Module Links

Dissertation: http://sarahmaherfilmblog.blogspot.co.uk/search/label/dissertation

Minor: http://sarahmaherfilmblog.blogspot.co.uk/search/label/level%206+minor%20

Professional Practice: https://sarahmaherfilmblog.blogspot.co.uk/search/label/level%206+professional%20practice

Final Major Project

My Name is John: http://sarahmaherfilmblog.blogspot.co.uk/search/label/level%206+my%20name%20is%20john

Hope: http://sarahmaherfilmblog.blogspot.co.uk/search/label/level%206+afterlife

DJW Talent LTD

Today me and Janice went down to Stockton to discuss possible opportunities with DJW Acting School. There were another two filmmakers there (and one that joined a bit later on) so I gave out business cards and networked. It wasn't quite clear what was being asked of us, and today was mostly speculating what could be done. There are two groups; a youth and adult, all of which have come up with pitches and performed pieces of them. Whether all of these can all be filmed or not is tricky, but I assume this exercise was just for us to see their acting ability. Dan (leader) was mostly after experience for everyone for in front of camera, especially for those going into contracts with CBBC with no camera experience under their belt. 

Janice came up with a good idea called Dear Brain which is essentially a ten second hot seat acting about anything they like, which could be like what they pitched. A day could be dedicated to this and a good way to start them off. I think everyone seemed to skim over this idea and wanted a mockumentary type film done. This is great but I'm not sure it would look very professional and showcase their talent. It was then discussed to have an in house production team, making regular films and maybe include some teaching like terms on set, etc. This would be very beneficial for everyone, but getting a hold of money for kit (they seem to want their own to keep) and to cover our time might be an issue (fundraising seemed to be their go to, but I'm not sure how much they could raise).

Dan sent out a long email the day after which really cleared everything up and was a lot more organised. It looks like Dan is leaning more towards an in house production team but is open from what happens after that and what to film. We need to come up with a cost for equipment, as well as wages for our time, so they know how much to fundraise. However it makes a bit of sense to see how much they can fundraise and we scavenge equipment from that. I'll still come up with a sum of the minimum we need. There is also a part of the email to come up with what to film, so it makes sense if Janice fills that part out and I do the sums of the equipment. I also need to see what wages the other filmmakers are going to put. I was thinking around £50 a day to cover expenses and our time. But if the other guys put £100 and they get it, I will be devastated! It's a good part time job but I would need another one to support me financially, especially if this is a once a week/irregular thing.

Newcastle Graduates

Today I went to the end of year show/performance of the Newcastle University screenwriting graduates. Their script were being performed by five actors and was great to watch. A lot of them were very serious but the two comedies stood out to me and were hilarious. I gave out a few business cards and asked a few to send me some scripts (excerpts were only acted out) so filming them could be an option. I also know someone who does regular shows for them and might be good if I can get professional pictures and videos done for her and others.

Massive big thank yous to everyone who took part and came along to the northern stage script readings on friday!! Im am so immensely proud of all pals and super glad that people enjoyed 'Gentlemen Creatures', my supernatural geordie werewolf adventure series!! 🐺🍺 Thank you everyone for your support, i am so greatful.

A post shared by Melody js (@melodygroovysproates) on May 28, 2018 at 4:41am PDT

AJ Productions

Took on a last minute camera operating job/experience yesterday for a Panto video. I arrived in plenty of good time so I could meet everyone and set up. However, on the morning I was told that they were bringing their own camera operator. So I was demoted to runner and general helping out. Set up all the lights and camera in good time for the tech/sound guy and camera guy to turn up. 

Lee quickly showed me the settings on these lights to keep it one colour

I'm still not entirely sure what each one does but I got a warm tinge on them to stay

The tech guy wanted to put up photography lights for close up lighting. I struggled here as I have never used or put up any photography lights before but he was happy to show me how and we got it done very quickly. It was a bit like putting up a tent.

Everyone started to filter in that point and it went quite smoothly; the script was just stolen Tim Vine jokes! From here I was mostly handing the camera operator lenses and showed him how to get different settings up. 

Probably the best photo of the day!

They also got a quick 'Q and A' video in the Celestial Encounters set. Norman walked in at this point who was very keen and wanted pictures of them using the set (hope he doesn't mind they drank the fake rum!)

I was mostly eating biscuits at this point and being canned laughter. Next the cast did a photoshoot and the crew went home. I started moving equipment and backing up footage so they could grab it next time they're down (they didn't have anything to store it on!) 

Overall, a good shoot. Was done in good time and quite well organised! I also gave out a few business cards if they ever wanted me again for any projects!

Further Showreel Updates

I've marked this one separate to the others as this was done after Professional Practice hand in. I haven't put this on my website yet either for the same reason. This is more of an edited showreel for Degree Show as I thought I better include Hope footage. I also quickly colour corrected the eye shot as it was raw footage not used in the final cut, but I really liked the shot.

Final Thoughts

My Name is John is done! I'm happy with how it looks, there is some discussion about blurring a few faces in the self help group which could be tried out before Vue and might solve the issue we had with extras (and we had to grab students!). 

There's some discussion about making the entirety of Hope for the Vue show and festivals, however I'm not sure how available I will be with Castle Pin coming up. I would love to help out where I can though! I think at least we need to make the scenes link up a bit better, and try and make better transitions especially between the bedroom and animation scenes. Hopefully we will be able to get back in contact with Armarni too with material we could display for our Degree Show. 

MNIJ - Marketing and Festivals

For marketing My Name is John, I'm creating a Facebook page. John Archer is quite famous so will acquire quite a few likes. I'm also a member of a few fanpages I can post the page on. I'm also savvy in Twitter and Instagram so will probably make accounts on these too. Obviously the film is already made, but I could still make a fund raising page for festivals and post updates from them.

I have got the script and the film lined up to submit into festivals and made a quick list on FilmFreeway of ones that have drawn my attention (9 on the list at the moment and script submitted to 1 festival (East Anglican Film Festival)). I have mostly been looking at comedy and student film festivals. These ones looked particularly interesting;

The Charlie Chaplin Comedy Film Festival (https://filmfreeway.com/TheCharlieChaplinComedyFilmFestival)

Submissions: June 1st [free]
Location: Ireland
Specifications: Up to 30 minutes. Two categories we are eligible for.
Awards: Award for each of the 4 categories
Festival Date: August 23rd-26th

London-Worldwide Comedy Short Film Festival (https://filmfreeway.com/WorldwideComedyShortFilmFestival-London)

Submissions: May 21st ($8 Student or UK Comedy Award)
Location: London
Specifications: 2-10 minutes
Awards: Awards for 14 categories 
Festival Date: September 21st

MNIJ - Rights Approval and Ethics

When writing the script for My Name is John we had a few ethical problems from the start as the mocumentary genre can be seen as derisive and making a film about self help groups can be a bit tricky. When I got the first draft back, it was a bit darker than I would have liked and was very problematic. There was also a few ideas of having innuendos. I intended it to be a funny and light hearted comedy for all ages and festivals (plus John would not be up for that!), so with permission, I tweaked it a bit and inserted more subtle jokes and received more positive feedback. John also really liked the script from what I've heard which is awesome and it's fantastic he was so on board and willing. 

While writing the script, I used the name Julie as it's the name of John's wife and intended the part to be for her. However she wasn't up for it so I asked John if I should change it but he was okay with keeping it in.

For editing, sound and music are always a concern for copyright. We used royalty free music twice and double checked all the legal bits. We didn't use any sound effects so that was one less thing to worry about. 

Hope - Marketing and Festivals

For marketing Hope, I predict we will be making a Facebook page like Cirque last year (plus Twitter and Instagram), which I need to talk to the director and main producer about. There were talks about making a comic book with Armarni's drawings and storyboards but not a lot of news on this lately which is a shame.

Even though I'm not managing the FilmFreeway page for Hope, I'm sending the director links to festivals that look interesting and could be entered for. Here are two I've pointed out (I've seen and sent about 4);

The Final Girls present We Are the Weirdos (https://filmfreeway.com/TheFinalGirls)

Submissions: June 30th [free]
Location: ??? UK somewhere
Specifications: Must be directed by female identifying filmmaker. Shorts up to 25 minutes. 
Awards: ???
Festival Date: October 25th-November 4th

Screentest: The National Student Film Festival (https://filmfreeway.com/Screentest)

Submissions: August 31st [free]
Location: London
Specifications: Made by students, max 20 minutes
Awards: Trophy. 1 general entry.
Festival Date: October 19th-21st

Hope - Rights Approval and Ethics

This post will cover any rights approval or ethics I can see in the film even though I'm only the DOP and co-producer. The script involves a car crash and some possible upsetting scenes (with a few swear words). The scene of the swear words is just voice over and if necessary we have a clean version of the ADR. Apart from that I don't see any huge issues with the film and give it a 12 rating which should be appropriate for festivals and is no worse than Cirque last year.

Hope also has a lot of scenes paying homage, rather than 'plagerising', to other shows or films, such as the void scene with Stranger Things and Poltergeist. However, this is an original story with our own shots and ideas put into it (as discussed in another blog post). 

There are a few found effects in the film (plus one song we have clearance for as we used it in Cirque) which have been double checked to make sure we can use them and are royalty free.

Hope - Poster

My main poster submission is for My Name is John as I have no solid ideas for Hope. It would be cool to have a poster a bit like Crimson Peak so I had a bit of an experiment today on Photoshop and well... it doesn't look great!

http://www.thecapistranodispatch.com/at-the-movies-crimson-peak-is-horror-able/

At least I tried

So then I had an idea. The film is heavily based on Poltergeist and the TV scene so why not just copy the poster? 

http://smokinggunpr.co.uk/2015/11/great-design-examples-13-terrifyingly-good-horror-movie-posters/

I identified the fonts used using whatfontis.com. I had a bit of trouble outlining the film title font, so I followed the instructions on this website, which involved highlighting the text, making a new layer and then doing the stroke for it (as for some reason it doesn't work directly on the text). 

I'm too late to hand this in for Professional Practice, but my main submission is the My Name is John poster, plus I'm pretty sure FMP only requires a poster handin.

Hope - Colour Grade Designs

Between me, the director and the colourist, we have already discussed the main colours of the film with various mood boards which are blues and purples. We also have a few shots that need colour grading from day to night. I work well with the colourist/editor suggesting what works well and ideas for the film, when the 180 degree rule was broken and we were both on the same page.

The Wetherspoons scene is quite warm in colours, mostly reds from the Mother's clothing. The black room blues from the static. The cellar purple. The car crash quite dark, not a whole lot of colours apart from street lighting and emergency lights (blues of these to be boosted in post), and hospital scenes will be clean looking with the red of the blood and bruises on Hope standing out. 

Hope - Day 7

Today is our last scheduled shoot for Hope and it's the big car crash scene. We have the studio, car and equipment booked and are also doing some hospital ADR beforehand. We had the Mother, Father, a Doctor and two nurses (exclusive cameo from me). Most of it was improv so there was plenty to edit with to fill out the scene. It went very smoothly and we now have two great actors under our belts for future productions (Martin the Dad and Ethan the Doctor). 

We waited quite a while after that for the car to arrive. But when our last actor arrived, there was no sign, so we had to improvise. So we got another car. It's slightly different to the one in the Wetherspoons scene but we might just get away with it as the only shot of it that's used is in a puddle and most of it is obscured. Needs must. This was an essential scene to get for hand in or the film just wouldn't make sense. First, we got a shot of the Mother smoking in the car outside (it was raining so we had to keep wiping it!) and got it dropping on the floor. This was all done in slow mo and looked great. This went quite smoothly once we knew roughly where the cigarette was going to fall (we were worried the wind would blow it away but we were safe).

Then we moved the car inside the studio to do the driving at night. I preferred this a lot more than filming inside a moving car so we got Hope's close ups again as they were quite wobbly last time. The only huge problem was lighting. We had a lot of studio lights on and took us a while to get a balance and not light up the black studio screen behind. We were debating whether to use green screen but opted out because in the other car shots, it was mostly black outside and having green screen in might throw the whole film off. We also had one studio LED on a stand high up for extra lighting for outside shots like the door handle and Hope getting inside. For the travelling shots, we had two small LED lights. One to light the scene and one moving one to act like moving street lights. This was really effective in the end and a great arm workout.

For the emergency lights, we ran into a lot of bother. For the tests, we used red heads and waved gels in front of it. But we didn't have them on set, plus there was not a lot of room and would have been way too powerful. So we put gels on the small LED lights. The red one worked fine but the blue one was very weak. I suggested doubling it up which worked a bit better but still quite weak compared to the red one but better than it was. Hopefully it can be boosted in post.

The shoot finished a bit over schedule, but it's done! I can't wait to see the slow motion back, I wish I got some of the Mother in the crash in slow motion too but we didn't have a whole lot of time. But what we did get and had a quick look at looked fantastic.

Hope - Final Format Development

A lot of creative choices for the final export are required for any project like frame rates and aspect ratios. It's mostly a camera, editor and directive decision so we all worked and communicated together to find what is best for the project.

The camera settings are the easy bit as they are what I'm overseeing. The main camera frame rate and timeline settings are 24fps and in 2k Pro Res HQ (with a few exceptions of slow motion clips which are in 90fps). Export should be as close to these as possible. The director decided against black bars. Aspect ratio will be the default 1.78:1 as it's the most commonly used. 

MNIJ - Edit Supervision

My Name is John has been in post production for a while now. We finished filming late January/early February and it's been lying around since which is a shame; one of the reasons we filmed early was to get it all done and edited and not to worry about it since. At the moment, there are a few fine tweaks to do before deadline (I am panicking a bit as this could have been sorted weeks ago).

Anyways, this post is covering edit decisions and working with the editor. Most of the script is quite self explanatory but I brief the editor as much as I can. They let me watch something when they want opinions and we discuss. Sometimes online or in production meetings, I jot down good points and send them in the group chat for the editor to have an experiment with. It's coming along so far and they understand the feel of the film well such as choosing music that fits. There are a few things at the moment that are essential but small before exporting; adding an ouch when the ball falls on the interviewers foot, apostrophes in the name tags and the cast/crew credits. 

Update 11.05.18: Officially exported and done! Got a small inhale when the ball hits the interviewers foot and it makes the world a difference so I'm glad I kept pestering for it. 

Hope - Day 6

Tonight we filmed Hope coming out the house and driving around in the car. We didn't do any of the car exterior shots due to continuity (we can do these on Day 7*). The first bit went well, but we were a bit behind schedule (we finished roughly at 11pm, estimated wrap was 10). We also got a helping hand to hold the LED lights as a street light. 

The nect shots were of Hope in the car and general street lighting. I get travel sick quite easily so this shoot was a challenge, I had to put the camera down a few times as looking through a viewfinder does not help! I think I did well considering and got some pretty looking shots. We managed to catch a police car and ambulance too which could be used.

* Don't forget the slow mo cigarette and Hope getting into the car

Castle Pin

Managed to secure a paid job for a promotional video for a company called Castle Pin. Basically they set up QR codes in buildings to see when things were last monitored and when they are due for an update, particularly useful for fire doors. 

This originally started out as taking a few pictures for the website but I suggested a promotional video to further explain what they do and have a broader reach. The company is quite independent at the moment with only a few clients, but hopefully with better marketing, it will kick off the ground. 

Had to reschedule the shoot for another week (which is typically the week of Degree Show! Managed to get Vue and the Opening Night free but can't attent my rotors sadly!)

DERIGGED!

The Dark Room is officially derigged (RIP). There's a few bits of sellotape on the floor still as they're being a bit stubborn but we are coming back tomorrow to get the last of it up with those scraper things you get.

Hope - Day 5

Today we planned to do the car shots and a few dark room and cellar pick ups. However we didn't have any word from the person we need the car from and also the second camera, so we decided to cancel (and hopefully rearrange for another day, we are working on it and actor availability UPDATE rescheduled for Tuesday 8th). This will also give us more time to plan exactly what we need. 

Instead, we focused on more pick up shots as the editor had trouble cutting into action, so we got a few pick ups of Hope walking into scene. Also a few new actions as it's scripted that Hope flinches with the defibrillator in real life.

The XCU of the eye from yesterday was not quite close enough, so we used the 100mm macro lens from photography to get it even closer and it looks fantastic. 

We had some behind the scenes footage from Ethan today too. I quickly took the best of and uploaded it to YouTube but I will be editing it properly and to music later.

MNIJ - Wetherspoons Pick Up Shots

Went to get a few more pick up shots today for the Wetherspoons scene following advice from the panel we had in, and to make the scene a bit quicker. We took about 6 different shots so there's plenty to work with including a pint being pulled, bottles and various pictures. I looked up copyright for bottle labels and it looks very complected so we turned them around and made sure the beer taps were out of focus.