Filming Times

We finished filming today! PHEW! So. Relieved. I was so worried we wouldn't get it done, I'm ecstatic we got it all filmed by this stage!

Although, I'm so incredibly frustrated with my group. I think I would've enjoyed being Director a lot more if my group was more responsive. I got the vibe that they didn't care a lot about the project, and they couldn't be bothered with it. As much as I prompted and tried to get them to act, I received nothing. There's only so much I can do, right? Maybe I need to speak to a professional about how to deal with a group like this! It got to the point where I felt helpless, and I hate being "that guy" where I have to channel my inner bitch, so to speak. Gerry was the only one who, once we got the ball rolling, seemed enthusiastic about the project.

After not being able to film on the weekend, I was hoping we could film most of Monday. Our Production Manager said she would have everything organised for that to happen. However, she didn't end up getting the kit booked until 4pm... and our original location, she decided to tell us on the day that we were filming, had fruit and vegetable markets right at the entrance of the door. If she'd read the script, she would see that that doesn't work out. STRESS. Luckily another member of our group suggested her place, which is where we ended up going, hoping it would be suitable. 

Luckily it wasn't that bad. A very small space though, which we had to deal with. I'm so grateful to the actor we ended up with, he was very patient as we tried to figure out our space. I'd done up a storyboard which we tried to follow as best we could. Unfortunately, due to our limits, some shots just couldn't be done.

We also had a time limit because our actor needed to head off, so we had to cram everything in! Plus, because we didn't get the kit booked until the evening (the script ideally would've been filmed in the morning...), we had to try and recreate the light so that it looked like morning/daytime. Fingers crossed that works out!

Today, after filming yesterday, we still needed to get in a couple more shots outdoors. It was absolutely necessary to have daylight for these! Our actor was only available for an hour, from 12-1, so I arranged for everyone to meet at 10:45am to enable enough time to get our location set, and to know exactly what we were doing. This was to make the most of our time when the actor got there!

I arrive 10:45. Only Gerry is there. 11:10, another member arrives. We are missing 2 members. One of which has our camera, and the other has our tripod and a vital item of clothing for our actor. We call our camera man at around 11:20, who was asleep!! We told him to get to us ASAP. We called our tripod/clothing girl, who was on her way. However, it turns out she'd forgotten said tripod/item of clothing, so she had to turn around and head back to retrieve them. 

11:40 rolls around. No camera man, no tripod/item of clothing. We call our camera man again. He was STILL at home!!!! We told him our actor was arriving in 20 minutes! He swears and hangs up.

Our actor arrives 10 minutes later, but there was nothing we could do except head down to our location and get some practice runs. After this, we head to the tube station with Gerry calling our camera man constantly. It would ring through with no answer. Super frustrating! At 12:25-ish, he finally emerges, taking his time. No apology was uttered, which made the situation so much worse. We still had no tripod, and no shirt. What else could we do but go hand-held and make our actor wear a jumper? We had no other option, so that's what we did. Our tripod and shirt arrived when we had 5 minutes to go.

However, we did manage to finish our filming, but it's not the way I really envisioned it. A bit upsetting, but what's done is done! I really hope that for our next assignment, I'm arranged into a good group with enthusiastic people! I really feel I've had quite bad luck thus far. Hopefully next time :)

Catch Up

I have a lot to catch up on in this post! Since I last wrote, I received my results back from our Vox Pop assignment - which I must admit, I'm a little disappointed with! Luckily there was some good feedback which I will take on board for the next assignment. Speaking of, we've started that too!

In this assignment, we have to do a 1 minute poem adaptation. I was assigned as Director... eek! Scary! This is my first time being a Director, 100%, so I'm feeling all kinds of nervous! Although I saw a quote which I've decided to take on board:

My fear of being in charge, so to speak, has really come down to that notion of being wrong. But, I'm going to embrace my new position of power! I need to trust my ideas, which I think I'm slowly coming to terms with. 

Being Director, I launched straight in! I picked out 4 poems and posted them to my group on facebook. I wanted to get them involved in this whole process, because after all, we all get the same mark in the end! I don't want any of them to be unhappy with the overall product. But... several days passed and no-one responded. So, I had to just pick a poem in order to get things going. I wrote 4 different script ideas based on the poem "The Road Not Taken" by Robert Frost with the idea that everyone could vote on the script they liked the most. Again, no response. I approached one of my group members in class, where we discussed the scripts I'd posted and he told me the script he liked the most, so that's what we are going with! I posted on facebook what the chosen script was, the actors we'd need, the location, props and equipment. Our Production Manager said she was on it! Finally, I received some responses! We planned to get filming this weekend. However, nothing ended up being organised, so we couldn't film. A bit frustrating and stressful, seeing as it's now due in under 5 days!! Eeek! Fingers crossed we'll have things organised to film tomorrow and Tuesday.

Working in a group can really test you sometimes! I guess it's good practice for the future.

Apart from this assignment, we've also been learning about mise-en-scene and the top-down plan, as well as storyboarding and we briefly touched over some filming styles including Naturalism, Surrealism and Film Noir. Touching over Surrealism and Film Noir brought back some memories from high school! One significant movement I'd never heard of before though was Dogme 95. Very interesting. No genre? No credit to the Director? Everything seems to have to be very raw and natural. I think I need to see a movie or two in this style! I'm intrigued.

I'm still getting my head around the top-down plan. It's definitely very useful in terms of organisation! It has the ability to save lots of time and money, but I need more practice to figure out where the cameras are within the movie space. Also, the 180 degree rule I need to have set in my head too! I need to really figure out where that line is. Luckily there's diagrams to help me!

Cue: brain power.

The major plan for now though is to get this filming done for our assignment! Fingers crossed...