MAPS AND NETWORKS EVALUATION

In this blogpost I will evaluate the whole process from start to finish of Danielle and I's film.

PRE PRODUCTION

Danielle and myself decided to pair up again, as we had worked so well in the first year on our experimental film together. The process of that film was easy and seamless so it seemed silly not to do the process again together. We started talking about ideas and what inspired us, which lead on to feminism and women's rights. So we decided to research into feminist women, artists, and articles talking about female empowerment and repression. This got us into thinking how we feel women are represented in the media, through male gaze and such conformist ways. We discussed where we would want to film as our idea started to fill out and got our pre production done easily and quickly, eager for sign off from Rosie.

SHOOTING

We arranged a day in the reading week to film, we found a willing actress very quickly and used all of our own equipment for the shoot. As we were filming in my house I spent the morning cleaning and ensuring all areas were tidy as I knew there would be a lot of equipment around and bags and things. I re printed out the shooting script and schedule so we could remind ourselves if we ever went off track. We took into consideration our actress and her being cold in minimal clothing and made sure she was covered warmly when shooting wasn't on and took regular breaks as we had LED lights on. As me and Danielle were well organised for the shoot day there was no delays in anything and we worked very well and closely together.
The hardest task of the day was getting the footage we wanted in the bath tub, we were dead set on filming in the bath, we just had to try and figure out how this was achievable. We put on the rain cover the 305 had in case of any splashing, then I had to get in the bath with the actress to ensure we got the over the head shots we wanted. This was a major risk in case I slipped, we tired the actress out, it got too cold for her, or water damage but we ensured that our risk assessment was thorough so that we could respond quickly if any of those situations came up. We found a secure camera strap that went around my neck so the camera was secure as well as in my hands. We looked back at our schedule to ensure we could make this bath scene as quick and smooth as possible so our actress wasn't cold.
We were happy with all the footage from the day, and as we had started filming early this meant we had hours of footage to play with for each screen. With all our filming out the way it meant we could focus on studio shoot and then edit this piece after.

EDITING

To edit we used Premier Pro and made titles to fit in between some of our clips, we colour corrected and recorded a voice over to fit the length of the piece. This went smoothly, despite some audio issues we exported in the correct formats as single screens ready for After Effects to make it a twin screen. We had again some issues with After Effects, but only minor as they were very easy to adjust and we could continue with exporting. Overall I feel this process went really well, with great communication skills, scheduling was well planned as we started exporting each screen at midday so we left ourselves with a lot of time for any things we needed to fix.

PRESENTATION

With the piece all done and dusted we have thought long and hard about what sort of space was suitable for our twin screen. We felt this piece could become an installation in the right environment, so we requested the box in the quad that often has interactive pieces in. We feel this would be an incredible space to hang our two screens in the back, paint the box an erotic red, with plush fluffy throws on the floor, to make it feel intimate, sexual and womb like to bring our piece together and create the environment that suits our film. Having the box would be an added bonus as our film displays nudity, and if our piece was in the corridor it would have to be covered on open days, so if it was in the box in the quad it could just be locked up and tucked out the way. Even though I think nudity shouldn't be sexualised but instead celebrated.

I hope you enjoy. Thank you

STUDIO SHOOT DAY 1

With it being our first day shooting we had to come in early to set up all the equipment, get the actors into hair, makeup and costume and ensure all the set was in place and the lights worked. We had a brief meeting in the morning where we went over the call sheet and the plan for the day to ensure everyone was up to date. We started at 8:30 am and had an approximate time of finishing at 6:00 pm. We were given an hour until 9:30 am to set up all the lights and cameras so we were ready to shoot. The first hour or two went very successfully and we got all the footage we wanted and needed, and ensured we had a few takes of everything so we had a lot to chose from. We then broke for an hour so I could change the lighting and the camera team could set up a rig or slider if they needed to. We rejoined after an hours break and kept shooting with the adjusted lighting and it all went very well and we were on track on the schedule. I felt calm for most of the day even though there were some tough and tense moments, where the camera wasn't picking up enough light from the darkly lit scenes but we made it work with a few adjustments. As it was coming towards the end of the day, we started to wrap up for the day as the actors were tired and we had been working for a long time. Our next shoot day is tomorrow where we continue where we left off today.

I hope you enjoy. Thank you.

STUDIO SHOOT DAY 2

With the first day of shooting over and done with, it was on to the second day to make sure we got all the rushes we needed and wrap up for the shoot. We picked up where we left off and got the scenes, equipment and actors ready. Then we wasted no time getting straight into shooting. This was going really well and we got some really beautiful rushes, however Yasmin had to leave for a hand in half way through the day. But fortunately Yasmin let us know ahead of time so we planned into our call sheet some solo scenes with just TJ and B roll footage. This was a huge success and we got a lot of really good footage. The B roll was also looking beautiful and this would help play a big part in the people who are editing the studio shoot. This allowed a little break in the day whilst this was going on for everyone to set up and prepare for when Yasmin came back. Yasmin returned and we picked up where we left off and continued to shoot. About an hour later we had to go for a lighting changed so everyone took a break and the camera team set up for the next scenes as I changed the lights. Once this was done, we got back to work straight away and got into the rhythm of the day and collected a lot of really good footage.

As we were wrapping up for the day and shooting the final scenes the camera team came across a problem. All of the footage hadn't recorded on to the Ninja that we were using. The whole point of us using the Ninja was so we could record in an Avid codec and the footage be 10bit instead of 8bit. So this caused a lot of stress within the group. However we still had all our footage which was good, so all we needed to do was just trans code it all, which would take a while, but sadly the Ninja just didn't record for us. Once that situation was resolved we packed down all the equipment that we had used, all of the props back in boxes and given back to the people who had brought them in, and put back the furniture that we had borrowed from the studio and from other people. It was sad to pack up as it had been a really exciting few days working in a studio environment. But I am eager to edit these rushes.

I hope you enjoy. Thank you.

STUDIO SHOOT EVALUATION

For the studio shoot I was Gaffer. I was fortunate enough to be given the role that I asked for. Ever since first year when we took part in a two day lighting workshop with Anne, I fell in love with lighting and how much it can impact a scene, weather it is: time of day, period, mood, or genre. I felt this was a big role to undertake but I was ready for a challenge. 

 The first day we were together as a crew was pre light, I was nervous as this was a day that I had to get all my lights up and finalise the lighting plans. This was quite a stressful day, luckily I had a lot of help from Chris and Junaid. Thankfully I had my lighting set up drawings on the board so I could have a look back at them if I was ever unsure as to what lights I wanted to use and where.

When day one of shooting began I had to ensure that all the lights were set, so the camera team could work as efficiently as possible, and we decided to order the shot list so we shot all of the same lighting in chunks, as there were three lighting changes. This helped remove any continuity issues. I feel this made the whole process a lot smoother and I was able to work efficiently to be on time with the schedule and have time for any changes the director wanted. 

I feel doing this and working closely with the camera team allowed the whole process to be a lot smoother, and there wasn't any wasted time as we were working on schedule and being efficient in our time. The levels of stress did rise sometimes when we were having to adjust a few things, but I tried to keep calm and focus on the task ahead.

I worked closely with Nina the Director and Jacob the D.O.P to ensure we were creating Nina's vision. Nina would assist Jacob and myself in what she wanted, and then we would set about working together to adapt the camera and also the lighting until it was correct. 

I feel I worked well in my role and as a crew member for group a. I ensured that I did a lot of planning and research into different lights and lighting styles to get exactly what Nina wanted, and even then, looked at colour pallets and gels to get the look and aesthetic we wanted. I made sure that I was communicating effectively with the director and camera team, so we were all on the same page and understanding level. Having good communication meant that we were on schedule and finished up on the second day of shooting with some spare time for some B roll footage. I think working under pressure taught me a lot about my work flow, and encouraged me to be more engaged in a team and bring my focus to the task. I feel that because my communication was good that I got the lighting exactly how Nina wanted and allowed enough light, even for the camera team to capture the action. Personally I think that this role helped me a lot to improve my skills working in a team, my attention to detail, my colour palett and stylw. It has also taught me a lot about different lights and what they do and how they shed light and effect the scene. I feel that this was a really enjoyable experience and that I learned a lot from my role as a gaffer. 

I hope you enjoy. Thank you.

STUDIO SHOOT: PRE LIGHT

After all the building it was time for our pre light! I was a little nervous for today as I knew it was going to be super busy with dressing the set and sorting out my lights. I spoke with Anne about my lighting sketches, we then referred back to the picture and talked about the placement of my lights etc. Luckily Junaid is able to help me for pre light and the shooting days so we got to work creating the lighting we wanted. I firstly set up the lighting that would happen throughout most of the film. This took me an hour or so, as I was working with Junaid and Chris at this point so we were seeing what looked best and what I wanted.

We decided to have a light from behind the blinds to create a street light effect to show time of day was early evening. We used an orange gel on this too. We then set up the big light to create our fill for the set, this also had a very slight orange gel to it so it was more tungsten and had an orange glow. We included a light on top of the set with ND on the front to soften the light as this was acting as the light from the lamp on set.

 I was very happy with this set up so we moved on to the second set up which was a dramatic spotlight. This was quite straight forward as the director wanted it very theatrical, so we decided to turn all the other lights off and just have one rigged light on. We pulled the light down and adjusted the barn doors so there wasn't any spill over the back of the sofa or the coffee table which took a little once to get it perfect. But we got it and it looked really good, I was very pleased and it looked really theatrical and intense through the screen on the camera.

The next lighting set up was the red scene. The director wanted me to highlight the left corner in red where the character would get backed in to. I was unsure how to light the rest of the scene as it was meant to be surreal but I didn't want normal lighting to ruin the feeling. So Junaid, Chris and myself discussed different ways we could do this. We set the spotlight up first using a primary red gel and adjusted the barn doors so not much spill was on the rest of the walls. We were super happy with the spotlight and so was the director, so we moved on to the fill light for the set. We decided to use the fill that we had for our normal lighting set up and just put a scarlet red gel over the top of it, and had all the bars of light on to create enough light in the room for the camera to pick up. We felt it looked perfect, the director and I were happy so we settle for that lighting. Unfortunately I didn't manage to take many pictures of the red set up but I have a few.  

I hope you enjoy. Thank you

STUDIO SHOOT: SET BUILD

After all our hard work in pre production, it was time to build. We had all been inducted into the dry workshop so we were allowed to use the drills and screwdrivers. We were fortunate enough that a set had already been left up for us in an E shape so we just took out the middle wall and added a new panel to make it five by four. Having the set already built helped speed up the process a lot, as we could get on with stripping paint and wallpaper. Once this was all done we mixed all the paint that Ben had provided for us kindly, and started to paint and pollyfill the walls. This probably took the longest amount of time as we had to do a few coats and let it dry in between. We got the floor crazy messy so we cleaned it up with white spirit that worked so so well. Meanwhile Group B were cutting their fabric ready to be hung later that day, Once all the magnolia paint was dry we then brushed it over with a nice red paint to help enhance the mood in our film. This was so much fun as we got to flick the paintbrushes and make it really messy. Once this was all dry, Group B hung their curtains. Below are some pictures from the day.

I hope you enjoy. Thank you.