I spent my saturday revising the shot footage from friday.
I sat with several cups of tea, the script, the storyboard, highlighters, a biro, and the enthusiasm to figure out how to make the best from what we have captured.
I'm still not going to give away the story, but I'll keep updating the events as they happen :)
Oh no, day six means it's in the ending part of the course.
Today was the main shooting day, VERY EXCITING!
I can post a few low res snaps from my phone, but the high quality ones I took will be on the extras to the DVD :)
Also- my storyboard went down a treat and was very useful - as it should be.
Figure 01. Setting up the opening shot.
Figure 02. This is blurred as it's a photo of the camera screen I took some high quality shots on, the real one isn't blurred but I though this still looked nice.
Figure 03. Of a take
Figure 04. Rehearsal for a take.
Now, I shall Edit the footage we have and mark down exactly the other shots to get tuesday :)
Today was a day of technical difficulties and keeping momentum.
By this time, most of us have hardly had any sleep. Although this is something we all feel, everyone was determined to keep the smiles and productivity of the day. It was also one of those - computer difficulties days. Thinking I could sit in the mac suite to continue storyboarding - don't be silly, today it's a morgue. So with my tutor, we grabbed some equipment and moved to another learning room. After setting up, that became another shooting room due to they're cancellations. So to the Bar where there's a plug socket, after almost falling off the stool and getting funny looks from the bar staff, I decided this wasn't the best place. Packed up for lunch and had a nice relaxing lunch break with fellow CGAA Lyn-Dae who kindly brought me a 'Pink-Berry' frozen yogurt to try (If I got it wrong leave a comment and I can change it :) )
Ok, the next Mac move was to the Blue Room where we are shooting the majority of the film. Shuffling around the room to a plug socket that wasn't blocked by the skirting board I settled down to 'Do my Thing' - only to find there was a strage glitch with the Photoshop software. Anyway, not to worry - that's just how things go.
Now to some photographs.
Figure 01.
Figure 02. Furniture choreography contemplation.
Figure 03. Testing the ceiling lights, to see what other lights need setting up.
Figure 04. Script reading session.
Figure 05. Going through the script for shots in the storyboard.
Figure 06. Who installs the Ultimatum Red and Green buttons in a film institute??
It had to be done.....
Figure 07. Nuru Pressed RED
As he pressed the red button an alarm outside the door went off - this was a funny moment, I was ready to say I'd accidentally leant on it. We were actually hoping it was the light switches to turn the overhead lights off so we could get some Camera test shots. I went to investigate the alarm. How coincidental that the moment he pressed the button somebody was walking out of the BFI shop with a tag still attached to an item and set the security alarm off. A very funny moment, and the buttons didn't seem to do anything anyway.
We now have a finalised script, and I'm just finishing up the storyboard.
I'm not sure I should post them up yet though. I don't want to give away our story for the film.
What do you think?
Today's events were mainly a lot more discussion of the script, and coming to more of a finalised version. My role was to start storyboarding from the discussion.
Here are some photos from my sketchbook, these I will work from to create a professional storyboard for the film.
Figure 01.
Figure 02.
Figure 03.
Figure 04.
Figure 05.
Also, we were looking into spaces in the BFI building that would suit the shots we plan to get. I absolutely loved this room.
Figure 06.
The crew and actor Danny thinking how this space could be used.
Wow, Today was crammed full of information and fun.
To begin the day, we had a lesson in the value of sound editing. Thanks to Marc Price voicing (in person) some sound effects to a silent fighting clip, followed by the same clip with the terrible sound quality from the camera, then with whooping and meat hitting sound effects which made it transform.
Figure. 01
Next we were shown the types of camera support gear that will be available to us, here is a picture of one of the shoulder supports which help give the camera a larger area resulting in less shake.
Figure 02.
One particular piece of equipment got everybody excited, was the camera Jib Crane.
This was because the tutors had made it for only £40 using an online tutorial, and it worked great!
Figure 03.
Figure 04.
Also the basics of lighting, the different types of light and how to manipulate the softness and colour according to what you need.
Figure 05.
With all this information, we were then treated to a special guest tutor.
Rob is a young, award winning Director and Cinematographer, and he will be around for this week to help us out with our films.
He showed some of his work and sat with us for a question and answer session.
Very inspiring.
Figure 07.
In 2011 he won the under 21's category for the competition to make a short film in 48hours.
As a tribute to these 48 hours our tutors split us all into groups, handed each group and small, cheap, portable video recorder and told us we have 48minutes to make a short film.
We had no time for editing so what we filmed had to be what we showed on the big screen.
Here is how our's turned out - have a laugh
After our films, we re-split into our final groups, which will be the groups for the remainder of the course, to make our short films in. Followed by a brainstorming session of more ideas to write and storyboard tomorrow.
Also - we have been granted access to film in a warehouse near tower bridge for our friday session of shooting, as well as thursdays session of footage in and around the BFI / Southbank area.
Known for winning a £1 million film deal at the age of 21
After the introduction, some clips from films were shown to give examples of SUSPENSE, for example a segment from JAWS, where they go looking for the shark at night and come across a known fisherman's abandoned boat. Although this course is titled Thrillers, it's mainly about creating suspense, and the films we produce will contain plenty of it.
The next things we were introduced to were the cameras. Canon D5s and D7s. And all the shiny gadgets that go along with it. I'll elaborate more about that in my next post.
After lunch we had a brilliant chance to watch some clips from two mexican directors who were attending the Mexfestfilm festival here in london, and a question and answer session between clips.
Start your summer with a crash course in DIY filmmaking at BFI Southbank in London.
Inspired by the BFI’s Hitchcock season, BFI Future Film is bringing you another chance to make amazing short films at their DIY Film Fortnight – and this year they’re making thrillers. This practical fortnight includes masterclasses and workshops to help you understand and create short thriller films on a micro-budget. They’ll cover everything from planning and production to editing and SFX. At the end of the course the final films will be shown on the big screen in front of industry professionals and invited guests.
From the 17th - 31st August I will be attending this event. This is all the information I can find about it and none of the BFI staff know any more than this. With the suspense of not knowing what to expect I'm very excited to be able to take part and shall blog the days events as they take place.
