Circus - Street Shoot #2 and Circus

Today we planned to do some of the circus (sadly without the clown as we have had to recast). We also had to redo the tracking dolly street shot again as looking back at it yesterday, it was a bit of a mess. 

Weeeeeeee

Thanks to Beth for this video!

We did a few takes (close up and wide) but if I got it so all three of the actors were in, we could see the classroom no matter what. So we fixed this by finding a curtain and putting boxes on the floor. 

Our producer sticking up the curtain

11 takes later, we moved on to the circus shots. There was a huge white block in the middle of it, but it could be moved (luckily! They also refrained from putting music on for us for sound). We did the Zoltar scene first and the director came up with a new trippy angle involving the crystal ball on the right side of the frame (to dirty the shot) and using the slider to get a close up of Lacee. We had to put the crystal ball on top of some ladders, on top of some duct tape, on top of a container (sadly no pictures of this!) and the shot itself looks pretty impressive. 

The director directing Lacee

Moving onto the next scene, where the Dad gives Sophie money for sweets and the rides. This took some time as batteries were running out. And we needed to buy strawberry laces. 

Tillie helping me dirty up the pick and mix cup so it fits with the aesthetic

Actors also needed to hit marks spot on otherwise they went out of frame. It took a few takes, but we got it. We also did each scene with various angles, close ups and cutaways. We also did a demon eye cutaway for the editor to play around with.

Overall, a good days shoot! Can't wait to look back at the edited footage. 

*update* Turns out some of the close ups for the street scene have a tiny soft focus. It was hard to focus as they were moving around a lot, ideally I would have a focus puller, as I could not tell and I was busy tracking the actors.

Circus - Street Shoot

Today we filmed some of the street scenes (apart from the Clown since we can't get hold of the actor, so we may have to recast and do the trombone shot again (noooooooooo)). One of the actors turned up a few hours late and another one had to be done by 1:30 so this wasn't the best of starts, but we got everything set up and we were finished on time for the actor to leave.

We were going to do the jib shot with the actors walking in, however, the focus is completely out for the actors and I can't change it as it's too high and I will be operating the jib. So we decided to do this last and without the actors.

Credit to Janice for the picture

We did the dolly shots and also a few close ups so there's variation to cut between. I'm slightly worried that the dolly has some of the classroom next door into it and also the framing might be a little off, but I can't tell until we watch it back. *small update- yep this did happen, but the wider angle looked better than it zoomed in as I got everyone in... even if I did get some of the classroom in. If the Dad moves slightly to his right, it may cover it. We will probably have time to reshoot tomorrow, and hopefully with better sound*

Sound was also a huge issue. We asked if they could keep quiet for a minute when we call "silence on set", but they didn't and drills and all sorts kept going off. Dubbing maybe a good option here. 

We only got one production still today sadly (we had our hands a bit full).

Gerry and The Cancelled Street Scene

Just realised the title of this post sounds like a Harry Potter movie title.

Anyways, we filmed Tag on the morning, which went well even though we had a bit of a late start. Nothing much really to report apart from the interrogation scene is DONE!!!!!!!

I helped the director put gels on our cardboard cut out of the goblin (now baptised as Gerry the Generic Goblin), so it would look awesome as a silhouette and with a light shining through it.

We got the equipment for filming on the night out in plenty of time in advance as we got pretty such all of stores out. It's a good thing we did too as there was a screw missing from the jib. After everything was set up, me, and both the sound op and boom op waited at Production Design for a bit them realised that the actors were being a while. We headed back over and realised we were missing the actor who plays the girlfriend. We waited an hour after call time to see if she would turn up or contact us. She didn't, so we had to call it off, and possibly recast.

Here's proof of all the equipment being up 

Circus - Car Scene

Today we filmed the car scene. It was all going really well, all the actors arrived and we had all the equipment out. And then it started torrential raining. We persevered and still filmed (as much inside the car as possible, and covered the equipment where it was possible). We did originally want to use red heads as streetlights but could no longer do this today due to the rain. 

We also couldn't do production logs or production stills due to to the weather and lack of bodies willing to go out in the rain (which is understandable). We just wanted it all done quickly and well, and get warm! We made sure the actors were also warm.

We were done fairly quickly since we have done so many test shoots of the car scene before, so we knew what we wanted and could be done really fast. We looked at the footage back on Friday and most of it looks great in my opinion (the slider shot was very dark though). The lecturer wasn't very happy with the lighting and the windows of the buildings outside (and also the make up), and now that the actress hasn't turned up to the next day's shoot, and has gone incommunicado, we may have to recast. 

I will update this post with screenshots of the clips, or maybe the edited scene, even though it maybe irrelevant. 

Tag - Grand Hotel Test Shoot

The Grand Hotel finally got back to me so we went to film a bit of test footage on Tuesday. I was also an actor with the editor for this project (just to use as composition for the test footage). It went well, but we were a bit short for time. Even though they eventually got back to me, it would still be good to get a back up as it take 3 cancelled shoots to finally film today. 

Here's the edited footage.

Clown Trombone Shoot

Today we got just the actor playing the clown in for just the trombone shot, as it took us a whole day to do it last time. We set up in the morning and got the actor in on the afternoon. We picked up the costume from Fashion and got him straight into make-up. We had Zoe and Danny from Production Design (my housemates too) to do his make up. The director contacted them in advance with what she wanted and they did a few tests until she was happy with the result. It took about an hour to get the actor into make up and costume which is good to consider for the other shoots. 

We got the trombone shot in the very first take, which looked the best compared to the other takes. It looks very scary and the effect works! 



(not sure what the bump at the end is! Might be me hitting the clamp on the track)

We also did a few close up shots for the editor to experiment with. I think the director might scrap the eye effect as it may cheapen the film, and the lighting I used is a bit too dark. I decided to go for a noir kind of effect with one side of the clown's face in shadow as it gives that bit of darkness to him. 

The Pay Gap

The pay gap between men and women in the workplace is acknowledged and beyond debate. In many western countries, men are paid an average of 20% more than their female colleagues. Globally the figure grows to around 30%. However, you can negotiate pay going freelance. The article gives stories about this. http://www.theknowledgeonline.com/the-knowledge-bulletin/post/2015/10/07/tackling-the-film-industrys-gender-pay-gap

According to US labour department data, women in the arts, entertainment, sports and media industries earned 85% of male counterparts’ pay last year. For women working full time in all sectors, the figure was 82.5%. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/dec/29/hollywood-equal-pay-women-change-yet-to-come

In 2015, female full-time, year-round workers made only 80 cents for every dollar earned by men, a gender wage gap of 20 percent. According to our research, if change continues at the same slow pace as it has done for the past fifty years, it will take 44 years—or until 2059—for women to finally reach pay parity. https://iwpr.org/issue/employment-education-economic-change/pay-equity-discrimination/

Alice

Today (yep busy day today!) I also helped out with Alice doing a bit of acting and taking some stills on my camera. It all looked very stylish and lighting was top notch. I regret wearing high heels though as my feet were aching after about 40 takes. Me and Jack were great background artists! We have found our calling.

Puppet Filming!

Also today, we had two people and eight puppets from Prague Marionettes pop by to help us get some pretty cutaway shots for the Circus film. It all ran very smoothly, filming four of the puppets in different backdrops and scenarios. The director knew exactly what she wanted, and I helped camera wise for what looked the best, e.g. black trousers instead of colourful clown ones as it detracted from the puppets on camera. I ended up just using the slider on the floor so I could get down with the puppets and the tripod didn't go down very far. It was hard to control on the cobbles but I like to think I did well considering. For the shot with the two puppets, I decided to just do it stationary as the slider was too bumpy and it was hard not to get any legs in while sliding. The director was fine with it, and thinks it looks just as good.


Overall today was a very good shoot and was lots of fun to film. Looking back at the footage we have some really nice shots. I kind have wished we got more, but we ran out of backdrops (we had to use ones that the actors wouldn't use for continuity; we could only get the puppets this week).

We also got a very sweet message from the Prague Marionettes saying how much they enjoyed themselves. And the film now have a Facebook page!

Elwick Recce

Today we went to Elwick to look for nice exterior shots for Oren's hometown. We also need some sort of a bridge. We just so happened to stumble upon one, but it is quite small and you may as well just step over the river, a bit of a useless bridge, but hey, at least we have a possible location now. Not quite sure who I contact to get permission to film, maybe the council, so I will look into that. The director seems happy with the location, but we are going to Osmotherly on Thursday to see which is better.




We were also supposed to do test footage in The Grand Hotel but they didn't get back to me about shooting. I was going to go over today but a few of the people can no longer make it due to other film commitments. I have suggested using The Studio as a backup if they are still none responsive.

The Last Ones - Quick Update

Just an update, I auditioned for The Last Ones as I know how hard getting an actor can be and they were really struggling to fill roles (plus I can scream really well). I was not expecting to get a role but I did! I have made sure it won't clash with any of our filming as luckily Circus is night shoots and I only have a few lines/few days filming. I will also be bringing my camera for production stills and to post on the course Instagram. It's also a bit of experience for me to see how Final Majors are produced, giving me a heads up for next year. We are filming on the 15th for my flashback scene and also another day for the support group and toilet scene. I am also being supplied a costume due to a lot of fake blood on set! Fun times! 

Glidecam Test and Trombone Shot #2

We have been putting off doing another trombone shoot after how much of a pain it was last time, but we decided to bite the bullet and do it today, and also test out the glidecam for a few test shots ducking in between the crowd in the Circus. 

We started with the glidecam. I had a vague idea how to set it up watching a few tutorials the night before (this one was particularly useful) and also watching Ethan test it from Allurement last year. We attatched the harness no problem, balancing it however was a lot more difficult. We thought we had it sussed, moving the adjustable plates underneath the camera (left and right, and back and forward), but it kept swaying and spinning around on its own (even when I walked carefully and straight). So we went to find the lecturer and balanced it on a tripod and also handheld/not on the harness. We were going wrong with the weights and we needed it to be a lot lighter. We also need to do a drop test (lie the camera horizontally and see how long it takes to drop down) which should take 2-3 seconds to fall. You can also move where the weights on the bottom are to add to the drop test.

It was very time consuming, and still didn't 'glide', but the director liked it bobbing up and down to create uneasiness. We will have to decide whether it was worth all the time to set up, or use the spider rig or a tripod with wheels attatched instead. 

Special thanks to Drew, Mikey and Chloe for helping out as a crowd for this bit.

After lunch, we tacked the trombone shot again. We figured out that last time it wasn't as dramatic as we hoped because the clown was stood too close to the background. So we had Chloe step in and come a bit closer to the camera to test out whether we figured correctly. We did it from a few different distances to see which worked best. The first one where Chloe was stood a bit further from the wall we could see an instant difference. We then decided to bring her a bit closer, to where the track ended, and this one worked the best! We also tried even closer, but it was a bit too much. I also had to push the dolly, zoom and also tilt up to get all of Chloe in at the same time. I managed, but the shot just wasn't as good as the previous one.

Special shout out to Chloe for helping us out in this bit!

Jib Test #2

Today we had another test of the jib in the street, and also a bit later in the circus with wheels on (Lee and I both had a few concerns, which I will talk about more in this post). 

The jib test for the street went really well, and we have a lovely shot. We also used the lighting set up/already built for the street. The director originally wanted to use the bird in the lamp post as a framing device. We still included it, but couldn't get the jib at the right angle for the originally planned shot. So we started it on some textured wall, track to see a sign of a shop, reach the bird on the lamppost, track down the lamp post (this was to avoid the wooden canvas in the background, which we later fixed by shining a red head through it so the painting on it would shine through. It looks fab!), and keep going down until we see the people entering the circus. We did a few other variations too starting from the sign of the pub, but this one was our favourites. We also got Chloe to light up the bird on the lamp post with an LED lamp (on 5500k to match the other lights).

We then moved the jib into the circus to try out the shot again. The director wanted to try putting it on wheels so we could move back away from the wall we had to track up last time. This turned out as a huge fail, as we just didn't have the room, and was really awkward to wheel back. 

Blurry pic but you get the idea!

Special shout out to Yiannis and Chloe for helping us out on this test shoot!

Arts and Crafts - Silhouettes

I helped the director out with making a cage for more silhouettes. We spent Monday making it and figuring out how to get the werewolf in it to escape and break the bars. We used split pins to bend the bars an figured out to put some holes in so they also stretched to do this.

We did a few tests with it on the Tuesday to see what it looked like and tried it with different gels. We like the green which we can use for the goblin we are getting commissioned by an illustration student. Overall it looks pretty good! The bars are a bit scraggly but it adds to the effect. However we may need to make it taller to cover up the curtain and look good amongst the other circus set.

The Grand Hotel - Recce

I sent an email to The Grand Hotel on Friday to see if we could do some tests on Tuesday. Having received no reply, we popped by on Monday for a recce and to confirm if Tuesday was still okay. I looked very professional with felt tip all over my hands from doing arts and crafts before for Circus.

We had a look around the Ballroom and there are huge windows on the ground floor but not a very nice view of a car park. We noticed a few more prettier ones on the top floor, so we asked nicely if we could have a look. We did, and it looks fab! There's also plug sockets nearby that we can use for red heads. 

 

We asked if Tuesday (the original plan) was still okay to do test footage, and they said it was fine. I booked out all the equipment but couldn't turn up due to me being camera op for Circus and doing tests that day. I heard that the ballroom was being used when they turned up and gave them an email to ask about dates. At the moment, next Tuesday and Wednesday are free, but can change up to a day before, so I am emailing again next Monday.

Sexism in the Industry

"And the guy was pretty drunk, and he ripped some of my clothes trying to take them off me, and when I got up and started screaming he said, 'Did you want to make this music video or not?'" - Penelope Spheeris (director)

https://www.dpreview.com/forums/thread/3935911?page=2

"The worst was when my agent sent another woman director in for an interview, and afterwards the guy called up and said, 'Never send anyone again who I wouldn't want to fuck.'" - Martha Coolidge (director and first woman president of the Directors Guild of America)

Average Salaries of Crew Members

This took me a while to figure out (so please appreciate this and cite me if you wanna use it, copyright and all that jazz); with so much information out there, it was hard to calculate an average. This research is to compare with what we should get paid at University (just a bit more research into producing), and also for my Level 5 Professional Studies report. I have mostly used information for the United Kingdom (there is a huge difference in pay in different countries).

Director; median salary is about £53,000 a year with an hourly wage of £25

Producer; median salary is about £57,000 a year, with an hourly wage of £27

DOP; median salary is about £48,000 with an hourly wage of £18

Sound; median salary is about £34,000 with an hourly wage of £16

Editor; median salary is about £33,000 a year with an hourly wage of £15

On average, a film crew is paid £7 an hour.

A lot of different factors can determine the average, such as location, age, bonus' and even gender. 

Sources

https://www.nyfa.edu/student-resources/jobs-film-average-salary-career-paths/
http://work.chron.com/salaries-film-tv-crews-29603.html
http://www.payscale.com/
https://www.indeed.com/salaries/Film-Crew-Salaries

Quick Progress Report

Nothing amazingly new on the Tag front. I have sent the director a shortened script and auditions but received nothing back. We really need this casting, so I have suggested making the cast a bit younger. Again, nothing back. I have also contacted The Grand Hotel hoping to film and get some test footage there on Tuesday. I am working on risk assessments and booking forms too but I do not know what they need (lack of communication is a huge issue here). Just doing this blog post as I haven't included much information on Producing for this module. I have mostly been posting forms to the VLE. 

Spotlight Test

Today me and the director booked the studio for a few hours to see if we could make a spotlight that we could use for the big show at the end of the film. We used the lighting on the ceiling in the studio first, which is how a level 4 did something similar. However, it didn't quite have the results we wanted with no defined circle. Apparently there used to be some steel covers to put on them to stream the light into a circle but they have gone walkabouts. 

The lecturer however said they had some spotlights (two, but one was broken). We plugged it in from the bottom sockets and put it on a lighting stand, and definitely has the results we wanted. However, we need a bit more height on it. We were advised not to put it on the ceiling today, but for the actual shoot, we would need to. I will ask the lecturer if this is doable.

Jib Test

Today we went over to Production Design to try out a jib shot the director had in mind. It took a while to set up the jib (+2 extra people), but we got there eventually. The level 4's also filmed us fail so that was fun. 

We did a few shots with the jib and it looks good! We have a bit of practice/blocking now for the actual shoot. We would also need to be there well in advance to set everything up.

We also tried a similar shot with the slider and tripod (like in this video, which I talk about in this blog post). It was a lot less smooth, as the director wanted it going up and down as well as sliding in and out. We did a few tests, but I had to step in saying it didn't work and looked bad. The jib was by far the success of the day.