I believe overall my Product Management assignment has been completed with great success. From the planning stages all the way though to post-production everything seems to have run smoothly.
I had initially come up with the idea for 'Left and Right' earlier on in the year whilst we were working on our Thriller assignments. I didn't like the idea of not being able to do individual Thriller projects, and having to share the 5 minutes out within a group, so I sat down and scripted 'Left and Right' within a few hours over one night.
I showed the completed script to Dan Creed the next day and received some excellent feedback in regards to the layout of the script and the storyline itself. Providing several corrections with the format of the work, but nothing about the story or dialogue itself; deemed realistic for the story.
The concept of the film revolves around the idea of slowly built paranoia and the uncertainty and surreal emotions one experiences after a dramatic event that comes completely out of the norm. Events you aren't used too and eventually become so dominant, unusual and immediately prominent in your everyday life that they never seem completely real or real at all. Unsure if it ever even happened.
For example, the number 'infinity,' the concept of 'infinity' exists but it's a number no one can imagine, or really get their heads around on a realistic scale how large the number is. This is the same theory except 'infinity' is Michael being beaten up for his money; an event larger than his mind can comprehend.
That must have been around January/February time and I was, as expected, unable to use the script for the Thriller assignment. The project sat dormant for a very long period of time. As the Product Management assignment was presented to us, there was no real questioning what I was going to do for mine, the only thing I needed was a client looking for a short film.
A quick Google search produced several results I could choose from, including my initial selection 'Syncthink Films' providing a professional brief as required. I was slightly put off by this selection once I noticed the finishing date (12/06/09) was only 2 weeks away and I realised this was an unrealistic proposal.
I eventually found BigStar.tv, another competition offering a $1000 (£600) award and an extended deadline giving me over a month to complete all stages of production.
Storyboarding was a fairly easy process to complete as I'd already written the script with locations/actors and camera angles in mind, it was a simple case of sitting down with the script and a pencil and spending the rest of the night drawing away.
I took this simplistic approach towards all of the paperwork. As I'd completed the script months before the assignment was handed out, I found myself with more time than everyone else to complete the extra verification paperwork needed before production could begin. This included the initial Treatment form, all of the location risk assessments, Call sheets for each actor at each location and obviously the script. Other such paperwork such as logging forms and shot forms couldn't be completed until after production.
Filming began after the actors were all given a weekend with the script to get used to their roles and learn their lines. As with the pre-production stage, the production time also went extremely well, with one very evident hiccup at the very end; dan being accidentally injured in the last take I took.
Other than this there was no problem whatsoever between the Monday and Wednesday 08/06/09 and 10/06/09 filming period. Despite only being given 40 minutes to film on the Monday the majority of the scenes 2/3/4 were filmed very quickly indeed, concentrating on various corridor scene interludes and scene 5 on Tuesday.
This rapid production schedule could have only been achieved with the help of considerate and hardworking, good listening actors, who shared the same spur of energy and dedication I had towards making the project as realistic as possible; making filming a very quick and relatively hassle free process.
The only major problem I encountered throughout pre-production/Production and post-production was Dan Glynn's accident in the fight scene filmed in the closing hours of day 3 (Wednesday) After hitting his head on the wall after being thrown into it as required, the state of my product management was literally hanging by a thread as all of my paperwork was taken away immediately after the accident for evaluation (I suspect risk assessments were the tutors main priority)
I was uncertain for several days if I would even be allowed to begin the post-production stage after the film potentially being deemed far too unsafe due to real life injury on set. Luckily a few days later my paperwork was given back and after a review of the footage I was told not to use the footage of Dan hitting his head, thus turning it into a snuff film.
Post-Production was clean and again, a relatively quick process with a few inevitable bumps along the way. After the beginning drag of having to log the footage (had to be done twice after Avid Liquid started overwriting the footage previously logged) it was all a matter of putting the correct clips in the correct order in the timeline.
There were many new techniques used in the film, camera wise and during post production. I had never used different camera angles to this extent before, a requirement to keep lengthy conversations up to pace and interesting for audience. Using a mixture of close ups, low angles, Mid shots, Long shots and high angles to represent different characters and their dominant or subpar status' in the film. keeping a realistic shake on the camera as I held it in my hand rather than place it on a tripod to represent the paranoia, a crucial element to the understanding of the film. Filming a fight scene and creating fake, realistic looking blood and blood splatter (Golden syrup/red/blue food dye/coffee and water mixture)
Also the use of audio was new to me including having to create the entire score myself due to copyright. It was definitely more prominent, making me appreciate it a lot more. getting rid of an audio track or repeating sections etc can change the entire atmosphere and mood to a piece of film instantly.
One shot in particular which seems to receive a large amount of praise involves Michael walking into the meeting room holding a cup of water. Instead of using a normal front Mid shot I decided to rest the camera on the actor's arm and focus in on the cup in his hand as he walked towards the door, giving the impression the cup is floating across the corridor.
The majority of scenes stuck very closely to the original storyboards and script, but during the 3 days scenes 1 and 5 changed considerably. It was decided upon to include a speech in the 5th scene before the final outcome and the fight scene changed completely from the original storyboards. They were changed as seemed fit on the day of filming. I found when actually on set, initial ideas don't always tend to work as well as imagined, requiring rewrites, something that happens in the industry a lot.
Every project brings new challenges to the table. After thinking you know everything on creating a film, you start a new project and find new obstacles you never thought you would have to encounter, coming your way. I now have a much larger gratification towards the audio in any film and I am now more wary about the future and predicting further problems and ideas I can make a success in projects to come.
Thursday, 2 July 2009
Production Management Evaluation
Wednesday, 1 July 2009
Upload problems
Tuesday 01/07/09
I seem to be experiencing a few problems over the last 24 hours in regards to actually uploading the video onto the www.bigstar.tv website. The first time I tried uploading the footage at home last night (Monday) every time I attempted to write a description for the video after the upload was successful, the next page refused to load and so the video hasn’t been recognised on the website at all.
I tried again during today’s morning lesson, but this time it froze at 70%. Though I blame this more on the inefficiency and slow internet speed of the College MAC computers.
Strangely last night I attempted to upload the footage three more times, all of which failed, giving me the message 'Error with upload' each time the counter hit 100% with no other explanation provided to inform me why the upload keeps failing. The file size is far below 500MB (210), the film is between 3-15 minutes in length (8) and file format is MP4, specified as a valid format on the website.
This may well be an error on the side of the website itself, but it's irritating non the else as the final entry date draws nearer.
I seem to be experiencing a few problems over the last 24 hours in regards to actually uploading the video onto the www.bigstar.tv website. The first time I tried uploading the footage at home last night (Monday) every time I attempted to write a description for the video after the upload was successful, the next page refused to load and so the video hasn’t been recognised on the website at all.
I tried again during today’s morning lesson, but this time it froze at 70%. Though I blame this more on the inefficiency and slow internet speed of the College MAC computers.
Strangely last night I attempted to upload the footage three more times, all of which failed, giving me the message 'Error with upload' each time the counter hit 100% with no other explanation provided to inform me why the upload keeps failing. The file size is far below 500MB (210), the film is between 3-15 minutes in length (8) and file format is MP4, specified as a valid format on the website.
This may well be an error on the side of the website itself, but it's irritating non the else as the final entry date draws nearer.
Dan's opinion
Monday 29/06/09
I showed the final product to Dan Creed for the first time today and It was greeted with extremely good and warm reception. Dan commented saying it was a very good piece of work and ran through several sections complimenting the shots and angles used (close up of cup as walking to the office door) for example.
The only changes Dan suggested I should make were in the first scene (Fight scene) The original clip ran on for roughly a minute and a half, which Dan said was far too long for the opening. He said the scene should use extremely quick editing; leaving out several interludes between punches being thrown. Leaving only a few of these interludes in to calm the audience after a dramatic rapidly editing montage of kicks and punches to excite the audience.
He also suggested leaving several outcomes to the fighting out, making the audience guess what the outcome was, leaving it to their imagination, a technique which will enhance the impact as an audience will always expect the think the worse of a situation.
Dan was correct in all counts. It definitely builds on the tension I was looking for a lot quicker than the original cut did and, for lack of a better word, the oompf, gave to the opening scene not showing every blow is a vastly appreciated piece of input.
I showed the final product to Dan Creed for the first time today and It was greeted with extremely good and warm reception. Dan commented saying it was a very good piece of work and ran through several sections complimenting the shots and angles used (close up of cup as walking to the office door) for example.
The only changes Dan suggested I should make were in the first scene (Fight scene) The original clip ran on for roughly a minute and a half, which Dan said was far too long for the opening. He said the scene should use extremely quick editing; leaving out several interludes between punches being thrown. Leaving only a few of these interludes in to calm the audience after a dramatic rapidly editing montage of kicks and punches to excite the audience.
He also suggested leaving several outcomes to the fighting out, making the audience guess what the outcome was, leaving it to their imagination, a technique which will enhance the impact as an audience will always expect the think the worse of a situation.
Dan was correct in all counts. It definitely builds on the tension I was looking for a lot quicker than the original cut did and, for lack of a better word, the oompf, gave to the opening scene not showing every blow is a vastly appreciated piece of input.
The Final Touches
(22/06/09 - 26/06/09)
I had a feeling the audio editing wouldn't go as smoothly as it seemed to be going. Life is very deceptive indeed.
My initial thought was that if the memory stick with all of the music samples on was inserted in the computer, and all of said clips has been dragged into the sequence box on Avid Liquid, that all of the new audio would be instantly recognised in the timeline and all I'd have to do is drag and insert.
Wrong, unfortunately
I spent all of Monday afternoon effectively redoing the audio again as all of the sound clips in the timeline were silent. It wasn’t too much of a hassle just a very time consuming exercise when one is so close to finishing. Especially as I had mixed a few of the audio sounds myself, lopping sections to make the sample longer for my own benefit and adjusting audio levels at specific points; all had to be remixed.
Other than Monday afternoon and spending Tuesday morning in the editing room making sure there were no audio quips with the main footage audio (of which there were several) including one of me yelling action! (How did I miss that?) I spent the rest of the week working on John's Student Magazine assignment.
I had a feeling the audio editing wouldn't go as smoothly as it seemed to be going. Life is very deceptive indeed.
My initial thought was that if the memory stick with all of the music samples on was inserted in the computer, and all of said clips has been dragged into the sequence box on Avid Liquid, that all of the new audio would be instantly recognised in the timeline and all I'd have to do is drag and insert.
Wrong, unfortunately
I spent all of Monday afternoon effectively redoing the audio again as all of the sound clips in the timeline were silent. It wasn’t too much of a hassle just a very time consuming exercise when one is so close to finishing. Especially as I had mixed a few of the audio sounds myself, lopping sections to make the sample longer for my own benefit and adjusting audio levels at specific points; all had to be remixed.
Other than Monday afternoon and spending Tuesday morning in the editing room making sure there were no audio quips with the main footage audio (of which there were several) including one of me yelling action! (How did I miss that?) I spent the rest of the week working on John's Student Magazine assignment.
Audio Editing
22/06/09
So I've spent the majority of this weekend (20/06/09 - 22/06/09) with my own copy of Avid Liquid open and a muted copy of the film, minus the soundtrack, sliding royalty free music samples provided by www.lopperman.com and www.Flashkit.com in the timeline to create an ambient and disturbed soundtrack, consisting of repeated loops, deep guitar plucks and low drums, with the odd SFX like wind or crackling; An element I was unsure would work effectively, but it all comes together as one product of audio production and appears to flow rather smoothly. Well, in my opinion it does at least, as it's the first time I've ever had to produce my own musical score; new territory for me.
Next week, starting 23/06/09, I will insert the new track, run through the films audio one more time and inquire on Dan for his expert opinion on the editing.
So I've spent the majority of this weekend (20/06/09 - 22/06/09) with my own copy of Avid Liquid open and a muted copy of the film, minus the soundtrack, sliding royalty free music samples provided by www.lopperman.com and www.Flashkit.com in the timeline to create an ambient and disturbed soundtrack, consisting of repeated loops, deep guitar plucks and low drums, with the odd SFX like wind or crackling; An element I was unsure would work effectively, but it all comes together as one product of audio production and appears to flow rather smoothly. Well, in my opinion it does at least, as it's the first time I've ever had to produce my own musical score; new territory for me.
Next week, starting 23/06/09, I will insert the new track, run through the films audio one more time and inquire on Dan for his expert opinion on the editing.
Editing week Post-production (14/06/09 - 19/06/09)
23/06/09
I've just finished an extremely tough week of editing for my video (Audio included) and it's all pretty much done. I've spent the majority of the week within lesson time locked away in the editing suite clicking away on Avid Liquid and dragging clips all over the place to create some vague order that makes sense. Don't worry, it actually makes sense now.
You don't realise how hot and stuffy it gets in the suite until you spend a considerate portion of your life in there.
All of the editing has gone fairly smoothly thus far. I was forced to relog the entire 2 tapes of footage when Avid strangely started logging over sequences I'd already logged, so instead of creating new sequences it was overwriting existing ones. Something I didn't notice until I'd gone through the tapes once.
But after finally logging all of the correct footage onto the system using the PD150 camera, editing the clips together was fairly easy. I was starting to think the fact I hadn’t filmed all the of scenes in order would disrupt the speed in which I'd be able to find the clips and put them in the time line, but it didn't seem to be a problem and after a quick look through and renaming everything appropriately finding the correct part was fairly easy
This is the first project I've done that involves a conversation of any considerable length, so varying the shots are making sure the interest is retained for the audience became a crucial element.
Although to the frustration of my actors, I filmed each shot several times in a variety of angles, so my choice was in no way limited and syncing each clip together and muting individual scenes, running separate sound track over the top for consistent audio quality wasn’t as tough of an exercise I first believed it would have been.
When you look through your footage on the camera after filming, you never really get a good sense of what the footage will look once placed in the correct order in the timeline. The use of very shaky and unnerving camerawork, using several unique camera angles really emphasises the paranoia and uncertainty reflected in Michael's mind. The camera is effectively a visual representation of the confusion in Michael's mind in this case.
I couldn't use the original soundtrack I'd used over the week to edit too due to copyright rules in the competitions rules. This was a factor I was perfectly well aware of whilst editing, simply using the tracks (Mobb Deep, Xela etc) as a rough guideline to give myself an good idea of the type of sound I was looking for in the final product.
I've just finished an extremely tough week of editing for my video (Audio included) and it's all pretty much done. I've spent the majority of the week within lesson time locked away in the editing suite clicking away on Avid Liquid and dragging clips all over the place to create some vague order that makes sense. Don't worry, it actually makes sense now.
You don't realise how hot and stuffy it gets in the suite until you spend a considerate portion of your life in there.
All of the editing has gone fairly smoothly thus far. I was forced to relog the entire 2 tapes of footage when Avid strangely started logging over sequences I'd already logged, so instead of creating new sequences it was overwriting existing ones. Something I didn't notice until I'd gone through the tapes once.
But after finally logging all of the correct footage onto the system using the PD150 camera, editing the clips together was fairly easy. I was starting to think the fact I hadn’t filmed all the of scenes in order would disrupt the speed in which I'd be able to find the clips and put them in the time line, but it didn't seem to be a problem and after a quick look through and renaming everything appropriately finding the correct part was fairly easy
This is the first project I've done that involves a conversation of any considerable length, so varying the shots are making sure the interest is retained for the audience became a crucial element.
Although to the frustration of my actors, I filmed each shot several times in a variety of angles, so my choice was in no way limited and syncing each clip together and muting individual scenes, running separate sound track over the top for consistent audio quality wasn’t as tough of an exercise I first believed it would have been.
When you look through your footage on the camera after filming, you never really get a good sense of what the footage will look once placed in the correct order in the timeline. The use of very shaky and unnerving camerawork, using several unique camera angles really emphasises the paranoia and uncertainty reflected in Michael's mind. The camera is effectively a visual representation of the confusion in Michael's mind in this case.
I couldn't use the original soundtrack I'd used over the week to edit too due to copyright rules in the competitions rules. This was a factor I was perfectly well aware of whilst editing, simply using the tracks (Mobb Deep, Xela etc) as a rough guideline to give myself an good idea of the type of sound I was looking for in the final product.
Wednesday, 24 June 2009
Filming Day 3 (10/06/09)
Friday (10/06/09)
Today was the last day of filming. Having filmed everything requied inside the College, it's the only part of the video left unfilmed.
Filming a fight scene is surprisingly difficult. But to fit with the camera style I decided to use throughout the rest of the filming period, I simply started rolling and filmed everything from beginning to end, keeping the camera low down to the ground and spinning around the characters in a rough manner. This technique seems to have worked extremely well as it looks like a genuine fight if you didn't know any better and only saw the footage ion the tape.
The blood used is a mixture of Golden Syrup, a very small pinch of coffee, red food dye and in small part, blue food dye. This combination made perfect and very realistic looking blood when dripped onto Daniel’s face with a pen.
The day regrettably ended in trouble. Daniel Glynn, playing Michael, slammed his head into the wall when he required to be thrown against the wall to end the fight scene. Unfortunately, the fake blood looked so realistic that no one on set could recognise the difference between the fake blood and the real blood coming from Dan’s head until sniffed.
Fortunately I decided to film the fight outside directly opposite the First Aid room, in the event of an injury. So it didn't take long to call security and have Dan seen too immediately. After seeing the First Aider, Dan was advised by all of us to go to Hospital with his mum to get the lump now protruding from his head checked out properly, simply for reassurance.
I have talked to Dan and he appears to be fine.
This ends a rather exhausting and quick filming schedule. Next week will be dedicated to logging footage and editing.
Today was the last day of filming. Having filmed everything requied inside the College, it's the only part of the video left unfilmed.
Filming a fight scene is surprisingly difficult. But to fit with the camera style I decided to use throughout the rest of the filming period, I simply started rolling and filmed everything from beginning to end, keeping the camera low down to the ground and spinning around the characters in a rough manner. This technique seems to have worked extremely well as it looks like a genuine fight if you didn't know any better and only saw the footage ion the tape.
The blood used is a mixture of Golden Syrup, a very small pinch of coffee, red food dye and in small part, blue food dye. This combination made perfect and very realistic looking blood when dripped onto Daniel’s face with a pen.
The day regrettably ended in trouble. Daniel Glynn, playing Michael, slammed his head into the wall when he required to be thrown against the wall to end the fight scene. Unfortunately, the fake blood looked so realistic that no one on set could recognise the difference between the fake blood and the real blood coming from Dan’s head until sniffed.
Fortunately I decided to film the fight outside directly opposite the First Aid room, in the event of an injury. So it didn't take long to call security and have Dan seen too immediately. After seeing the First Aider, Dan was advised by all of us to go to Hospital with his mum to get the lump now protruding from his head checked out properly, simply for reassurance.
I have talked to Dan and he appears to be fine.
This ends a rather exhausting and quick filming schedule. Next week will be dedicated to logging footage and editing.
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