Filming Memory.

I got to film today!
After being unable to film last week I was very happy to film today. I had the entire T.V. studio to myself and  a camera. But what I really needed was a sense of direction. I had the looks the words but I had no idea on what shots to do.
I will never try and shoot with out a shot list. I feel really stupid for trying to just 'wing it'. I did try a few of those I showed in my last post. But I forgot a bit.
For example two of the characters that are stood next to each other talking directly to each other.

Righteousness

How is this so difficult?

Intelligence

Because what we do here will change us forever. We don’t want to it mess up.

Righteousness

Mess up! Look at her.
Those are the lines I'm currently referring to.
We filmed Righteous read his two lines, with enough of a pause for Intel to speak in-between. But what I didn't do is film Intel listening to Right. All I filmed today was people speaking. I should have filmed people listening too. So I might have to do some more filming, but I wont be able to do that till the next year. I underestimated this piece of work. I was so excited about it as well.

As the day whet on I got tired of it quickly, and so did the crew. 

I also never read the script to anyone until today. After reading it in my head and aloud to myself it sounded great every time. But when I read it to my crew it sounded a bit stupid and silly. Hopefully it wont when I piece it together on screen.

Tomorrow I plan to review the footage and make what I can from it.
Also 25th post! (Favorite number!)

What some might consider to be research. Unit 16.

So I finally figured out at least one other place that has the same actor on screen more than once. And I have some examples too.
It's Dr Who. The two episodes I'm looking at are Almost People and Nightmare in Silver.
Firstly, Almost people.
Here is a link to the scene I'm looking at on Youtube.

So this is the first shot I want to look at.
The two Doctors are stood so close that their arms overlap. Meaning that the one on the right is closer to us, but he is smaller. I can't remember if thats because he is the clone ore just the BBC struggled with editing. I hope it's not to hard. I should have probably looked into how to edit this rather than hoping I'll learn on the day. I'm assured it shouldn't be too difficult. Anyway, comparing this to what I'm thinking in my head. My 6 characters are all arguing

with each other and so I don't think they would stand this close.

However, I do think a shot like this would work. Quickly skimming though my scrip I see a few places where this shot could work. It could work well to show two of the characters listening to Darkness if I decide to have him as just a voice.
Filming this shot should be easy as I intend to have a solid black background.

Here we have a low angle looking across the chest of one Doctor and at the face of the other. It's a good shot but one I don't think I will use. Why? because it requires someone of a similar build as I am. It was tough enough to get some one to help me film, never mind getting some one to stop with their work and then wear my clothes. Another point, I would have to acquire a costume for them so that they don't look out of place. Skimming though the script again, I don't see anywhere where this shot could fit. I might give it a go on the day but I doubt it will be in the final cut.


Moving onto Nightmare in Silver. I can't find a clip of the scene but I do have a picture.
I think this scene would show what I want to create better than the other. As this time the two versions of the Doctor are  against each other. Also it is set inside his head. Very similar to my plan. I think a shot like this would allow for me to fit all 6 characters on screen at once. That isn't really needed for the film but I think it will make a cool picture for Facebook, if I have time.


I will try to film all of the shot above and many more! Nothing too ridiculous though as this is a serious piece of film. Started this with the idea of it being funny, ended with something that could be very dark. Innocence is pretty much the only cheery character. I knew this would happen, I did have a dead woman in it. And some suggested necrophilia. Maybe my next piece of work will be side splitting. It the funny way that is.

Memory is the Key (Just incase you forgot the title)

So I think I'm all ready to film.
All of the costumes are ready. The script is done. And I think I'll do that many different takes that a shot list would just be a list of every shot I could do. I'm thinking of having a low angle panning shot. A hand full of close ups and a truck load of medium shots. But like I said, I plan to do at least 5 takes of this so I can get loads of shots. It's better to have too much footage than not enough.

Here is a list of the final costumes!

So Darkness and Panic stay the same. I don't think Panic could be improved in any way. I'm still not too sure if I will have Darkness on screen. I'll be testing it when I edit on Wednesday.

 Righteousness now has a slightly brighter purple tie but really nothing has changed.
(Note: Must clean mirror again.)

 Anger now has darker braces thanks to my good friend James. Again, not much change.

 Intelligence now has some proper glasses. A nice pair of reading glasses from Sainsburry's. There were some that I liked to look of more but they were £15+ and as much as I want the right look, these £8 ones work just fine. Both for reading and for acting.

Innocence will not have a blurry face when filming, I just moved my head at the wrong time.I decided to scrap the lollipop idea and just put an old hoodie on. I'm keeping the ducky tie as I still think that aids the childish look I want.

Standing tall! Wed11th-Thurs12th

Today, I stood still.
Today, Andrew and I filmed a series of help videos for JTRS.
He is a link to their website.
I would put some pictures up but there is a bit of a problem with them.
The camera set up was quite simple. One shot of the tutor from the waist up sat at the desk. The second of his hands and the keyboard. That meant I had to have the tripod fully extended and on top of one of the stage boxes.

Thursday!
So I'm the only one here.
Andrew is busy working on his 3 minuet film, as are most people, and a hand full of students are late. So it's just me running two cameras. Cowman and the T.V. studio. I set everything up and suddenly a James appears. Helpful. Just in time.
We finished filming the tutorials for the laptop and quickly moved on to filming the ones for the Ipad mini.
This required a new shot as he was no longer using a keyboard, nor was he capturing the footage of the screen on the Ipad.
We moved the 2nd camera to the other side of the studio and raised it up onto a 2nd stage box.
I had my own little tower.

So even though I was just stood still for most of it. I had a lot of fun and I'm glad I agreed to do it.

Memory is the Key (Almost unlocked)

So I am filming on Tuesday.
I am!
What can I be doing till then?
Well I still need to finish my shot list and the costumes still need a tweak.
I'll have the updated costumes up on here for Monday afternoon.

I have also had a think about what other films have had the scenes like this in them.
I can only think of the opening scene of the 3rd Pirates of the Caribbean. I can't find a clip of it on Youtube.
I'm going to look into this more.

On a sudden and different note, I feel nervous. What if I don't act as well as I think I can?
I need to throw out all doubt.
Doubt doesn't help anything.

Scanning Paul Kenny. Unit 18.

So Paul Kenny came to give a lecture about his work on Wednesday.

I can't say I was greatly interested, but I did want to find out how he did photography without using a camera. As the title suggests, he uses a scanner. So I had a little go at it with my scanner at home.

As with most things. Start with my own face.
This is a bad start I think. I'm way too far from the scanner making me appear blurry.

 I quickly moved away from my face and used a fake rose I had acquired on my travels. For this I placed the rose on to the scanner and then reflected a torchlight  off a mirror angled just above. I then cut the image down in Paint. Removing the messy empty space and leaving you to focus on just the flower head.

I tried the same shot but in the dark this time. The reflected light is picked up a lot more and the colour in the flower is much stronger.

I have these small coloured card sleeves and thought I would see how the light would work with them.
I was hoping for them to be a little more transparent and look almost ghost-like. That is not the case.

I went back to using the rose. This time I left the light resting at the very top of the scanner. As the scanner scanned, I closed the lid and opened it again to create the striped background.














I decided to leave it at that for the night. But worry not, I came back.
These were done almost a week after the first few. I found this very relaxing. For some I just clicked scan and came up with the idea in the few seconds before the scanner started.

 For these two I tried moving with the scanner. I really like the first one. I really like how my hair looks in it. The image of the hand started off well but failed at the thumb.

For these two I tried to make the image slightly faded and ghost-like. I think the first one with the lights off gives the creepy feel I was hoping for. I like how the eyes have turned out for both images. They are just dark. Slightly annoyed by the mucky streak that is from my earlier pictures. If I were to do this as a proper piece of work I would wipe the glass clean after each shot.

 I decided to mix the rose into it again. I thought about it being in place of my eye. The first two I'm holding the stem and in the first, I'm clearly too far from the scanner. I moved closer with each take and finally decided to reposition the flower. Again, my hair looks good. I like that my fringe is the only thing in focus although I would have preferred it to have been just the rose. I may come back and try to perfect this some time.

For this one I tried to add motion again but this time I moved away rather than along. I was hoping to have a clear nose in the center for the focus point. I think I moved a bit too fast and too close to the scanner. I think I could make something good with this idea, I just need to put a bit more time into it.

Unit 18.

 So that's the main body of work I produced. Here are some of the other images I produced:

T.V. Studio experience.

What are you doing this Tuesday? FORGET IT!
You are now going to go work in the T.V. Studio and get experience.
Hooray!
Down to the studio set everything up. Lights ready. Cameras ready. Just need our client to arrive.
After about an hour of waiting we were then informed that it's actually tomorrow.
Not a problem. Just gotta remember what I had planned to do.
Finish the shot list for Memory is the Key.
Also you can't film this week. Sorry!
(Door slams shut.)