Rhys Evans’ power blog

Here’s a little bit more information on my “mockumentary” sitcom (the sitcom idea has been changed now to a film , I wanted there to feel like the piece was a part of something more but it is has proved to be easier to make it into a film). A documentary team have come to see how life is for a first year student in the 21st century. As I have said before it is based on one flat in particular in halls of residence and it folows the exploits of one character and his mission to be liked. In more detail the main character is a guy (Will) who has come to university seeking the fun and frolics that he has heard about but finds that it’s very different and he feels that he has to play up to that ideal.

The script is the most important thing in a comedy so I went to the library to get some tips on how to write a comedy (which I think should be instinctive) In the book “writing comedy” by Ronald Wolfe he says

“can you really teach anyone to write comedy? No – the spark has to be there. Whilst the very best writing cannot be taught, much writing, especially new writing, even if it’s mediocre, or even terrible, can be improved.”

This is something I agree with completely if you want to write a comedy you don’t have to be funny but you need to know what makes people laugh.

He also goes into looking at scripts differing in film and television this is something that interested me because my script is somewhere in between and is something I need to focus on he writes that if you are writing for t.v then scale everything down have only a few characters talking at one time and keep the action contained where as in film things can be on a much bigger scale. I think my script is for t.v because it is very contained in the flat and there are never more than three characters convalescing at one time.

Also in the book, Ronald talks about characters in sitcom-

“Situation comedy should really be called character comedy. The laughs come from the reactions of your characters to that situation…When you’re writing, your characters are your collaborators.”

My characters are loosely based on existing personalities, therefore proving that the above point is relevant, as the knowledge of these characters has helped me get into the mindset of how I want them to be and how they would react in the situations I put them in, it has also elpedwriting withmyflat mate of the time because he can help with points where the character reacts in a way in which he can help me. Also working with my flat mate has help cast a critical eye over my work and make sure I don’t get tunnel vision and start thinking its the best thing ever written, he helps me take a step back and look at it. 

The Layout of a script is one of the most crucial things if you want to get your work commissioned. Colin Odell my add vantage teacher was saying that if it doesn’t have the right layout then a producer will just throw it in the bin so it helps to get in the habit of working in the script format. This is something I knew a little about but he also showed me a website where you could download a program (celtex) that has the formats already laid out for you. Some basic screenplay terms are:

Action: Non-dialogue, scene description, charater actions and sounds.

Character: The first time a character is introduced in the action part of a script they are indicated in capital letters, afterwards thayaredealt with in normal case. For dialogue the characters name is always in CAPS.

EXT.: Exterior or outdoor scene- useful when considering budget.

INT.: Interior or indoor scene- useful when considering budget

Parenthetical: Used to indicate the way something is said (like “sarcastically” or “shocked”) by a cahracter. Seen in brackets prior to dialogue. Normally use of parenthetical’s is restricted.

Slug Line: The location and time of day of each scene, indicated in CAPS

OS: Off screen dialogue

VO: Voice over dialogue.

Clifton’s lecture about script writing gave me an insight into how a professional writer works and the techniques he uses when writing a script. He was talking about the three act structure and how it is a fall back for writers when they get “the block”

1st act: The setup normally introduces the characters

2nd act: Character development

3rd act: The Climax

Clifton talked about a character arc and how characters should go through a journey and be a different person from the start of the film to the end and this is something I need to take away and incorporate into my work. Also Clifton talked about character arcs, this is something you can physically draw that shows the journey your character goes through during the film and by the end they should have learnt something. This technique seems really useful and something I will impliment into my script.

After finishing the script (after three drafts) I have done the story board this is only a rough one where I have thought about my initial ideas for the scenes I have written story boarding for me is crucial because on the shoot time will be limited so knowing and planning for the next shot will save time. so far I have drawn 54 shots with extensive notes on how I want them to look and if there need to be any changes. Like a storyboard scene cards help can help you put a film in some sort of order they are used more in the writing stages of the script and help you distinguish if the scene is needed in the bigger picture of the film they are 3×5″ cards that have scene details on the front and some information about the scene on the back. Then you have to think about each scene about:

• How the scene is going to relate to the protagonist d to their goal?
• How does this further the story?  

Casting

With the piece big driven by the comedy of the characters casting is going to be all in important I have signed up to two casting websites in the hope to get some interest and so far it has worked alright in the first 24hours I had three applications 2 of which seem really interesting. The first website I used was Talent Circle which boasts to be the “worlds filmakingcommunity” so far I have had no responses from this channel but it has only been up for 24hours. When creating the casting call I found the website to be hard to navigate and now imfinishedI feel non the wiser. The second casting website I signed up to is StarNow, this where I have had the most luck and I this is my casting page when this website felt a lot more user friendly maybe not the most professional look but it speaks for itslef that I have had the most applicants from the site. Two more sites I plan to post on is Total Talent and Beonscreen. Beonscreen seems to be more for t.v andseemlike you have to pay for it that is the beauty of the two I have already used they are FREE.  Total Talent’s website is easy to sign up for but I struggled to find how to put a casting up so now they just have my e-mail addresses which I’m sure will be inundated withspam! After the news about Callice  I had to re-think about shooting dates this also ment I could extend the casting date so I re posted on StarNow and I have had 12 more applications and 231 page views. Casting will now take place on Thursday 19th March.

 The casting session was very successful, Justin Edward Cliffe stood out to me. He came for the part of Mike but after watching him and his monologue I really wanted him for the part of Will so I got him to read for him as well and it just seemed right so he will be taking to role of Will. The character of Tony will be played by Kieran Crawley His application on Starnow made me think he was perfect for the [art of Tony the way he described himself was just how I thought Tony would. His casting session went well the lines he delivered from the script were well executed his monologue didn't really have any relevance but it was still good and showed skill.         

Myspace

I Have set up the main characters with their own myspace accounts this makes the character seem more real to the audience if you are bored and on the Internet take a look at their pages the characters and links are:

Will

Gav

Tony

Nick

Mike

If you want to add any of them as your friends (andI haven't already tried to add you) then please feel free you can get to know a little about the characters before you see the film. When I have cast the characters I will let the actor work withmeto update their profile with photos, videos, music etc. I think a myspace or a facebook is the 21st century version of the introduction in "This is Spinal Tap" it is something that adds to the reality of the film.

Set

For the set I have been hoping to use Callice Court's show flat but after several e-mails back and fourth they have said that this is there busiest time and there would be no way of shooting there which is a MASSIVE blow to production so at the moment its back to the drawing board with the set. I really want halls of residence not just because it makes it more believable but also its a symbol, all the characters are really different but they share on thing in common the room, because all the layouts in halls of residence are the same but the character puts their mark on it, thatssomethingthat I wanted to come across when you watch the film. getting in contact with the people at Trinity Point and they have been really helpful and have let me use a show flat at Liberty Park for the pricpal photography.

There will also be shoots at The courtyard at Callice Court, a reception scene in the Herbert, an exterior scene outside a residential house and the SU bar 54 for a few scenes.

Directing the artefact

Now its coming to the time of the shoot and I will be directing I have been trying to think of the style I will adopt will it be a Fincher attitude and have loads of takes for each shot or just take the firs take because the engergy might get lost after so many takes.

One of the debut directors of last year who impressed me was visual artist Steve McQueen his film Hunger was orginal but was very reminesent of Gus Van Sant early work. I read an indepthinterview with him in Filmmaker magazine.

Because Im not a very socialble person my crew is very small but will be multi tasking and geting advice from trusted friends. At the moment I am hoping my DOP will be Vince Lund from rapid pictures, I worked with him on Arthurs Lore. Imnotworried with the amount of work Ive put on myself  reading an article about a film maker who shot a short almost single handly the article was from studiodaily.com.

The Shoot:

I have split the shoot into two weekends of shooting the first is the 27th-29th of March for all the flat scenes and then all the bar scenes the weekend after.

Day 1 Friday 27th March:

Projected filming time: 10am-5pm

The actors were set to arrive at Liberty Park at 10am so I was there at 9:30 with equipment and crew dressing the set. We started by testing the steady cam to see it it gave the look I wanted but it seamed to steady and Vince said that he could only have it on for an hour at a time (it was a heavy contraption) so we ditched the idea. I wanted the shoot to be a linear to the film as possible so apart from the flash backs the opening scenes were filmed in order but due to other work arrangements Luke Mckeecould only be with us for one day this ment shooting all his scenes before we left that day. I was really happy withe the way the film looked (having the monitor was cruical) and having a good crew helped Vince Lund as DOP was great, being a filmaker himself he was affraid to say what looked good and what needed changing. Jack Sargent andNickHenley-Smith on sound and runners  and Kate Bentley as 1st AD. Kate was a life saver she made sure the actors were alright for drinks sandwhiches (which she had made) anddueto the nature of the film apart from Justin (playing Will) most of the actors were sitting around waiting she made sure they were happy which came across on screen. Because of Lukes otherworkcommitments we ended up a bit late finishing but it was worth it because we ended the day a whole day ahead of the shooting schedule.

Actual Filming  time: 10am- 8pm

Day 2 Saturday 28th March:

Projected filming time: 10am-5pm

Due to our long day the day before we could move to the flashback shots, these are not going to look cheesy andarecrucial to drive the comedy. The problem with shooting on the Saturday was no Vince so Matt replaced him. The day started at 1pm andwe only had some small scenes to do. We started withashort external flash back scene with Will coming out of his grandmothers house and shouting back at her, this went swimmingly and we did a few different angles .easy (a bit of rain but we had a massive umbrella). Then due to all the equipment we had to get a taxi to the next location which was Callice Court, I had organised to use the Courtyard there the rain was an issue there and im not sure if we can use the rushes from there and maybe the first scene to need to be re-shot. The drama (not in the film) came when trying to shoot in the reception (which I had cleared already) became un available, this was a major set back and needed to be filmed that day. Matt had the great idea of shooting in the Herbert media offices which were no longer used, due to his contacts in took one phone call andwewere walking up the road in no time. The room was a bit cluttered but it looked like a reception so a bit of moving stuff around wasn't going to bother me. This was the most productive part of the day we got some nice shots and a bit of ad lib comedy which I'm not going to stop the actors from doing. This day was a lot shorter andneededa lot smaller crew but I was really happy with the way it looked and the way the comedy was delivered.

Actual filming time: 1pm-4:30pm

Day 3 Saturday 25th April: 

Projected filming time: 9am -12pm 4pm-5pm 10:30pm-12am

This was a very disjointed day we were only allowed to film in the S.U until 12pm so it was a bit of a rush. We got in at 9am sharp and started to setup for the first shot which was a quick shot of two characters looking bored in the pub. The extras were really good and the shot didnt take long to shoot but we were waiting on one of the actors, who missed his bus. The next couple of shots were a bit more complex and involved shooting in a small space but making it looklikea big area I was fairly pleased with the way it came out and am looking forward to getting the rushes into the edit. When the actor arrived (1:30 hours late) we had to rush through his scenes and move on to the other scenes we ened up being in the S.U until 1:00pm. The next shot we did was a re-shoot in Callice from the week before, the sound didnt comeacross as good as I wanted it too the first time and the joke that was in the scene didnt go very well and people didnt find it funny. So we re shot a whole new scene that Justin Edward Cliffe (Will), Kate Bentley and myself wrote then went and shot it think the scene works a lot better now and shows a more human side to the character.

The final scene we shot was one of the last shots of the film and was probably the most difficult to excecute I had to be night in the street and involved running longer than the Uni track. To solve the problem I borrowed a steady cam from Matt and Vince (Rapid Pictures) and looked for the best lit street at night. The scene was really hard to shoot due to ther light and the running backwards down the road but I think it will come out ok and the look I wanted was like a documentary so it didnt need to be to smoothe and at first I thought with the steady would look to steady!

Thats a wrap!

Crash zooms:

When filming the film Vince and I quickly did a few shots to find the style that we wanted to make the whole production work. Crash zoom (zooming in and out quickly and regularly) made it seem more documentary like and gave the piece some realism than just having static shots. Crash zooms are used fairly extensively in Channel 4's Shameless which has been very succesful so I was sure that we could make the crash zooms for us. 

The Edit:

"I agree with Ralph Rosenblum, who suggests that if editors had a different temperment and more confidence, they would be directors... Editing is one of the best possible types of training for future directors."

This is from Ken Dancyger's The Technique of Film and Video Editing and I think it rings true its one of the reasons I choose to edit the film myself.  He also argues there are three levels to any edit; The technical, craft and art:

Technical: this refers to having the knowledge to be able to use a programme (such as avid) to cut clips together that make a particular meaning.

Craft: This is where the editor chooses two clips that generate a meaning that couldn't be achieved with either on their own. This is called a second order.

Art: This is where the editor uses the clips at his disposal to create emothions within their audience, when two or more sequences take meanng to a higher level.

We all know the mother of edit being "Battleship Potemkin" and how this was really the birth of edting technique and shows how you can get a better response from your audience when you show two clips together it also gives it a higher meaning. Film Editing today has become as important as the filmaking. The editor is now on set when the priciple photography is taking place this is to over see how it looks, to get an idea of how the director wants the film to work and to have a early rough cut to see if there needs to be more shots. This saves money on finding out on set rather in the edit room and having to get everyone back to shoot again! We all know that films have become a billion pound business so the studios want to save money wherever they can.

Editing for the genre:

This is a crucial for a editor to recognise they have to know the conventions of the genre they are working in for me working in the mock-documentary genre I have to work within the documentary conventions to make it seem like its real and the sequences are un scripted. I have watched hundreds of documentarys and have watched The office religiously since its airing and conclusion. some of the things I have used are long sequences without any cuts. I have also have cutaways that lead into the next shot for eample in one scene the is a set piece in the flat and then in the next sequence he is in the courtyard taking the camera crew to the reception, to lead to this shot I have a cutaway of the securty device that lets them out of their flat even though they are totally different they build on the idea to the audience that he has gone outside.

For me editing is a chore but is something that I want to do myself and have peoples input as I go leaving for someone else to do would make me feel anxious but I have agreed with Vince Lund that he will look over it after Im done and tweak it andalsograde it with me. At the moment I have edited the first 8:30mins of the film and I'm really pleased so far only one re-shoot and that was due to a technical error not a acting error or stylistic error. The film being a mockumentary hasn't needed a lot of editing because lots of shots are long in durarion. Because I had such a clear view of what I wanted it has been simple. I have released a sneak peak of two scenes (they aren't related) on youtube  

Please vote 5 stars if you dont i’ll punch you in the neck! It isnt graded yet and sound needs to be worked on so this is not the finished product I’d like you to keep that in mind. Since Avid has been down I haven’t been able to edit so I have been working on my…..

DVD case:

I am working on the final dvd case at the moment here is the first protoype it’s missing the main picture because it hasnt been taken yet but its planned for saturday and I have a rudementary draming of how I want it to look and have discusessed withJackSargent to take it. The back photo was taken on location at Liberty Park by Nick Henley-Smith. my insperations for the case are from Man Bites dog case;

The changes I am going to make will be the text at the back the title needs to be smaller and look like the one on the front. The blurb needs to be smaller and tweaked a little. I also need a slug line for the film which is proving difficult at the moment not sure if thats a good thing.

In this one I have have re-formatted the picture to look less squashed changed the two title captions and moved the blurb and made it smaller. I think I will put some smaller screen shots on the back under the blurb this will break it up a bit and is used frequently on dvd cases.

This is the final DVD case for my film as you can see it is very loosely based on the Man Bites Dog but is also based on Dig! with the small screen shots on the back. The Picture on the front cover was taken by Jack Sargent on loacationat 54. I’m fairly happy with the outcome of the case It is hard to see on this small version but it looks really good andI think it would stand up against other cases in a shop the only thing imnot too happy with is the top of the cover wherer the title is I feel it needs something else

The Sound Studio

Due to the avid crash and the extension being given I decided to take advantage of my house mate (not like that!) who is a third year music tech student and booked the studio out for Monday 18thMay. We got into the studio at around 2pm and “mixed down” the audio from the film we then listen to it through andmade notes of what needed to be corrected, we then set about changing the levels of the audio that “clipped” (too loud to you and me) that took longer than expected and meant we didn’t have a lot of time to do the other thing we wanted to do, we soon realised that we were going to need to come back in a have some more time on it so we decided to start looking at the other issues. Firstly there were bits of crackle where the audio clipped so we got rid of that, with some ease I might add. Then we took out some of the echos in the hall scene where because we were filming in such a small tight hallway the sound was reverberating of the hard walls, this also didn’t take long and made it sound ten times better andI think will be take my film to the next level. We finished at 4:45 knowing that there was still a lot of work to be done but I came away confident that this was worth doing properly. When we watched the King  Kong special feature in lecture and they had a whole load on the sound and Foly work this got me thinking that I need to start thinking about this in post production, sound was something I never thought wasn’t inportant but its crucial really like Phil said you can have bad images but great sound but you can’t have good images with bad sound. hopefully I will have the best of both worlds.

Sound design:

After thinking and seeing in the studio how important sound is and how it can be improved and sound so good after I went to the library to look at some books on the theoretical side I found one book, Sound Design; The Expressive Power of Music, Voice, and sound Effects in Cinema. The book made me see how important sound is considerd in the industry showing that a good sound designer would meet up with the director when the script is being read through by the actors for the first time and that the sound designer should be in contact with the director from the pre production stages. This just re itterates what I thought when I put sound to the back of my mind but my shoot was such a small crew that sound design was not an option It would be something I would take more seriously if I were to re-make the film.

Thats it the New track is laid onto the visuals and burnt to DVD, the DVD case is printed only thing now is to thank God. Bless.