Thursday 7 May 2015

Overview of Project/Evaluation

At the start of this project I knew I was going to make a short film with sci-fi elements and by watch and researching films.  Throughout the project by doing all the elements which create a film I've learnt creative ways for which areas I enjoy the most and by using my knowledge from freelance work and other situations I've been able to create this project to my full abilities, and have a lot more respect for the industry of film makers and VFX artists. Problems which I've encountered on the way have been dread full and problematic that it put me off going into the world of film.  However post-production work is what I find the most entertaining as it allows you to create awesome pieces of footage in work, If I was to look back upon this project I would have straight away done TV adverts instead of a short 5min film however this wouldn't have challenged me to my full capabilities also the understanding of the development of the film as time goes on changes a lot (or it was just mine) so that I had to adapt and fix things which couldn't be done or problems arose.

I'd admit that my professionalism went down hill after the first quarter of the project as I wasn't too sure what to create as I had an Idea, which I liked but not the motivation to carry it though. Later when filming started to roll problem after problem came along and really off put me from doing work and made me think differently about doing film as I had already done film however those times went smoothly because there were one off projects so you set a date do the filming and then everyone goes home but because this was over the course of a week or two, commitment was a problem, and sadly I don't know if it was my communication or peoples attitude dropping out which caused this however I had to move on and quickly by this stage, so I played to my strengths which was post production and I enjoy doing CGI.  So with the help of James Buck I was able to use him as a reference and start making CGI animation for the project.  Then for the model I asked Sean Bowes a game designer if he had a model which I could buy off him via Royalty copyright, He agreed and so I rigged the character and stared to make the CGI sections of my film and to be honest I began to enjoy my project again, and worked incredibly hard to make up for lost time with what happened during production.

Now into Post production with CGI and VFX I was fully enjoying myself and using everything about VFX I've learnt and the Information from VFX artists in development videos in the background as I worked. From this point on I was use techniques which I had learnt but adjusting them from what they were before into a more digital/sci-fi element, and example is the preset lighting in After Effects and completely breaking the effect down to make a interesting digital design and adding adjustment layers for a glitch effects to improve upon the design.  Following on from this with the maya/CGI sections done and using my skills of VFX post work everything went smoothly and effectively to create impressive compositing work into my film, my only wish is that I did this sooner to create more CGI/VFX work into my final piece, instead of being held up by problems in the production section.

Evaluation of this project.

With the tutors giving us feedback nearly all the time, I wish I went in more to discuss what was happening and for their advice to help guide me though the Production stage of the project.  The post production when I was doing this stage, they gave advice on where could be improved and ways on making the compositing to look more realistic.
My Research during this time was only at films when I could have been better looking at TV adverts as well but the overall was good as I looked into how they made certain things plus skills to create the effects in the project.
The critical Awareness was really needed as I had to keep improving upon my work  to make the final product look as realistic as possible so that scene became real, by asking other friends and fate mates to look at the scenes and ask what isn't real, they said for the cargo scene that only the drones where fake but looked real, then I removed the effects and they couldn't believe that the cargo create wasn't real at the time because it became one with the scene, therefore what ever was making the cargo create work I had to implement onto the rest of CGI elements which was quite exciting to figure out how/what I did to create this illusion of the eye to the rest of my film which meant I had to use my Technical knowledge to bring the other CGI elements to the same level as the Cargo which made this project even more fun, and it came down to the same problem I had for a idea for my Skateboard project, what is the best way to make this awesome without over doing it and making it "artificially" worse so it becomes obviously fake. This became a problem as to when did something become over done with VFX that it becomes fake and stand out of the scene.

Music within this post production became the VFX problem as when is it real and when it's fake?  By remixing the music within premiere and audacity and then moving frame by frame then placing it in and the watching over and over to make sure you have it in the right place then testing and playing became the same thing for me as I enjoyed this section so much it's made me realise how much fun I have when doing post production stuff, and I don't mind the production but over the course of this project I've really come to dislike it but it's apart of film so it must be done.


Pros of this project is that it has allowed to experience hardships during filming a bigger project by myself than usual, and made me truly realise where my best skills in the industry lie.
Cons of this project is that I've allowed myself to "sink" and let my project be slowed by problems I feel both external and internal of the project and should have kept to a certain focus  and instead of having no changes to the idea should have been more flexible to enable a better experience.

The Differences to the project would have been more on CGI work then the starting idea of just film with no CGI however projects change and I would loved to have more time so I could create my own character than buying one. More time to play around in Maya then being stuck in production for about a month, and could have brought more fun and exciting VXF/CGI to my project.  Sticking to my strong areas instead. Finally if I do another project like this be in a group and not soloing the majority of the project on myself.


Post Production Final

It's been about a week of edit and putting the final film together.

Once going though, the VFX film I managed to make has gone smoothly and the overall look to the VFX is really good, making me really happy that it has come together neatly and effectively. I wish I still had more time to add some small extra scenes to the film as I've tried to make it run as smooth as possible for the deadline, however this is not possible as there is little time, but everything has worked smoothly and all elements in the film work together really well. I think the overall product is awesome and I've worked hard for this project on my own.

However I feel the film could have been better if the mishaps didn't arise over duration of the project which lead to stress over certain months however I've managed to complete this film from the very start with ideas into pre-production, all the way to the final piece rendered out at 1080HD. I never thought I would have done a complete film project on my own and learn about so much over this time as I'm so used to working in a group and having the role of editor/VFX.

Things I would do next time for a project like this?
Defiantly have a team/group all committed to the final project, and have fun with it and let it not turn into stressfulness.

Post production Music, SFX, Voice

Music is one of the most essential pieces to a film.

I found a website which does free non copyright music called HeroBoard and within this I found a artist which is royalty free (Basically can use their music but must not re-sell and must say it's their work) by Ross Bugden who has made some epic scores which I have used and remixed into the film therefore all songs used will be named in the end credits.

SFX
Found a lot of these on a website plus re-creating some, such as when the drones talk it's a combination of a fog horn but digitised and beeps my phone is dying/running out of battery, sadly I had to use a rode mic for this on the camera and record black so I know it's just sound, but I've mainly used audacity to change and manipulate the sounds.

Voices
Just used actors and had Skype calls with some people who were happy to do this over Skype.
James Buck, Greg Shakleberry, Helen Lynskey
All of them helped and I couldn't have done this without them.

Post Production Breaking down scenes

Going though each of my CGI scenes in the second half of the film and explain what I did and why.

Oringinal
This is where I started from and same for most of the CGI scenes
So black template
 Moving on to the location
For this I wanted somewhere abandoned and could be moved to any other scene in my film if needed which was useful as this was a nice spot.
This is the base template for the character so by using a reference shot with my actor and the pink arm bands I can use maya to get this.

 So here the character is placed however him and the background are both very sharp therefore by using a Mat Channel, and the alpha layer I could break the two apart and make a depth of felid on the VFX.

So above you can now see the background bridge is blurred so the focus remains on the CGI character and the foreground to the right is in focus making the scene feel natural to the audience.  I have done this because if it stayed all in focus there would be too much information to take in therefore by breaking it down into this is focused and this isn't the audience knows where to look.


This next scene I did was clever, as I had lost my footage at the factory for the showdown so had to make up something to fill the gap, therefore a recording of that event.


So the main focus is here in the palm of the hand which is just off centre of the screen, but looks nice in the framing, because of the shoulder in the shot it keeps the focused on the hand, plus the factor of the movement in the picture.
 I decided to recap the last moments as if the CGI character was watching the film just like the audience was so that there is a connection between the two subjects.

Jumping into the VFX
 As you can see the Lines where added in to emphasis the hologram/recording as it looks boring without one on

And now without the footage just a hand with a blue light from maya super boring and a weird hand...

 But here is the original footage
Just a recording of the under the bridge on a different day without the actor so difficult to figure out where the placing should be, but with slight colour correction with the hand on and off to get a nice balance of contrast.

So making the Holographic lines/playback lines.

There was some tweaking to this as I stated my comp as a white Template and then masked areas off with black solids and animated them with a controller so the "rolled" down the view creating the illusion of the holographic/playback recording.



Next section the walking
A very interesting part as referencing the actor to the CGI model was different as I copied the moments to the best of my abilities plus the go pro on him to make a first person section if needed however I ended up using the gopro footage as the actors movements plus camera shake broke the illusion of the figure walking down the forest path.

Final version
 So as you can see a bleak moment during the day just before finishing, it turned dark and cloudy on us however later the Cargo section was the sunniest part of the foot therefore by cross referencing I could get/re-create the sunlight in the footage making the film flow nicely and not have any sudden colour change.

Still from the GO pro the actor was wearing and sadly I would have liked to use the footage with the actor but it doesn't work therefore had to use the maya refernce and place the GoPro footage as the movie plane and add tweaks as it went along.
 Even after the maya CGI movement still had to make tweaks to make it believable.



Overall I'm very happy with this section as the maya render and worked so smoothly to create this Model and looks beautiful on the whole.



 Drones Flying,
Most fun and difficult section in the film.
 Between these two images above and below, the top being final version and below original, So leagues of difference here.

After the Drones were finished in maya and exported and put into after effects the first thing to do was this... the drones needed to be masked behind the trees to get the depth of field and not breaking the illusion of them flying through the trees.
 So as you can see below with the tree masked it swoops/flies behind it and then reappears giving the feeling of them being real within the scene and interacting with the BackGround.
 Adding detail to these drones.
As one of my drones looks directly at the audience on purpose to be intimidating I rendered out a secondary ambient occlusion so...
 That the model would have more shadow and become apart of the scene however this isn't enough.


 Because they are flying around they couldn't be full focus all the time therefore a blur was applied with a 2frame delay so it could slightly track wear the drone was flying next, however the effect is only slight but it has made a huge difference on the model within the scene.

Next thing would be sound as it can be normal levels around -6db here however 

  With the drone flying up and close I'll have to adjust this and create two layers on for the background drone and one for the foreground to have different levels as i want them to communicate to each other as they fly down.

Second point is the leave as I need a sound here to push them off the screen, and to leave a impact before the next scene in the film.

Wednesday 6 May 2015

Cargo quick breakdown

Quick breakdown


Post production - Drones plus Cargo

One of my scenes contains both the drones and a cargo.

 So for starting off is a relaxed, we have the cargo scene below with all the effects on it, these effects are the Drones,Cargo create and the grass at the base of the cargo crate to make it seem apart of the background and not stick out.


This image is showing the blasts which destroy the drones, for this I created my own energy ball, combined with particle effects for a explosion,



As you can see the ball is yellow so easy fix with Curves effect ect  then into the shock waves/blast below


Overall with all the elements in this scene all put together will make this scene become to a high quality however they are just animations which run smoothly but without sound they will be lifeless...
Next thing to focus on is the sound for the trailer with the Back Ground sound included however I think at this pace which I've got going I might be able to finish all of the film and render it out in time.



Post Production - Drones

These drones have been Tricky for me, as I've been created them from very basic level and not as a fully model object, therefore they are grouped and proved a pain when animating sometimes.

Heres a Quick Ambient occlusion of the drones making natural shadows on them to improve the look when placed into the final product.

I started this model off by creating the body then creating the arms seperate to the base model and the same is for circle flying section.  This is Fairly bad in terms of animation and game design however I can get away with this as it's for CGI and the final render is what counts.

The combination of the Drones and the Sci-fi soldier work well to create the atmosphere of the film plus by using real world footage for the drones gives them reference and helps me for the final product.


This is a shot for the final product with the drones being masked though out the scene to create them passing by the trees to imitate distance of the drones.
Overall I'm happy with the way this has come out and the only things that will need to be altered is the colour correction so that film flows nicely.

Overall the pros of this scene is that the drones fly at the camera to make them intimidating, but to makes the scene even better the sound for these guys will be key to bring them to the full potential.

Cons of this a lot of masking of trees to have the scene look awesome and not "flat" by having the drones sit on top of the film layer.

 

Post Production - CGI character

This is the Character which I bought online.  Sadly the model wasn't already rigged and set up therefore had to put a rig and controls onto him.
So this is him in a testing pose before using the reference footage with maya to re-create the actor moving around.











Overall I've enjoyed using this model for the CGI parts of my film.  The Animation though out went smoothly and the overall look to them was good at the end.  Above you can the textures and bump mapping coming together to create a good scene and testing it before placing it into the final product, overall with the CGI character I'm happy with it since I've been the only one working on it and making the bump maps, along with the rendering of Maya's mental ray the final product will look really good.

Despite being on my own I think I've worked really hard to produce this level of quality work for my final project, granted it's not blockbuster level, however I wouldn't have thought I could accomplish this fully to the end and that I may have to make a trailer instead of a full film...



VFX Title

From doing a few requests from clients asking to make a VFX template for channels and company names within After Effects  I thought it would be best to create something within After effects using my knowledge.

For this I decided to use the lightning effects and change the attributes to make them look very digital as if they are making a circuit within a computer. I decide this because of the Sci-fi theme of the film plus it makes a interesting view for the title to sit on or be revealed by the digital lighting.


From the time lapse above there has been a lot of tweaking and playing around in order to find what would be best for the into...  overall there are skips in some areas as I've been tweaking to make the finished product to my liking.

Time lapse here

After a lot of playing around tweaking I finally came up with this  which is shown in the development as a full run though as the load times were difficult at this point due to the video cache being nearly full at this stage.



Overall I'm happy with the end result and there isn't much I would change to this title beginning.

Pros
Done this before so happy to do again.
Fun area to try out new and different things while making something awesome.

Cons
Loses the traditional Title in moves
Finding the best way to fit the sequence into the final film.

Post Production - Muffin Button

Very early on in my film I introduce this button which can produce muffins therefore called the muffin button.
Since this isn't a real thing I decide to model a emergency stop button used on factory machines,
 Here is a two minute time lapse of the making of the muffin button.


This is a quick example of how it will fit into the scene.

Overall I wish to keep the information about the Muffin button until the end credits

Quickly looking at the shot above there will need to be a lot of editing to this in order to make the button sit within the scene. As of now it looks very fake, but the end product will look good.

Production

When production first started everything was going smoothly as all actors knew the filming dates and locations were set however, something had to go wrong.

Nothing ever goes smoothly as I have found out though doing this project myself, but I have learnt to understand and adapt to the changes which will happen within the industry.
Firstly one of the actors which I was hoping for got a call from a studio to do filming there and it was a opportunity which he couldn't miss, this is understand able as I asked him and I would give him experience and a reel in his CV, compared to the money and small named company.  From this I've defiantly need a serious budget for any next film for actors e.c.t. but I didn't set one for this project which has affected the overall experience, showing me I need to get budgets.
Secondly locations, as I emailed to locations and didn't get responses for up to a month, which I found to be amazing in terms of response and communication, and has shown me I'm not for pre-production and finding I'm not suited to it at all.

Filming, was fairly easy as it came natural to me, and it felt like the fun I was waiting for to come around.  In this both actors helped me slightly with dialog I should say as if I was the Director which was new to me as I've never done it before but they were calm and very helpful in this learning curve.  Secondary filming in the Factory, went absolutely perfectly as I had made a game plan before hand which big time gaps which enabled us to film the scenes needed and the extras which the actors + crew thought of which I hadn't thought of, I found this useful and interesting in how other people think and what could be done better, however later that day the card had got corrupted and I asked the Location officer if we could go for a another shoot soon but sadly this couldn't be done as the main work in the factory was 9am to 7pm weekdays + Saturday and other people had asked about the space.
This left me in a tricky situation. However one of the actors was still free for this week, and so I bought Pink Bands which snap in place and used these as Tracking markers and reference points for a CGI section in post production my strongest area of work.
For this CGI and tracking we headed to Mean-wood Leeds and filmed I decided not to take the toy Nerf gun as it was completely painted black and past the dates which I informed the local police about filming in public areas with a gun, and I didn't know how long this would take to get a confirmation about the police knowing about it, so we used a stick with green tape wrapped around it as a reference to the CGI Layer.
Myself and the actor had a good laugh this day and it was unfortunate about the corruption of the filming from the Sunday, but very lucky he was available on the Monday for filming, and the weather conditions were perfect so this was a stroke of good luck.

Overall I was very stressed before the production and became even more during, however since this was a good experience about the whole workflow within the industry, I'm defiantly set on the production (Camera Work) and Post-Production work as this feels a lot more natural to me and defiantly more fun.

Pros
learning different skills in the field of film making.
Found my idea areas of work.

Cons
Dedication in actors and locations
way to much pressure for one person to handle
Complex story, with certain locations were needed and wasn't flexible (mainly my fault)
No budget = difficult.

What I could have done better?
Not lose good communication during the project.
Get a Team for something like this next time!
Make the film really basic and not as complex

Thursday 5 March 2015

Sci-Fi Elements

Since my film is sci-fi I have a lot of power to play around with stuff, such as flying cars and laser guns.

However what level of sci-fi do I go is the question?

The Star Wars Saga is full 100% sci-fi therefore I don't think it would be wise to go full sci-fi because this would mean a lot of props and other CGI elements to use.  I mean this would be awesome however I don't have the crew or the time to create something like this.

The next film which has less Sci-fi but still loads of CGI is Elysium
I loved this film for the balance between props and CGI animation which became flawless, I think it would be possible to create something which contains this level of CGI, however the props will suffer as I have a low budget and have no team in which to create it however looking into this shows I don't have to go full blown CGI stuff with little props but just make the background believable.

FInal one to look at is blade runner which is set in the not to distant future?

 This will be useful for my Intro scene of the city being panned down!
But being able to reference real world and manipulate it into the sci fi world would be the best move for my film.

Another thing to note is video copilots VFX sci-fi tutorial which I'm following, sadly they don't have the full assets for you, instaed they have only given me the footage of the guy shooting, which I prefer because it makes the footage become mine as I add the VFX for the blast coming out of the gun.


I believe this will be awesome for my Sci FI guns in the film.

Wednesday 4 March 2015

Risk Assessments

Risk Assessment Lecture Hall
Location Leeds collage of Art

Hazard: people tripping over in the dark room.
Risk: people can easily hurt themselves when they can't whats infront of them because of the dark setting as it's an interrogation scene.
Rating: Medium
Action required: Place all equipment into one area where people know the location of it then set the scene into darkness for the interrogation scene.

Hazard:Lighting equipment
Risks: Tripping over the cables for the lights. Dazzled by the lights when they are switched on.
Rating: Medium
Action Required: For the cables all of them will be duct taped down to the floor therefore people can't trip over the cables to the lights. Before any lights are turned on the lighting people shall shout out "Sparking" which will indicate to us they are turning on the powerful lights.



Risk Assessment Rose Bowl Car Park
Location Rose Bowl

Hazard: Cars
Risk: Crew members getting hit by cars or equipment getting damaged.
Rating: High
Action Required: Need 3/4 people to look out for cars while we are filming so as soon a car is heading our way we can move quickly out of it's way and resume film.

Hazard: Track and Dolly
Risk: camera op falling off the tracks and hurting themselves.
Rating: High
Action Required: Have a operator controlling the speed of the dolly and can make it stop before the camera op runs out of track to run on.

Hazard: Actors hurting themselves during the takes (Action sequence)
Risk: During takes actors hurting them selves while rolling/dodging.
Rating:Medium
Action Required: Crash mats will be ready for if the actor is making a big movement.

Hazard: Visibility in the underground car park to cars and other pedestrians.
Risk: A car not noticing someone until the last minute and a accident happens.
Rating: High
Action Required: All crew to be wearing High Vis Jackets at all times, Actor to remove them only when a take will happen then straight back on.

Hazard:Gun Prop
Risk: someone/ a memeber of the public could think it's a real gun and call police
Rating:Medium/High
Action Required: Notify the local police and security at rose bowl saying we will have a gun prop and that its a toy painted black on that day!  Hopefully this won't happen as we are wearing film crew on the back of the high vis jackets.



Risk Assessment DFGA Office
Location Leeds Collage of Art

Hazard: Small space
Risk: Someone tripping and getting hurt as there is no space to move.
Rating: Low
Action Required: Sets of crew to enter then leave we have a maximum of 5 people in at a time including actors.

Hazard: Cables
Risk: Catching a cable as we are walking in and out of the office.
Rating:Low
Action Required: Notify all crew be careful of wire/cables as we set up the scene.

Hazard: Sensitive material
Risk: We students see something that we shouldn't have to do with the collage.
Rating Low
Action Required: Tell the member of staff when we are using the room and notify all crew to not go sticking their noses where they don't belong.


Risk Assessment Flat
Location 5A Blenheim View

Hazard: Small Place
Risk: bumping into each other and knocking something over
Rating: Low
Action Required: only people needed on set will be here shooting the scene the rest will be next door.

Hazard: Cables
Risk: Crew tripping over cables which are lose
Rating:Low
Action Required: Duct tape them down.


Hazard: Slipping
Risk:Floor will have been cleaned before hand for the scene and could still be wet.
Rating: Low
Action Required: Clean up and dry floor plus notify crew if the floor is still wet.

Prop sci-fi guns

One of the most needed props is the sci-fi guns.  I had a look around the internet but some are costly for pre-done guns which look really good however by looking at the shape of these guns it seem to be a nerf gun which kids use by spray painted black and then has added led lights in it, therefore instead of the pre-done sci-fi guns I'll get a normal nerf gun and spray paint it black.

The nerf gun is called "retaliator"


From here I've looked at many tutorials on how to spray paint the gun black to make it look realistic, however the downside to do this is that someone could easily mistake it for a real gun if they are far away and call the police which in turn could have us pointed at with real guns.  Therefore to prevent this I'll need to call the local police department tell them what I'm doing and tell then it's a nerf gun painted black to look realistic

examples below

For people who don't have much gun knowledge they could mistake one for a real gun.

Animatic of Act 3 no sound as not final.

Act 3 final scene rough version to see how it plays out. Without sound as final script is on the way.

Actors for the Film

Chris Hallas to play Jake (C1)
I've chosen Chris as he has a good sense of humour and comedic timing and like to do acting casually in his spare time.  Secondly he has read the first version of the script and loved it and wanted to be part of it.

Naj Modark to play Chief (C2)
I've worked with Naj at IPM studios and he is a good actor and I asked him about this and he said yes to helping as it would be good for him on his CV actor videos, however he has said if a actor job does come up which is paid he might leave to do that therefore will need a sub for C2

Greg Shackleberry to play Sir Ellesworth (C3)
when writing this script as making this character and his lines, he felt like I was writing Greg into the story and I think if I have any one else to play this character it wouldn't feel right.



Production design

Questions to myself about this Film.

What is the film's theme?
It's a Comedy within a police force style set in the future.

What are it's mood progression?
Serious to start as the start is a interrogation scene which breaks down into more of a comedy feel, with action at the end to round the film off.

What kind of location should each sequence have?
The locations to match the scene and the atmosphere e.g. interrogation scene is in a dark large hall unknown to how large it is.

What statement should each location make towards the film's premise?
 ???

How should each set be lit?
Fairly bright as this is a comedy, so that it doesn't be dark at any point which would change the theme of the film.

What kind of props go with the set?
For Police areas wanted posters, files with case/investigation on them to add the aesthetics.

What kind of belongings do the characters keep around them?
Only the main character with a coat which is recognisable to the audience.

What kind of clothes do each character wear and what do the clothes tell us?
For Jake (C1) he wears the famous coat and he dress smart casual however when he's in act 2 the coat is on the sofa and dress casual.
For Chief (C2) very smart stuff e.g. shirt and tie gear then for Act 3 an overcoat.
Sir Ellseworth (C3) Very business type cloths with a hit of casual and the staff which is his iconic prop.

How does their wardrobe vary from scene to scene?
Since Jake (C1) is aways in the scene at different points his clothing changes from dective clothing to the couch potato and then back for the final event.

What colour Palette and progression would promote the film's thematic development?
Serious noir feel at the start with the 3 colours of black white and yellow into the bright happy colours of a comedy, then for the final scene fair neutral colours as the VFX from the sci-fi guns will add a lot of vibrant colours into the scene.

Locations

Location 1
Student Lecture Hall
Available light: there is no natural light in this area however there is a lighting rig above and there is plenty of space to use 2k lights.
Size: This location is very big therefore can have a track and dolly for the interrogation scene.
As far the locations has plenty of access for equipment and power supply for lighting.
Stuff: There is no furniture in this room therefore the chairs and tables will have to be brought into the area.
Sound issues: the main access doors are by a car park therefore could be problem if we catch a car moving around.
Location has been secured for the 23rd to the 28th however there is a lecture on the 25th morning therefore must be weary of this.

Location 2
DFGA Office
Available light: natural light coming in from the door onto the landing area outside. secondly lights to light the room during the evening therefore not powerful ones, however this scene will be shot during the day therefore shouldn't any problem.
Size: fairly small and limited space therefore very little crew is needed on set but before and after we will have to be efficient as it is a office with sensitive material, plus mustn't hold up tutors from access in and out of the office.
Availability: There will be a quick scene in this area of 1/2min scene time but over all it should take 2 hrs if we are quick.
Sound issues: Road outside which is a main road to the inner ring road of leeds therefore a road mike on top of a camera plus a boom mike will be needed to focus the sound just to the speaking, note it would be good to get a ambient of this the have in the background therefore not making the scene extremely quiet.
Stuff/furniture: the desk and chairs are already there so it will be just posters which say animation will need to be taken down and other background material to add to the setting.
Location Secured between 23rd to 28th march


Location 3
My Flat
Available Light: Natural from windows however since the setting id for it to be a montage of time passing with the actor in different positions making a funny montage.
Size: Avaerage enough to get one/two 2k lights in if needed for the location however need the tv to produce different colours so that it looks like the actor is watching tv so having powerful lights might not be the way to go on this shoot.
Sound issues: Live by a car park which does have lorries coming inn and out therefore will need to keep a eye on this factor and since they last for about half an hour this will eat up time.
Furniture: All furniture is in the correct places the only thing which might have to move is the table slightly so it becomes inline with the sofa.
Location secured between 23rd and 28th


Location 3
Rose bowl car park
Available light: None natural as it's underground however the lights in there are high powerful ones therefore won't need a 2k light.
Size: it's a huge car park but we a sectioned off to one "small area" plus this will be shoot at night therefore there isn't many cars around which makes things easier.
Availability for stuff: there isn't much power supplies therefore everything must be charged fully before heading out. Limitations will be the cars depend on how many are left down in the car park as not everyone will have left at 5pm so it could still be fairly full.
Sound Issues: Echo of the footsteps or speech of the actors as the ceilings are low and everything is stone which can make the voices bounce back or crew talks quietly and gets picked up.
Location secured between 25th and 26th.

Animatic of Act 1

Quickly put up a animatic to see how the film would run trough the first act, to get a visualisation



Tuesday 3 March 2015

Review of Script - subconscious influences

As nothing can be truly original, just has reference to other things.

Firstly this is straight up slap stick comedy, but not done in a cheesy or cringey way, it is good humor with it being almost in your face but enough that it's not overpowering and trying to hard to get a laugh from the audience.

Other influences are Archer (TV) however i'm not a major fan of Archer because of it's style but after just listening to the speech of each character I can see how my script is similar to the TV show with it's adult humor.

Second it the Adult Swim. A American show aired at late night, it's target audience is Adults and it's very interesting how they manage to get away with many comments, however it's funny and doesn't over step it's boundries.

Next one was Egoraptor, with his brutal humor of Awesome Series which I find hilarious, I believe this has the most influence as one part in my script goes "Whhhaaaaaaaaattt! who me na"  which is sarcasm but makes it awesome which is what he aims for.

    

Act 3 Scene reference

For the final act with the show down, I need to keep the action up but not lose the comedy of the script, therefore the first film which comes to mind is...

Hot Fuzz
In the final action sequence of Hot Fuzz, especially in the supermarket they were able to keep high levels of action up then add the one liners, or the puns into the action to break it down so the tension rose and lowered quickly and efficiently throughout the scene.  From this I think it would be best to change the script slightly with the script editor to make this happen and then actors to pull off this role well.
Another reason for choosing Hot Fuzz is that this film is really funny to me because the comedy is fast and entertaining, as for the opening section which makes no-nonsense as to why it's there it sets off the rest of the film in a classic way and prepares the audience for the rest of the film.
Simon Pegg's role as SGT Angel his timings and visual reactions to a lot of the odd things has a major effect upon the audience.  It's also fair to say that this film is homage to the police force and Simon Pegg's skill to keep a serious face throughout and make it believable film.
Finally the direction of Hot Fuzz wouldn't be possible with the director Edgar Wright.  His timing, energetic and dynamism really makes this film come to life in it's blitz of humour and action.  He also managed to coax the best out of his actors to amplify the brilliance of this film.


Second film which has similar comedy in the middle of battle is 21 jump street.
House party fight
In this it has the subtle tension building up and then the fight breaks out with the break of the character "Smit" hits back and breaks to say "That hurt more than, when he hit me"
Throughout the scene it keeps the action high and entertaining but has the break for the one liner.
Overall while the laughs work in the majority of cases, it is quite a rough story. This film has the story which feels like it was done in a few hours and pieced together at the end.  The best actor in this was Channing Tatum who I didn't know could act funny since I've only seen him in serious roles which shows how important choosing the right actor is for certain films.




Hopefully with a talk/discussion with my editor we can find a way to make this possible however it will also be on the actors to show the emotion.



Thursday 26 February 2015

Pre-production Scene reference Act 2

Act 2 is planned to be a montage of days passing and the main character Jake being lazy and its just meant to be a funny montage of time passing.

For this I thought it would be best to look at different funny scenes from films and shift it into the scene.  I intent to have 5 different shots
First to have him enter and just sit down
Second to have him gaming
Third have him react to a romantic film
Fourth where he reacts to the phone call

Sadly I can't find much to use as a reference here apart form looking at funny movies.

Pre-Production Scene references Interrorgation

At the start of the script it's in a interrogation room, I had a faint idea of what I would like this to look like as I have studied the camera angles on this scene.


I,Robot
Throughout this scene the camera tells you who is in power.  The set is very dull and the actors are highlighted therefore we keep focus on them.  From this I will need to implement this into my scene at the start.


Frozen Ground
Interrogation scene seems to use a 50mm lens to get a nice depth of field and focus pulling between the deceives and the suspect.  It uses a lot of cuts making the scene become tense.  I really like this scene however I believe it won't work as this is half way though the film making the action build and plot revealed to the audience.


Now you see me
Atlas Interrogation.
This happens at the start of the film, in this scene it focus on each of the main characters (Detective and Magician) then the focus stays fully on the magician until it cuts to a wide where action has peaked.  I think I will use something similar in my scene as I have the reveal of the Muffin Button where the other actor reacts to it and this could be a peaking moment in the scene?


From these Films with the interrogation scenes I have decided to use the beginnings of "I'Robot" with establishing shots which lead into action peaking of "Now you see me" into the cocky smug attitude from the main character!