Just a quick update to say that I had a wonderful time filming with Bacalao the other night. Sofia and Marianne were both so personable and professional and the whole thing went so very smoothly. We're putting together a teaser trailer, and we had a very productive discussion and implemented some last minute ideas which went really smoothly. The whole evening was a lovely stress-free experience. Even though this was our last chance to get some meaningful video, I really felt like the weight was off, and everything just went right. Here's hoping the footage is good enough! Will be having a good close look at that soon (I took the lens cap off, right?).
Time, the great enemy of the clueless videographer (especially when working weekday evenings on a tight schedule), was on our side. We managed to get a lot of footage recorded and it never felt rushed or compromised. Some of the scenes we shot with Sofia were very powerful, dealing as they were with moments of tragedy/cruelty in her life, and to be there, holding the camera towards someone who is experienced at using their emotion to communicate is quite exhilarating. She managed to silence the room on more than one occasion, and goodness - I know this sounds silly - but at times I could physically feel the energy of her performance, like a force.
On the lighting side, having left my new lamp at home, the worklight proved it's mettle and powerfully lit the household spaces. I used a fast shutter speed to make up for abundance of light and I will be interested to see the results. To the eye, it was too much, but on camera, it looked great.
I also got to see more of Nigel Hine at work, who brought only small backpack but managed to pull a veritable studio out of it, reflectors, softbox lighting on a telescopic stand and a lovely Canon camera, before setting about photographing phenomenal promotional portrait pictures of Sofia and Marianne for their upcoming website, all on location at the house that will be the venue for Sofia's performance. Nigel was good, he was working in a non-ideal location that he wasn't able to scout beforehand, but the quality of the images was astounding.
Ah well, until next time!
:-)
(It's nice to be able to write something really positive for a change!)
Wednesday, 21 September 2011
Monday, 19 September 2011
Wailing and gnashing of teeth
THE LAMP part 2
Remember my clamp-lamp from the previous post? Well, I found one online and bought it. It's basically a heat lamp with a metal dome reflector for use in vivariums. Well my lamp arrived quickly from an online reptile house and yesterday I bought some filament bulbs for it so I could give the lamp a test run before tonight's shooting of Sofia and her show. The important thing to note here, and which shows a lack of foresight on my part, is that tungsten filament bulbs are being phased out in favour of energy saving bulbs. We're already at a stage where you cannot buy bulbs of a high wattage in the store (I had to settle for 60W). Good news for the planet, bad news for the no-budget film-maker.
Well, instead of a clean sharp light with bold shadows as this youtube video had showed me, I was treated to some of the ugliest light I've ever seen. Harsh patchy concentric rings of light all bunched together, like the headlight of a 70's car. It was awful. Thus commenced the wailing and gnashing of teeth. I spent some time trying to fix it. My first thought was that it was the super shiny dome that was causing these reflective rings, so I tried to remove it, only to find the particular lamp I had bought had an irremovable dome. Quick thinking Dee rushed to the bedroom and brought out a white shirt. We stretched the fabric over the dome and it diffused the light quite well, but not well enough. This light certainly isn't the holy grail of budget lighting I was hoping, in fact, until I make some kind of modification, it is beyond useless.
I'm beginning to think I should perhaps spray-paint the inside of the reflective dome with a matte white finish so the light is still reflected but it loses the harsh ringed reflections from the dome. Come to think of it, my dome is a lot more glossy than the dome in the video. I'm talking reflector dome here, and not my head, although let's be honest, my dome does get glossy.
I pulled out my old worklight to compare it to the horrible unusable light the lamp was giving off, and the worklight, despite giving off the light and heat of a small nuclear explosion, gave a far more consistent light. Why did I ever doubt you, worklight?
It's hard to escape the feeling that sometimes travelling on this journey is basically lurching from one disappointment to the next. Maybe I shouldn't have let myself get so fucking excited about a lamp, like it was the answer to all my problems.
TONIGHT - BACALAO FILMING
Got a lot of stuff to take to work with me today, because I'm going straight from work to meet Sofia. On previous trips to work when I've had to come "equipped" I have injured my wrists carrying all this stuff across various trains and tubes, so today I have opted for the big dusty suitcase on wheels. Pulled it out from under the bed, vacuumed all the dust off it, and loaded up. I got my camera case, big tripod, worklight, worklight stand (the nuclear fucker will burn a hole in whatever it sits on otherwise), external microphone and leads. The camera case itself takes up 85% of the suitcase, the rest is wedged all around it. The tripod is massive, but it's wedged into a large outside pocket on the front of the case. Get in! Moving this around the streets of London is still a chore, but it's not the it complete bummer it has been previously. As I dragged the case along the uneven cobbled streets, the rattling of the wheels concerned me. I know that the camera is not meant to be subject to vibration, and I was having bad visions of the camera being shaken into tiny pieces inside it's foam casing. I'll keep you posted.
Ran out of time for breakfast this morning because I forgot the microphone and had to rush to find and pack it. Powered down through some mini cheddars and a fruit corner once I got to work. I'm feeling powerful. Let's see how long that lasts.
Remember my clamp-lamp from the previous post? Well, I found one online and bought it. It's basically a heat lamp with a metal dome reflector for use in vivariums. Well my lamp arrived quickly from an online reptile house and yesterday I bought some filament bulbs for it so I could give the lamp a test run before tonight's shooting of Sofia and her show. The important thing to note here, and which shows a lack of foresight on my part, is that tungsten filament bulbs are being phased out in favour of energy saving bulbs. We're already at a stage where you cannot buy bulbs of a high wattage in the store (I had to settle for 60W). Good news for the planet, bad news for the no-budget film-maker.
Well, instead of a clean sharp light with bold shadows as this youtube video had showed me, I was treated to some of the ugliest light I've ever seen. Harsh patchy concentric rings of light all bunched together, like the headlight of a 70's car. It was awful. Thus commenced the wailing and gnashing of teeth. I spent some time trying to fix it. My first thought was that it was the super shiny dome that was causing these reflective rings, so I tried to remove it, only to find the particular lamp I had bought had an irremovable dome. Quick thinking Dee rushed to the bedroom and brought out a white shirt. We stretched the fabric over the dome and it diffused the light quite well, but not well enough. This light certainly isn't the holy grail of budget lighting I was hoping, in fact, until I make some kind of modification, it is beyond useless.
I'm beginning to think I should perhaps spray-paint the inside of the reflective dome with a matte white finish so the light is still reflected but it loses the harsh ringed reflections from the dome. Come to think of it, my dome is a lot more glossy than the dome in the video. I'm talking reflector dome here, and not my head, although let's be honest, my dome does get glossy.
I pulled out my old worklight to compare it to the horrible unusable light the lamp was giving off, and the worklight, despite giving off the light and heat of a small nuclear explosion, gave a far more consistent light. Why did I ever doubt you, worklight?
It's hard to escape the feeling that sometimes travelling on this journey is basically lurching from one disappointment to the next. Maybe I shouldn't have let myself get so fucking excited about a lamp, like it was the answer to all my problems.
TONIGHT - BACALAO FILMING
Got a lot of stuff to take to work with me today, because I'm going straight from work to meet Sofia. On previous trips to work when I've had to come "equipped" I have injured my wrists carrying all this stuff across various trains and tubes, so today I have opted for the big dusty suitcase on wheels. Pulled it out from under the bed, vacuumed all the dust off it, and loaded up. I got my camera case, big tripod, worklight, worklight stand (the nuclear fucker will burn a hole in whatever it sits on otherwise), external microphone and leads. The camera case itself takes up 85% of the suitcase, the rest is wedged all around it. The tripod is massive, but it's wedged into a large outside pocket on the front of the case. Get in! Moving this around the streets of London is still a chore, but it's not the it complete bummer it has been previously. As I dragged the case along the uneven cobbled streets, the rattling of the wheels concerned me. I know that the camera is not meant to be subject to vibration, and I was having bad visions of the camera being shaken into tiny pieces inside it's foam casing. I'll keep you posted.
Ran out of time for breakfast this morning because I forgot the microphone and had to rush to find and pack it. Powered down through some mini cheddars and a fruit corner once I got to work. I'm feeling powerful. Let's see how long that lasts.
Monday, 12 September 2011
Catch-up time!
Been a bit of a while between updates.
HOUDINI
The big news is that I have got a new project, filming a music video for Medway noiseniks Houdini. They are friends of Frau Pouch, the band I filmed live a while back at New Cross. We're just in the planning stages at the moment, but it's exciting, and this is a first for me - to be filming a video for a band that I wasn't already friends with. This is the litmus test, my first foray into commissioned work. They are a tight, furiously talented band and I urge you to see them live if you get the chance. They play Medway and London on a semi-regular basis. Catch them with Frau Pouch if the opportunity arises, for a double whammy of filth and noise.
Check them out here: http://www.reverbnation.com/houdinisaur
LIGHTING
So the new video is in the pipeline and I really want to use this opportunity to elevate the visual quality of my videos (only time will tell if the opportunity is utilised) so I have ordered a new light to illuminate my video subjects. I want to keep it simple and inexpensive, although I do admit I did have a browse through some "proper" lights with tripods and dimmers and barn doors and all that fancy malarkey - however, money is too tight to mention, as the wise man once said (before contradicting himself by talking about money money) and it behooves me to seek a more frugal measure. I have written before about worklights, and how I utilised a worklight I had bought several years ago (to illuminate a night-time barbecue party) as a possible film-making solution. Some of the budget film-makers on the net don't rate worklights as a decent lighting tool and insist that proper lights are the only way to go, and while some of that may be equipment snobbery, there is actually a valid argument here. This excellent little tutorial video makes clear points and actually proposes an even cheaper solution than worklights which works a lot better.
The video suggests using reflector lamps as a point light, the kind you might use to illuminate and heat a reptile vivarium. It's a simple average glass bulb in a metal reflector dome, and it comes with a clamp so you can fix it to objects.
A far cheaper solution and a more controllable light than worklights, which can be a little overpowering as they are essentially halogen floodlights.
A top tip from the video is to use bulbs where the visible filament is small and straight, rather than curly, twisted or circular in shape. It means checking your bulb before you buy, but it means you get sharp crisp shadows (thanks to the straight filament) rather than the fuzzy, graded shadows that are caused by light rays being thrown every which way. I paid a little more to get a lamp that could take a bulb up to 250watts so I had the option to go bright. When the lamp arrives I'll let you know how it works! I'll be using it as a point light for the Houdini shoot and also next Monday, when I will be filming some footage of a theatre show performance for the Bacalao Theatre Company, a project I took on a little while ago.
BACALAO
Sofia, an old friend of mine and a talented performer, singer and actress is promoting her one-woman show, titled simply Sofia - The Show, an autobiographical piece about her childhood in Portugal and her life in London. What's interesting about the show is that it will take place in unusual spaces, such as people's homes which will be opened as public space. Sofia contacted me to help her and her director, Marianne, get a video sample of their work for their website, with the eventual aim of using the footage to show to possible backers to get funding for their new show. I filmed some footage of Sofia performing the show in a theatre space recently but time ran out on us, and I was really disappointed with the quality of the footage once I got it home. The room was dark and we had no extra lighting, so I had to use a wide open aperture, which when combined with the zoom meant that I had a really shallow depth of focus which made it hard to focus on Sofia as she moved about the stage. Sofia's vibrant red clothing - which looked fine on the viewfinder - came out bizarrely blocky and pixelated once I saw the footage enlarged. Another blow came in the form of the audio, which suffered from the loud air conditioning in the studio space. While human ears soon tuned out the drone, the microphone was not so kind. A little more experience (and equipment) and perhaps I could have taken steps to minimise this, but I learn hard lessons on every shoot I do.
Marianne and Sofia were both really great on the night and gave it their all, and I felt gutted that I couldn't give them something that reflected that.
I loved Sofia's work and both her and Marianne are really lovely genuine people, so I want to give them something that can benefit them. I hope I can salvage some footage of the performance and combine it with what we film on Monday. They've both worked so hard to organise all of this and I really want to help.
This may sound really obvious, but I am discovering that it's really not easy to do something well. It's difficult.
SURVIVING THE TOILET CIRCUIT
This project has not gone away, but has been put back a little. Not too much to talk about at this stage, things are still happening behind the scenes, and it all still feel a little vague and up in the air. I must admit, Mark from the Explorer's Collective has been prodding me for a meet-up, and I really should get together with him and talk about it. I've been keeping myself out of the loop because the guys involved have some stuff to work through - outside of the filming - and I don't want to muddy that. Time to catch up though.
BRAIN FIGHT
This has also slipped into the background as I have been so busy lately... now I am worried that it will soon be too cold/dark/wet to be able to organise a large group of people for an outdoor filming session. I must contact Joe of Frau Pouch and have a chat.
BIKE
Not video related, but I bought a bike last week, using my workplace cyclescheme. Should be picking it up in a few days. I'm unfit, overweight, and broke... so cycling should save me a lot of money on my exorbitant monthly train fares. Well, we'll just have to see how it goes!
HOUDINI
The big news is that I have got a new project, filming a music video for Medway noiseniks Houdini. They are friends of Frau Pouch, the band I filmed live a while back at New Cross. We're just in the planning stages at the moment, but it's exciting, and this is a first for me - to be filming a video for a band that I wasn't already friends with. This is the litmus test, my first foray into commissioned work. They are a tight, furiously talented band and I urge you to see them live if you get the chance. They play Medway and London on a semi-regular basis. Catch them with Frau Pouch if the opportunity arises, for a double whammy of filth and noise.
Check them out here: http://www.reverbnation.com/houdinisaur
LIGHTING
So the new video is in the pipeline and I really want to use this opportunity to elevate the visual quality of my videos (only time will tell if the opportunity is utilised) so I have ordered a new light to illuminate my video subjects. I want to keep it simple and inexpensive, although I do admit I did have a browse through some "proper" lights with tripods and dimmers and barn doors and all that fancy malarkey - however, money is too tight to mention, as the wise man once said (before contradicting himself by talking about money money) and it behooves me to seek a more frugal measure. I have written before about worklights, and how I utilised a worklight I had bought several years ago (to illuminate a night-time barbecue party) as a possible film-making solution. Some of the budget film-makers on the net don't rate worklights as a decent lighting tool and insist that proper lights are the only way to go, and while some of that may be equipment snobbery, there is actually a valid argument here. This excellent little tutorial video makes clear points and actually proposes an even cheaper solution than worklights which works a lot better.
The video suggests using reflector lamps as a point light, the kind you might use to illuminate and heat a reptile vivarium. It's a simple average glass bulb in a metal reflector dome, and it comes with a clamp so you can fix it to objects.
A far cheaper solution and a more controllable light than worklights, which can be a little overpowering as they are essentially halogen floodlights.
A top tip from the video is to use bulbs where the visible filament is small and straight, rather than curly, twisted or circular in shape. It means checking your bulb before you buy, but it means you get sharp crisp shadows (thanks to the straight filament) rather than the fuzzy, graded shadows that are caused by light rays being thrown every which way. I paid a little more to get a lamp that could take a bulb up to 250watts so I had the option to go bright. When the lamp arrives I'll let you know how it works! I'll be using it as a point light for the Houdini shoot and also next Monday, when I will be filming some footage of a theatre show performance for the Bacalao Theatre Company, a project I took on a little while ago.
BACALAO
Sofia, an old friend of mine and a talented performer, singer and actress is promoting her one-woman show, titled simply Sofia - The Show, an autobiographical piece about her childhood in Portugal and her life in London. What's interesting about the show is that it will take place in unusual spaces, such as people's homes which will be opened as public space. Sofia contacted me to help her and her director, Marianne, get a video sample of their work for their website, with the eventual aim of using the footage to show to possible backers to get funding for their new show. I filmed some footage of Sofia performing the show in a theatre space recently but time ran out on us, and I was really disappointed with the quality of the footage once I got it home. The room was dark and we had no extra lighting, so I had to use a wide open aperture, which when combined with the zoom meant that I had a really shallow depth of focus which made it hard to focus on Sofia as she moved about the stage. Sofia's vibrant red clothing - which looked fine on the viewfinder - came out bizarrely blocky and pixelated once I saw the footage enlarged. Another blow came in the form of the audio, which suffered from the loud air conditioning in the studio space. While human ears soon tuned out the drone, the microphone was not so kind. A little more experience (and equipment) and perhaps I could have taken steps to minimise this, but I learn hard lessons on every shoot I do.
Marianne and Sofia were both really great on the night and gave it their all, and I felt gutted that I couldn't give them something that reflected that.
I loved Sofia's work and both her and Marianne are really lovely genuine people, so I want to give them something that can benefit them. I hope I can salvage some footage of the performance and combine it with what we film on Monday. They've both worked so hard to organise all of this and I really want to help.
This may sound really obvious, but I am discovering that it's really not easy to do something well. It's difficult.
SURVIVING THE TOILET CIRCUIT
This project has not gone away, but has been put back a little. Not too much to talk about at this stage, things are still happening behind the scenes, and it all still feel a little vague and up in the air. I must admit, Mark from the Explorer's Collective has been prodding me for a meet-up, and I really should get together with him and talk about it. I've been keeping myself out of the loop because the guys involved have some stuff to work through - outside of the filming - and I don't want to muddy that. Time to catch up though.
BRAIN FIGHT
This has also slipped into the background as I have been so busy lately... now I am worried that it will soon be too cold/dark/wet to be able to organise a large group of people for an outdoor filming session. I must contact Joe of Frau Pouch and have a chat.
BIKE
Not video related, but I bought a bike last week, using my workplace cyclescheme. Should be picking it up in a few days. I'm unfit, overweight, and broke... so cycling should save me a lot of money on my exorbitant monthly train fares. Well, we'll just have to see how it goes!
Monday, 1 August 2011
Brain fight!!
No action on the film front just yet, everyone is taking turns to take two weeks holiday, meaning we won't have a full team for a long time. I really should organise something though, perhaps I'll lift my lethargic hands today and type out an email to everyone to arrange the next bit of rehearsal.
However, a little news to report, a conversation with a friend has spun from a funny idea into possibly a full blown music video. The excellent Frau Pouch are considering a music video featuring a brain fight in a science laboratory. Like a food fight but with brains. Because of logistics and Evil Deadness, we might even host a brain fight in the woods. With zombies. A really interesting turn of events for me is that we might film it all (or at least mostly) on a super8 handheld, and then transfer it to miniDV using a DV camera and a projector.
This madness has only really erupted this morning, but if I can swing it, I think I can have the pleasure of helming this disgusting little foray.
However, a little news to report, a conversation with a friend has spun from a funny idea into possibly a full blown music video. The excellent Frau Pouch are considering a music video featuring a brain fight in a science laboratory. Like a food fight but with brains. Because of logistics and Evil Deadness, we might even host a brain fight in the woods. With zombies. A really interesting turn of events for me is that we might film it all (or at least mostly) on a super8 handheld, and then transfer it to miniDV using a DV camera and a projector.
This madness has only really erupted this morning, but if I can swing it, I think I can have the pleasure of helming this disgusting little foray.
Sunday, 19 June 2011
Our first day of filming
It's been a whole week now, but on Sunday we filmed our first scene for the movie.
It was act two, scene three. The band have their first meeting with the record label manager in his plush London digs.
I have never prepared for any shoot as much as I prepared for this. And you know what, it still wasn't enough. But I am gradually learning what I'm doing wrong, and what I'm not doing enough of to prepare.
The whole thing felt strangely anticlimactic, and after arriving and setting up the set (a person's actual home, which lent the whole proceedings a slightly strange air, I was always vaguely aware that I was putting people out) it felt like business as usual.
The shoot went well enough, we got everything in the can, Brian even supplied a boom mic on a grip handle (so you can point it like a gun) that had been sitting around his place for years, most serendipitous indeed, seeing as we were working with capturing high quality sound for the first time. The best thing for me about the shoot was having Dee assist me, she really helped me stay on top of everything and having an extra pair of hands to work clapperboards, lights and microphones was great. Plus there were probably two occasions where time was slipping through my fingers and the task of getting everything filmed felt monumental, and I think I was on the verge of possibly losing all hope a little, but having Dee there kept me sane and kept me together! Thank you Dee, and thank you for the home made scones!
Speaking of food, I was planning for everyone to bring a bit of food along and we could break for a nice buffet style lunch of our own devising, but time was so damned tight that we didn't have a minute to spare. I feel really bad about this as I wanted the shoot to run smoothly and for everyone to have a nice relaxing lunch and chat halfway through the day. Maybe next time I should schedule everything to a timetable, although there is a probability that everything will get clusterfucked after a scene needs twenty takes or I forget to set the sound levels and we have to do it all again.
I've edited together the first 30 seconds or so, and I have some serious audio balancing to deal with because the supposed background silence in certain scenes hums along very loudly in one shot and then disappears in the next (air conditioning or perhaps water boiler?) This will be my first time working to balance audio as well as visuals and so far I think I will have a lot of work to do but I think (hope?) that this is pretty standard fare. The audio capture isn't as sharp as I'd like, voices disappear beneath footsteps and the audio is not crystal clear. I guess I will try my hand and twirling some on-screen dials in Final Cut, shrug my shoulders a bit and then do some googling and see if I can bring up the quality. In future, I need to get the boom mike closer to the actors, judiciously hiding it in the set so it won't show up on camera.
On the plus side, my current concerns about whether I not I kept everything in focus seem to be unfounded, and I got all the footage I was planning to get.
On the negative, I didn't get enough coverage. I never liked the idea of getting coverage, preferring instead to get all the shots on my shot list, but now I'm feeling a little exposed and if anything has gone wrong then it could hurt me later on in the edit. I think I shall correct this in future and get more coverage. I could really use the extra angles, as some of the shots don't quite flow/match up.
The pressure of having the camera in people's faces and being on location, with a time limit, made remembering lines difficult and we went through a lot of takes. I think our rehearsals have had the wrong focus, because we seemed to be finalising a lot of action and acting decisions in front of the camera, and the rehearsals hadn't helped us remember our lines. Admittedly our rehearsals have been mostly sitting around reading the script out loud, when I should have pushed sooner for us to ditch the scripts - although at the time the idea made everyone nervous. Having a script in our hand was like a comforting blanket, and we didn't want to forgo that. I could be wrong but I think everyone probably wishes we had done more to learn our lines in rehearsal, and more to flesh out the scenes, and I take responsibility for that because I really should have been using our time more efficiently. But that's inexperience for you, and this is hindsight. Not much good to dwell on mistakes, far better to learn from them.
I'm looking forward to getting the scene edited together, but life keeps getting in the way. Part of me is terrified that once I put everything together, it's just not going to work (read: it's going to be shittily edited and directed) and we'll have to shoot the whole scene again, without our plush location.
I really should contact the guys and arrange our next rehearsal/scene filming. They haven't heard from me in a week, they probably think I've gone mad with the pressure of putting the first scene together and have shut myself away from the world.
It's taken me a week to get myself together enough to write this.... perhaps they're right.
It was act two, scene three. The band have their first meeting with the record label manager in his plush London digs.
I have never prepared for any shoot as much as I prepared for this. And you know what, it still wasn't enough. But I am gradually learning what I'm doing wrong, and what I'm not doing enough of to prepare.
The whole thing felt strangely anticlimactic, and after arriving and setting up the set (a person's actual home, which lent the whole proceedings a slightly strange air, I was always vaguely aware that I was putting people out) it felt like business as usual.
The shoot went well enough, we got everything in the can, Brian even supplied a boom mic on a grip handle (so you can point it like a gun) that had been sitting around his place for years, most serendipitous indeed, seeing as we were working with capturing high quality sound for the first time. The best thing for me about the shoot was having Dee assist me, she really helped me stay on top of everything and having an extra pair of hands to work clapperboards, lights and microphones was great. Plus there were probably two occasions where time was slipping through my fingers and the task of getting everything filmed felt monumental, and I think I was on the verge of possibly losing all hope a little, but having Dee there kept me sane and kept me together! Thank you Dee, and thank you for the home made scones!
Speaking of food, I was planning for everyone to bring a bit of food along and we could break for a nice buffet style lunch of our own devising, but time was so damned tight that we didn't have a minute to spare. I feel really bad about this as I wanted the shoot to run smoothly and for everyone to have a nice relaxing lunch and chat halfway through the day. Maybe next time I should schedule everything to a timetable, although there is a probability that everything will get clusterfucked after a scene needs twenty takes or I forget to set the sound levels and we have to do it all again.
I've edited together the first 30 seconds or so, and I have some serious audio balancing to deal with because the supposed background silence in certain scenes hums along very loudly in one shot and then disappears in the next (air conditioning or perhaps water boiler?) This will be my first time working to balance audio as well as visuals and so far I think I will have a lot of work to do but I think (hope?) that this is pretty standard fare. The audio capture isn't as sharp as I'd like, voices disappear beneath footsteps and the audio is not crystal clear. I guess I will try my hand and twirling some on-screen dials in Final Cut, shrug my shoulders a bit and then do some googling and see if I can bring up the quality. In future, I need to get the boom mike closer to the actors, judiciously hiding it in the set so it won't show up on camera.
On the plus side, my current concerns about whether I not I kept everything in focus seem to be unfounded, and I got all the footage I was planning to get.
On the negative, I didn't get enough coverage. I never liked the idea of getting coverage, preferring instead to get all the shots on my shot list, but now I'm feeling a little exposed and if anything has gone wrong then it could hurt me later on in the edit. I think I shall correct this in future and get more coverage. I could really use the extra angles, as some of the shots don't quite flow/match up.
The pressure of having the camera in people's faces and being on location, with a time limit, made remembering lines difficult and we went through a lot of takes. I think our rehearsals have had the wrong focus, because we seemed to be finalising a lot of action and acting decisions in front of the camera, and the rehearsals hadn't helped us remember our lines. Admittedly our rehearsals have been mostly sitting around reading the script out loud, when I should have pushed sooner for us to ditch the scripts - although at the time the idea made everyone nervous. Having a script in our hand was like a comforting blanket, and we didn't want to forgo that. I could be wrong but I think everyone probably wishes we had done more to learn our lines in rehearsal, and more to flesh out the scenes, and I take responsibility for that because I really should have been using our time more efficiently. But that's inexperience for you, and this is hindsight. Not much good to dwell on mistakes, far better to learn from them.
I'm looking forward to getting the scene edited together, but life keeps getting in the way. Part of me is terrified that once I put everything together, it's just not going to work (read: it's going to be shittily edited and directed) and we'll have to shoot the whole scene again, without our plush location.
I really should contact the guys and arrange our next rehearsal/scene filming. They haven't heard from me in a week, they probably think I've gone mad with the pressure of putting the first scene together and have shut myself away from the world.
It's taken me a week to get myself together enough to write this.... perhaps they're right.
Wednesday, 8 June 2011
Our Filmed Rehearsal on Monday
So, after work on Monday I dragged my camera case and tripod (they both get really heavy after a while) to the tube and took myself across town to Mark's place in Greenwich. I arrived early enough to meet Brian (aka Clint Coxon, manager of our fictional Juggernaught Records) for a beer and a bite to eat, then we walked to Mark's. It was nice to have some help with the tripod! Once at Mark's, we had from 7 til 10pm.
We mocked up Mark's basement to the orientation of the London flat we'll be using on Sunday (luckily it has many similarities in terms of furniture and door placement). We did a run through of the scene and talked about how we would do things. We probably spent a bit too long doing this because once we finally started filming, we were only able to film about two thirds of all the shots.
I had a trusty shot list, which had the shot number, the camera angle, and room for writing the timecodes and making notes. I had put my list not in shot order, but in shooting order, so I would do one camera setup, film all of those scenes, then do the next set-up, and so on. There were 50 seperate shots to film, and we didn't get them all. In terms of the scene, we got all of the middle, but missed a chunk from the beginning and end. I also had a floor plan with all the camera angles and another sheet which listed all the shots and gave a description of dialogue/action in each shot. I think before Sunday I will combine the shot list with the list of shot descriptions to save me flicking constantly back and forth between two sheets.
We didn't worry too much about lighting, we stuck the camera on idiot-mode and the cast often had a script in hand for some of the dialogue as not all the lines had been thoroughly learned yet. We didn't have much time to strive for perfect performances. Until now we had only rehearsed the scenes from beginning to end and shooting it in bits and pieces, out of script order, was disorientating. I knew it would be, but I don't think I accounted for how disorientating. I suddenly began to realise that while I thought I had a hold on the scene, and where the characters would be, I actually didn't. Fiona would ask me where she should be during a scene and I had no idea. It made sense when we rehearsed it all in order, but filming out of order I often became befuddled. I think I will need to make a much more developed set of floorplans including character movement so I don't get so confused! There was unfortunately, a heck of a lot of standing around and waiting for the cast, even though we actually got through the shots pretty quickly and weren't trying to light each setup. Any notions of movie-set glamour soon disappeared. (note to self - set up a room where people can wait when not needed so they don't have to stand in the corner trying to be small)
Although we ran out of time and I found myself constantly losing pens or sheets of paper or getting confused (despite some pretty heavy - but not heavy enough - planning) the shoot was never stressful and we laughed quite a lot. Everyone was really enthusiastic and they put up with me and my incompetent boobery. I feel especially sympathetic for Neil and Frazer, as they don't even have any lines, they just have to sit there looking interested and not like they have numb arses, which was probably the hardest of all.
We wrapped up shortly around 10.15pm and made our way home. Being far luckier than I deserve to be, I went home to an incredible homemade pizza made by the amazing Dee, whose patience and support has been consistently amazing. Dee, if you're reading this, thank you. x
I spent Monday night with my brain still wired, directing people in urgent but mundane tasks in my dreams until my alarm went off and I had to go to work.
Yesterday (Tuesday), after work I decided to start transferring the video. After a big delay that required me to trash all my Final Cut preferences (the program stopped recognising the camera) I managed to get the footage imported. The lighting is harsh and the cameras automatic mode was pretty ugly. The picture also lacked sharpness and clarity, which I am a little surprised by, but I know it can do better and I only have myself to blame for using the automatic settings and autofocus. I was careful to check my white balance this time, having learned from previous mistakes.
But there was one thing I didn't check before we started filming. Audio levels. In my utter incompetence and inexperience, I shot the whole scene with the volume setting on the camera left on it's previous settings, which was when I filmed the deafening Frau Pouch/Explorer's Collective live gig. Barely a word registers when I playback the footage, and no matter how much I amplify the audio on Final Cut I can't hear a thing. My plan, to assemble a rough cut rehearsal of the scene that we could use to critique direction, camerawork, and blocking, has pretty much crumbled. I am incredibly disappointed, devestated even, given all the work that everyone put in to make this rehearsal happen. This was meant to help us feel utterly prepared going into our filming on Sunday, and all we're left with is a badly edited silent movie. Not that I've had time to edit it together yet, which should be difficult without any audio cues.
God fucking damnit.
On the plus side, if the footage makes sense (all the timecodes for each take have been recorded so assembling it then trimming the fat shouldn't be completely impossible) without audio then we know that visually, our plans are sound. We can also use this dodgy footage to make sure our continuity and blocking works and make changes where we need to. And on the super-positive side, at least I've learned my lesson BEFORE setting foot on the location. I'm really mad at myself for the oversight, but learning the hard way... sometimes it's the best way. I'm making a checklist, so this never happens again.
I was organised on Monday, more so than I have been on any of the music video shoots, but I realise I am still not organised enough. But I'm getting there!
Thanks for reading x
We mocked up Mark's basement to the orientation of the London flat we'll be using on Sunday (luckily it has many similarities in terms of furniture and door placement). We did a run through of the scene and talked about how we would do things. We probably spent a bit too long doing this because once we finally started filming, we were only able to film about two thirds of all the shots.
I had a trusty shot list, which had the shot number, the camera angle, and room for writing the timecodes and making notes. I had put my list not in shot order, but in shooting order, so I would do one camera setup, film all of those scenes, then do the next set-up, and so on. There were 50 seperate shots to film, and we didn't get them all. In terms of the scene, we got all of the middle, but missed a chunk from the beginning and end. I also had a floor plan with all the camera angles and another sheet which listed all the shots and gave a description of dialogue/action in each shot. I think before Sunday I will combine the shot list with the list of shot descriptions to save me flicking constantly back and forth between two sheets.
We didn't worry too much about lighting, we stuck the camera on idiot-mode and the cast often had a script in hand for some of the dialogue as not all the lines had been thoroughly learned yet. We didn't have much time to strive for perfect performances. Until now we had only rehearsed the scenes from beginning to end and shooting it in bits and pieces, out of script order, was disorientating. I knew it would be, but I don't think I accounted for how disorientating. I suddenly began to realise that while I thought I had a hold on the scene, and where the characters would be, I actually didn't. Fiona would ask me where she should be during a scene and I had no idea. It made sense when we rehearsed it all in order, but filming out of order I often became befuddled. I think I will need to make a much more developed set of floorplans including character movement so I don't get so confused! There was unfortunately, a heck of a lot of standing around and waiting for the cast, even though we actually got through the shots pretty quickly and weren't trying to light each setup. Any notions of movie-set glamour soon disappeared. (note to self - set up a room where people can wait when not needed so they don't have to stand in the corner trying to be small)
Although we ran out of time and I found myself constantly losing pens or sheets of paper or getting confused (despite some pretty heavy - but not heavy enough - planning) the shoot was never stressful and we laughed quite a lot. Everyone was really enthusiastic and they put up with me and my incompetent boobery. I feel especially sympathetic for Neil and Frazer, as they don't even have any lines, they just have to sit there looking interested and not like they have numb arses, which was probably the hardest of all.
We wrapped up shortly around 10.15pm and made our way home. Being far luckier than I deserve to be, I went home to an incredible homemade pizza made by the amazing Dee, whose patience and support has been consistently amazing. Dee, if you're reading this, thank you. x
I spent Monday night with my brain still wired, directing people in urgent but mundane tasks in my dreams until my alarm went off and I had to go to work.
Yesterday (Tuesday), after work I decided to start transferring the video. After a big delay that required me to trash all my Final Cut preferences (the program stopped recognising the camera) I managed to get the footage imported. The lighting is harsh and the cameras automatic mode was pretty ugly. The picture also lacked sharpness and clarity, which I am a little surprised by, but I know it can do better and I only have myself to blame for using the automatic settings and autofocus. I was careful to check my white balance this time, having learned from previous mistakes.
But there was one thing I didn't check before we started filming. Audio levels. In my utter incompetence and inexperience, I shot the whole scene with the volume setting on the camera left on it's previous settings, which was when I filmed the deafening Frau Pouch/Explorer's Collective live gig. Barely a word registers when I playback the footage, and no matter how much I amplify the audio on Final Cut I can't hear a thing. My plan, to assemble a rough cut rehearsal of the scene that we could use to critique direction, camerawork, and blocking, has pretty much crumbled. I am incredibly disappointed, devestated even, given all the work that everyone put in to make this rehearsal happen. This was meant to help us feel utterly prepared going into our filming on Sunday, and all we're left with is a badly edited silent movie. Not that I've had time to edit it together yet, which should be difficult without any audio cues.
God fucking damnit.
On the plus side, if the footage makes sense (all the timecodes for each take have been recorded so assembling it then trimming the fat shouldn't be completely impossible) without audio then we know that visually, our plans are sound. We can also use this dodgy footage to make sure our continuity and blocking works and make changes where we need to. And on the super-positive side, at least I've learned my lesson BEFORE setting foot on the location. I'm really mad at myself for the oversight, but learning the hard way... sometimes it's the best way. I'm making a checklist, so this never happens again.
I was organised on Monday, more so than I have been on any of the music video shoots, but I realise I am still not organised enough. But I'm getting there!
Thanks for reading x
Friday, 3 June 2011
Filming next weekend! Rehearsal filming on Monday.
I haven't updated for a little while, not because of a lack of things happening, but an abundance! We're filming next Sunday and right now we're meeting quite often to rehearse (we might even be over-rehearsing) and on Monday we're going to have a filmed rehearsal in which we'll practice not only walking and talking but also the different camera angles and shots. I've been mapping out the camera angles on a plan of the location for the past few days now on my lunchbreaks at work. It's something I've never bothered to do before but it really helps you visualise and plan a full shot list and I'm finding it invaluable. I guess how useful it actually is will become apparent next weekend. Sadly our filmed rehearsal won't be on location (a wonderful central London apartment that a friend is lending us), but in Mark's basement mocked up to represent the space as much as we possibly can.
Right now I'm looking forward to our filmed rehearsal, and especially to editing the footage together and seeing if it works as a whole. I've done similar "dry runs" on music video rehearsals, and it has always shown me where my planning was weakest, which scenes needed more thought and which didn't really work, and allowed me to fix that.
Editing is like assembling the jigsaw puzzle. After the hustle of filming, I always find editing to be a real pleasure, ensconced in the study behind a computer screen with a cup of tea and a notepad filled with scribbled timecodes. Maybe a bit more time spent editing will kill that cosiness off, but currently it's one of the things I look forward to the most.
We've been working really hard towards this first piece of filming, doing a lot of rehearsals. If we continue at this rate, filming a scene a month, it will take us 18 months. That's just stupidly long. I'm hoping that once we get this first scene done we'll start moving things a long a lot more quickly, and we'll be more confident. I don't want this shoot to go on forever or become a millstone or a chore for anyone, as everyone is working for free on this project.
Let's hope it doesn't drive anyone insane. As each day passes it dawns on me more and more how complicated this project is and how utterly inexperienced I am.
Right now I'm looking forward to our filmed rehearsal, and especially to editing the footage together and seeing if it works as a whole. I've done similar "dry runs" on music video rehearsals, and it has always shown me where my planning was weakest, which scenes needed more thought and which didn't really work, and allowed me to fix that.
Editing is like assembling the jigsaw puzzle. After the hustle of filming, I always find editing to be a real pleasure, ensconced in the study behind a computer screen with a cup of tea and a notepad filled with scribbled timecodes. Maybe a bit more time spent editing will kill that cosiness off, but currently it's one of the things I look forward to the most.
We've been working really hard towards this first piece of filming, doing a lot of rehearsals. If we continue at this rate, filming a scene a month, it will take us 18 months. That's just stupidly long. I'm hoping that once we get this first scene done we'll start moving things a long a lot more quickly, and we'll be more confident. I don't want this shoot to go on forever or become a millstone or a chore for anyone, as everyone is working for free on this project.
Let's hope it doesn't drive anyone insane. As each day passes it dawns on me more and more how complicated this project is and how utterly inexperienced I am.
Monday, 23 May 2011
storyboards
Our first day of filming is approaching fast, two and a half weeks to go.
I'm trying to sit down and bash out some storyboards and shot lists but instead I'm listening to George Carlin stand-up and playing browser games on my lunch break.
I'm still trying to think about the best way to record sound during the shoot. I'm scratching my head a bit because I want to record high quality sound but I don't really have very much experience, or equipment. I have a strong feeling I'm going to end up using the attached microphone on the Canon XL1s.
I've got a two day hangover and it's got me pinned.
Thursday, 12 May 2011
Filming begins ... soon!
Lots happening right now, I've been meaning to write an update for ages!
We've had read throughs with all of our major characters now, only just this week we met with two of our new cast members and had a good time going over the script together. The project really feels like it's building steam when you start bringing in the actors, and it's not just a bunch of mates chatting over some beers in a bar somewhere.
Our read throughs have been pretty free flowing so far, I've purposefully not taken steps to influence how people read the lines or the inflections they use, because I want everyone to lose any inhibitions about acting in front of others, but now that we have had nearly all our introductory readings, I will start directing the cast a bit more and trying things out. Importantly, the cast need to have faith in me, to believe that I won't make them look stupid on film (well, video). And I won't. I will make sure of that. I may be new to this, but I'm hoping that I know when something isn't right. If they don't have that faith in me, then they will be less willing to really go out on a limb and try something, in case it fails.
HOWEVER the big news is that an opportunity to film our first scene has arisen. An amazing location has become available within a limited timescale, provided we can get everyone together on the same day! This does mean that we will be filming earlier than originally anticipated, probably by at least a month, but if time was no object we probably wouldn't begin filming for til late summer because I'd feel bad about rushing anyone or moving before we are ready, so perhaps this is a blessing because it forces all of us to jump in with both feet.
The scene in question takes place in the hotel room of the manager of Juggernaught Records, and was recently begrudgingly rewritten to take place in a less impressive but more available location, and has now been re-rewritten to take place in an impressive space in London. Right now we're working out all the details, and we will have one day to shoot the scene.
I plan to storyboard this thing out as much as possible. I want to be flexible on the day, and try things as they are available, but I want to make sure I have a solid plan to fall back on, as I won't have time to faff around. If we run out of time on the day then we run the risk of having wasted everyone's effort.
Well, we start filming our first scene in one month! The ball feels like it's rolling now. I guess it's good that I feel like I'm inside the ball and steering it, rather than feeling that the ball is rolling down a hill like a boulder in my direction. I'm sure that feeling will come later!
We've had read throughs with all of our major characters now, only just this week we met with two of our new cast members and had a good time going over the script together. The project really feels like it's building steam when you start bringing in the actors, and it's not just a bunch of mates chatting over some beers in a bar somewhere.
Our read throughs have been pretty free flowing so far, I've purposefully not taken steps to influence how people read the lines or the inflections they use, because I want everyone to lose any inhibitions about acting in front of others, but now that we have had nearly all our introductory readings, I will start directing the cast a bit more and trying things out. Importantly, the cast need to have faith in me, to believe that I won't make them look stupid on film (well, video). And I won't. I will make sure of that. I may be new to this, but I'm hoping that I know when something isn't right. If they don't have that faith in me, then they will be less willing to really go out on a limb and try something, in case it fails.
HOWEVER the big news is that an opportunity to film our first scene has arisen. An amazing location has become available within a limited timescale, provided we can get everyone together on the same day! This does mean that we will be filming earlier than originally anticipated, probably by at least a month, but if time was no object we probably wouldn't begin filming for til late summer because I'd feel bad about rushing anyone or moving before we are ready, so perhaps this is a blessing because it forces all of us to jump in with both feet.
The scene in question takes place in the hotel room of the manager of Juggernaught Records, and was recently begrudgingly rewritten to take place in a less impressive but more available location, and has now been re-rewritten to take place in an impressive space in London. Right now we're working out all the details, and we will have one day to shoot the scene.
I plan to storyboard this thing out as much as possible. I want to be flexible on the day, and try things as they are available, but I want to make sure I have a solid plan to fall back on, as I won't have time to faff around. If we run out of time on the day then we run the risk of having wasted everyone's effort.
Well, we start filming our first scene in one month! The ball feels like it's rolling now. I guess it's good that I feel like I'm inside the ball and steering it, rather than feeling that the ball is rolling down a hill like a boulder in my direction. I'm sure that feeling will come later!
Wednesday, 4 May 2011
An office, an office, my kingdom for an office
All the parts in the short film project are cast, rehearsals are underway, painfully slowly right now, but it's tricky pulling lots of people together, especially when they're giving their time away for free, for which I am eternally grateful of course! Hopefully we can have at least one thing happening each week.
The next step is locations. We've already earmarked and set aside quite a few, houses and businesses of friends being our main source of locations, as well as the odd live venue which will carry their own set of challenges. But one location, which is pivotal, is the office of Juggernaught Records A&R executive Felicity.
I set up a minimalist "office" for the Grenade music video that I did with the Explorer's Collective, it was just a table, two chairs, a laptop and some charts in an empty room. And that is exactly what it looked like. It didn't convince as an office at all. I don't want to make the same mistake. I guess I want to find an office that is almost ready to go. I know I won't find that, and that I will have to compromise, but then I began to even question what it was I was looking for. I don't even know what the office of an A&R executive looks like. What would be in there? Am I looking for something which only exists in my mind, pinned together from various films and books and stories and hollow anecdotes about record labels? Sure, I was in a band for years, but we never made contact with anyone who worked for a record label. Well, there was one guy, from a very small independent label, but that was a brief informal meeting in a pub where he said he wasn't looking for any bands to take on but he liked us. That hardly helps the situation. Then or now.
So what do I want? I want a room that can convince as one office in London or Greater London. Felicity will need a desk, I guess I'm imagining more of a desk in the centre of the room rather than a corner unit like most people have their computers on at home, purely for dramatic purposes. She will need a computer or laptop, probably a printer, and I envisage piles of CD samples sent to her by various bands. A CD player or record player with good quality speakers. She is after all, in the music business. I'm trying to just get by on logic here, but the more I think about people meeting in an office over a desk, the more I subconsciously try to dress up the office like one from a private eye movie. Venetian blinds! Table lamp! Desk fan! Ashtray!
Is she organised or messy? Are the Juggernaught offices in a dingy cellar or a room with a view? Clean white surroundings or dripping pipes and rot? These seem like decisions the script or story should dictate, but interestingly, either option works with the narrative.
Maybe I need to make it a home office just to simplify things. But I feel that I've made too many compromises like that already, and I want the thing to have some production value, and not be set entirely in what are clearly people's houses.
I need to find a location. Somewhere, someone is sitting in a room just like the one I need.
Where are you hiding?
The next step is locations. We've already earmarked and set aside quite a few, houses and businesses of friends being our main source of locations, as well as the odd live venue which will carry their own set of challenges. But one location, which is pivotal, is the office of Juggernaught Records A&R executive Felicity.
I set up a minimalist "office" for the Grenade music video that I did with the Explorer's Collective, it was just a table, two chairs, a laptop and some charts in an empty room. And that is exactly what it looked like. It didn't convince as an office at all. I don't want to make the same mistake. I guess I want to find an office that is almost ready to go. I know I won't find that, and that I will have to compromise, but then I began to even question what it was I was looking for. I don't even know what the office of an A&R executive looks like. What would be in there? Am I looking for something which only exists in my mind, pinned together from various films and books and stories and hollow anecdotes about record labels? Sure, I was in a band for years, but we never made contact with anyone who worked for a record label. Well, there was one guy, from a very small independent label, but that was a brief informal meeting in a pub where he said he wasn't looking for any bands to take on but he liked us. That hardly helps the situation. Then or now.
So what do I want? I want a room that can convince as one office in London or Greater London. Felicity will need a desk, I guess I'm imagining more of a desk in the centre of the room rather than a corner unit like most people have their computers on at home, purely for dramatic purposes. She will need a computer or laptop, probably a printer, and I envisage piles of CD samples sent to her by various bands. A CD player or record player with good quality speakers. She is after all, in the music business. I'm trying to just get by on logic here, but the more I think about people meeting in an office over a desk, the more I subconsciously try to dress up the office like one from a private eye movie. Venetian blinds! Table lamp! Desk fan! Ashtray!
Is she organised or messy? Are the Juggernaught offices in a dingy cellar or a room with a view? Clean white surroundings or dripping pipes and rot? These seem like decisions the script or story should dictate, but interestingly, either option works with the narrative.
Maybe I need to make it a home office just to simplify things. But I feel that I've made too many compromises like that already, and I want the thing to have some production value, and not be set entirely in what are clearly people's houses.
I need to find a location. Somewhere, someone is sitting in a room just like the one I need.
Where are you hiding?
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