximately:

1.      X is waiting

2.      Receives text asking about date

3.      Sees person of opposite gender walk towards

4.      Walks straight past

5.      Gets picked up by person of same gender

I assume they then walk into the sunset or something. It’s now simple and can be done in the time, which makes me happy. What makes me doubly happy is the lack of dialogue which means sound recording doesn’t matter so much.

I went to look at the location with the cinematographer. After walking around town for a bit we came to the conclusion that the amphitheatre behind the station is the best place. There were some benches near the drums and some green space outside the cinema that we could have used, but they had major drawbacks of lighting and too many people passing. The amphitheatre, despite having people passing, is not too busy, and the lighting is good enough.

Luckily we are all in one location, so there is not too much trouble in moving through locations. Apart from the basics of the camera and the tripod, we will need a dolly for about an hour. We will need technical support for setting that up.

If things go wrong there are various ideas. Firstly in cases of weather we would use umbrellas as the idea is based around a communal meeting space. If that is impossible we will have ask to use something like the inside of the cinema and change the shots. If the actors don't turn up, then we will have to improvise with ourselves and create a delicate system of who is pointing the camera, who is telling people what to do.

In the project the people have:

Abdil- director

Owen- scriptwriter, also getting actors

Max- cinematographer and music

Beth- Editor

Me- Producer

We need three actors really

1- Main Character

2- Seeming Boyfriend

3-Actual Girlfriend.

If the cinematographer and the director can’t make it there will be trouble, but if for one reason or another someone else gets caught away, we could just about function. We will need at least the lead actress, but if push came to shove we could make the film without two other actors as we could walk past. It would be difficult though.

It will be fine. We are meeting next Friday to look over last details before shooting.

Wednesday the 6th of November- Unit 2

Basically I have started a BFI short film course. For this we have to keep a blog. This is me posting my diary-ish thing of the thing.

Today I got to take a long look at all the people taking the course. I think I am among the oldest at 18, because most people are 16/17. That’s fine though. I also think I may know the least out of many. A lot of people seem to have watched all and sundry.  There is no one here I know and I have forgotten nearly all the names already which is a great start. We did a getting to know you exercise and I found out that Elizabeth has many cats. This is a promising start. There was this speech on a residential which I defiantly want to go in for. We also got an outline on what’s happening in the course and a free film pass (YAY!!!). It looks very exciting, we will be filming our own short film. That’s all really, it was only an hours taster session.

Project Plan

I am going to answer some questions on the project at the BFI. Here they are:

• What is your project? What are you aiming to do? Why?

My project is going to be to create a short film in a group. We aim for the film to be about 2 or 3 minutes long. I am doing this to learn more about the process of film making in a more professional setting than I have done previously.

• Who are the main audience for your project?

We will be presenting the result to friends and family, so they are somewhat the target group. I imagine the film will be aimed at people around our age, but hopefully it will be fairly universal.

• When will your project take place? What is the timescale? Are there any key dates?

The project will take place over the next three months. We will have three weeks of planning and preparation before filming on the 30th of November. We will edit on the day after on Sunday the 1st of December. On Saturday the 25th of January we will show the films at a screening to friends and family.

• How are you going to deliver the project? What will it look like? How many sessions?

We will have three weeks planning the project. Shoot the film in a day, edit in a day, then have four more sessions learning about the film industry before the screening. The project will be delivered onto a cinema screen.

• What is your main role in the project? What are your responsible for?

I am writing this one slightly retrospectively, so I know I will be producer in a group of 5 people. This means I have to oversee all the different roles, organize the others and make sure everything is happening as it should. It also means I get the very final decisions over everything.

• Who else is working with you or helping? What are they responsible for?

Meabh- She is the BFI academy leader, so she will be overseeing us and helping with a range of other tutors.
Elizabeth- The editor of the group
Max- The cinematographer
Owen- The writer
Abdil- The director

• \What resources, equipment or space will you need? Who might be able to help you and in what way?

We will need all the camera equipment, the camera, the dolly, the tripod. If we use sound we will need sound recording equipment. We will need editing software and a cinema. Also we will need actors. Meabh and the BFI will help with the equipment. As a group we will find actors among friends.

• What support might you need? Who might be able to help you and in what way?

We will need the help of professionals to help us put our script together and make it workable. We will need mentors to help us use the camera and equipment that we may not be used to handling. We will also need them to give us insight into the film industry.

• What will you do if things go wrong? What is your backup plan?

If for some reason we cannot get a script together, we will have to improvise on the shooting day. If we cannot get the equipment, we will probably use home cameras and other equipment and make it as well as we can on that. If we cannot get actors we will act in the film ourselves. If we cannot get good editing software, we will use the things at our disposal such as Microsoft or anything else better that we can get our hands on. If we cannot screen it in a cinema we will show the film at home. For more shooting specific things, I will say nearer the time.

• How will you know how the project is going well? How will you review your progress?

We will have feedback from Meabh and other tutors to tell us if the project is going well. Apart from that I will judge if we are doing well based on how well we stick to deadlines. Apart from that it will be the outcome to judge by. I will review the project in blog posts after each session.

• How will you keep record of it?

Apart form notes in my notebook I will keep this blog up to date as to where I am at in the project.