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.