Hope - Day 4

Due to a few communication errors, I had to rearrange the dates on the risk assessments so we are now doing the black room and hospital scenes today and the cellar and car crash tomorrow. I also put on a way too late unit call as I didn't realise we were putting down bin bags all over the floor to blacken it out. I also used a new piece of equipment called the quick release plate. It attatches to the tripod and can essentially take it of the tripod easily to shoot handheld then back on for tripod shots. It was great and I'm not sure where it's been all my life.

Photo Credit Janice Lee

For lighting, there are two LED lights on the left hand side and one overhead. Tillie comes out of the dark and into the light, and it's not too bright or too dark. The light of the TV also worked well. We started filming at about 5 and finished at 6:30. We decided to grab the hospital close ups too while we still have a hospital bed set upstairs which took a bit longer as we needed a few extra bits of equipment. Roughly finished at 8. We have left the studio as is for now if we need any pick up shots tomorrow, but we will need to dismantle it on Wednesday.

Hope Update

Production for Hope has slowed down more than I would have liked. Communication was very quiet and I was worried I would have to step up as main producer and finish the film (or join what we have together to make a coherent piece) after our production meeting on Friday. Even more worrying we haven't received a completed script so even if I were to take over, I had no idea what scenes there were and what they contained.

It would have been ideal to film over Easter like we did for Cirque last year but we couldn't. Would have been even better to film more before we broke up or get straight back into it after Easter and book equipment for when we get back. 

But we now have a plan of action and communication has fired back up. I have booked out the studio Monday 30th for the car crash* and hospital shots, and Tuesday 1st for the cellar scene reshoots and the dark room. Since it's unrealistic to get the whole film finished in time, the director has picked the most important scenes and ones that can make the film still work. I'm a bit upset that the workshop scene has been cut as I was really looking forward to lighting and storyboarding the set. Maybe, if we get ahead with scheduling, we could film it. But we should be focusing on the main scenes, prioritising, and giving the editor plenty of time if there is anything else we need.

There are also some concerns of the Wetherspoons scene. The establishing shot is quite wobbly. My bad, I was camera op here. We did to multiple tests to see which worked best and did multiple takes but it wasn't enough. The jib was too big and clunky to bring too. The actor also drinks the wine very slowly. There must be a way to edit around this if we can't get any reshoots. At the moment, we have to prioritise and get new things to make the current scenes we have flow and into one film and come back for reshoots later.

*note to self don't forget dropping the cigarette in slow mo here

Hope - Equipment Needs

Hope is a fairly safe production for camera equipment with more drastic equipment needed for set dressing (the black room, light prop, etc). A jib would have been ideal for the Wetherspoons opening shot but there just wasn't enough room. This was the opening and probably the most ambitious to get right.

The main equipment used was the Blackmagic Mini Ursas (for high quality footage), tripod, slider and the studio LEDs (sometimes the small ones for inside a car). We were more experimental with frame rates and sets than the equipment. We also had Hutch's lighting kit. We only used LED lights for the film as they are easier to control and give off a much more softer lighting. Sometimes we also don't have great electricity in locations like the soundstages and the cellar, so the portable studio ones would be ideal.

Last Updates

I feel like I have got to the point where I think my website and materials are perfectly balanced. Putting anything in at this time just throws it out of place and is erroneous. I would have liked to put testimonials in but I don't have any/haven't received any and would have to make a whole new page as I have just the right amount of content on each at the moment. I have added in more information about the cameras I have used as well as dates so people can see my most recent projects and projects that are coming up (so they know I am still active), and also changed one of the projects to include work experience I have had with Maxy Bianco as it sounds more professional. I have also included mentoring in my About Me as well as keeping up with professionalism in the future (people often ask in interviews where do you see yourself in the future).

Letterheads

I have made some letterheads to add to my self promotion documents. Letterheads are a lot more professional and clients can see contact details at a glance. These can be useful not just for sending letters, but for minute meetings, legal notices or just general communication (https://www.minutemanpress.co.za/news/uses-of-letterheads-8/). 

Screengrab of my current website for reference/synergy

Vistaprint has a default one that goes with my business card however I really don't like it. It's not obvious that I'm a cinematographer and it's very plain.

Contact details go at the bottom but have censored them for privacy

Next one I found was a bit too posh. Couldn't read the writing and the lens was a bit too colourful. My website it quire straightforward.

Next one matches the colour and shapes of my website a bit more but again, it's not obvious that I'm a cinematographer.

Last one was my original business card design. Even though this was a bit plain as a business card, it works well as a letterhead. It also matches my website; the shapes, the colour, and it's also obvious my work includes cameras.

Photoshop Practice

Enhancing some of my photoshop skills by fixing old photographs. Also did a leaflet design as a small job from my brother which I am quite proud of. I had to change the date on an existing poster with the same font and colours. Quite straightforwards, I used a website called Fontspring which came up with loads of similar fonts so I downloaded a few. Also used a simple colour picker. Came out with this.

Left is the original, right is mine

I also started experimenting with repairing and recolouring old photographs. I found one in an album which was discoloured from being in a frame and had a stripe of original colour on it. First, I had to repair the stripe so I used the 'stamp' tool and picked a colour and essentially coloured it in. 

After that, I used the Photoshop 'auto colour' tool which brought it back to its original colour. I tried to recolour black and white photos but this was very time consuming (the auto colour tool didn't work as there was no colour information whatsoever). I might come back to this later. But now at least I can say I can repair old and discoloured photos!

My friend sent me one of his very damaged pictures so I experimented on one and it turned out very well. I might start this up as a business on Fiverr.

Mostly just used the stamp tool for this one, I used content aware for some of the bigger bits. It was quite time consuming hence why I should start it as a business, so I can put more effort into it.

Press Pack

I had intended to do a press pack of all the work I have completed in Professional Practice as it's just nice to have and physically hand in. However, I did some research and found out that press packs are usually just for films (https://www.raindance.org/7-essentials-for-a-press-kit/). In some festivals like Sundance, it is a must to have a press pack when marketing a film as potential distributers can see what it is about at a glance. Even though it isn't really suitable for the FMP I am producing, I can suggest it to the producer of Cirque and possibly Hope when it is finished filming so we have an idea where to market.

Work Experience

Just a quick post to say to check out the 'Extra' tab/label to see experience I have either been a part of from CCAD or gathered on my own accord (http://sarahmaherfilmblog.blogspot.co.uk/search/label/extra), which all hit LO3 for Professional Practice. The most notable one for Professional Practice is the wedding photography job I got from my Facebook cinematography page. This was all independently sought, organised and a paid position, and it went quite well and the clients were very happy. It was also good to see if this was where I wanted to go with my career and is still an option. Even though I am cinematography based, occasional photography is still great and also something I'm hugely interested in. A few more notable experiences are being on ITV News, behind the scenes photographer in Onion Man (achieved with the help of Janice and letting me on set) and helping out in Echoes of Silence/some BTS. 

Cirque du Muerte from last year also received an RTS regional award which I have included in all my social media and paperwork (CV, etc). 

Sadly haven't heard anything back from Media City (yet!). I have also submitted into The Network in Edinburgh so hoping to hear from them when the deadline has passed.