Crime Drama and Reccie

We have an idea! After discussing things on Facebook we decided to use Connor's idea of a basic crime drama with a few little twists, here's the synopsis:


The film is about a crime scene, the body of a local drug lord has been found.
The first on the scene and only ‘witness’ being 24 year old Brad who has a long line of drug
related crime spread across his record. An interrogation takes place and between Brad and
Police detective Steve White. Brad retells his story and takes the viewer with him. Did he do
it or is there a much more than meets the eye to this interrogation.

I think its a really nice idea and it gives us space to play with colour, long shots, POV and lighting changes. We are still talking it through a little and will be storyboarding and shot listing it soon. Today however we went to Grindleford for our reccie for the crime scene. Here are some of the images and a short analysis of them.

This first set of images are from the first part of the trek around Grindlford, fortunately George knows the area and had a good place in mind so I just got a few snaps for contrast on the way.

As you can see the majority of the land is muddy and littered with autumn leaves, in some areas it looks beautiful and in some it looks like a swamp, overall it isn't quite the right image. It could work, I could see our characters in this area however the trees are a little densely packed and the branches a little wild. One way this location may still end up in our film is through Brads run before he finds the body, this section could be used to exploit the different areas in the forest. The other location we found was much better, here is what it looks like:

Its a much nicer area for shooting in and we think we can get some really iconic images from it. We had the idea of silhouette so I played around a little with the brightness of the shot by altering the aperture, here are the reasults:

Storyboarding has to be done before we really define any shots but its looking good, the location is great and the story really lets us play around within it. Storyboarding should be fun and creative and we already have some great ideas such as using static framing to only show parts of the action, silhouettes and time lapses!

Colour and Long takes

Colour
We looked at a few different properties of colour and how to define, describe or create them. Firstly it is worth noting that daylight bulbs are 5200K and Tungsten is 3200, keeping these values correctly white balanced means your colour will be consistent from shot to shot and its extremely important. We looked briefly at the connotations of colours, red love and power, green nature ect. one thing I had not considered as I only make films for myself or similar audiences is that in different cultures colours have different meanings, this adds something to watching foreign films and is something to consider if ever making a film for another culture.

We also looked at the formation of colours, whilst I understood primary and secondary colour wheels I learned that Additive colour mixes are RGB and that Subtractive colour mixes are Magenta, Yellow and Cyan. Finally as far as colour is concerned we looked at the specific meanings and relationships between Value, Hue and Chroma.

Long Takes
We watched 4 films during the lesson and each one specifically showed off the four options when filming specifically long takes;
1.Stationary actor filmed by a stationary camera. (Hunger 2008 McQueen)
2.Stationary actor filmed by a moving camera. (La Haine 1995 Kassovitz)
3.Moving actor filmed by a stationary camera. (What time is it over there? 2001 Tsai)
4.Moving actor filmed by a moving camera. (Elephant 2003 Gus Van Sant)

Hunger is a single conversation that lasts 22 minutes with the first shot lasting over 17 minutes, brilliantly composed, beautifully acted the stationary shot is a tuning point in the film. It offers a contrast to the rest of the film and is one way to film a ling take. As long as the performance and composition are sttrong it shouldn't get boring but the length of the scene adds a realism and emotion because of the sudden break in pace. It is an interesting use of the creative device, perhaps the easiest to physically produce but the hardest to write as an emotional and poignant scene.

La Haine has stunning camera work, the camera dances around the subjects as they stand stationary looking daringly at each other. Whilst the emotional connection between characters is displayed more explicitly the dancing camera work could be distracting.

What time is it over there? lets characters wonder in and out of long stationary shots. The characters actions and the things you do see take on more importance because you dont see everything, the things that you dont see also add a mystery and intrigue to the shots.

Elephant uses a tracking camera that follows characters constantly. This adds a POV and character to identify with in each shot, the identification gained isnt exactly a POV shot but the over shoulder or MCU and tracking show nicely the characters relationships. On the downside the focus and exposure are hard to alter in order to keep the shot high quality.

Im not exactly sure what our ideas are for cinematography yet but we will keep all of these possibilities in mind for our project.

Filmography
Hunger (2008), McQueen S., UK, Ireland, Film4
La Haine (1995), Kassovitz M., France, Canal+
What Time is it Over There? (2001) Tsai M., Tiawan, France, Arena Films , Homegreen Films
Elephant (2003) Sant.G.V., USA., HBO Films , Fine Line Features , Meno Films

Lack of Prestige (Magicians Veil) Post Production

The editing process was an interesting one for me, Christi and Jordan were quite on the ball and apart from actually sitting at the computer and working there wasn't a lot I could do to help. That being said I still came into the edit suite as often as possible to check on things and offer constructive feedback and make sure everyone was on task. Most of the time they were and despite a tight editing schedule the work got done to a good standard in good time.

One creative thing that came from the edit was the way we will in future treat special effects, some of the things we wanted to do didnt work and some of the things we did do could have been achieved more easily. There are a few ways we could have figured them out before production such as test shoots and test edits but the fact that the schedule changed so much made these things difficult to plan. However I am a little glad we didn't know exactly how easy it could have been, this could have led to an overuse of things popping up added with after effects as the muzzle flashes were. I think the balance between comedy, story and effect is just right, it isnt a camera exorcise but a tasteful and playful film, a fine line we could have easily fallen off.

We also have a very different end product to the script for a lot of reasons. Firstly its because of large changes in post, Christi's original script was too much for the time scale, there were too many ideas within it. We had a really long session talking about where to take the script and came up with some good ideas and simplifying the idea a lot. However, I believe, the problem with the project on the whole is that after this meeting the other group members left it to me and Christi to plan the film. They were told to come along to the scripting discussion and the shot listing session but they didn't. This lead to lots of production issues and a lack of coherence between the team. Finally a lack of professional actors and Christi's directing style led to takes being improvised and different every time causing continuity and editing problems.

I think overall that is why we have a different product, with a lack of coherence and muddled story lines we never quite knew what we were making. With the coverage I made sure of and the voice of Christi that was written in the script and executed on set we ended up with a nice final project, cobbled together from takes a little all over the place.

Lack of Prestige (Magicians Veil) Production

Day 1

Schedule:
20.30 Meet Outside uni with equipment actors and props.
21.15 Arrive at alley location.
21.45 Start Alley Shoot. Scene 2, Scene 5.
12.00 breaktime
12.30Carry on with shoot
01.30 Finish scene 5. Walk to sitting location Scene 6
2.00 Shoot scene 6
3.00 Shoot scene 7 (costume change)
4.00 Shoot ends.

Unfortunately at 2 we lost battery in the audio at 2 and only got to shoot scene 2. This was due to poor acting and bad set ups.

Day 2
Failed Day shoot

2030 arrive at location to finish scene 3 and film scene 5 and final scene
2300 Shoot scene 2
2330 walk to carpark location and shoot scene 6 and 7
0100 break
0200 Shoot subway scene
0400 fin

This time the camera battery died and we again failed to shoot scene 6 7 and the subway scene.

Day 3
Failed to shoot

Day 4
failed to shoot

Day 5
Failed to shoot

Day 6
1800 start shoot and continue till finish... which was at 0600 the next day, a hard shoot but we got it all done over the time.

Lack of Prestige (Magicians Veil) pre production!

So scripting this one has had a lot of stages...

We began looking at it a few months ago, there were a few formatting issues and small mistakes but overall it was a strong film with some great characters, ideas and a really strong voice that bridges comedy and drama. We kept all of that good stuff but streamlined and formatted the script. The problem we then had was that there were two narratives. It begins with Nick, an aging market seller, being entranced and introduced to the world of magic and overcoming his skepticism. The second narrative was a battle with the magician and Nick against a "Prophesist". We tried as hard as possible to make that work and discussed a possible drug plot to make it grittier. However even with all the changes it didnt feel right and we had over 12pages of script so something had to go. We spent a lot of time deciding what to cut and settled on the fact that we could only use 1 narrative of the two, out of the two we chose Nick being introduced to the world of magic, to me it seemed the funnier and more relatable part of the film.

With that in mind Christi went away and rewrote/ adjusted what we had sent it on to me and I edited it a little and we think its about ready. Christi isn't happy with the ending but for now we will keep it as it is and if he rewrites something fantastic we will use it. Although the project has changed a lot I think it fits the brief a lot better and am looking forward to filming it!

All of our next film will be shot in the night time(ish) and will be outside in streets and markets so we looked around sheffield with a camera to see how it would look on film. Lights were not available so it wasn't a great test but we suspect if we can find a location where the background is lit well lighting the characters with small spots shouldnt be too tricky.

This first shot is on the market in sheffield and will be practically the same as the first shot of the film.

We got a large selection for each area and these are some of the best. We will use locations that have good lighting but are also interesting to look at we hope some of these will work out.

Through its many forms of script there have been a lot of different influences and inspirations, what we have arrived at takes parts from all of them and rejects other sections.

At its inception it was described to me as a "gritty realistic" portrayal of urban magic, despite it not turning out this way in the end it immediately pointed us in the direction of films such as This is England (2006 Shane Meadows) and many other Meadows films. They encouraged us to add an aspect of violence and or drugs that in "gritty British" films unfortunately represent Britain realistically. This model isn't just perpetuated by Meadows, many British films, specifically those set in London, portray Britain in this way such as Harry Brown (2009 Daniel Barber) and Kidulthood (2006 Menhaj Huda). We attempted to add a more violent and drug orientated subplot to the film but on development it became clear that this style was not right for the lightheartedness of the film.

For some time we moved in the opposite direction, it was suggested in one of our feedback sessions that we consider our audience, could this be a children's or family film? This lead us to look a little at films like The Sorcerer's Apprentice (2010 Jon Turteltaub) which deals with magic in a very realistic way. We kept the realistic aspect of the film but didn't want a family audience, a lot of our comedy comes from our character who's traits depend on his rudeness and brash qualities which contrast comically with the magicians manners.

Another film which springs to mind for me, in reference to both narrative and characteristic inspiration is The Fisher King (1991 Terry Gilliam). The slight arc at least of characters being introduced to new worlds fits nicely. The characters also share similar but not exact characteristics, at very least they are similarly opposite and the ways in which they react to one another and ultimately work together similarly reflects our film.



This is England, 2006, Meadows S. UK, Big Arty Productions, Film4.
Harry Brown, 2009, Barber D. UK, UK Film Council.
Kidulthood 2006, Huda M. UK, Stealth Films, Cipher Films.
The Sorcerer's Apprentice, 2010,Turteltaub J. USA, Walt Disney Pictures, Jerry Bruckheimer Films.
The Fisher King, 1991, Gilliam T. USA, Columbia Pictures Corporation

Next Project

Hello, long time no post, sorry been busy, lots of content on the way though, including 2 films and a lot of pre and post production, reviews and news, anyway down to the matter at hand. I dont know what to film over my summer, here are the options:

Hunger
Big plans for this, I'm a little reluctant to do it right now because well its zombie but its kinda Colin like, follows a zombie rather than a group of survivors. I have done a lot of pre production and have the end of the script done but the start and middle are a little fuzzy. Basically its a love story about a zombie and a girl and the question of hunger or lust or love or whatever think I should do it this summer?

Alternate
Full script is written and ready to go but I need actors! A common problem in these productions... Anyway this is a bromance about a time traveller ready to repeat his life once again until his friend convinces him the only way to enjoy life over and over again is to do new things. I have a really specific visual feeling to this and would love to do it just need those damn actors!

Adapting SF SHORT
Not really sure if this is doable, its an exercise in production, lots of props and actors, make up and special effects. But I'm nothing if not ambitious and I have a really nice story about a how a pair of brothers adapt to the changing landscape featured in my full SF Return to Earth. I am itching to visually prove the concept of the world, think the future in TSCC for visuals, hard to accomplish but I think it could pay off, what do you think?

Noir
Finally my noir project, I have 3 of these going at the moment, one I have had for a long time, it follows the visuals but the lead is not really the character typical of noirs, so I'm not using it for my project at uni next year, freeing it up for personal project use! However it needs shortening as a script its around 30 pages spanning three murderers and more than a few murders. I have toyed with the idea of cutting it into parts and filming it over a few years, like a webseries with long gaps.

So those are my proposed projects, not sure how many people are still reading my blog, its been a while, but if you have any opinion please let me know, I'm really torn between ideas and getting nowhere by sharing my time between them, put me on the right track, What should I film!!!?!?!

CBT! Indestructible Hulk 5, All New X Men 9, Avengers 8, New Avengers 4, Cable and the X Force.

Indestructible Hulk #4

Another nice issue of indestructible has wrapped up the Attuma storyline and says goodbye to Yu unfortunately. There was less science in this issue and more of Banner being a bloke in general, there was quite a lot of attuma pointlessly pontificating but asside from that it was a pretty sweet issue. I get the feeling that something big will happen with the comic soon, a big villain or something cataclysmic with science, its floated along nicely for a while now we need to see it develop again.
7.5/10

All New X Men #9

I am extremely tempted to drop this title, and become less and less interested in it as it goes on, this week however a little of that changed... The new brotherhood look cool and I like their motives or lack there of, I cant wait for angel to change sides and the last page linking with Uncanny is very cool. Art was same as always, sleek and fun, I really like the sheen that highlights the characters. All of this is still only of limited interest, there are a lot of x characters I want to see more of and I dont care about the "past" x men buuuuut im gonna have to get over it, looks like theyre gonna b here for a while...

7/10

Avengers #8

I really liked this issue! It was all it was built up to be, it reminded me of a what if stanford scenario. i loved the way cap handled things and how villainous the avengers actually came across. I like the loop back to the last arc although all of the universe stuff is a little ott. I always feel as though doing character stories is a better way to go becuase if the whole univrse was going to die it would be a bigger deal... The art was nice, Kubert esque, very sharp and neat, loved it.

8/10

New Avengers #4

That being said the universe hopping earth shattering New Avengers is fantastic! Its believable and within the insanity the character moments are clear and defining. The personal fix's to the problem they face was an awesome way to present the issue and Epting brings the best to the table portraying all of the characters perfectly and emotively. I dont have a clue whats going on or who they are fighting atm but the cosmic battle is awesome! I cant wait for more!

8.5/10

Cable and the X-Force #6

One of the best issues of one of the best marvel now titles to date. Stunning art as always supported by strong emotional content, a little amusing action and stunning storytelling. This title is pretty close to perfect, pick of the week for sure.

9/10