The post post

Into editing now. I didn't have a chance to get much done for hand-in last week since I finished filming late with problems delaying my shoot. It was pretty much just a rough cut with a little bit of my audio polished up as much as I could in one night. I don't think a lot will change going into my final cut, it's mostly done but just needs to be tightened up some more. There are quite a few shots I can't use due to continuity problems, so I've had to run the wides out quite long in some cases (although, I think that actually works ok in a few areas). Adding muic is going to make a big difference and should make it glide a lot more - at the moment it drags a bit. Then i'll need to colour correct once i've learned how to do that. Some of the exterior shots are a bit dark due to us having to shoot quickly with time constraints and bad weather, but hopefully I can grade it up. My raw sound is mostly good (except for the driving scenes), Kyle (mixer) and Kate (boom op) have done well. Unfortunately the lapel mics didn't work as well as I would have liked and most of that is unusable, but the stuff on boom was a lot better.

Unfortunately I forgot to save the original cut before I imported my sound from ProTools so
now I'm going to have to add it all back in again so I can continue editing. Doh.

Editing the streetside scene.

The rush to the finish line

First post back since shooting my film The last two weeks have been intense. Where to start?

I was very fortunate to be able to finalise my cast a few days before shooting. Their enthusiasm was a big boost to me as it had been a while since I'd had some positive news. Ultimately, the thing I really want from my cast is positivity and cooperation - people who want the film to succeed as much as I do.

I'm not going to lie - I did find Sparks difficult to film. It took a while to implement some of the feedback i'd been given about simplifying the script. I'm glad I did as it was difficult enough just shooting in two locations and with four main cast members. But even during shooting I was still ammending the script as I wasn't entirely happy with some aspects of it. That obviously made it harder as it meant, in some cases, having to scramble to find extra cast members and props at short notice, which was stressful. One thing I regret, to a certain extent, was not having a seperate art director and/or producer. On set, I ended up spending a decent chunk of time on the phone arranging things (e.g. phoning the police communications dept to let them know we were filming with police lights). Although, I think that  would have bee less of a problem if I had shot the previous week as planned. Having to push my shoot dates meant sharing gear with Lana's shoot which meant it was a bit more work to sort out the gear. Having a few extra people around would have made it easier for me to focus on my job of directing the actors. To be fair though, I had originally lined up some of the first year students to help with some of this but they were signed up to be on Lana's shoot so I lost a few crew members there, and the remaining third year students were too busy to help. But the crew I did have did a fantastic job.

Another big challenge was that all of my film takes place at night and because daylight saving just started it doesn't get dark now until 9pm. We managed to get the interior scenes without too much trouble (by blacking out windows), but the exterior stuff was much more tricky. Stormy weather on the first two nights meant we had to finish shooting early and pushed a few scenes to the following day. Then there was a bit of protest from key persons about shooting past 10.30pm which meant I couldn't get everything I needed shot, and the stuff I did get was more rushed than I would have liked. On one hand, it was frustrating, but on the other I understand that people have work and other commitments and they are doing me a favour by helping me, so my options are limited. 

The next day we were scheduled to shoot all of the streetside scenes and car rig stuff but one of my cast was sick so we had to settle with just doing the car rigs. However, just as we were about ready to shoot, I discovered that I had misplaced the police lights I'd rigged up with the help of my flatmate! We hunted around for a while before conceeding that we were going to have to go without. Luckily, Ben (lead actor) saved the day by coming up with a great idea to use a cellphone app that simulates police lights - this actually ended up working reletively well.

I've started work on my edit but I'm not far enough into it to be able to comment too much at this stage. I still have one scene left to film tonight which means I won't get picture lock until Tuesday morning at the earliest, which leaves me one day to do all of my sound and grading. Gonna need a hellavalot of caffiene.

I would post some pics of my shoot, except my laptop screen died last night. It has been on the blink (literally) for some time, just hoped it would have survived another week or so. I'm typing this on my tablet and I don't know how to upload photos from here so I'll do that from tech when I get a free moment (hah! Free time? Yeahright!).

But all in all, got the main stuff in the can. I'm just hoping it will all cut alright considering I had to rush a lot of it. Regardless of the results, I'm very proud of my team and all of this year's filmies for pulling together to help each other out.

PICS UPDATE:

The sound team (Kyle and Kate) prepped for action.

Blocking out a scene in the hallway.

A bit of a peeping Ash shot as we review a take.

Dan - Guardian of the Light. 

Setting up for a dolly shot. It was originally going to be a jib shot but I felt the dolly
worked just as well and was much quicker to set up.

Ash's impressive car rig. I would have been much more
nervous about this kind of set up without Ash's expertise.

And here's the product of the car rig. 

Where do I even begin? Or end? Or do that bit in the middle?

About 5 more days before I start filming my short - before I have to start filming. Hitting all sort of roadblocks, so I can't guarantee a abundance of quality. I've been getting feedback on my last version of the script and most of it has confirmed issues that I had with it myself. The really serious problem I have is attracting cast to play the roles. I have one, maybe two days (max) to find some solutions. I need to simplify my script right down, somehow. I admire people who manage to write efficiently. To be able to balance character motivation and conflict, concisely, and then have it pay off in a meaningful ending takes real talent. It's something I haven't been able to grasp despite devoting a wealth of concentrated time trying to learn more about writing effectively, analyzing professional scripts (the one's I've been reading lately are Aliens, The Social Network and Collateral) and analyzing my own script. What's really frustrating is that there a few things I think work quite well, but I can't the pieces to fit together. So just remove some pieces? Sure, but then no one knows what character A's goal is any more, or why character B reacts the way they do at the end. Yeah, but then you can just fix that with *major deus ex machina*.

Script, casting and scheduling issues are also distracting me from being able to sort out my art department and are robbing me of pre-pro time with my DOP. Trying to speak to then police about using uniforms but I haven't been able to reach the person in charge of this.

Was hoping to use uniforms similar to this but I think I may just go without the vest and the hat - haven't been able to find anything that doesn't look blatantly costume shop.

There's a scene where I need to use fake blood on the ground so I've been researching fake blood recipes that don't stain the floor.

People on the site were saying how great it looked. Why does mine look like raspberry syrup!!

I got Johanna to attempt a batch so I can test it, but this recipe has turned out looking more like smooth raspberry syrup than blood. I doubt I'll have time/money to solve this problem before the shoot.

I've also been boom operating for Dan Delaet's film Rash. That's been good. Fun group of people working on a fun script. Footage is looking good.

Booming on Rash

More booming on Rash, at the boxing ring

Detours

I feel like I'm on the edge of a cliff with an untested hang glider, and with one step I could be soaring high - or I could fall to my death on the jagged rocks below.

I had to make a big call today - a vital cog in the system failed and left me with little choice but to postpone my shoot to a later date. Strictly speaking, it wouldn't have impossible to shoot, but it threatened to make the rest of the shoot a thousand times harder because of the ripple through the schedule. More importantly, the sacrifice in quality was something I couldn't bring myself to accept. Ultimately, it was too big a risk and the last thing I want is to be boxed in to bad decisions, and have a potentially good film fall flat on it's face.

But that's life in film, and life in general. Now, having literally bought myself some more time (having hired my DOP for an extra week) I have to make the most of it. I certainly won't turn down a little more time in pre-production. It will probably mean a few days less in post, but if it means I'll capture better raw footage, that's a long term trade-off I'm willing to accept.

I have been on a few other different shoots over the break. I was doing sound for Aman's film, Delicious cakes. Few tricky things going on with the mixer meaning I could only record through one mic - that was frustrating but hopefully it's all good. Also did a day of boom op on Sarah's shoot, but luckily Kyle is back from Byron Bay and took over as mixer to give me a bit more time to prep for my film.

Here are a few sneaky snaps I took on Delicious Cakes

Ol' Steve CakeBeard

Josh getting to grips with C-stands

A bit of blocking action with the director and actors. Vince is proud of has job with the C-stand.

Aman blocking with Nicola and Taylor

Aman and Taylor. 

Nicola reading through the script for the next scene

Getting a beat down...

Don't know that I've really got much to say this week...

I've been trying a few variations of my script to see if I can get it to work better, but I end up running into roadblocks or having a story that blows out into something well beyond the fifteen page limit. More crucially, I need something that ties the whole film together so it isn't just a series of things that happen. I'd like it to have some kind of meaning, but to be honest, at this stage I'd settle for something that just makes narrative sense. It seems like it's going to be a very long time before I become a decent writer, so if I can just get some things right at least that will be a step in the right direction.
Over the last few years I've had people come to me asking for feedback on their scripts, and up until this year I've been happy to help with it. I'm not so sure I'm in any position to do that any more. It's sort of a case of the emperor's new clothes.

I've tried to map out my story with Blake Snyder's beat breakdown, but that hasn't really helped all that much. I don't know how much of that actually applies to a short film. Also, I'm not a massive fan of "template" film's but hey, if it's a way of getting back to the basics and making something coherent, that's probably a small price to pay.

Working on a Blake Snyder orientated beat sheet. 

I am running out of time though, so I think I basically need to have made a final decision on the script by Tuesday night at the latest so I can get on to prepping for the shoot. My shoot dates are locked in and immovable, and if I want to have anything resembling a polished film, I'm going to have start locking things in very soon.

The short film marathon begins

We are now officially into production on our individual projects. Ten thirds years films and one second year film shot back to back over approximately forty days.  It can be quite a slog to get to the end of it, it is quite tiring physically and mentally but I think we are a bit more prepared for it this time around. We have drawn up a schedule and had meetings on when each person will be shooting and who will be doing what on everybody's film. We've also said that we should schedule a few breaks as well so that we don't wear ourselves out or get too far behind on prepping for our own shoots. It's a very delicate logistal feat which doesn't leave much room for unexpected circumstances and general bad luck but we have to roll with it, those are the cards we are dealt.

Lee was first to shoot. On Sunday, the cast and crew went to dinner at Lee's place which was great - gave everyone a chance to mentally prepare ourselves and enjoy each other's company before our marathon of filming began. It's always a bit daunting being first up to film, so good on Lee for going first. There were a few issues which resulted in having to quickly change to another location, and change the shooting schedule. Lee was a bit stressed about that, but everyone rallied around and assured Lee that these are things that can happen on shoots, even the big professional ones, so not to worry too much and just roll with it.
I was the soundie on the shoot. I had a few of my own things to deal with as well. The Zaxcom mixer that I had planned to use had problems from the beginning - the card wouldn't format, and then I tried to reset it and it crashed so I couldn't turn it on. So I ended up switching to a Sony mixer instead (which I had never used before - in fact I didn't even know we had a Sony mixer in the equipment room!). It's a bit different from the Zaxcom in that it doesn't record seperately, so you have to plug in to the audio inputs on the camera. That can be a bit annoying as it limits your freedom to move around. Howevcr, it will save some time for us in post if we don't have to sync up sound. Also, the pre-amps seemed to be great, there's hardly any hiss when you increase the gain and levels.
I did have a bit of a problem on some of the days as I couldn't work out why the sound on the camera was recording so low when it was coming through loud and clear on the mixer. I looked at all the settings on the camera and changed a couple of things, and got it to change from limiting at -20 db to -10 db but for some reason I couldn't get it to go any higher. That was frustrating, but I managed to work around that mostly.

Doing a sound check on 'Suspicion', Lee's film.

Kim's shoot was right after Lee's. I was a soundie on that as well and really enjoyed it. We shot over three days mainly out as Seeward Bush, but we also shot at Lana's place and St Mary's Basilica (was good to see inside there - it's a really impressive building from the outside so I've always wondered what it's like inside). We got a mixture of different weather conditions over the three days, but since Kim is filming a trailer and not actually a full film, that shouldn't be so much of a problem in terms of continuity.
I think I have managed to get more used to the mixer now, the sound that I checked out has been good so far. There were a few planes and a bit of traffic at our Seeward Bush location but the directional mic seems to have done a decent job of minimising that.

Everyone had a turn with Cyrin's hat.

Checking my levels. Or possibly my shoe...

Setting up my directional mic

Getting my Sony mixer tethered to the camera

On the set of 'Ko's World'

In other news: I have now booked flights for my DOP, Adam Joseph Brown, to travel down from Napier. I was hoping to tie in travel with cast/crew coming in from other parts of the country as well to make it all a bit cheaper, but that was going to be a logistical nightmare in terms of timing flights, buses and having stopover accommodation. I came to the conclusion that it wasn't going to save a huge amount of money and it would end up being more trouble and more risky than it's worth. Also, it wouldn't have made economical sense for Adam as it would have meant taking more time off work to spend an extra few days traveling here. In the end, it was best just to get the flight down here -  better to strike while the iron is hot and we could still get relatively cheap flights instead of waiting for the stars to align (the film stars in this case. Badum-tish).

I've worked with Adam on many different shoots and he is an excellent DOP so I'm really looking forward to having him on board for my film. I had the pleasure of co-editing his film 'Still is the Night' last year and really enjoyed the collaboration.

P.S. I've added some updates to my last blog post.

P.P.S. Thanks to Iris for the pics on set otherwise I wouldn't have any to add to my blog! Being a soundie means phones are off, so good to have someone around who can grab some BTS stills in quiet moments.

Indirectly and directly about directing

Forgot all about my blog! Just about to head off on set so I'll need to fill in the particulars a bit later, but for now I can say that we have been focusing on aspect of directing leading into our shoots for our individual project. (  Updates added - read on! :)  )

I've been reading various books about this:

Directing: Film Techniques and Aesthetics is a great book I've been reading lately, not only for tips on directing, but it has really insightful points on writing and interpreting scripts as well. I mentioned on an earlier blog post that sometimes it's difficult to figure out how much of your character backstory and development needs to be "written in" to your script, There is a good passage in the book that addresses this by saying:

 

"A character, after all, is like the proverbial iceberg - four-fifths out of sight. What is visible (that is, in the script) allows the actor to infer and develop what is below the "water-line" (the character's biography, motives, volition, fears, ambitions, vulnerabilities, and so on). The givens serve as the foundations determining everything else. Much is left deliberately and wisely left unspecified, such as the movements and physical nature of the characters and the treatment to be given the story in camerawork, sound and editing". 

I found this helpful because something I've found myself doing quite often in scripts is writing too much in a literary form instead of a visual form. I still think that can  be done in small doses throughout the script if you really need something to be crystal clear, but in general terms it's best to keep it visual. 'Inferences' is the key word. Also, a lot of the character development work is stuff that can be done behind the scenes with your actors - it allows them to bring their own expertise to the film. 

Cinematic Storytelling is another book I've been flicking through lately. This is really half about directing and half about cinematography. It is full of examples from various major films which show how specific camera placements, techniques and movements were used for effect. I think this is really the core of filmmaking: using the power of the image to tell the story. I think that's something that takes a lot of experience to master, but it's something for every film to aspire to. I'll be reading much more of this book looking for inspiration when it's time for me to start pinning down the visuals.

In class, we've also been discussing the key roles of the director on set. The key things being that the director is the navigator of a film. They are responsible for the film as a whole, tying all of the elements together, the performance, the lighting, the costumes, the sound, the cinematography - everything. They set the course, but also need to give each of the crew the freedom to contribute their expertise. Another major aspect of directing is looking after your crew - you need to be someone who your crew can trust.

Directing 101 (in BDM 331)

Block

Script is still giving me grief. Guess I've mainly got the skeleton of it, and I'm pretty happy with the first act (that just needs some tweaks to make it more scripty and less literary). Third act isn't a million miles away, but it's still a bit of a blunt instrument at the moment. My second act is a mess and it's driving me up the wall. I know what needs to happen in broad terms, but I can't find the right nuances for it especially while trying to keep it all within fifteen pages. I might be too close to the material now to see what it needs, but I haven't got time to give it space either.

Sneak peak of the first page.

Been doing some pre-production stuff as well, although I absolutely hate doing pre-pro on an unfinished script. One thing at a time.I've done me scene breakdown through Scenechronize, but It's something I'll need to come back to again when the script is pinned down.

Scene Breakdown for 'Sparks' - not Bones of Essimer. Don't know how to change that :/

Budget. $700 really doesn't go very far at all. I've budgeted based on a three day shoot. About two thirds of that will go to catering and unit (and that's based on a modest $10 per head per day). The rest is split between transport costs, printing and phone credit, leaving only about $50 all up for art department. Luckily, I don't think I have many things that are particularly exotic that I can't find within my network. $50 isn't much of a contingency but I'll have to make do. Still, having access to gear is a blessing that I'm grateful for.

Budgeting. As fun as it sounds

Casting is on my mind at the moment as well. I have people in mind for most of the cast, except for my male lead. This will need my attention soon...

Blood on the page/screen

Why is it that the more I learn and supposedly understand about screenwriting, the worse I get at putting it into practice?
A friend recently sent me a link to an episode of Charlie Brooker's Screenwipe. Usually these are sort of parodies of the nature of television but in this episode it's a discussion with the writers of various UK TV shows. One of them describes writing as bleeding onto the page, which seems about right.

I've been reading a lot of things from the scriptlab and various other random links trying to find ways of streamlining the story I have.

http://thescriptlab.com/screenwriting-101/screenwriting/script-tips/653-writing-the-smart-short-film

http://thescriptlab.com/screenwriting/script-tips/436-the-character-driven-story

http://thescriptlab.com/features/screenwriting-101/3375-story-equation-expanded-applying-the-four-variables

Essentially all of the stuff I thought was good, is the stuff I'm going to have to pull out. It's all of that symbolic theme-y stuff, I can't seem to keep that while keeping the story moving. I've got all of these separate elements pulling in different directions.

It's Character Building

Still trying to pin down the first draft of the script, getting there, but admittedly the progress has been a little bit slower lately. Patrick gave us some character questionaire sheets to help us to see 'test' the strengths of our characters. That was quite useful actually. Up until this point I've loosely had my characters in mind, but I knew I had a lot more work I would need to do on them. I actually ended up coming up with a few interesting elements that I think will help to solidify some of the themes I've been looking to incorporate. Sometimes it's difficult trying to judge how much character info needs to be appear specifically in the script, and how much needs to stay off-screen as background for the actors. But I guess that it's better to overwrite then pull things back later, than to underwrite.

The Wheels of Progress Are Turning

Having some time off over the last few weeks has been great - always good to recharge the batteries after a few months of solid work. It has also allowed me the space to ruminate on my short film idea for this semester. Because of that I've made a few positive changes. I've drawn up a step outline and I've been working on the script which I'm hoping to finish in the next few days. There are still some things I'm not certain about at the moment but I think I've made a good start. It will just be a case of chiseling away at it until it's ready. I'll be looking for feedback from various people to see what's working and what isn't.

There are quite a few themes i'm looking to explore in the film and I'm pretty happy with a lot of the ideas so far. I've got a few ideas on how the film should look and feel as well in terms of the colour palette, pacing and editing. If I had to make an analogy, I'd say that I'm happy with the raw materials, but I'm just figuring out how to fit them all together.

An important thing for me this year is making a polished product. Over the last few years I've made films which had some good things in them, but I know they weren't as good as they could have been, even if others found them entertaining enough. Might get into that in a bit more detail later. Anyway, I don't want to post anything too specific about my short film idea at the moment (especially not online), until I've got the script down. But progress is being made and that's the main thing.

Final Countdown

The project is mostly in the hands of the animators now who are working to get the vfx composited. Some of the film team have been helping out with rotoscoping as well. I started working on a roto shot but Rachel asked me to look for a few vfx plates they needed so I didn't end up finishing it.

This week will be busier for the film guys I think. Once the vfx has been added, we still need to colour grade; Kyle is too busy to do any post sound for us so we might have to throw a rough mix together ourselves; we'll need to check in on how the guys are getting on with BTS editing; and the production team will also need to sort out paperwork for the final hand in.

I think what we'll have finished by Friday will still be pretty rough, and we'll need to keep working on it over the next few months to get it polished for The Flicks. But considering that this project has only been going for four months we've managed to do a lot in that time and we still have a few months left to work on final touches so i'm quite pleased with that. We're basically at the same point with BOF that we were in at the final week of last year (on Essimer), so still having a few months before Flicks is an improvement - also, it should mean we can dedicate more time to our individual projects as well. 

Research.

With big assignments for research and media culture this week, I think the last week has pretty much been a write-off for the group project. The research assignment is worth 75% of the paper, so I've been working around the clock on this. I've been studying auteur theory in relation to the Coen Brothers.

Yeah. Been a bit busy.

Apart from that, over the last few weeks I've been thinking ahead to my individual project next semester. I've had an idea bubbling away for while now so I'm going to be writing it up over the semester break. Don't want to talk too much about it at this stage until I've wrapped my head around it myself.

The Passing of the Torch

I have managed to finish editing The Beast of Fawkes and it is now in the hands of the animators to work on. I have my own personal thoughts on some aspects of the completed edit (and how the edit has been affected by events in pre-production and principle photography), but I will save these for my self-reflective evaluation.

In general terms (regarding the edit), I've kept quite faithful to the original script and storyboards and haven't really deviated too far. There were a couple of exceptions. In the pod scene at the start, the storyboard suggests that Mia enters the escape pod as the dialog plays out, however that was different from what was actually filmed. I ended up putting a timecut there instead to bridge that gap. I also removed the first few shots of Thai and Mia running down the corridor as the usable portion of the shots only amounted to a second or two - too quick to really be of any benefit.

After a feedback session, it was decided that there needed to be less cutting during the first scene so that we can spend more time with the characters. On balance, I think that's a valid point but the original intention for the faster cutting was to reflect the sense of urgency in the characters as the spaceship falls. Sound can do some of work to bring energy to the scene, but because the shots are static (locked off tripod and no movement) it will be up to the animators to bring back some visual energy.

Dan and I discussing the edit before it goes of to the animation team.

A comment that came up during feedback was that we could use the pod scene as flashback sequence instead of starting the story at this point. Personally, I think that would be the right way to go. I had discussed that as an option previously so I am glad that someone else suggested it independently. There are several good reasons for doing it that way. Firstly, I think it would be a more engaging starting point for the story - having Thai crawling out of the wreckage with flashback to the last time he was on the spaceship allows the audience to experience the disorientation as Thai does, drip-feeding the key information needed to advance the story. It's a more concise and engaging way of telling the story. It will also help to reduce some of the pacing problems (by their nature, the waking up scene and the cave scene at the end play out slowly).

There was some debate on what path the project should take from this point. The first option was to continue to produce the full 'teaser' (as others have referred to it as), which is currently at a duration of 4 minutes 30 seconds. This will likely extend to around 5 minutes after the full CG shots have been added.
The other option was to cut a traditional 2 minute trailer. There are pros and cons for each option but personally, I feel the 2 minute trailer would be a better option at this stage - primarily as that fulfills the original brief we were given. Also in terms of our time constraints as this point, I think it's a more achievable goal. However, it's not my project or my decision so I'll abide by the will of the people.

Untangling the Digital Spaghetti

It took a bit longer for me to sync the sound than I expected as our soundie hadn't had a chance to organisthe sound files properly, so for the most part they weren't in any discernible order. However, I got there in the end, and synced up all the sound files that I had received. I think a lot of it will end up being replaced anyway, but having it there will hopefully serves as a useful guide track for ADR and foley.

Syncing up audio. 

I've also been working on the edit for the last few days. Like I mentioned when I was editing last year's collaborative project, the most difficult part is editing scenes that take place against the greenscreen. It's a real test of the imagination trying to figure out if the angles and action match from shot to shot without a the full picture for reference. I've been looking for advice online on how experienced editors deal with VFX shots - e.g. do they comp in the VFX first before they cut the scene? Does the VFX supervisor sit in on the editing sessions?. I would be interested to hear if editors have had to radically change their approach to editing because of the increasing amount of CG used in film, and whether this is something they enjoy or endure. Unfortunately, I couldn't find anything about it online.  

Another aspect which is troubling me a little at the moment is wondering whether the shots I've used are actually usable. In some cases there is some green spill on the actors faces and on the set (which isn't a reflection [no pun intended] on our DOP. I think the green spill is pretty much unavoidable in most cases. NB: Our DOP wasn't actually there for the greenscreen shoots but did come in to pre-light the scenes when he could). At the end of the day, I had to silence that voice in my mind because the shots I've used are important to the story so I don't have any choice but to use them.

I did think of one possible solution to the green spill problem: for the spaceship scenes we could comp in a physical green light. That way we could potentially disguise the green spill as a natural part of the scene rather than trying to remove it. We could also grade the footage darker and maybe add in some flashing alarms and light effects to help disguise it further (which would also enhance the scene anyway).

Apart from the edit it has been a quiet week for the team. We needed one pick up shot for the edit I am working on at the moment so the camera crew went out and got that. I helped organise the gear for that. I also had a chat to Don about BTS - he will be starting to do some brief interviews with the crew and cast over the next few weeks. I advised him to do a bit of research on interview set ups and appropriate locations before jumping in to it (e.g. to think about varying the backdrop for some of the interviews - using something connected to the film, or it's themes, logos or colour palette). For example, some of the interviews for the BTS on Inception have the maze motif as a back drop. 

Nolan, C. (Director). (2010). Inception [Motion picture]. USA: Warner Bros

Also, it helps to ask interesting questions that add to the understanding of the film, characters and the creative choices that key personnel have made.

Some of the crew will be helping to edit the BTS footage over the next few weeks as things are a little quiet for them at the moment until picture lock when sound, VFX and grading kick into life. As for me, my work on the film will be tailing off a bit more so I can focus on other assignments.
Just under a month to go until delivery, it'll be a busy month ahead but I'm looking forward to seeing how everything looks after the next few phases of the pipeline.

Watch this Space (patience is a virtue...)

I will posting a proper blog post in a few hours when I can upload photos, but right now I have to prepare something for Studylink and head off to tech to return gear. Long story. But yes, there will be a post here by 1pm!

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Ok so let's crack in to it.

We have just finished up our greenscreen scenes and are now wrapped on filming for this term. We were hoping to get back out to Sandy Point to do some pick-ups but unfortunately our cast aren't available for the weekend - also, the weather is beginning to turn sour quite rapidly.

Greenscreen shoots can be quite deceptive - you think they're going to be easy because you're in a controlled environment, but then there's the issues of having to light the greenscreen, turn the sets around to film from other angles, and move sets in and out.

At the start of last week I got in contact with an arts student (Gordon) who allowed us to use his trailer, then myself, Lee, Sarah, Dan, Don, Iris and Chris all went out to the beach to borrow sand to bring in as a ground plane (over the top of the cave set). Pretty typical of the film business - even when we're at the beach, we're working!
It was only once the trailer was full of sand that we noticed I had a flat tyre. Changing tyres on the beach, on a stormy day - yeah I wouldn't recommend it!

Actually, I think it might have been a cursed trailer...
We parked the trailer at the tin shed and I had planned to drive it back to Gordon in the afternoon but someone else parked in front of it so I couldn't get it out. So I had to wait until later that night to move it. It was dark when I returned it and I used the flashlight on my phone to see what I was doing to disconnect it, however I put it on top of the car while I wheeled the trailer back down the driveway. No prizes for guessing what happened next...

Heavy duty producing

And this is why I have no photos from last week! Anuka, (budding artist, and our BTS photographer) has now turned my phone into a stylish piece of modern art.

So, i'll just have to rely on screengrabs and the like.

Not only that, but I think we somehow bent the wheel bracket for the trailer so we'll have to get that fixed. In all honesty, I think that probably would have been my fault. I probably forgot to lift the wheel up before I drove off -  yeah it's been that kind of week!

I helped organise the test shoot downstairs in the SIT-Pro studio, basically making sure whoever needs to be there is there. Also booked the vans so we could get our sets out from the tin shed:

Sent emails out to everyone in the crew to get their availability - found it more effective to email each person individually rather than sending out a bulk email. Psychology.  

And the same for all of our volunteers as well. 

Organising gear pick up. Myself and Aman had booked out the gear in our names and were there to do inventories, checks and also there returning the gear on the Monday mornings as well.  

After the greenscreen shoot in the dance studio, Dan, Aman and myself took the greenscreen down - it will need to be cleaned (again) but that's a job for another day.

On the actual shoot we were down on crew - we didn't have Virat (DOP), Arjun (Camera Operator), Tyler (Gaffer), Matt (Best Boy),  Michael (VFX Supervisor) and Shaun (VFX Assistant) so we were at a bit of a disadvantage but we managed to make do with what we had. I was on as boom operator again, but I also helped out the other departments as well when I could.

"Boom OP: Activate stealth mode!"

86ing the greenscreen after the shoot

Keeping gear city tidy. 

I found the whiteboard was a handy place to write up our shot list so that everyone could see it at a glace. 

Not my speciality, but I got a bit more familiar with the lighting gear as the shoot progressed

A happy mixer - A good sign :)

Someone must have been spying on the producers

Dan (the man [Director]) and I

Off set, I was doing my best to push the PledgeMe campaign which had begun to tail off. Unfortunately we didn't end up hitting target, but we'll soldier on We're still under budget at the moment so it's not a massive concern that we didn't get it. Still, a bit of extra cash to play would have been nice.

On the editing front, Dan and I sat down to cut the cave scene. It wasn't the easiest edit in the world because of some continuity and pacing issues, but I think we've cut it as good as we can (although it's hard to tell at the moment - once the animators have done the greenscreen replacement we should have a better idea of how it's all coming together. I'll post some screengrabs of this later this afternoon when I can get into the Mac Lab.


I also sent an email to Brian at the powerboat club to touch base and arrange payment for the use of the club.

Now, on to the last few weeks before our hand in deadline. I'll be finishing off the edit before handing it off for VFX, sound and grading. Then just to get all the paperwork in order and we're good to go.



P.S: Here are the aforementioned snaps of the editing on the greenscreen footage:

I've just done a very quick key on a few shots, some are keying better than others, but in general think it's a good job. I have no knowledge or expertise on compositing at this stage, this is all just from playing around with Premiere, so I'm sure the VFX team can do a much better job than I can at the currently. Virat also has some experience from his greenscreen shoot last year. 

The main thing that could be a problem is the green-spill in Luke's hair - but again, the animators might know some tricks to getting around this (see above).

I think some of the other shots are keying pretty good though. With proper garbage mattes and more advanced keying software we could get some good results (See below). 

Raw unedited footage

Keying the greenscreen

Composited image (just as an test - not representative of the final product)