Monday 11th February 2019 – Research and idea development
Today I started thinking of my FMP idea and the format I want to produce my work in, I began researching after thinking of the theme Homelessness. Some research I did was through YouTube- watching short films on the subject and short thrillers, I read through a few websites; the main two being crisis and NCLS.
While thinking of an idea I wasn’t sure what was the better one as I also thought about do ability. By next lesson I want to continue my research and start a mind map and mood board.
Monday 25th February 2019
This lesson I continued my research, putting in the information onto my power point and was able to complete it, I included a schedule which help me organise and visually recognise how everything will be completed. When creating the schedule I had to estimate how long it would take me to complete a task and give myself extra time in-case my predictions were off.
I also started my mood board and screenplay and was able to apply my research.
Tuesday 26th February
In this lesson I started writing the first draft of my screenplay at the moment it feels inconstant and lacking. I also started searching for actors which came with a lot of rejection.
I didn’t know how to find actors until I did some more research, I sent the screenplay to various people and was able to get a response.
Wednesday 28th February
Some people were suspicious of my request for them to be in my short film because they wanted more proof. I was finally able to find a school that was willing to spread the word of my short film to the students and I made an account with a casting agency which allowed me to post for free using their code.
I also wrote a second and third draft for my screenplay focusing on giving my main character a main motive and struggles towards achieving her aims, I looked at more locations that would be suitable, thinking about ambience ( construction noise ), busyness and reach of sun light. Although the screenplay is a few pages I am worried about it being too long as it has a lot of action.
Friday 1st March
I have been receiving many applications from the website I signed up to which I am surprised that so many people are interested, I sent out messages to everyone to let them know I will get back to them on audition details.
I also received show reels which I watched, giving me more information on the actors capabilities.
Monday 4th March
This lesson I started letting the actors know when to audition giving them the option of a self tape or coming to the college, although the role is not paid I will provide lunch for long filming days.
Some of the actors who applied have dropped out however the number of those who are interested is still high.
I began looking at impact-full camera angles that I could use and thinking about speaking to shops about filming in their business. To prepare for the auditions I have researched and looked at examples, what to say, how long it should be, what I will need and what I should provide the actors.
However I found organising the actors into roles for auditioning to be complicated, I wasn’t sure how long to give them, which characters to audition first, and because the screenplay contains so little dialogue I wasn’t sure which page should be auditioned or if the whole thing should since its a short.
Monday 11th March
This lesson I organised auditions for new responses and contacted supermarkets about filming in their stores, I received a few audition tapes and some dropouts, In the next few days I need to start interviewing homeless people and continue location scouting as well as obtaining lighting equipment
Tuesday 12th March
This lesson I presented my powerpoint, I tried to avoid reading from the screen but I feel this caused waffle and missed points, I was able to reword things in my head while reading but if I were to do this again I would practice presenting and memories key information.
I also received a response from Sainsbury’s about filming in their stores and was referenced to their press office to make a call.
Lastly I wrote monologues fro the actors to perform since the roles available were non speaking I believed this would make it easier.
Tuesday 19th March
Today I organised for a camera and tripod to be booked out from 11:00 am to 16:00 pm, I also made arrangements to use the hub for auditions.
Through the day no one came to audition which was disappointing, I used the extra time to work on lighting and camera angles that will be used in my short film, this extra research made me think about small gestures that could be used in my short and what they should communicate.
Wednesday 20th March
Today I booked out the camera tripod and went to the hub, however there was miss-communication causing the person who runs the hub to believe that I will use it at 12:00 when it was actually at 13:00; and so he will be unavailable at my initial time. To solve this I will ask the actor supposed to come at 13:00 to come at another time and use the extra time to continue my camera angle research as there is still plenty to think about regarding this area of the film.
Later on in the day the actor who was supposed to come in at 13:00 cancelled leaving one person coming in to audition today. Although I was disappointed that they dropped out of the role, I remained professional because the unexpected could happen at any time especially in the film industry (weather, double booking of a location, unreliable actors or equipment failure), it is better to remain calm and optimistic when it does happen so to think of another route or make the best of it.
Wednesday 11th April
I wanted to film more through out the beginning of April however the main actress hasn’t been available and at times doesn’t respond to my messages, so not to be kept too far behind I filmed with the actor playing male passerby today and it went really well, as an experienced film maker he gave me filming tips and acted the part nicely, we had to film without the lead so editing it as if they are in the same place might prove challenging. Filming didn’t take too long but I didn’t have all the equipment I wanted due to some of my orders being damaged during delivery, I worked with daylight to avoid grain in the footage.
Tuesday 23rd April 2019-04-29
I wanted to finish filming before the Easter break ended but the lead hasn’t been available, to not keep the other actors waiting I decided to film without a lead, in a POV style so the audience become the lead. Later on in the day I started editing the footage I already have, however the computer would not open the video and reports it as damaged, the actor I filmed with stated not being able to film after the 19th because he has other jobs and will be busy so I messaged him to send a voice recording of his lines so I can instead change the production to a trailer given all the issues that have surrounded it so far. I will request that the lead send a head shot to be used in the trailer and I will also use the monologue which she sent before I cast her to act as a voice over for the trailer.
Wednesday 24th April
I before changing the production to a trailer I wanted to
try again and film the short film with the lead actress, to accomplish this I
messaged stating: “That’s okay.
For this scene you can wear grey tracksuits and either a jumper, heavy jacket
or Shirt with a jacket, since she is homeless no name brands should be worn or
fancy clothes.
We can meet at Prebend St London N1 8QH. By the church, which is where, we will
first film.
I’m also thinking of adding the monologue because I’m not sure how many scenes
I will be able to film before the deadline, so if you still have it could you
bring it with you, if you can’t bring it that’s okay, you could film a voice
over separately and send it to me since that will be clearer.”
In the messages I also asked for the actress to arrive at 7pm so I can use the sun’s light during a sunset because I don’t have led lights.
I also messaged the actress playing woman 1 the day before but have not yet heard from her.
Saturday 27th April
Yesterday I was supposed to film with the lead however she said she didn’t have the clothes I requested for her to wear and couldn’t come at 19:00 stating: “Hi Maria, I didn’t confirm this and unfortunately I am unable to and I don’t have grey tracksuits also.”
In addition I haven’t heard from the actress playing woman 1 in a few days now meaning I will have to continue without her due to the deadline approaching.
Lastly, today I contacted the male stranger actor and he agreed to film on Thursday the 2nd of May at 11:30 am, I decided to cancel the production of Ally’s home and make it into a trailer so I can use the monologue, voice over’s and film POV shots of London’s streets.
Monday 20th May
Today I tried to create an interactive web page but the site I used to do it had loading issues so I couldn’t load any of the videos or images I had created, the camera I used to film the interview at Pillion trust as well as the b-role shots has been having technical issues for weeks now, because of this the footage lags, is unstable and out of synch with the audio.
I tried to make a trailer with the footage i was able to take but because of the lagging and bad video quality caused by my camera I didn’t have much footage to use.
Tomorrow I hope to create an infographic for my work and for the issue with uploading to the website is fixed.
Tuesday 21st May
Today I went back to create a front page but the site wasn’t working, I could only upload a simple image, I was able to create a small part of the trailer but it will be bad quality.
I tried making the infographic however the sites I found either weren’t free or didn’t provide the content I wanted for free so I decided try to make a pod cast with my work to make up for the lack of images.
Thursday 30th May
Today I returned to the pillion trust to speak with the editor of Pavement – a magazine helping rough sleepers find aid around the UK.
She spoke about how Pavement came to be, what inspired the duo creators and how they market it. Some of what was mentioned is that some rough sleepers with reading difficulties have trouble understanding the magazine, they have tried condensing certain pages but certain pages still aren’t simple enough to read.
Wednesday 5th June
This lesson I was able to present my work, as I predicted the interview was too long; originally it was around 30 minuets but I brought it down to 13 by removing myself emotionally from the editing process to delete sections.
I received a lot of advice from the audience such as creating a podcast, finding better quality images and including subtitles.
When I tried to create an evaluation I found that the evaluation from my reconstruction is on all three of my projects and they are connected, when i try to delete one, they all get deleted.
AC15317 UAL Level 3 