I tried to resist writing this - I've been wanting to for the last hour but really held off - now I know that if I don't I won't stop thinking about it until I do so I figured I'd stop fighting it.
I won't say much about it because it isn't much at the moment and I don't wanna throw undue pressure on him but I got the first bit of the score for scAIRcrows today and it's a beautiful throwback (I think) to 70s/80s Italian movies.
It basically set me off on an evening of rediscovering scores from that era. To me, the score is such an important part of a film - I couldn't tell you how many I own. I think scores can give the film an identity like nothing else can - they're the most solid way of setting the tone/feel of a film. I know there's the argument that you're telling people what to think, influencing them by music. Which is true but I just think, for me, you're creating a piece of art and this work needs to have its own atmosphere/ambiance. And one way of infusing that is via music. I even honestly think that there's some films out there that I like more than I should because I think the music fits so well.
So, if you have a spare 20 or so mins - check out these tracks I've picked from a few films:
Phenomena:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HrP-9P_s_qk
The Church:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5YdMAC0vXIA
Suspiria:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iJUaCAIxSk4
Tenebre:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3nHV6MAA1K8
Contanimation:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-H1NN_xe6iY
The Beyond:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LxiiaXSahaU
I do want to make it clear that the score for scAIRcrows doesn't necessarily sound like above, nor is that what I'm angling for - Wayne's come up with something that I think's perfect without any interference from me so I think we should keep it that way. But it did get me thinking about the above and resulted in enjoyable revisiting of original music - how many horror scores these days do you find that sound as original as the above? And before anyone thinks it - I'm not looking through a window of nostalgia here, at 26 years old, it is absolutely impossible for any of these films to be that nostalgic to me... I just appreciate it when people try and do things a bit differently.
As an aside, I finished the rough cut on scene 4 - of all the rough cut footage so far - this is definitely the roughest and I can see myself spending a lot of time tweaking this but it's nice to see it sat there almost fully formed. A few trims here and there and it'll be sorted. It brings us to eight minutes of the film in rough so we're slowly creeping up there! As I mentioned before, expect things to move a bit more quickly now that production is finished.
Monday, 25 October 2010
Sunday, 24 October 2010
The Shoot - Day Eight - 17.10.2010 - Final Day
Last day! It doesn't feel like we're anywhere near the end of this thing though - however, I've now fully kitted up the hardware, I have the software and more importantly, I'm feeling well again so hopefully we should start rocketing through the editing.
So, last Sunday, we shot the final scene - not final in the film mind, that had been shot the week prior. In terms of the original script, this was scene 3. So quite close to the beginning of the film considering we have 12 scenes in total.
By my count, this scene is the one that got shifted around the most and I had actually reached the point where, if it didn't happen on Sunday for whatever reason, I was going to cut it from the film. Probably not the best decision to make but it we'd changed dates 4 times on this one - it did just seem like it was the scene that didn't want to be shot.
However, I always like things going wrong because they get you thinking in ways you just wouldn't if you were able to follow the preplanned path. For example, the best thing about this scene was that, coming last, I had plenty of time to think about it and where it sat in the film. Originally, it involved a couple who were engaging in some friendly banter. In a way, I am a bit sad that we lost it because it was quite fun but the way things had worked elsewhere, it just seemed like the film was going to be full of couples. And that to me was extremely boring and worth losing the dialogue that I liked for. So I did a very soft rewrite to make the pair same sex friends. I say soft because whilst the banter is mostly gone, everything that's said is just a tweak of the original lines so the essence of the scene is very much there.
Also, there was something that I'd bullishly resisted whilst one of the characters was a man that I decided worked when the character became a woman - it's basically connecting these two characters to other characters in the film. It was something I didn't want to do before but it works and I feel makes the film feel less segmented.
Let it be said that problems are to be invited - truly the best things usually come from things that don't work out. Everything's an opportunity if you're open to change...
The two actresses that starred in this scene, Esther Eden and Hayley Gilbert, we knew previously from the auditions and had really liked them so were pleased when the opportunity to work with them presented itself. Now that the film's shot, when I look back at everyone in the film - the only person who caused us any trouble now was the one person that we didn't see at the auditions or get a video audition from. More on that here: http://scaircrows.blogspot.com/2010/10/on-acting.html
We shot in a slightly different area to the other locations we'd used - the reason for this being, I want the film to look as big in scope as is physically possible and having scenery that looks varied helps that along. I definitely think that this location was the busiest one we encountered across the whole shoot. The leads were opposite a rugby/football pitch but no-one there actually walked through into our area. One brilliantly random moment was when a man and a dog appeared from a cluster of trees - the man was holding a baseball bat and looked at us holding bloody implements and probably gripped that baseball bat a bit tighter! I also noticed (either forgot or was oblivious due to co-ordinating the shoot) when cutting together the trailer that Esther got chased by a dog. It's not the first time that dogs have wanted in on the production, I guess people running and rolling around are just too much for them to resist!
This shoot was remarkably easy - we were playing a bit of a fighting game with the sun which kept moving, throwing shadows into shots that we didn't want. But other than that really, it went without a hitch.
I do have to say separately - the actresses were fantastic. We'd given them new lines Monday morning before a Sunday shoot and they knew the thing better than I did, cues and all! It honestly makes things a million times easier if the actors know what they're supposed to be doing and I was expecting this one to be a bit more difficult, purely because I'd thrown the script changes on them pretty much last minute. It's not something I'd want to make a habit of doing but these creative whims must be obeyed....
And by 3pm, scAIRcrows had wrapped. And I was glad to see the back of it. I hate hearing the word scarecrow now - it's just a word now to which I think I'll forever be linked to. But I had fun doing all the shoots, working with all the different actors. It was a great experience and something I'm totally glad that I did. But I won't miss the early mornings, the time spent after work trying to organise things when I really weren't in the mood. I'm glad that's all done and behind us now and so we look forward to the edit which is where my focus now is. In my head, I'd like to get the film picture locked in the next fortnight - I don't think that's impossible save for the effects shots etc. Then audio and mastering the image is what'll probably take the most amount of time. But that's another story for another day.
Esther and Hayley - I'm glad we got you into the scAIRcrows family, it was a great way to go out, stress free... Thanks for dealing with the last minute rewrites and the occasional waiting as we had to reassess how things were going to be shot. I hope me being sick didn't affect how I came across - if I didn't say much at all, it was because I genuinely couldn't speak!
Jenny and Wayne - all done - I'll see you on editing nights!
Thanks everyone for helping us get to the end of scAIRcrows and we'll see you back here shortly!
So, last Sunday, we shot the final scene - not final in the film mind, that had been shot the week prior. In terms of the original script, this was scene 3. So quite close to the beginning of the film considering we have 12 scenes in total.
By my count, this scene is the one that got shifted around the most and I had actually reached the point where, if it didn't happen on Sunday for whatever reason, I was going to cut it from the film. Probably not the best decision to make but it we'd changed dates 4 times on this one - it did just seem like it was the scene that didn't want to be shot.
However, I always like things going wrong because they get you thinking in ways you just wouldn't if you were able to follow the preplanned path. For example, the best thing about this scene was that, coming last, I had plenty of time to think about it and where it sat in the film. Originally, it involved a couple who were engaging in some friendly banter. In a way, I am a bit sad that we lost it because it was quite fun but the way things had worked elsewhere, it just seemed like the film was going to be full of couples. And that to me was extremely boring and worth losing the dialogue that I liked for. So I did a very soft rewrite to make the pair same sex friends. I say soft because whilst the banter is mostly gone, everything that's said is just a tweak of the original lines so the essence of the scene is very much there.
Also, there was something that I'd bullishly resisted whilst one of the characters was a man that I decided worked when the character became a woman - it's basically connecting these two characters to other characters in the film. It was something I didn't want to do before but it works and I feel makes the film feel less segmented.
Let it be said that problems are to be invited - truly the best things usually come from things that don't work out. Everything's an opportunity if you're open to change...
The two actresses that starred in this scene, Esther Eden and Hayley Gilbert, we knew previously from the auditions and had really liked them so were pleased when the opportunity to work with them presented itself. Now that the film's shot, when I look back at everyone in the film - the only person who caused us any trouble now was the one person that we didn't see at the auditions or get a video audition from. More on that here: http://scaircrows.blogspot.com/2010/10/on-acting.html
We shot in a slightly different area to the other locations we'd used - the reason for this being, I want the film to look as big in scope as is physically possible and having scenery that looks varied helps that along. I definitely think that this location was the busiest one we encountered across the whole shoot. The leads were opposite a rugby/football pitch but no-one there actually walked through into our area. One brilliantly random moment was when a man and a dog appeared from a cluster of trees - the man was holding a baseball bat and looked at us holding bloody implements and probably gripped that baseball bat a bit tighter! I also noticed (either forgot or was oblivious due to co-ordinating the shoot) when cutting together the trailer that Esther got chased by a dog. It's not the first time that dogs have wanted in on the production, I guess people running and rolling around are just too much for them to resist!
This shoot was remarkably easy - we were playing a bit of a fighting game with the sun which kept moving, throwing shadows into shots that we didn't want. But other than that really, it went without a hitch.
I do have to say separately - the actresses were fantastic. We'd given them new lines Monday morning before a Sunday shoot and they knew the thing better than I did, cues and all! It honestly makes things a million times easier if the actors know what they're supposed to be doing and I was expecting this one to be a bit more difficult, purely because I'd thrown the script changes on them pretty much last minute. It's not something I'd want to make a habit of doing but these creative whims must be obeyed....
And by 3pm, scAIRcrows had wrapped. And I was glad to see the back of it. I hate hearing the word scarecrow now - it's just a word now to which I think I'll forever be linked to. But I had fun doing all the shoots, working with all the different actors. It was a great experience and something I'm totally glad that I did. But I won't miss the early mornings, the time spent after work trying to organise things when I really weren't in the mood. I'm glad that's all done and behind us now and so we look forward to the edit which is where my focus now is. In my head, I'd like to get the film picture locked in the next fortnight - I don't think that's impossible save for the effects shots etc. Then audio and mastering the image is what'll probably take the most amount of time. But that's another story for another day.
Esther and Hayley - I'm glad we got you into the scAIRcrows family, it was a great way to go out, stress free... Thanks for dealing with the last minute rewrites and the occasional waiting as we had to reassess how things were going to be shot. I hope me being sick didn't affect how I came across - if I didn't say much at all, it was because I genuinely couldn't speak!
Jenny and Wayne - all done - I'll see you on editing nights!
Thanks everyone for helping us get to the end of scAIRcrows and we'll see you back here shortly!
Thursday, 21 October 2010
What Happens Next Could Go Horribly Wrong...
Right, so we wrapped nearly a week ago. Consequently, there isn't anything left to do production wise at the moment. Once we have an edit together, we'll know what effects shots etc we need to get to insert and finally put this film to bed.
But to get to that point, we need a picture edit. Throughout the last two months, you've heard me pipe up about having this or that cut. We're up to 6 minutes of rough cut footage, some of the cast have been lucky (?) enough to see some of this footage but to everyone that has seen it, I've stressed that it is rough cut and it truly is. Some shots last too long, some are too short, some jump (we do have coverage for these jumps, just haven't incorporated them yet). The reason we've been sat with this rough cut footage, knowing there's stuff wrong with it, is that we simply haven't had the time to go back and tweak it all. Now that production's finished, getting a picture cut is now the sole concern.
To that end, I've had to invest in some editing software. I previously owned Pinnacle Studio - I've used Pinnacle to cut all the YouTube videos. I like Pinnacle, it's simple and I know my way around it - I can get what I want out of it (within limit, it's not incredibly powerful) fairly quickly and pain free. I also use it to create the rushes DVDs that we use to build edit lists for each scene.
However, I knew that what we were doing here needed something powerful, something that could give the film a professional look or as close as... For me, the only option really was Adobe Premiere. I've touched this program before and I know how incredibly complex it is so I thought that I could break myself in by buying Adobe Premiere Elements first. Elements to me, seems a lot more serious than Pinnacle - it looks 'proper' and you do get the feeling that your video would go a lot further on Elements. However, it's just not as easy to use and there's a bunch of things that are fiddly beyond reason. I've struggled on with it though because I know that's nothing to what Premiere is. All the rough cut footage is cut on Elements.
Now that we've finished shooting (and the budget got a refresh) I decided to just jump into it and buy the Adobe CS5 Production suite. I know within this package is everything I could possibly need to get scAIRcrows looking the absolute best it can. However, I know that it's also going to take forever and a day to learn how to use! I've bought the first training book and will begin battling through that this weekend.
But more importantly, and this is where the title of the blog comes into it, I'm upgrading the hardware too so that the program runs as smoothly as it can because it does stutter at the moment. I'm not massively 'techie' but I know what I need to know - this is basically what I'm doing to the computer this Saturday:
2GB of RAM is the minimum that Adobe needs to run - I have 4GB (the recommended amount) so I'm above spec already but I'm adding another 4GB to bring the computer to 8GB.
A graphics card with 256MB VRAM as minimum is required to run. I have 512MB but am replacing it with a 1GB model.
I'm fitting a 1TB hard drive solely for the video footage.
And here's the toolkit I bought to do it all. Again, I don't massively know what I'm doing, I don't know all that much about computers - I knew I needed this stuff by buying a few computer magazines and reading a few websites.
So, if I get it wrong, scAIRcrows could be offline from Saturday onwards! That is actually a possibility too. I'd say it's about 30% likely to happen but it's still something that could happen. But, if I get it all in there and working, the editing will hopefully be a very smooth process.
As long as I learn how to use the software! Anyways, so that's what's happening with scAIRcrows this weekend - a major hardware overhaul to facilitate the editing process - once we get this going, we should hopefully start burning through the editing. The good thing is, there's nothing in the way now but myself so we're getting that much closer to the film seeing the light of day!
Tuesday, 19 October 2010
The Shoot - Day Seven - 16.10.2010
This will be a very short one as we don't really want to give anything away on this one - it's another scene that doesn't appear in the script. The idea for it came about whilst we were at a film festival a few weeks back and we had nothing to lose by giving it a go.
Really, all I want to say about this scene without giving anything away is that there's a dog in it and myself in a cameo that isn't anywhere near as intrusive as it might sound.
This really is one that will need to just been seen - there's Facebook pictures up now but of the 60 plus that we had, only those nine were suitable for publication.
For the actor that was in this scene - thanks a bunch. We had a brilliant time working with you and really hope you enjoyed working with us - we know people will love this scene. Apologies for not mentioning names but we do want to keep this scene secret from absolutely everyone.
Jenny and Wayne - I guess I should thank you for sowing the seeds of this idea but I think you're starting to realise that putting ideas anywhere near me is a bad idea as I just run with them!
Sorry for the cop out blog everybody but you'll appreciate knowing absolutely nothing at all about this one!
Really, all I want to say about this scene without giving anything away is that there's a dog in it and myself in a cameo that isn't anywhere near as intrusive as it might sound.
This really is one that will need to just been seen - there's Facebook pictures up now but of the 60 plus that we had, only those nine were suitable for publication.
For the actor that was in this scene - thanks a bunch. We had a brilliant time working with you and really hope you enjoyed working with us - we know people will love this scene. Apologies for not mentioning names but we do want to keep this scene secret from absolutely everyone.
Jenny and Wayne - I guess I should thank you for sowing the seeds of this idea but I think you're starting to realise that putting ideas anywhere near me is a bad idea as I just run with them!
Sorry for the cop out blog everybody but you'll appreciate knowing absolutely nothing at all about this one!
The Shoot - Day Six - 10.10.2010
Bit weird writing these now that the film's all shot and finished but was too busy trying to get it done to catch up with these blogs!
It's difficult to talk about this scene without giving too much away but I'll try...
Firstly, this scene was something that was debated about between me and the producers. Once we'd put this script out there to actors and I realised we were actually going to have to make this film - I panicked. For anyone that's read the script, you can understand why and I wonder just how many people that applied to be in the film did so thinking it was never going to materialise...
So my first inclination was to go back through the script and review every scene - just to see what I could scale back and even cut in its entirety. And this scene was the one that I wanted to cut the most. And this is where I met resistance from the producers.
My thoughts (at the time - believe me, I don't feel this way now) were that it was the only scene that took place outside of the main story and necessitated bringing the lead actress back. Because it happened outside the rest of the film, was it that important? And, I've always been paranoid about getting people back once they've gone - there's no obligation to come back and if the experience shooting was less than great last time, why the hell would someone come back?
As it was argued to me, this scene brings relevance to the true story angle which, as I mentioned a blog or two back, helped me build the entire plot. To me, I was happy to lose the 'based on a true story' title card for the sake of an easier, more manageable shoot. Reluctantly, I left it in though I was never enthusiastic about it and would have called quits on it had it been a bit of a pain to shoot.
That was until we'd shot with the leads that first weekend. After that, and viewing the first rough cut of the footage we shot with them, I realised how important this scene was. I needed the context to realise it but I got there eventually!
And I now think it's a brilliant scene that absolutely had to be in the film. There's a handful of scenes in the film that are going to 'jump' out and this is definitely one of them.
I had hoped that this was the final scene that we would shoot on scAIRcrows not just because of where it sits but also because it involved two actors I'd met previously. Everyone we video auditioned was great but there's a certain comfort you can take going into a scene when you're already familiar with the people you're going to be working with (look what happened on day 5 of the shoot for example!). So we brought back Victoria Smith who plays the lead in this film and had been through the toughest part of the shoot - that first weekend. Also in this scene was Dan McSherry, someone that we'd met in the auditions and really liked so was pleased to be working with him.
This scene, at a page long, took a lot longer to shoot than I originally expected but then it is light on dialogue with a slant towards action... I think we were done in about four hours which seems to be the magic number for all of these shoots. It was a really fun scene to shoot though because, excepting the scAIRcrows, this is really the only scene that I can think of that involved quite a few props - this was the one scene where I was adamant that a character had to look a certain way.
Which is actually something that I should mention - we didn't give anyone on this film a dress code - we said come as you see fit and we only had to interfere when the clothes would get messy in some way - in those instances, we provided clothing. But here, I did want a specific look and when you watch the finished film, you'll understand why. I do just love how this scene will play against the rest - if any scene took my sensibilities to the hilt, it's this one.
Again, I don't really want to say much on this scene and it's quite short so difficult to say too much so I'll wrap it up here.
Victoria - as I mentioned earlier, getting someone back was always something I was scared about doing, especially since the previous shoot was affected by the guy no showing - thanks for being so dependable and enthusiastic about the shoot! You were also right on the way a line should be read - I'm always happy to listen! You played this scene a lot better than I'd written it - it's the little things that add the texture to the characters and sometimes I think I focus on just the delivery too much - there's a couple of things that you did that weren't written that just breathe life into the character. And just thanks for the whole thing really, as you've been there since the beginning - it'll be worth it for sure.
Dan - you were great. I can think of one part of this scene where people are going to be laughing - I had to cut once because I was laughing behind the camera! It's going to look great and really going to add to the wackiness of the scene. I can write whatever but it takes actors that 'get' what we're trying to do to really make this work and you totally did that! I hope you'll be as happy with what we've shot as I am.
Jenny and Wayne - obviously, thanks for the use of the property. Hope we didn't freak the neighbours out too much - to outsiders I imagine at times it seemed like shit was really going down! And just thanks for everything else really - audio, second camera operation, stills etc etc.
Will try and get the rest of the shoot blogs written up and posted tonight as well as the pictures - at least that way, everything shoot related is done!
It's difficult to talk about this scene without giving too much away but I'll try...
Firstly, this scene was something that was debated about between me and the producers. Once we'd put this script out there to actors and I realised we were actually going to have to make this film - I panicked. For anyone that's read the script, you can understand why and I wonder just how many people that applied to be in the film did so thinking it was never going to materialise...
So my first inclination was to go back through the script and review every scene - just to see what I could scale back and even cut in its entirety. And this scene was the one that I wanted to cut the most. And this is where I met resistance from the producers.
My thoughts (at the time - believe me, I don't feel this way now) were that it was the only scene that took place outside of the main story and necessitated bringing the lead actress back. Because it happened outside the rest of the film, was it that important? And, I've always been paranoid about getting people back once they've gone - there's no obligation to come back and if the experience shooting was less than great last time, why the hell would someone come back?
As it was argued to me, this scene brings relevance to the true story angle which, as I mentioned a blog or two back, helped me build the entire plot. To me, I was happy to lose the 'based on a true story' title card for the sake of an easier, more manageable shoot. Reluctantly, I left it in though I was never enthusiastic about it and would have called quits on it had it been a bit of a pain to shoot.
That was until we'd shot with the leads that first weekend. After that, and viewing the first rough cut of the footage we shot with them, I realised how important this scene was. I needed the context to realise it but I got there eventually!
And I now think it's a brilliant scene that absolutely had to be in the film. There's a handful of scenes in the film that are going to 'jump' out and this is definitely one of them.
I had hoped that this was the final scene that we would shoot on scAIRcrows not just because of where it sits but also because it involved two actors I'd met previously. Everyone we video auditioned was great but there's a certain comfort you can take going into a scene when you're already familiar with the people you're going to be working with (look what happened on day 5 of the shoot for example!). So we brought back Victoria Smith who plays the lead in this film and had been through the toughest part of the shoot - that first weekend. Also in this scene was Dan McSherry, someone that we'd met in the auditions and really liked so was pleased to be working with him.
This scene, at a page long, took a lot longer to shoot than I originally expected but then it is light on dialogue with a slant towards action... I think we were done in about four hours which seems to be the magic number for all of these shoots. It was a really fun scene to shoot though because, excepting the scAIRcrows, this is really the only scene that I can think of that involved quite a few props - this was the one scene where I was adamant that a character had to look a certain way.
Which is actually something that I should mention - we didn't give anyone on this film a dress code - we said come as you see fit and we only had to interfere when the clothes would get messy in some way - in those instances, we provided clothing. But here, I did want a specific look and when you watch the finished film, you'll understand why. I do just love how this scene will play against the rest - if any scene took my sensibilities to the hilt, it's this one.
Again, I don't really want to say much on this scene and it's quite short so difficult to say too much so I'll wrap it up here.
Victoria - as I mentioned earlier, getting someone back was always something I was scared about doing, especially since the previous shoot was affected by the guy no showing - thanks for being so dependable and enthusiastic about the shoot! You were also right on the way a line should be read - I'm always happy to listen! You played this scene a lot better than I'd written it - it's the little things that add the texture to the characters and sometimes I think I focus on just the delivery too much - there's a couple of things that you did that weren't written that just breathe life into the character. And just thanks for the whole thing really, as you've been there since the beginning - it'll be worth it for sure.
Dan - you were great. I can think of one part of this scene where people are going to be laughing - I had to cut once because I was laughing behind the camera! It's going to look great and really going to add to the wackiness of the scene. I can write whatever but it takes actors that 'get' what we're trying to do to really make this work and you totally did that! I hope you'll be as happy with what we've shot as I am.
Jenny and Wayne - obviously, thanks for the use of the property. Hope we didn't freak the neighbours out too much - to outsiders I imagine at times it seemed like shit was really going down! And just thanks for everything else really - audio, second camera operation, stills etc etc.
Will try and get the rest of the shoot blogs written up and posted tonight as well as the pictures - at least that way, everything shoot related is done!
Sunday, 17 October 2010
scAIRcrows Is Wrapped
You honestly have no idea how much I've been dying to write the above. Production on the film dragged out way too long - not anyone's fault, it's the problem you have when working full time and also trying to organise and shoot a plus half hour long film.
It has seemed like forever since we first sat in those auditions in July and first put scAIRcrows out to 'strangers'. Did I honestly think I'd ever be writing this? No. The script is far too ambitious for a no budget film. But others clearly believed in the project enough to turn up and audition and right there and then, the film became very real.
Suddenly people outside of the small circle that I'd shared this idea with were embracing this thing and helping create it in front of me. I think the auditions told me that this film could be pulled off - it took on a life of its own once people started bringing their own take to it and bringing the characters to life.
And I just helped it along where necessary.
I've made films in the past, in college, and for some reason, it always fell to me to write these projects and sort've see them through. So, there's five films out there somewhere that I've written and I'd say very loosely directed. Problem with doing the student films were that they were group projects and whilst people were happy to let me go away and write these things - when it came to filming them, everyone had a say and it became impossible to wrangle. I don't own any of them and don't want to - they're not mine. They're not anyone's - they're contorted, lifeless things that've been pulled apart by people moving in different directions. The one thing that will always stand out to me, the one scene we shot for a college film that made me realise I was never going to get anything worthwhile done with the people I'd been thrown together with was a suicide scene.
At the age of 16 I'd written this quite warped script about infatuation and how someone lives with unrequited love. The ending I'd originally written and planned simply put was NEVER going to happen. It was the ending that I'd wanted and it was the ending that would've made the film stand out. My friend and I didn't even bother running past the rest of the group, we knew they wouldn't go for it and we potentially had another year and a half of working with these people - we didn't want them to think we were that twisted. So I changed it before we put it to them, the character now killed himself. Bit more conventional but I thought that the rest of the group whose sensibilities were way more mainstream, would be happy with that.
Nope. So we got to the scene where the suicide should've been and instead we shot a massive fight scene for absolutely no reason. And because I just didn't give a shit about it, it was all one shot and completely all over the place. Half the 'characters' in the fight scene weren't in the script - mostly this happened because people who hadn't been involved in the film but were there that day wanted something to do.
Thing is, I'd already compromised on the original ending and replaced it with the suicide and the rest of the group, when we get to shooting claimed it wasn't realistic enough for that to happen. And I agree to an extent because I didn't want suicide either but if they weren't buying suicide, they weren't buying the original ending. So the fight scene happened. The film was shoddily cut together with equipment appearing in shots etc and the film got ridiculed when screened. And for some reason, I still felt embarrassed by that. And I have no idea why. I think it's because, through all the mess, I could see remnants of the script that I actually thought was pretty neat. But utterly destroyed by a bunch of people who had no unified vision for this thing. Everyone knew that I was 'behind' it and by that point, there was little to be gained by telling the true story. So I sat there whilst people laughed quite openly, smugly knowing that their group's film was much better. And it was. But it wouldn't have been if we'd shot what I'd wanted to - original ending or the revised one.
Which brings me to scAIRcrows. This really, if we're being technical, should be my sixth film. But as far as I'm concerned, it's the first. For once, my script has actually transferred to the screen intact. Every little thing I wanted is in there. Over the past two months, I've finally been shooting something that I will quite happily stand behind. And to suffer through as many as 5 false starts, you have to appreciate what a sense of relief I'm feeling now to know that it's all there. Flying scarecrows, magicians, eye patches and more. Everything I imagined and put to paper is in there. No-one to interfere, for better or worse - my vision has finally found its way to film!
Of course, it's only the principal shooting that's done - we need to go back for effects shots and maybe some establishing shots of the area but the script is now fully shot, we're finished with all our actors.
I'm three shoot day blogs behind but as you might appreciate, we've been on a bit of a sprint finish here! Expect those and pictures in the next few days as well as a website update and a few other things in the next fortnight. I'm not feeling terribly well at the moment so there might be a bit of a lag but I'm on it.
Before I go though, I wanted to say to absolutely everyone involved, from the actors to the producers to the caterer - if you were involved in scAIRcrows in any way, shape or form -
Thank you so f-ing much! I have no film without each and every last one of you and don't ever forget that!
It has seemed like forever since we first sat in those auditions in July and first put scAIRcrows out to 'strangers'. Did I honestly think I'd ever be writing this? No. The script is far too ambitious for a no budget film. But others clearly believed in the project enough to turn up and audition and right there and then, the film became very real.
Suddenly people outside of the small circle that I'd shared this idea with were embracing this thing and helping create it in front of me. I think the auditions told me that this film could be pulled off - it took on a life of its own once people started bringing their own take to it and bringing the characters to life.
And I just helped it along where necessary.
I've made films in the past, in college, and for some reason, it always fell to me to write these projects and sort've see them through. So, there's five films out there somewhere that I've written and I'd say very loosely directed. Problem with doing the student films were that they were group projects and whilst people were happy to let me go away and write these things - when it came to filming them, everyone had a say and it became impossible to wrangle. I don't own any of them and don't want to - they're not mine. They're not anyone's - they're contorted, lifeless things that've been pulled apart by people moving in different directions. The one thing that will always stand out to me, the one scene we shot for a college film that made me realise I was never going to get anything worthwhile done with the people I'd been thrown together with was a suicide scene.
At the age of 16 I'd written this quite warped script about infatuation and how someone lives with unrequited love. The ending I'd originally written and planned simply put was NEVER going to happen. It was the ending that I'd wanted and it was the ending that would've made the film stand out. My friend and I didn't even bother running past the rest of the group, we knew they wouldn't go for it and we potentially had another year and a half of working with these people - we didn't want them to think we were that twisted. So I changed it before we put it to them, the character now killed himself. Bit more conventional but I thought that the rest of the group whose sensibilities were way more mainstream, would be happy with that.
Nope. So we got to the scene where the suicide should've been and instead we shot a massive fight scene for absolutely no reason. And because I just didn't give a shit about it, it was all one shot and completely all over the place. Half the 'characters' in the fight scene weren't in the script - mostly this happened because people who hadn't been involved in the film but were there that day wanted something to do.
Thing is, I'd already compromised on the original ending and replaced it with the suicide and the rest of the group, when we get to shooting claimed it wasn't realistic enough for that to happen. And I agree to an extent because I didn't want suicide either but if they weren't buying suicide, they weren't buying the original ending. So the fight scene happened. The film was shoddily cut together with equipment appearing in shots etc and the film got ridiculed when screened. And for some reason, I still felt embarrassed by that. And I have no idea why. I think it's because, through all the mess, I could see remnants of the script that I actually thought was pretty neat. But utterly destroyed by a bunch of people who had no unified vision for this thing. Everyone knew that I was 'behind' it and by that point, there was little to be gained by telling the true story. So I sat there whilst people laughed quite openly, smugly knowing that their group's film was much better. And it was. But it wouldn't have been if we'd shot what I'd wanted to - original ending or the revised one.
Which brings me to scAIRcrows. This really, if we're being technical, should be my sixth film. But as far as I'm concerned, it's the first. For once, my script has actually transferred to the screen intact. Every little thing I wanted is in there. Over the past two months, I've finally been shooting something that I will quite happily stand behind. And to suffer through as many as 5 false starts, you have to appreciate what a sense of relief I'm feeling now to know that it's all there. Flying scarecrows, magicians, eye patches and more. Everything I imagined and put to paper is in there. No-one to interfere, for better or worse - my vision has finally found its way to film!
Of course, it's only the principal shooting that's done - we need to go back for effects shots and maybe some establishing shots of the area but the script is now fully shot, we're finished with all our actors.
I'm three shoot day blogs behind but as you might appreciate, we've been on a bit of a sprint finish here! Expect those and pictures in the next few days as well as a website update and a few other things in the next fortnight. I'm not feeling terribly well at the moment so there might be a bit of a lag but I'm on it.
Before I go though, I wanted to say to absolutely everyone involved, from the actors to the producers to the caterer - if you were involved in scAIRcrows in any way, shape or form -
Thank you so f-ing much! I have no film without each and every last one of you and don't ever forget that!
Saturday, 16 October 2010
Nearly There...
So scAIRcrows is in the final weekend of production. This time tomorrow, we'll be wrapped. It's going to be a brilliant thing to be able to say that.
The experience making scAIRcrows has been awesome - we've met an amazing bunch of people and I say that with complete sincerity. We've had a few minor hiccups but we're reaching this finishing line relatively unscathed.
I'll do a proper post mortem on the entire production process when we're officially wrapped but jumping into such a big, ambitious production has definitely been a baptism of fire. We've pulled it off though and whilst production finishes tomorrow, post begins.
There's obviously still the editing to go, a lot of the effects now need to be shot to match what we already have from the principal shoot, the scoring begins and I suspect, an all round clean up job will happen depedning on what we see in the edit.
Then we're also pushing the promotional aspect of it with the website to launch proper Halloween weekend. We'll also then start creating awareness of the film on the indie/horror circuit so whilst it seems like we're nearly finished, we're really about halfway there. However, the good thing about this is that I'm not reliant on anyone but myself for 95% of the post work - we don't have to arrange schedules with groups of people and worry about some people backing out and throwing out our plans. It can be worked on at any point with no real dependency so it should move a lot faster than the production phase did.
It won't be long now until the finished film can be viewed!
The experience making scAIRcrows has been awesome - we've met an amazing bunch of people and I say that with complete sincerity. We've had a few minor hiccups but we're reaching this finishing line relatively unscathed.
I'll do a proper post mortem on the entire production process when we're officially wrapped but jumping into such a big, ambitious production has definitely been a baptism of fire. We've pulled it off though and whilst production finishes tomorrow, post begins.
There's obviously still the editing to go, a lot of the effects now need to be shot to match what we already have from the principal shoot, the scoring begins and I suspect, an all round clean up job will happen depedning on what we see in the edit.
Then we're also pushing the promotional aspect of it with the website to launch proper Halloween weekend. We'll also then start creating awareness of the film on the indie/horror circuit so whilst it seems like we're nearly finished, we're really about halfway there. However, the good thing about this is that I'm not reliant on anyone but myself for 95% of the post work - we don't have to arrange schedules with groups of people and worry about some people backing out and throwing out our plans. It can be worked on at any point with no real dependency so it should move a lot faster than the production phase did.
It won't be long now until the finished film can be viewed!
Tuesday, 5 October 2010
Based On True Events
The above might be the first thing you see when watching scAIRcrows. In a way, it's a reaction to just about every film beginning with that sentence these days - does it hold any meaning anymore? But also, I want to put it there because people will probably laugh it off without realising, it is actually a true statement.
The film is very much based on true events and I'll explain why. I mentioned in a previous blog that scAIRcrows basically originated from the title and that really, I just wanted to see flying scarecrows depicted onscreen. The only problem with that was, what do I actually do with them? There (don't laugh) needed to be some sort of story, something to give me an excuse to throw around some scarecrows. And believe it or not, I did do research.
I forget how much of this may have already been said but on deciding to do this I watched as many scarecrow films as I could find, including resorting to buying a VHS on eBay! I'd only seen one killer scarecrow film before coming up with this idea - there aren't many in the sub genre - I can tell you that having scoured IMDB etc looking for them. But yeah, in the last two or three months I've watched Scarecrow, Scarecrow Slayer, Scarecrow Goes Wild, Messengers 2 - The Scarecrow, Rise Of the Scarecrows, Dark Night Of The Scarecrow, Night Of The Scarecrow, Scarecrows & Urban Harvest 3 - The Scarecrow to name as many as I can recall right now... Most of them are indie affairs, some I would say are more enjoyable than others. I can happily say though that within the killer scarecrow sub genre, scAIRcrows is fairly unique.
Point is, I immersed myself in all things scarecrow - bought books on how to make them, books on their history (that's how we came up with the names for the scAIRcrows). And, in doing this research, I somehow came across the one link that dictated to me what the story of scAIRcrows would be.
The links to the story:
http://www.ashbournenewstelegraph.co.uk/News/Arson-attack-on-scarecrows.htm
http://www.ashbournenewstelegraph.co.uk/News/Our-scarecrows-go-up-in-smoke.htm
Now, I won't give anything away here by saying this but that news story is what I knew would pull together my script and give me the skeleton that I'd build upon. Is it an act of revenge against scarecrows? Is it the final straw that makes the scarecrows snap? These are the questions I asked myself whilst trying to build the framework of the story. How this factors into the story won't be much of a surprise - it's revealed in the opening scene (not yet shot). I'd say that discovering that news story greatly informed the final product - without it certain scenes and even entire characters would not exist.
And however it factors into the script, it did influence the story so it is absolutely no lie when I claim that a film about killer flying scarecrows was based on true events...
The film is very much based on true events and I'll explain why. I mentioned in a previous blog that scAIRcrows basically originated from the title and that really, I just wanted to see flying scarecrows depicted onscreen. The only problem with that was, what do I actually do with them? There (don't laugh) needed to be some sort of story, something to give me an excuse to throw around some scarecrows. And believe it or not, I did do research.
I forget how much of this may have already been said but on deciding to do this I watched as many scarecrow films as I could find, including resorting to buying a VHS on eBay! I'd only seen one killer scarecrow film before coming up with this idea - there aren't many in the sub genre - I can tell you that having scoured IMDB etc looking for them. But yeah, in the last two or three months I've watched Scarecrow, Scarecrow Slayer, Scarecrow Goes Wild, Messengers 2 - The Scarecrow, Rise Of the Scarecrows, Dark Night Of The Scarecrow, Night Of The Scarecrow, Scarecrows & Urban Harvest 3 - The Scarecrow to name as many as I can recall right now... Most of them are indie affairs, some I would say are more enjoyable than others. I can happily say though that within the killer scarecrow sub genre, scAIRcrows is fairly unique.
Point is, I immersed myself in all things scarecrow - bought books on how to make them, books on their history (that's how we came up with the names for the scAIRcrows). And, in doing this research, I somehow came across the one link that dictated to me what the story of scAIRcrows would be.
The links to the story:
http://www.ashbournenewstelegraph.co.uk/News/Arson-attack-on-scarecrows.htm
http://www.ashbournenewstelegraph.co.uk/News/Our-scarecrows-go-up-in-smoke.htm
Now, I won't give anything away here by saying this but that news story is what I knew would pull together my script and give me the skeleton that I'd build upon. Is it an act of revenge against scarecrows? Is it the final straw that makes the scarecrows snap? These are the questions I asked myself whilst trying to build the framework of the story. How this factors into the story won't be much of a surprise - it's revealed in the opening scene (not yet shot). I'd say that discovering that news story greatly informed the final product - without it certain scenes and even entire characters would not exist.
And however it factors into the script, it did influence the story so it is absolutely no lie when I claim that a film about killer flying scarecrows was based on true events...
Sunday, 3 October 2010
Where We Are...
We're at the tail end of the shoot now. Two of the three of us made a judgement call today to call off today's planned shoot. I stress two of us - hopefully we won't have made the wrong decision but it wasn't a unanimous vote and I'll feel a bit stupid and annoyed if I end up being the one that's wrong because we really needed to shoot today. However, at the time of the call, heavy rain was forecast until 1pm with light rain thereafter until 7pm. We're an outdoors shoot so a current forecast is something that we have to put our faith in. Besides the fact that the scene wouldn't match the rest of the film in rain, I couldn't ask people who are being paid to put up with that anyway. So the call was made. So far, no rain and there's even been a tiny bit of sun. It's the one time I think I've ever actually wished for rain, just to assure me that I made the right decision. I hate making choices like this because they can either be right or wrong! But I guess you have to make those decisions and stand by them... The justification for cancelling's solid. I mean, do you drag people across London, at least an hour, if not two, on the chance that the Met Office and BBC got it wrong? It's a big risk to play with other people's time...
Anyway, I'll try and forget about that (try being the operative word - it will bug the shit out of me if today ends up being fine).
So we've two days of shooting proper left - with potentially another shoot day added on as there's something we'd like to add. Thoughts are now turning to post.
As I've mentioned now and again, we've got 6 mins in rough cut. Now that I've gained a day here, I'm going to try and bump that up to three finished scenes, if not four.
I don't think I've ever detailed the entire post process that I've adopted so might as well explain now. I'm buying (yes buying, not downloading) the Adobe CS5 Production Suite next month and so, in the meantime have been assembling the rough cut in Adobe Premiere Elements 7 as the Elements projects can be opened in Premiere. I'm investing in this software as this won't be the only film I make and even if it was, I don't want scAIRcrows to be screened in a rough looking state. I see far too many films on YouTube etc where people have just edited the footage from the camera and uploaded it. So there's differences in colour between shots and sound jumps around - I think to myself that these people obviously spend some amount of time filming and editing their work. I mean even if it is a couple of friends knocking something up, editing footage alone is time consuming, let alone scripting, planning and shooting. I don't understand how anyone could be happy putting that time in and then releasing the product in a haphazard manner. Because a lot of it is relatively easy fixes. They might take time but they're easy. And I think it makes the world of difference.
So I'll spend the time getting it right. But anyway, what we've agreed is to watch all the takes from a scene, choose the best ones and then I go away and cut it together. We then watch that and see if that works and from there, decide if it's a final edit. If it is, it just awaits delivery of the editing software so that sound and picture can be tweaked. If not, I go back and tidy it up until we're happy with it. I should note that whilst I am viewing this all with other people, I am making the final decision on this. I just really value other opinions as I'm way too close to it.
At the same time, scoring for the film is now beginning, that should be a very fun and interesting process. It's the one part of this film that I'm fully hands off - I've given the composer the brief of doing whatever he wants and we'll work backwards from there. I keep saying it, about stifling creativity with the acting - it's the same with the music. I don't want to instantly limit the scope of the score by saying it needs to sound like this or that. I have ideas but I'd rather be surprised by this. I think that you can't have a favourite anything. There can't be the perfect film/song/food because unless you've watched every film ever made, every song ever written/performed and every food the world has to offer - you don't really know what your favourite is. Whatever your favourite film is - there's a film even better out there somewhere. You may never discover it but it exists. And that's why you have to be open to trying things and not limiting yourself to what's comfortable. I could tell you exactly how I see the score for scAIRcrows being but I can guarantee you that it wouldn't be the best score for the film because I'm thinking very tunnel visioned about it. In a way, that sort of brief may be seen as a cop out but who, in a creative position, would turn down the opportunity to do exactly what THEY wanted to do? If someone said to me, come up with another script and gave me no spec, all the better for me. I mean it may turn out that, without guidance, I end up creating something that the person doesn't like but what have I lost? I haven't lost any time because I have a script that I can use if I want. So that's my view on scoring the film - we'll see how that goes...
The webpage will become a site very shortly. It's something that I'm going to work on today. I want to start promoting the film but what I have up so far isn't great. Whilst the film's progress is well covered, if you go to the website, you realise that if you're not familiar with the film - there's absolutely nothing there to tell you what it is. Doesn't even indicate that it's a film. That all needs to be sorted out before I can start issuing the link.
And maybe we'll see a trailer soon. I am a bit cautious though as I don't want even the trailer to go out 'unfinished'. Maybe before we dive into the colour correcting/ sound mixing on the film, we'll cut the trailer... I know that something needs to go up soon - I keep talking about the shoots and I put pictures up but none of the footage - I am just very careful about getting it right. Like the Erroll video that we put up - the sound was synced but unmixed and the picture wasn't cleaned up at all and then YouTube totally destroyed the image - just want to make sure that everything that goes out, I'm happy with.
I also mentioned this time last week that I'd unearthed some old stuff relating to scAIRcrows. Now, I totally don't remember this but I can prove that scAIRcrows as a concept was around since at least 22nd July 2009. What I dug up was a trailer that I'd cut together using images pulled off the web etc as a way of communicating the idea - but it never got finished. I'll upload it at some point though, just as a curiosity. The more interesting thing though was that I'd started writing a feature length script for scAIRcrows, I found what I'd written for that. Again, I'll post as a curiosity at some point. It doesn't bear any resemblance to the film as it stands. It's definitely more generic and there's an attempt at explaining what's going on with the scAIRcrows. I'll say this here and now - I am writing a full length scAIRcrows script. Not really with the intent of making it, unless someone put money up for it, but just to have it in case anyone was ever interested. It's a continuation of the story in the short, carrying on a character's journey but it isn't anything like the short - there's separate plot lines running through the script with them inevitably converging at some point. Only one of the three plot lines occurs in the same tone as the short. Whereas this feature script I was writing over a year ago would have very much been like a more stretched out version of the short as far as tone and structure goes. That is the one thing I'd say about anything creative - finish planning/mapping something out and then leave it and create something else. I find that the longer things sit with me, the more they gel. Believe it or not, there's many different ways you can portray flying scarecrows in film (if you don't believe me - ask me what happens in the feature and what I'd do with the sequel to that feature) and where I was heading with it a year ago was the most generic place it could have ended up. There's definitely something to be said about not rushing into things...
Okay, so that's generally the status of the film - there'll probably be another update fairly soonish depending on what I manage to get through today. Until then - keep an eye out for scAIRcrows on the horror-izon.
Anyway, I'll try and forget about that (try being the operative word - it will bug the shit out of me if today ends up being fine).
So we've two days of shooting proper left - with potentially another shoot day added on as there's something we'd like to add. Thoughts are now turning to post.
As I've mentioned now and again, we've got 6 mins in rough cut. Now that I've gained a day here, I'm going to try and bump that up to three finished scenes, if not four.
I don't think I've ever detailed the entire post process that I've adopted so might as well explain now. I'm buying (yes buying, not downloading) the Adobe CS5 Production Suite next month and so, in the meantime have been assembling the rough cut in Adobe Premiere Elements 7 as the Elements projects can be opened in Premiere. I'm investing in this software as this won't be the only film I make and even if it was, I don't want scAIRcrows to be screened in a rough looking state. I see far too many films on YouTube etc where people have just edited the footage from the camera and uploaded it. So there's differences in colour between shots and sound jumps around - I think to myself that these people obviously spend some amount of time filming and editing their work. I mean even if it is a couple of friends knocking something up, editing footage alone is time consuming, let alone scripting, planning and shooting. I don't understand how anyone could be happy putting that time in and then releasing the product in a haphazard manner. Because a lot of it is relatively easy fixes. They might take time but they're easy. And I think it makes the world of difference.
So I'll spend the time getting it right. But anyway, what we've agreed is to watch all the takes from a scene, choose the best ones and then I go away and cut it together. We then watch that and see if that works and from there, decide if it's a final edit. If it is, it just awaits delivery of the editing software so that sound and picture can be tweaked. If not, I go back and tidy it up until we're happy with it. I should note that whilst I am viewing this all with other people, I am making the final decision on this. I just really value other opinions as I'm way too close to it.
At the same time, scoring for the film is now beginning, that should be a very fun and interesting process. It's the one part of this film that I'm fully hands off - I've given the composer the brief of doing whatever he wants and we'll work backwards from there. I keep saying it, about stifling creativity with the acting - it's the same with the music. I don't want to instantly limit the scope of the score by saying it needs to sound like this or that. I have ideas but I'd rather be surprised by this. I think that you can't have a favourite anything. There can't be the perfect film/song/food because unless you've watched every film ever made, every song ever written/performed and every food the world has to offer - you don't really know what your favourite is. Whatever your favourite film is - there's a film even better out there somewhere. You may never discover it but it exists. And that's why you have to be open to trying things and not limiting yourself to what's comfortable. I could tell you exactly how I see the score for scAIRcrows being but I can guarantee you that it wouldn't be the best score for the film because I'm thinking very tunnel visioned about it. In a way, that sort of brief may be seen as a cop out but who, in a creative position, would turn down the opportunity to do exactly what THEY wanted to do? If someone said to me, come up with another script and gave me no spec, all the better for me. I mean it may turn out that, without guidance, I end up creating something that the person doesn't like but what have I lost? I haven't lost any time because I have a script that I can use if I want. So that's my view on scoring the film - we'll see how that goes...
The webpage will become a site very shortly. It's something that I'm going to work on today. I want to start promoting the film but what I have up so far isn't great. Whilst the film's progress is well covered, if you go to the website, you realise that if you're not familiar with the film - there's absolutely nothing there to tell you what it is. Doesn't even indicate that it's a film. That all needs to be sorted out before I can start issuing the link.
And maybe we'll see a trailer soon. I am a bit cautious though as I don't want even the trailer to go out 'unfinished'. Maybe before we dive into the colour correcting/ sound mixing on the film, we'll cut the trailer... I know that something needs to go up soon - I keep talking about the shoots and I put pictures up but none of the footage - I am just very careful about getting it right. Like the Erroll video that we put up - the sound was synced but unmixed and the picture wasn't cleaned up at all and then YouTube totally destroyed the image - just want to make sure that everything that goes out, I'm happy with.
I also mentioned this time last week that I'd unearthed some old stuff relating to scAIRcrows. Now, I totally don't remember this but I can prove that scAIRcrows as a concept was around since at least 22nd July 2009. What I dug up was a trailer that I'd cut together using images pulled off the web etc as a way of communicating the idea - but it never got finished. I'll upload it at some point though, just as a curiosity. The more interesting thing though was that I'd started writing a feature length script for scAIRcrows, I found what I'd written for that. Again, I'll post as a curiosity at some point. It doesn't bear any resemblance to the film as it stands. It's definitely more generic and there's an attempt at explaining what's going on with the scAIRcrows. I'll say this here and now - I am writing a full length scAIRcrows script. Not really with the intent of making it, unless someone put money up for it, but just to have it in case anyone was ever interested. It's a continuation of the story in the short, carrying on a character's journey but it isn't anything like the short - there's separate plot lines running through the script with them inevitably converging at some point. Only one of the three plot lines occurs in the same tone as the short. Whereas this feature script I was writing over a year ago would have very much been like a more stretched out version of the short as far as tone and structure goes. That is the one thing I'd say about anything creative - finish planning/mapping something out and then leave it and create something else. I find that the longer things sit with me, the more they gel. Believe it or not, there's many different ways you can portray flying scarecrows in film (if you don't believe me - ask me what happens in the feature and what I'd do with the sequel to that feature) and where I was heading with it a year ago was the most generic place it could have ended up. There's definitely something to be said about not rushing into things...
Okay, so that's generally the status of the film - there'll probably be another update fairly soonish depending on what I manage to get through today. Until then - keep an eye out for scAIRcrows on the horror-izon.
Friday, 1 October 2010
On Acting...
I've been wanting to write this since last Monday but then I lost interest as I convinced myself that it's a boring thing to talk about and I only wanted to write about it to express my thoughts on the matter.
But then we had one of the three actors in a shoot no-show on Saturday and it brought my desire to write this back to life - it was clearly meant to be written and maybe had I put this up before the shoot - the actor would've turned up!
Anyway, my experience making this film is something I'm finding hard to describe. It isn't weird or normal or anything. Everything's just worked out and, looking back, it doesn't feel as though it was as much work as it actually was. I guess the best word to describe the experience is that it feels right. It doesn't feel like I'm pretending and the footage that's slowly coming out so far demonstrates that.
But my main concern going into scAIRcrows was the acting. You know, I can write whatever I want and I can film whatever I want as long as I have the money to throw at it but at the end of the day, it's effectively a shared piece. Because I can't possibly fill every role behind and in front of the camera. I have to put the film into the hands of others. And yes, ultimately, it's my hand guiding the entire thing but it can never be 100% mine for the fact that there are other people involved.
My approach to this, except in a few circumstances where what I envisaged absolutely had to be shot, is to let the actors bring their own ideas to the table. In what we've shot so far, I could tell everyone exactly how I wanted it to play, could've asked for take after take of lines read differently until they matched that perfect image I had in my head but for me personally, that's not the right way. I stress, for me. It might be accepted that it's generally the wrong way to work with actors, I don't know. What I do know is that every single person we took on 'got' the film. And also beyond that. And rather than restrict that and tunnel it into what I thought it should be, I thought it best to let the actors go with it - knowing that they weren't going to veer off wildly.
If you've been following the blogs and Facebook/Twitter updates, you'll know that 6 mins of the film is in rough cut and I've been showing this footage to people that aren't involved with the film. And the feedback's been fairly positive. There's a few things I recognise still need some work but then I've never said that it was finished footage. But, the one thing that keeps being mentioned is the acting. Everyone is amazed that I managed to work with actors as good as they are and the word 'natural' pops up every time. I'm sketching out a feature with someone for late next year and they said that if we had acting of that caliber for this feature project, we'd be sorted. And I'd like to think a very tiny part of that is down to me not forcing them to play things certain ways, not stifling any life that's present...
My point so far is that I'm more than happy with the acting in the film. I don't need to write this. If I wasn't, I'd just keep quiet. And I'm not even writing it for the benefit of the actors because I genuinely have no idea who is reading these. I'm saying this because it's the truth.
We've found that casting the remaining roles has been trickier than the leads. Initially, we offered them all to the people that came down and auditioned for the leads. Understandably, the majority weren't happy taking smaller parts but a good few were which I think reflects well on them. Because let it be said that we didn't come across anyone in the three days of auditions that we thought was bad. I'd even go as far to say that the majority of them could play lead roles - but they just weren't suited to the leads in my script. And I think that's a key point to make, people weren't turned down because they were bad, they didn't get the part because they just didn't suit it. With the right role, I could see myself working with most of them as a lead. Much like I'll never be chosen to write/direct a romantic comedy. Doesn't make me bad (though that's open for debate!), it's just not an area where I'd fit. And so, for the people that recognised that and saw that we still wanted to work with them - I think it says a lot about their professionalism that they were still happy to be involved and not look down on the project.
We lost a few of them en-route. The more it happens, the more I begin to doubt the reasons for not showing. I believed people at the start but now I don't anymore. And that's really bad but that's what it's come down to, people have made me cynical. But we've battled on and I think we're nearly there now with only one particular stand out problem - detailed in the blog on shoot day five: http://scaircrows.blogspot.com/2010/09/shoot-day-five-25092010.html
But, getting to that point is where I had my first unfavourable encounter with an actor. We'd put out an advert to a few places for this part. It was a small part, was in a three page scene with a fairly consistent amount of dialogue. I asked for video auditions and this is where I got slated - by someone who was over 50 and clearly was never going to be considered for the part.
He told me I had gall asking for a video audition, that no actor worthwhile would want to be in the project being unpaid and told me to get real.
Okay, the film's called scAIRcrows and it's about flying scarecrows. Either people are going to get it or they aren't and I totally accept that a lot of people won't. I'm expecting criticism on it. And so, I wouldn't have risen to these bitter rantings had they not gone beyond the film itself.
So I replied in a very polite, well written response explaining exactly why I was writing back and the guy admitted surprise at my response.
The first thing that really got to me and was the only thing he needed to say to get my back up was the comment about worthwhile actors. I thought it was a terrible thing to do, to put down other actors just by their association with this. And every single person that has worked on this thus far has been more than worthwhile. It's whether I make the film worthwhile the only doubt on the horizon. So I had to defend the people that I've worked with - not too sure what the definition of worthwhile is anyway? I think, not even considering acting quality, anyone that bothers showing up is worthwhile. I'm not paying anyone so what can I expect from people? That I got the acting ability too was just a nice bonus. I realise I'm lucky and will be forever grateful to every single one of my 'worthwhile' actors.
The other thing was this resistance to video auditions. I admit that this seems like a slightly more contentious area.
The way I view it is as follows - this may or may not come across as controversial, I don't know - I doubt it but we'll see!
We're now in the day and age where even if you don't own a video camera, you know someone that does. Guaranteed. Whether it's an actual camcorder, a video phone or the video function on a stills camera - everyone has access to video somehow. No-one could tell me that if they don't own any of the above, they don't know anyone that does. So, I don't think it's a problem of sourcing the technology.
Is it a matter then of professionalism? The argument from the actor was that there's showreels to help you decide. But I'm not viewing those showreels and then deciding to audition them, I'm making a final decision on a part and need something. I can't really afford to hold auditions for every bit part in the film (bear in mind that when I say bit part, each role carries across at least two or three pages) nor do I have the time. So why is it such a bad thing to ask for a video audition? I know it may be a relatively new thing (if indeed it is) but technology moves and so everything has to move with it.
And the reason I ask for it for the bit parts is that I've been paying for insurance and permits for these shoots, it costs money. My own money. Not a single penny from anyone else has funded this film. No company involvement or anything. My complete and utter risk. And I think, for that risk, I need some insurance that these actors can be trusted. By asking for a video audition, the very act of them agreeing to it and providing it proves to me that they're interested in the project and prepared to put a little bit of effort in to get the role. I've mentioned it before but it's what made Blue Jigsaw the clear winner for us for the role of Damon, the other guy we were considering refused to do a video audition, believing his showreel to be good enough. It wasn't. But that was beside the point. He expected me to take a risk with my money on him with absolutely no indication of how serious he was about starring in the film. He may well have been the greatest actor in the world but his attitude lost him consideration for the part.
And yes, I do appreciate that these are smaller parts but again, to me they're not. I wrote them into the film for a reason, if they were insignificant, why bother putting them in? So, is it not right for me to seek some assurance that people are serious about the project? That's a fair thing for me to expect surely.
I did get a slight us versus them vibe from it, the evil directors exploiting the poor unpaid actors. I've said it time and time again, I want to pay people and that's no lie. In a smaller production, I will but in something that has over ten speaking parts, the film simply wouldn't get made. And if that was the case, no-one was willing to do it so it didn't get made, so be it. It wouldn't change the fact that I couldn't pay people. At least now, the film has been made and everyone has a bit more working experience with something to show for it at the end. And maybe a little more exposure (guys - I've name dropped you all on this blog whenever I could!). So everyone wins. And if it all somehow goes horribly wrong, the leads lost a weekend of their time, everyone else a day. I've lost months of work and a few thousand pounds. So I can totally empathise with unpaid actors. And this film won't make it's money back unless it somehow wins prizes at festivals, if it gets that far... That's not the intention with making this anyway - it's just to finally create something.
Also, I do unpaid work with no financial benefit to myself - I film all the The Citizen Smiths gigs (http://www.thecitizensmiths.co.uk/). The fact that I'm friends of one of the band members means nothing as far as my reasoning for doing it - I'm doing it for myself to get practice and build up confidence shooting in a very pressured situation (no re-takes!). Of course it's obviously to help them out with content too but I recognise that in a creative environment, every opportunity is just that and sometimes it's worth sacrificing the material benefit for it. But yeah, I sit behind a pair of cameras for the entirety of those gigs, one static, one manned for close ups so I know what it's like to put all your effort into something for nothing more than to see a product that you're hopefully happy with at the end of the day. I can empathise. I understand.
So these video auditions offer some insurance. Not much but it's better than 'no, watch my showreel or get someone else'. The only other problem I can see with video auditions is that you're handing footage of yourself over to someone who could then disseminate it. Which is a fair enough argument but doesn't that also hold true for the person videoing live auditions? I still have all the audition tapes from the scAIRcrows auditions. I wouldn't dream of giving them to ANYONE. Even the producers don't have a copy of them. Likewise, I wouldn't let the video auditions leave my hands. There's one or two I would like to post but that will be after arranging it with the people in question. I guess it's a matter of trust I suppose and I imagine that most filmmakers out there can be trusted as can most actors. There's always going to be an element of untrustworthy people - there is in all walks of life and unfortunately, we'll all encounter them at some point probably, especially in a creative environment where people are vulnerable (actors and filmmakers - I wouldn't want anyone distributing the scAIRcrows script and I have to trust that everyone that has a copy won't do that. Realistically, it probably wouldn't get too far but that's not the point, I've surrendered a piece of work that's personal to me and put it in the hands and trust of strangers). It's just the nature of the beast.
The outcome of this is probably the funniest thing. Though I justified myself to this man, this being my first film, I'm unsure of 'acting etiquette'. Is it rude to ask for video auditions? Unprofessional? Because he sowed the seed of doubt in my mind, we hired someone based on a showreel (turns out it weren't the guy in the showreel too!). And guess what, he didn't turn up and the other two actors, the two that had both video auditioned did! So maybe in this instance, I was right. Might have gone against etiquette (if it exists) but when I did what I wanted to do, I got what I wanted. When I didn't, I didn't.
Last time I ever take a 'professional's' advice.
Goes to show you that I've got a better handle on this thing than it might seem to the outside world!
So those are my thoughts and feelings on the matter of unpaid work and video auditions.
What I would really love and encourage would be for an actor, whether they've worked with me or not, to guest blog on this subject from their point of view. Disagree with me, agree, if you want to do it, write it and I'll post it exactly as it comes in to me. I want to show that I'm open for debate on this and don't want to just give my side of things without the other side sharing theirs. Like I said near the beginning about letting actors do their own thing within reason - I'm open to thoughts and opinions so any actors out there, take this as an invitation to have a go or to agree. I see everything about this project as a learning experience and enjoy seeing different sides of a story.
I've lost sight of how long this piece is but I felt it an interesting break from the relatively update oriented blog this has become in recent weeks.
See you soon for your next slice of sc-aerial terror!
But then we had one of the three actors in a shoot no-show on Saturday and it brought my desire to write this back to life - it was clearly meant to be written and maybe had I put this up before the shoot - the actor would've turned up!
Anyway, my experience making this film is something I'm finding hard to describe. It isn't weird or normal or anything. Everything's just worked out and, looking back, it doesn't feel as though it was as much work as it actually was. I guess the best word to describe the experience is that it feels right. It doesn't feel like I'm pretending and the footage that's slowly coming out so far demonstrates that.
But my main concern going into scAIRcrows was the acting. You know, I can write whatever I want and I can film whatever I want as long as I have the money to throw at it but at the end of the day, it's effectively a shared piece. Because I can't possibly fill every role behind and in front of the camera. I have to put the film into the hands of others. And yes, ultimately, it's my hand guiding the entire thing but it can never be 100% mine for the fact that there are other people involved.
My approach to this, except in a few circumstances where what I envisaged absolutely had to be shot, is to let the actors bring their own ideas to the table. In what we've shot so far, I could tell everyone exactly how I wanted it to play, could've asked for take after take of lines read differently until they matched that perfect image I had in my head but for me personally, that's not the right way. I stress, for me. It might be accepted that it's generally the wrong way to work with actors, I don't know. What I do know is that every single person we took on 'got' the film. And also beyond that. And rather than restrict that and tunnel it into what I thought it should be, I thought it best to let the actors go with it - knowing that they weren't going to veer off wildly.
If you've been following the blogs and Facebook/Twitter updates, you'll know that 6 mins of the film is in rough cut and I've been showing this footage to people that aren't involved with the film. And the feedback's been fairly positive. There's a few things I recognise still need some work but then I've never said that it was finished footage. But, the one thing that keeps being mentioned is the acting. Everyone is amazed that I managed to work with actors as good as they are and the word 'natural' pops up every time. I'm sketching out a feature with someone for late next year and they said that if we had acting of that caliber for this feature project, we'd be sorted. And I'd like to think a very tiny part of that is down to me not forcing them to play things certain ways, not stifling any life that's present...
My point so far is that I'm more than happy with the acting in the film. I don't need to write this. If I wasn't, I'd just keep quiet. And I'm not even writing it for the benefit of the actors because I genuinely have no idea who is reading these. I'm saying this because it's the truth.
We've found that casting the remaining roles has been trickier than the leads. Initially, we offered them all to the people that came down and auditioned for the leads. Understandably, the majority weren't happy taking smaller parts but a good few were which I think reflects well on them. Because let it be said that we didn't come across anyone in the three days of auditions that we thought was bad. I'd even go as far to say that the majority of them could play lead roles - but they just weren't suited to the leads in my script. And I think that's a key point to make, people weren't turned down because they were bad, they didn't get the part because they just didn't suit it. With the right role, I could see myself working with most of them as a lead. Much like I'll never be chosen to write/direct a romantic comedy. Doesn't make me bad (though that's open for debate!), it's just not an area where I'd fit. And so, for the people that recognised that and saw that we still wanted to work with them - I think it says a lot about their professionalism that they were still happy to be involved and not look down on the project.
We lost a few of them en-route. The more it happens, the more I begin to doubt the reasons for not showing. I believed people at the start but now I don't anymore. And that's really bad but that's what it's come down to, people have made me cynical. But we've battled on and I think we're nearly there now with only one particular stand out problem - detailed in the blog on shoot day five: http://scaircrows.blogspot.com/2010/09/shoot-day-five-25092010.html
But, getting to that point is where I had my first unfavourable encounter with an actor. We'd put out an advert to a few places for this part. It was a small part, was in a three page scene with a fairly consistent amount of dialogue. I asked for video auditions and this is where I got slated - by someone who was over 50 and clearly was never going to be considered for the part.
He told me I had gall asking for a video audition, that no actor worthwhile would want to be in the project being unpaid and told me to get real.
Okay, the film's called scAIRcrows and it's about flying scarecrows. Either people are going to get it or they aren't and I totally accept that a lot of people won't. I'm expecting criticism on it. And so, I wouldn't have risen to these bitter rantings had they not gone beyond the film itself.
So I replied in a very polite, well written response explaining exactly why I was writing back and the guy admitted surprise at my response.
The first thing that really got to me and was the only thing he needed to say to get my back up was the comment about worthwhile actors. I thought it was a terrible thing to do, to put down other actors just by their association with this. And every single person that has worked on this thus far has been more than worthwhile. It's whether I make the film worthwhile the only doubt on the horizon. So I had to defend the people that I've worked with - not too sure what the definition of worthwhile is anyway? I think, not even considering acting quality, anyone that bothers showing up is worthwhile. I'm not paying anyone so what can I expect from people? That I got the acting ability too was just a nice bonus. I realise I'm lucky and will be forever grateful to every single one of my 'worthwhile' actors.
The other thing was this resistance to video auditions. I admit that this seems like a slightly more contentious area.
The way I view it is as follows - this may or may not come across as controversial, I don't know - I doubt it but we'll see!
We're now in the day and age where even if you don't own a video camera, you know someone that does. Guaranteed. Whether it's an actual camcorder, a video phone or the video function on a stills camera - everyone has access to video somehow. No-one could tell me that if they don't own any of the above, they don't know anyone that does. So, I don't think it's a problem of sourcing the technology.
Is it a matter then of professionalism? The argument from the actor was that there's showreels to help you decide. But I'm not viewing those showreels and then deciding to audition them, I'm making a final decision on a part and need something. I can't really afford to hold auditions for every bit part in the film (bear in mind that when I say bit part, each role carries across at least two or three pages) nor do I have the time. So why is it such a bad thing to ask for a video audition? I know it may be a relatively new thing (if indeed it is) but technology moves and so everything has to move with it.
And the reason I ask for it for the bit parts is that I've been paying for insurance and permits for these shoots, it costs money. My own money. Not a single penny from anyone else has funded this film. No company involvement or anything. My complete and utter risk. And I think, for that risk, I need some insurance that these actors can be trusted. By asking for a video audition, the very act of them agreeing to it and providing it proves to me that they're interested in the project and prepared to put a little bit of effort in to get the role. I've mentioned it before but it's what made Blue Jigsaw the clear winner for us for the role of Damon, the other guy we were considering refused to do a video audition, believing his showreel to be good enough. It wasn't. But that was beside the point. He expected me to take a risk with my money on him with absolutely no indication of how serious he was about starring in the film. He may well have been the greatest actor in the world but his attitude lost him consideration for the part.
And yes, I do appreciate that these are smaller parts but again, to me they're not. I wrote them into the film for a reason, if they were insignificant, why bother putting them in? So, is it not right for me to seek some assurance that people are serious about the project? That's a fair thing for me to expect surely.
I did get a slight us versus them vibe from it, the evil directors exploiting the poor unpaid actors. I've said it time and time again, I want to pay people and that's no lie. In a smaller production, I will but in something that has over ten speaking parts, the film simply wouldn't get made. And if that was the case, no-one was willing to do it so it didn't get made, so be it. It wouldn't change the fact that I couldn't pay people. At least now, the film has been made and everyone has a bit more working experience with something to show for it at the end. And maybe a little more exposure (guys - I've name dropped you all on this blog whenever I could!). So everyone wins. And if it all somehow goes horribly wrong, the leads lost a weekend of their time, everyone else a day. I've lost months of work and a few thousand pounds. So I can totally empathise with unpaid actors. And this film won't make it's money back unless it somehow wins prizes at festivals, if it gets that far... That's not the intention with making this anyway - it's just to finally create something.
Also, I do unpaid work with no financial benefit to myself - I film all the The Citizen Smiths gigs (http://www.thecitizensmiths.co.uk/). The fact that I'm friends of one of the band members means nothing as far as my reasoning for doing it - I'm doing it for myself to get practice and build up confidence shooting in a very pressured situation (no re-takes!). Of course it's obviously to help them out with content too but I recognise that in a creative environment, every opportunity is just that and sometimes it's worth sacrificing the material benefit for it. But yeah, I sit behind a pair of cameras for the entirety of those gigs, one static, one manned for close ups so I know what it's like to put all your effort into something for nothing more than to see a product that you're hopefully happy with at the end of the day. I can empathise. I understand.
So these video auditions offer some insurance. Not much but it's better than 'no, watch my showreel or get someone else'. The only other problem I can see with video auditions is that you're handing footage of yourself over to someone who could then disseminate it. Which is a fair enough argument but doesn't that also hold true for the person videoing live auditions? I still have all the audition tapes from the scAIRcrows auditions. I wouldn't dream of giving them to ANYONE. Even the producers don't have a copy of them. Likewise, I wouldn't let the video auditions leave my hands. There's one or two I would like to post but that will be after arranging it with the people in question. I guess it's a matter of trust I suppose and I imagine that most filmmakers out there can be trusted as can most actors. There's always going to be an element of untrustworthy people - there is in all walks of life and unfortunately, we'll all encounter them at some point probably, especially in a creative environment where people are vulnerable (actors and filmmakers - I wouldn't want anyone distributing the scAIRcrows script and I have to trust that everyone that has a copy won't do that. Realistically, it probably wouldn't get too far but that's not the point, I've surrendered a piece of work that's personal to me and put it in the hands and trust of strangers). It's just the nature of the beast.
The outcome of this is probably the funniest thing. Though I justified myself to this man, this being my first film, I'm unsure of 'acting etiquette'. Is it rude to ask for video auditions? Unprofessional? Because he sowed the seed of doubt in my mind, we hired someone based on a showreel (turns out it weren't the guy in the showreel too!). And guess what, he didn't turn up and the other two actors, the two that had both video auditioned did! So maybe in this instance, I was right. Might have gone against etiquette (if it exists) but when I did what I wanted to do, I got what I wanted. When I didn't, I didn't.
Last time I ever take a 'professional's' advice.
Goes to show you that I've got a better handle on this thing than it might seem to the outside world!
So those are my thoughts and feelings on the matter of unpaid work and video auditions.
What I would really love and encourage would be for an actor, whether they've worked with me or not, to guest blog on this subject from their point of view. Disagree with me, agree, if you want to do it, write it and I'll post it exactly as it comes in to me. I want to show that I'm open for debate on this and don't want to just give my side of things without the other side sharing theirs. Like I said near the beginning about letting actors do their own thing within reason - I'm open to thoughts and opinions so any actors out there, take this as an invitation to have a go or to agree. I see everything about this project as a learning experience and enjoy seeing different sides of a story.
I've lost sight of how long this piece is but I felt it an interesting break from the relatively update oriented blog this has become in recent weeks.
See you soon for your next slice of sc-aerial terror!
Tuesday, 28 September 2010
The Shoot - Day Five - 25.09.2010
I should start by saying that it's a bit strange to still be writing these shoot blogs. The plan, as we'd sold it to everyone that auditioned and in the initial ad, was two weekends of shooting. The 14/15th August and the 4/5th September - with possibly an extra day dropped in there somewhere for the wraparound scenes (the only scenes that don't actually take place in the field/park).
After the first weekend killed the crew, we knew that another weekend, whilst working full time jobs, just wasn't going to happen. The problem wasn't just the shoot but all the things that had to happen around it - the one that will be forever mentioned is the charging of the camera batteries...
So we were going to move one day out of that weekend, to the following one. Which we did. And we stuck to that shoot (well, half of it anyway as an actor pulled out). The day that were going to stick on I believe got moved twice because of pull outs and relative difficulty to recast.
We eventually shot that day's work Saturday just gone.
First off, this blog, as everyone that was there that day will already guess, is going to be quite negative. So, I want to get the positive stuff out of the way first.
The two actors in this scene were great - we were hit by a pretty major problem that I'll get to shortly, and as I told them on the day, I'm so glad we had who we had because they turned the whole experience into a laugh a minute and I really loved every second of working with them.
I always maintained to my producers on this that in casting, I was looking for acting ability as well as looking at whether I could spend a considerable amount of time with these people. Obviously, this was something we could vet in the auditions for the leads (not to worry guys that landed the parts - you were, honestly, my first choice as far as ability went) but not so much in the video auditions that we held for the other parts.
Though we'd only dealt with everyone else via email, it was clear to see that everyone else was really cool and into the project so I had nothing to worry about but without actually meeting them, you can never be 100%.
So yeah, you guys totally made the day for me and if I ever have any more 'trouble' shoots - I hope you're there with me!
Another positive is that the whole thing is starting to work a lot better now - I personally have hit a comfort/confidence level and am feeling extremely proud of what we're pulling off. I'm now confident enough to jump straight in and set up - it's definitely getting easier.
I think one thing we could all agree on was it was freezing! I couldn't believe how cold it was out there - especially as I managed to get sunburned by the end of it! There's a few takes where the camera's wobbling because I'm freezing so bad and I just couldn't wait for the take to end so i could try and warm myself up. Fun little bit of trivia actually - we shoot in the same place that we shot with the leads but you'd never know because of the cut grass and the fact that it's green there now!
And one last funny thing - one of our scAIRcrows lunged towards a passing kid. As this kid walked past, the scAIRcrow fell over, falling towards, but not on, the kid. If he grows up with an irrational fear of scarecrows - we'll know why if the poor child himself doesn't!
Now, I will choose my words carefully here. The day was spoilt by an actor not showing up. Not the shoot or what will end up in the film. We've even thrown in a nice little nod to the actor - when everyone watches the scene, I hope they laugh! We did! It's all about turning something negative into something positive and I love what we've done to address the non appearance of the actor, and, by turn, the character. Remember to keep an eye out for it in the finished film!
I won't name names as it's unprofessional but I will recount the series of events that occurred up to and on the day.
First off, the scene in the script is very big. Very ambitious. When we first experienced drop outs, we rescheduled once I think before we decided to cut the scene back a bit. So between dealing with actors dropping out and rescheduling days, we cut two characters out of the scene, leaving three.
When we analysed the scene, the two parts that we cut were fairly thankless and to be honest, it wasn't much of a surprise that people were having second thoughts about them. So we decided that we could make the scene stronger by concentrating the focus. And with three characters instead of five, that was easier to achieve.
We still had to re advertise the third part after another actor unfortunately couldn't make that day. We did that very quickly with the ad going up exactly a week before shooting. So we knew we had to act fast on this.
Somehow, we managed to pull it together in time with us deciding on an actor based on his apparent enthusiasm.
This is what confuses me the most about this - in the run up, we had various email exchanges, including one crucially stating that I was about to pay for the permit and insurance for the day and I needed solid confirmation because of this. That was fine so I went ahead and dropped £300 to make the shoot official. I will admit that the one thing we did do was change the meeting point the Friday night before the Saturday of the shoot but it was on the same tube line, one stop down. So really, it just necessitated staying on the train another two mins. And even if he had gone to the other tube station, I would have met him there anyway but in interests of full disclosure, should I get contacted by him about this, I want to be fair.
So Saturday morning, the other two get there before the meeting time and so we're just waiting for this third actor, who I'll call Three from now on.
I get a call from Three at the meeting time, expecting him to be looking out for us or, at the worst, at the other station (even though he'd confirmed via email that he'd seen the location change). Instead, I get a question. The question was, what time are we shooting? It's a question I'll never understand because even if it took an hour to start up from the meeting time, I told everyone to meet me at that time - I wasn't being malicious to the other two (they do have names - sorry guys - Richard and Miranda) by making them meet me at ten whilst Three could have another two hours in bed. I said we were planning to shoot straight away but we thought we needed him so I said we could wait if you could let me know how long it'd take to get there. He said two hours and I had to be okay with that.
What bugged the most about this was that Richard and Miranda showed up on time and it was an insult to them who'd given up their Saturday morning lie in to work on this crazy little film. I can live with people not having respect for me but I can't hack it when I've got other people involved with something and, by proxy, I've let them down. I can even let go of the fact that I very nearly wasted £300 but I don't want to waste anyone's time and goodwill. Unlike others I guess who patently don't care.
I must stress that this is not a misunderstanding or, if it is, Three has made no attempt to alleviate my suspicion. I'll get to the reasons why...
So, we make our way to the location and I had a brief word with Rich and Miranda about the scene though I really wanted to read through the scene with everyone so that we had the scene down before shooting as no-one had met each other/rehearsed etc.
About an hour later, I call Three. Or at least I thought I was calling Three. No. Turns out that the phone he called me from didn't even belong to him, it belonged to Dave. Dave told me that he couldn't see Three on the internet (?) so he must be on his way to the shoot. He also let me know that Three wasn't feeling well and gave me Three's actual number. I find it incredibly hard to believe that Dave had no idea where Three was considering Three had used his phone an hour before - they were clearly occupying the same space! I should also mention the whole 'not feeling well' thing - when Three called me from Dave's phone at ten, he didn't sound well but it was clearly through some some afflicted method.
So, at that point, it's starting to look ropey but to us at the time, it still seemed like he was en route so all might be well.
Maybe about 45 mins later, I call Three's number as given to me by Dave. The phone kept going straight to voicemail. Dave had mentioned that Three didn't have any credit - one thing I assumed a 'professional' actor would need was instant access to a phone but what do I know?
But through all of this, we thought, well, he said he could be there at twelve so Wayne left the set to be at the station at the rescheduled time. He returned on his own. My guess? The guy passed out shortly after speaking to me at ten. Again, in the interests of fairness, I should state that all our phones were off for shooting as they were interfering with the audio but I was constantly checking AND we didn't start shooting until Wayne returned at something like half twelve so if Three had arrived later - there wasn't anything we could do about that but when I checked my phone during breaks, I had no voicemails or text messages.
But, for anyone that may think I'm being harsh, what happened next, or didn't happen is the most telling thing. And this is why I can quite confidently say that the guy is a waste of space with no respect for others. I appreciate that things can go wrong, for all the other pull outs we've had - even the ones at 3am the day of the shoot, I've accepted them and not gone into one like this. Things can unfortunately happen. And if his mother got taken ill or something similar, of course I'll understand. And I'd also accept that getting back to me might not be the first thing on your mind. I fully get that and this is the thing that irritates me - if you know me, you'll know I'm the most reasonable guys going. I expect that not everyone's going to be on my page. I expect things to go wrong. But, even if the worst thing in the world happened to you, something that was so devastating that you weren't physically or emotionally able to let someone you'd made commitments with know you couldn't make it - would you let them know as soon as you were able? Or would you go into Facebook and delete the director as a friend and remove the film as a 'like'? Yep. I've yet to hear from Three but he still had time to do those two things. Which speaks volumes. And that's why I KNOW I'm right on this one. If he wants to reply to this and try and justify himself, fine. But I don't think anything can explain how deleting us from Facebook came before a quick note to say you were sick etc. So yes, I call BS and will forever more. Thanks! Funny thing as well - a quick internet search on the dude suggests that I'm not the first person that he's done this to and I'm tempted to contact one of the directors to get their version of their misadventures with Three.
Apologies for the long winded and fairly long piece there but this blog is about sharing everything on the production, good or bad. And as I mentioned earlier, I gave no names, so no foul.
This did spark another thought in my head but I think it deserves a seperate blog - something I will get up quickly whilst this one is still fresh in everyone's minds.
Richard and Miranda - sorry you had to share your blog with a waster - as I said, you guys were awesome, I haven't laughed as much as I did Saturday in ages and I really enjoyed just sitting around with you guys, lamenting the absence of Three. Thank you so much for everything you put in. From dealing with the no show and the subsequent rejig of the scene (I forgot to mention that earlier - the scene was ever so slightly adjusted but not as much as you'd think) to arctic conditions. It should've been the worst shoot day of the entire production but you guys saw to that!
Jenny and Wayne - very, very nearly there! Thanks again!
And an unexpected mention - but a worthy one. A while back, me and a few others met a magician (I'm loathe to say that word as I know he does quite a bit more) who we really liked and met again when we booked him for a party. When I wrote this script, I wanted it to be fun and silly and meeting the magician, Robert Bone, was fresh in mind at the time (I was actually probably about a day or two away from committing the script to paper). So I felt inspired to throw a magician or wannabe magician into the film and have a magic trick somehow be part of his death. Rob, you inspired this scene, character and his demise and for that, you deserve a mention! For more info on Robert Bone, visit his website: http://www.robertbone.co.uk/
So - photos should be live by the time this goes up - check them out!
And don't forget that we're still running the poll to decide what sandwich a character asks for in the film! Go here to have your say: http://apps.facebook.com/opinionpolls/poll.php?pid=1284882628
I'll be back with a different blog in the next day or two.
Until then remember that if they fly, you die...
After the first weekend killed the crew, we knew that another weekend, whilst working full time jobs, just wasn't going to happen. The problem wasn't just the shoot but all the things that had to happen around it - the one that will be forever mentioned is the charging of the camera batteries...
So we were going to move one day out of that weekend, to the following one. Which we did. And we stuck to that shoot (well, half of it anyway as an actor pulled out). The day that were going to stick on I believe got moved twice because of pull outs and relative difficulty to recast.
We eventually shot that day's work Saturday just gone.
First off, this blog, as everyone that was there that day will already guess, is going to be quite negative. So, I want to get the positive stuff out of the way first.
The two actors in this scene were great - we were hit by a pretty major problem that I'll get to shortly, and as I told them on the day, I'm so glad we had who we had because they turned the whole experience into a laugh a minute and I really loved every second of working with them.
I always maintained to my producers on this that in casting, I was looking for acting ability as well as looking at whether I could spend a considerable amount of time with these people. Obviously, this was something we could vet in the auditions for the leads (not to worry guys that landed the parts - you were, honestly, my first choice as far as ability went) but not so much in the video auditions that we held for the other parts.
Though we'd only dealt with everyone else via email, it was clear to see that everyone else was really cool and into the project so I had nothing to worry about but without actually meeting them, you can never be 100%.
So yeah, you guys totally made the day for me and if I ever have any more 'trouble' shoots - I hope you're there with me!
Another positive is that the whole thing is starting to work a lot better now - I personally have hit a comfort/confidence level and am feeling extremely proud of what we're pulling off. I'm now confident enough to jump straight in and set up - it's definitely getting easier.
I think one thing we could all agree on was it was freezing! I couldn't believe how cold it was out there - especially as I managed to get sunburned by the end of it! There's a few takes where the camera's wobbling because I'm freezing so bad and I just couldn't wait for the take to end so i could try and warm myself up. Fun little bit of trivia actually - we shoot in the same place that we shot with the leads but you'd never know because of the cut grass and the fact that it's green there now!
And one last funny thing - one of our scAIRcrows lunged towards a passing kid. As this kid walked past, the scAIRcrow fell over, falling towards, but not on, the kid. If he grows up with an irrational fear of scarecrows - we'll know why if the poor child himself doesn't!
Now, I will choose my words carefully here. The day was spoilt by an actor not showing up. Not the shoot or what will end up in the film. We've even thrown in a nice little nod to the actor - when everyone watches the scene, I hope they laugh! We did! It's all about turning something negative into something positive and I love what we've done to address the non appearance of the actor, and, by turn, the character. Remember to keep an eye out for it in the finished film!
I won't name names as it's unprofessional but I will recount the series of events that occurred up to and on the day.
First off, the scene in the script is very big. Very ambitious. When we first experienced drop outs, we rescheduled once I think before we decided to cut the scene back a bit. So between dealing with actors dropping out and rescheduling days, we cut two characters out of the scene, leaving three.
When we analysed the scene, the two parts that we cut were fairly thankless and to be honest, it wasn't much of a surprise that people were having second thoughts about them. So we decided that we could make the scene stronger by concentrating the focus. And with three characters instead of five, that was easier to achieve.
We still had to re advertise the third part after another actor unfortunately couldn't make that day. We did that very quickly with the ad going up exactly a week before shooting. So we knew we had to act fast on this.
Somehow, we managed to pull it together in time with us deciding on an actor based on his apparent enthusiasm.
This is what confuses me the most about this - in the run up, we had various email exchanges, including one crucially stating that I was about to pay for the permit and insurance for the day and I needed solid confirmation because of this. That was fine so I went ahead and dropped £300 to make the shoot official. I will admit that the one thing we did do was change the meeting point the Friday night before the Saturday of the shoot but it was on the same tube line, one stop down. So really, it just necessitated staying on the train another two mins. And even if he had gone to the other tube station, I would have met him there anyway but in interests of full disclosure, should I get contacted by him about this, I want to be fair.
So Saturday morning, the other two get there before the meeting time and so we're just waiting for this third actor, who I'll call Three from now on.
I get a call from Three at the meeting time, expecting him to be looking out for us or, at the worst, at the other station (even though he'd confirmed via email that he'd seen the location change). Instead, I get a question. The question was, what time are we shooting? It's a question I'll never understand because even if it took an hour to start up from the meeting time, I told everyone to meet me at that time - I wasn't being malicious to the other two (they do have names - sorry guys - Richard and Miranda) by making them meet me at ten whilst Three could have another two hours in bed. I said we were planning to shoot straight away but we thought we needed him so I said we could wait if you could let me know how long it'd take to get there. He said two hours and I had to be okay with that.
What bugged the most about this was that Richard and Miranda showed up on time and it was an insult to them who'd given up their Saturday morning lie in to work on this crazy little film. I can live with people not having respect for me but I can't hack it when I've got other people involved with something and, by proxy, I've let them down. I can even let go of the fact that I very nearly wasted £300 but I don't want to waste anyone's time and goodwill. Unlike others I guess who patently don't care.
I must stress that this is not a misunderstanding or, if it is, Three has made no attempt to alleviate my suspicion. I'll get to the reasons why...
So, we make our way to the location and I had a brief word with Rich and Miranda about the scene though I really wanted to read through the scene with everyone so that we had the scene down before shooting as no-one had met each other/rehearsed etc.
About an hour later, I call Three. Or at least I thought I was calling Three. No. Turns out that the phone he called me from didn't even belong to him, it belonged to Dave. Dave told me that he couldn't see Three on the internet (?) so he must be on his way to the shoot. He also let me know that Three wasn't feeling well and gave me Three's actual number. I find it incredibly hard to believe that Dave had no idea where Three was considering Three had used his phone an hour before - they were clearly occupying the same space! I should also mention the whole 'not feeling well' thing - when Three called me from Dave's phone at ten, he didn't sound well but it was clearly through some some afflicted method.
So, at that point, it's starting to look ropey but to us at the time, it still seemed like he was en route so all might be well.
Maybe about 45 mins later, I call Three's number as given to me by Dave. The phone kept going straight to voicemail. Dave had mentioned that Three didn't have any credit - one thing I assumed a 'professional' actor would need was instant access to a phone but what do I know?
But through all of this, we thought, well, he said he could be there at twelve so Wayne left the set to be at the station at the rescheduled time. He returned on his own. My guess? The guy passed out shortly after speaking to me at ten. Again, in the interests of fairness, I should state that all our phones were off for shooting as they were interfering with the audio but I was constantly checking AND we didn't start shooting until Wayne returned at something like half twelve so if Three had arrived later - there wasn't anything we could do about that but when I checked my phone during breaks, I had no voicemails or text messages.
But, for anyone that may think I'm being harsh, what happened next, or didn't happen is the most telling thing. And this is why I can quite confidently say that the guy is a waste of space with no respect for others. I appreciate that things can go wrong, for all the other pull outs we've had - even the ones at 3am the day of the shoot, I've accepted them and not gone into one like this. Things can unfortunately happen. And if his mother got taken ill or something similar, of course I'll understand. And I'd also accept that getting back to me might not be the first thing on your mind. I fully get that and this is the thing that irritates me - if you know me, you'll know I'm the most reasonable guys going. I expect that not everyone's going to be on my page. I expect things to go wrong. But, even if the worst thing in the world happened to you, something that was so devastating that you weren't physically or emotionally able to let someone you'd made commitments with know you couldn't make it - would you let them know as soon as you were able? Or would you go into Facebook and delete the director as a friend and remove the film as a 'like'? Yep. I've yet to hear from Three but he still had time to do those two things. Which speaks volumes. And that's why I KNOW I'm right on this one. If he wants to reply to this and try and justify himself, fine. But I don't think anything can explain how deleting us from Facebook came before a quick note to say you were sick etc. So yes, I call BS and will forever more. Thanks! Funny thing as well - a quick internet search on the dude suggests that I'm not the first person that he's done this to and I'm tempted to contact one of the directors to get their version of their misadventures with Three.
Apologies for the long winded and fairly long piece there but this blog is about sharing everything on the production, good or bad. And as I mentioned earlier, I gave no names, so no foul.
This did spark another thought in my head but I think it deserves a seperate blog - something I will get up quickly whilst this one is still fresh in everyone's minds.
Richard and Miranda - sorry you had to share your blog with a waster - as I said, you guys were awesome, I haven't laughed as much as I did Saturday in ages and I really enjoyed just sitting around with you guys, lamenting the absence of Three. Thank you so much for everything you put in. From dealing with the no show and the subsequent rejig of the scene (I forgot to mention that earlier - the scene was ever so slightly adjusted but not as much as you'd think) to arctic conditions. It should've been the worst shoot day of the entire production but you guys saw to that!
Jenny and Wayne - very, very nearly there! Thanks again!
And an unexpected mention - but a worthy one. A while back, me and a few others met a magician (I'm loathe to say that word as I know he does quite a bit more) who we really liked and met again when we booked him for a party. When I wrote this script, I wanted it to be fun and silly and meeting the magician, Robert Bone, was fresh in mind at the time (I was actually probably about a day or two away from committing the script to paper). So I felt inspired to throw a magician or wannabe magician into the film and have a magic trick somehow be part of his death. Rob, you inspired this scene, character and his demise and for that, you deserve a mention! For more info on Robert Bone, visit his website: http://www.robertbone.co.uk/
So - photos should be live by the time this goes up - check them out!
And don't forget that we're still running the poll to decide what sandwich a character asks for in the film! Go here to have your say: http://apps.facebook.com/opinionpolls/poll.php?pid=1284882628
I'll be back with a different blog in the next day or two.
Until then remember that if they fly, you die...
Sunday, 19 September 2010
The Shoot - Day Four - 18.09.2010
Didn't really mention much about this before it happened but we shot a scene on Saturday. The reason why it hadn't been mentioned was that the scene didn't even exist until about 11.30pm Wednesday evening.
It was written in to add a bit more fun to the film before we drop into the stuff with the leads and also as a scene setter - we get a tiny bit more of a feel for the entire location with this scene which I think's a good thing, it gives a sense of how big the place is and so, if trouble arises, it isn't going to be easy to escape it.
We used this scene as an opportunity to throw a couple of things in that we wanted to but couldn't fit in the script as it stood. Wayne, the sound man, is in a Smith's tribute band called The Citizen Smiths (I video their gigs). We'd discussed throwing the band into it somehow in the original script and there was a line where it seemed this could happen though, when reading the entire scene through, it didn't make much sense and so had to be left out. But this time, I was adamant about getting it in there and so we did! So when you hear them mentioned in the film now, you'll at least know who they are (which puts you in a better position than the character in the scene - that's insider knowledge for you!). Anyway, check 'em out at http://www.thecitizensmiths.co.uk/ and maybe even drop by to their next gig! You'll get to see a great band and have a chat about scAIRcrows at the same time!
Then there's the interactive thing - yes, it does seem slightly silly and ineffectual but how many films give you the opportunity to have a say in the final product? When the character Erroll ends up asking for the sandwich that you voted for, imagine the pride that you'll feel - it'll be almost as if you wrote it yourself! It's a great idea and something I might keep in mind for future projects (as long as it was in tone with the film obviously).
I suppose the third thing we did with this scene was bring in an actor we really wanted to work with. I mentioned last week that Blue Jigsaw's video wowed us - so did our actor's in this scene, Merry Fotso. Merry's video was a bit of a breath of fresh air after watching countless videos where actors were literally reading the lines off camera. He did something different and it instantly stood out. We knew we really wanted to work with him but just didn't know where to put him as the film had been fully cast at that point. As I got the idea to write in another scene, we all knew we had to offer it to Merry and Merry thankfully accepted.
I'm really glad he did because this could have been a very difficult scene if the actor didn't get and embrace the tone that we were going for with it. Luckily Merry was more than up for it - throwing his own ideas in and putting up with my last second line changes. We didn't even mention the interactive scene until we were actually shooting it! There were many points where all of us, Merry included, just couldn't stop laughing.
Suffice to say, we had more than a little fun that shoot but still got down to business - the plan is to lay the credits over this scene, we cut to the title of the film and then right into the stuff with the leads. We'll see how it ends up looking but that's the idea anyway.
Anyway - photos from the shoot are up on Facebook and flickr - we took about 70 but I omitted quite a few as, again, I don't want to give away too much. The pictures of Merry on the phone - that was part of the scene! You can find the links to these by visiting http://www.scaircrows.com
A big thank you to Merry - you were there before we were and jumped into it literally five minutes later. There were a few points where you did more than what I expected you to do and it'll just add to the film - I can think of one shot in particular that will just look really cool and unusual and definitely will make the location seem further out than it actually is! And, apart from all that - you really 'got' it and made the experience so enjoyable for us all. It was a pleasure having you be part of team scAIRcrows.
Getting bored of thanking you both Jenny and Wayne! You know it's appreciated and this film's as much yours as it is mine. Very, very nearly there!
Next blog might be a few days off - there's a bit of production work to do! Will still throw quick updates into Twitter etc. And if you haven't voted for Erroll's sandwich yet - do so post haste! Let your voice be heard here http://apps.facebook.com/opinionpolls/poll.php?pid=1284882628
scAIRcrows wish you a good night.
It was written in to add a bit more fun to the film before we drop into the stuff with the leads and also as a scene setter - we get a tiny bit more of a feel for the entire location with this scene which I think's a good thing, it gives a sense of how big the place is and so, if trouble arises, it isn't going to be easy to escape it.
We used this scene as an opportunity to throw a couple of things in that we wanted to but couldn't fit in the script as it stood. Wayne, the sound man, is in a Smith's tribute band called The Citizen Smiths (I video their gigs). We'd discussed throwing the band into it somehow in the original script and there was a line where it seemed this could happen though, when reading the entire scene through, it didn't make much sense and so had to be left out. But this time, I was adamant about getting it in there and so we did! So when you hear them mentioned in the film now, you'll at least know who they are (which puts you in a better position than the character in the scene - that's insider knowledge for you!). Anyway, check 'em out at http://www.thecitizensmiths.co.uk/ and maybe even drop by to their next gig! You'll get to see a great band and have a chat about scAIRcrows at the same time!
Then there's the interactive thing - yes, it does seem slightly silly and ineffectual but how many films give you the opportunity to have a say in the final product? When the character Erroll ends up asking for the sandwich that you voted for, imagine the pride that you'll feel - it'll be almost as if you wrote it yourself! It's a great idea and something I might keep in mind for future projects (as long as it was in tone with the film obviously).
I suppose the third thing we did with this scene was bring in an actor we really wanted to work with. I mentioned last week that Blue Jigsaw's video wowed us - so did our actor's in this scene, Merry Fotso. Merry's video was a bit of a breath of fresh air after watching countless videos where actors were literally reading the lines off camera. He did something different and it instantly stood out. We knew we really wanted to work with him but just didn't know where to put him as the film had been fully cast at that point. As I got the idea to write in another scene, we all knew we had to offer it to Merry and Merry thankfully accepted.
I'm really glad he did because this could have been a very difficult scene if the actor didn't get and embrace the tone that we were going for with it. Luckily Merry was more than up for it - throwing his own ideas in and putting up with my last second line changes. We didn't even mention the interactive scene until we were actually shooting it! There were many points where all of us, Merry included, just couldn't stop laughing.
Suffice to say, we had more than a little fun that shoot but still got down to business - the plan is to lay the credits over this scene, we cut to the title of the film and then right into the stuff with the leads. We'll see how it ends up looking but that's the idea anyway.
Anyway - photos from the shoot are up on Facebook and flickr - we took about 70 but I omitted quite a few as, again, I don't want to give away too much. The pictures of Merry on the phone - that was part of the scene! You can find the links to these by visiting http://www.scaircrows.com
A big thank you to Merry - you were there before we were and jumped into it literally five minutes later. There were a few points where you did more than what I expected you to do and it'll just add to the film - I can think of one shot in particular that will just look really cool and unusual and definitely will make the location seem further out than it actually is! And, apart from all that - you really 'got' it and made the experience so enjoyable for us all. It was a pleasure having you be part of team scAIRcrows.
Getting bored of thanking you both Jenny and Wayne! You know it's appreciated and this film's as much yours as it is mine. Very, very nearly there!
Next blog might be a few days off - there's a bit of production work to do! Will still throw quick updates into Twitter etc. And if you haven't voted for Erroll's sandwich yet - do so post haste! Let your voice be heard here http://apps.facebook.com/opinionpolls/poll.php?pid=1284882628
scAIRcrows wish you a good night.
scAIRcrows Is Interactive
Fun news - we've managed to sneak an interactive element into scAIRcrows.
I can't take credit for the idea - that was Wayne's, our soundman on this film. But I thought it was such a great idea and just gives me another way of getting people involved and interested in the film - a reason to draw people to the site and Facebook etc...
It came about as we were due to be working with an actor (Merry Fotso) whose audition video for us featured a sandwich. As the actor was game for this - we decided we'd do a poll for the film.
In this scene, Merry's character orders a sandwich.
Now - you have the ability to choose what sandwich Merry orders!
I will be posting a poll on Facebook in the next hour or so and that's how we'll come to the ultimate decision but in the meantime, these are the choices:
BLT
Cheese and pickle
Tuna mayo
Turkey club
We're leaving the final choice to you, the potential audience. I will leave this poll open right up until the film's finished - this will be one of the last things I cut in, just so we get in as many votes as possible.
The scene has now been shot so this will actually happen!
I will post the link shortly - get voting!
I can't take credit for the idea - that was Wayne's, our soundman on this film. But I thought it was such a great idea and just gives me another way of getting people involved and interested in the film - a reason to draw people to the site and Facebook etc...
It came about as we were due to be working with an actor (Merry Fotso) whose audition video for us featured a sandwich. As the actor was game for this - we decided we'd do a poll for the film.
In this scene, Merry's character orders a sandwich.
Now - you have the ability to choose what sandwich Merry orders!
I will be posting a poll on Facebook in the next hour or so and that's how we'll come to the ultimate decision but in the meantime, these are the choices:
BLT
Cheese and pickle
Tuna mayo
Turkey club
We're leaving the final choice to you, the potential audience. I will leave this poll open right up until the film's finished - this will be one of the last things I cut in, just so we get in as many votes as possible.
The scene has now been shot so this will actually happen!
I will post the link shortly - get voting!
Friday, 17 September 2010
General Status
Last time I said there were lots of things going on - it's actually a strange thing but as we're getting further along in production, things are 'developing' more.
The best example of this is, on Wednesday I wrote a new draft of the script. Yes, with 21 pages of a 27 page script shot, I am somehow still writing! Well, the script isn't actually 27 pages anymore - it's longer.
A few things have happened that have dictated this - some logistical but really, what I'm finding is that I'm seeing things that can play on what we already have. I have no barometer for crazy/randomness as I think the scAIRcrows script is 'normal' when it probably isn't. But seeing the footage of what we've shot now makes me realise we need to punch up the remaining scenes because the juxtaposition of the stuff with the leads and everyone else is brilliant - I love how different the scenes come across and I want to make sure both parts of the film inhabit their own world whilst still obviously conforming to the script.
That could possibly be very vague - it just means we're ramping up the craziness. There's nothing major going on, just a few new lines here and there etc with the exception of one new scene that I think will gently introduce the audience to the world of scAIRcrows.
So yeah, for all intents and purposes, the film will end up being 95% of what my very first draft was, we're just playing with it a bit!
We've had a few problems with scheduling actors recently. Unfortunately, these things do happen and for everyone that's had to pull out for whatever reason - we wish you the very best. In a strange sort of way, I'm happy that it's happened in a way. Not in the sense that we've had to reschedule actors (more than once in a few cases I believe) but just because everything was running too smoothly - it's a nice wake up call and forces you to not be complacent. If we got to the end of this and nothing had happened, I would think there's something wrong...
I continue to dip in and out of editing but I don't think we're seriously going to dent it until shooting's all done - just planning the shoots are so time consuming. I would just hate to think how many hours have gone into the making of this film. From me coming up with the idea to writing it, the meetings, auditions, shooting, editing, these blogs - I realise now why I seem a lot more tired than I used to! I want nothing more than to have this finished but it's just going to take it's time. I originally projected a sometime November finish and I think that's still a realistic finish point. Hopefully. At least it's actually happening anyway - the film is actually being made!
Something interesting happening in the next week - we begin scoring or at least searching for what the 'sound' of the film should be. We have nearly two finished scenes and we're just going to start playing about with them as far as music goes. A lot of discussion has gone into what the score for the film should sound like. I'm adamant that we don't have any metal type music in the action sequences. Whilst it's not terrible - it's just an idea that's overdone and I think, there's a world of music out there. My initial thoughts are that it should sound something like the Cabin Fever score - check it out, to my ear, it isn't a typical score but works really well. Or something like the music in the original Last House On The Left. There's plenty of ways to go with it and I look forward to seeing what we come up with. I hope though that when it's eventually out there to be heard, it'll be fairly atypical. Who knows!
About me personally, having shot the scene with Blue Jigsaw and edited a good bunch of it, I'm feeling much more confident as a filmmaker now. I've picked up things and learnt lessons and I genuinely believe I'm getting better every new day we get out there. I've said it before but this is now starting to look like the exact kind of film that I'd watch myself so I do feel as though I'm doing myself proud here. And I hope that if I do genuinely feel this way about the film, it'll come across and other people will appreciate it. I say that because I'll fully admit that I wrote this for myself. Yeah, I knew people would obviously watch it but I didn't give one thought to structuring things for an audience - I just wrote what I wanted to see. Now, that might be the right way of doing it - I don't know but I know the kinds of films I watch, not a lot of people have seen them (go back to the inspirations blog and tell me how many of those films you've seen). And that was a worry for scAIRcrows - that it could go unappreciated. It's still a worry but hope and think that the effort going into this is on the screen and that translates into a fun little film! I think it's brilliant but I would say that!
I mentioned it on Twitter but thought it worth mentioning here too. We've come up with an idea for making scAIRcrows a somewhat interactive movie. We're not deliberately keeping this secret - we're going to put the idea into action tomorrow and if it works (which I have no doubt that it will), I'll announce it on this blog on Sunday - it's definitely a cool way of getting people actively involved with the film.
I'll end it there - remember to keep an eye on www.scaircrows.com for the latest, add scAIRcrows through Facebook, Myspace or Twitter - I'm trying to keep info regularly flowing there.
I have no idea what the audience is for this blog, the stats are slightly vague but I'm getting over 500 visits a month which is quite good considering I've not performed any promotion yet. But, for anyone reading this, if there's an area of the production you'd like to know more about - let me know and I can write a future blog about it. I'm writing this for everyone that's reading it so would love to address questions from anyone that's following the production!
I will check back here Sunday - 'til then, eyes on the skies!
The best example of this is, on Wednesday I wrote a new draft of the script. Yes, with 21 pages of a 27 page script shot, I am somehow still writing! Well, the script isn't actually 27 pages anymore - it's longer.
A few things have happened that have dictated this - some logistical but really, what I'm finding is that I'm seeing things that can play on what we already have. I have no barometer for crazy/randomness as I think the scAIRcrows script is 'normal' when it probably isn't. But seeing the footage of what we've shot now makes me realise we need to punch up the remaining scenes because the juxtaposition of the stuff with the leads and everyone else is brilliant - I love how different the scenes come across and I want to make sure both parts of the film inhabit their own world whilst still obviously conforming to the script.
That could possibly be very vague - it just means we're ramping up the craziness. There's nothing major going on, just a few new lines here and there etc with the exception of one new scene that I think will gently introduce the audience to the world of scAIRcrows.
So yeah, for all intents and purposes, the film will end up being 95% of what my very first draft was, we're just playing with it a bit!
We've had a few problems with scheduling actors recently. Unfortunately, these things do happen and for everyone that's had to pull out for whatever reason - we wish you the very best. In a strange sort of way, I'm happy that it's happened in a way. Not in the sense that we've had to reschedule actors (more than once in a few cases I believe) but just because everything was running too smoothly - it's a nice wake up call and forces you to not be complacent. If we got to the end of this and nothing had happened, I would think there's something wrong...
I continue to dip in and out of editing but I don't think we're seriously going to dent it until shooting's all done - just planning the shoots are so time consuming. I would just hate to think how many hours have gone into the making of this film. From me coming up with the idea to writing it, the meetings, auditions, shooting, editing, these blogs - I realise now why I seem a lot more tired than I used to! I want nothing more than to have this finished but it's just going to take it's time. I originally projected a sometime November finish and I think that's still a realistic finish point. Hopefully. At least it's actually happening anyway - the film is actually being made!
Something interesting happening in the next week - we begin scoring or at least searching for what the 'sound' of the film should be. We have nearly two finished scenes and we're just going to start playing about with them as far as music goes. A lot of discussion has gone into what the score for the film should sound like. I'm adamant that we don't have any metal type music in the action sequences. Whilst it's not terrible - it's just an idea that's overdone and I think, there's a world of music out there. My initial thoughts are that it should sound something like the Cabin Fever score - check it out, to my ear, it isn't a typical score but works really well. Or something like the music in the original Last House On The Left. There's plenty of ways to go with it and I look forward to seeing what we come up with. I hope though that when it's eventually out there to be heard, it'll be fairly atypical. Who knows!
About me personally, having shot the scene with Blue Jigsaw and edited a good bunch of it, I'm feeling much more confident as a filmmaker now. I've picked up things and learnt lessons and I genuinely believe I'm getting better every new day we get out there. I've said it before but this is now starting to look like the exact kind of film that I'd watch myself so I do feel as though I'm doing myself proud here. And I hope that if I do genuinely feel this way about the film, it'll come across and other people will appreciate it. I say that because I'll fully admit that I wrote this for myself. Yeah, I knew people would obviously watch it but I didn't give one thought to structuring things for an audience - I just wrote what I wanted to see. Now, that might be the right way of doing it - I don't know but I know the kinds of films I watch, not a lot of people have seen them (go back to the inspirations blog and tell me how many of those films you've seen). And that was a worry for scAIRcrows - that it could go unappreciated. It's still a worry but hope and think that the effort going into this is on the screen and that translates into a fun little film! I think it's brilliant but I would say that!
I mentioned it on Twitter but thought it worth mentioning here too. We've come up with an idea for making scAIRcrows a somewhat interactive movie. We're not deliberately keeping this secret - we're going to put the idea into action tomorrow and if it works (which I have no doubt that it will), I'll announce it on this blog on Sunday - it's definitely a cool way of getting people actively involved with the film.
I'll end it there - remember to keep an eye on www.scaircrows.com for the latest, add scAIRcrows through Facebook, Myspace or Twitter - I'm trying to keep info regularly flowing there.
I have no idea what the audience is for this blog, the stats are slightly vague but I'm getting over 500 visits a month which is quite good considering I've not performed any promotion yet. But, for anyone reading this, if there's an area of the production you'd like to know more about - let me know and I can write a future blog about it. I'm writing this for everyone that's reading it so would love to address questions from anyone that's following the production!
I will check back here Sunday - 'til then, eyes on the skies!
Wednesday, 15 September 2010
The Shoot - Day Three - 11.09.2010
Plenty of things to talk about - too many actually so I'll keep this strictly related to the shoot that happened Saturday just gone.
As mentioned in earlier blogs, the script is 27 pages long and 20 pages of that script was covered in the first weekend's shoot. Consequently, there's 7 pages remaining to shoot but they're all essentially stand alone scenes so they're not as easy to organise as the stuff with the leads was.
On Saturday, we shot the first of those scenes. Now, I won't go into specifics because I realise that I could just ruin the entire film (because it's hard for me to imagine that there's people that don't know this story inside out - how I'd love to see it with fresh eyes!) but this scene involved just one character who actually has a connection to the leads. Whilst I've thrown about 60 pictures from the shoot on flickr and Facebook - I've selected them carefully, we managed to take 120 photos that day. Some of them I didn't upload because they were too similar to ones that did go up, others just showed things that I didn't want people to see. So whilst a lot can be seen, there's a lot less than it might seem.
Anyway, we cast a guy called Blue Jigsaw for this character and the reason we cast him was his audition video. Apparently cameras were smashed recording it and I can totally see that! But, it was well worth it I think because the video stands out a mile. There was one other person that was under consideration for the character but I don't think this person appreciated the role for what it is and the enthusiasm wasn't there. I've asked Blue if I can get the video up on the YouTube channel - something I'll try and organise soon.
Blue went above and beyond the call of duty - he brought his own stage blood with him and a baseball bat (it was in the script before anyone wonders!) - it's nice to have actors contribute to the film. Makes me feel better about the film when others are putting their all into it and it will show in the finished product.
As also mentioned plenty of times previously, I'd storyboarded this scene as I knew it was going to be action heavy and didn't want a reprise of my mind blank that Sunday morning with the leads. You really do live and learn. We all felt that having the storyboards and following a specific shot list this time made shooting an action heavy scene very easy. So already, I'd say my ability to stage and shot an action scene has increased massively. I shot the whole scene with one camera but with the second camera just recording everything from a different angle so that I have coverage should an edit not work etc.
I mentioned storyboards though because a funny thing happened whilst shooting that affected the storyboards and indeed the script. Before we started filming a specific shot, Blue and I had a conversation about how we stage it because props could get damaged, props that we still need. After this, we went ahead and shot the scene. Blue did exactly what we'd discussed but somehow, the prop still managed to get destroyed. Destroyed in such a way that taping it up wouldn't work. When it happened, you could hear everyone go quiet as everyone came to the same realisation - we can't finish the scene now. When we looked at the situation though, it wasn't that severe, it just meant that I couldn't use two pages of storyboards now and would also have to reorder things. But there wasn't anything lost. I'd said this to Blue after the shoot, what happened could actually benefit the film as we haven't finished shooting yet. Knowing what we know now, we can go in and tweak the remaining scenes to play up what happens and make (hopefully) a good joke from it. You can totally benefit from problems!
The shoot took four and a half hours - this is for one page of script. That's how complicated it was. If I hadn't storyboarded the scene, I dread to think about what might have happened. I've started rough cutting this scene for two reasons - first reason being that as I followed the shot list in one camera, it really is just a matter of cutting the shots together and the second reason being, I wanted to see if I'd successfully translated storyboards to screen. And so far, it works. The slightly odd thing is, it's a lot longer than I thought it would be. We're a minute and a half in and probably only about a third of the way through the scene. Which is good in a way as it means there's a certain weight to it, not a blink and you'll miss it type thing.
I'm also cutting things now as I'm trying to sort a trailer out and figure it'll be a lot easier to cut one from already constructed footage. But a trailer will definitely look interesting - now that I have bits of the film cut together, its funny seeing the contrast between the stuff with the leads and now the stuff with Blue - I think it makes for a good tone. The film is definitely starting to look exactly like the kind of film I would watch - hopefully other people will want to as well!
Big thanks to Blue Jigsaw - you were great to work with and as mentioned, you really jumped into it, bringing your own stuff along, really did make me feel good knowing that you were that committed to it! It'll definitely come through in the finished product!
Again, Jenny and Wayne - we'll have this down to a fine art by the end of it (if it ever does end!).
And Paul Hart - for standing in the line of fire, almost literally - watching back the rushes I can safely say, only a f-ing brave man would sit where you sat, holding the scAIRcrow!
I'll put up a general blog in the next couple of days about where we are with things - it won't take as long as this to do, will be up Sunday at the latest. 'Til then!
As mentioned in earlier blogs, the script is 27 pages long and 20 pages of that script was covered in the first weekend's shoot. Consequently, there's 7 pages remaining to shoot but they're all essentially stand alone scenes so they're not as easy to organise as the stuff with the leads was.
On Saturday, we shot the first of those scenes. Now, I won't go into specifics because I realise that I could just ruin the entire film (because it's hard for me to imagine that there's people that don't know this story inside out - how I'd love to see it with fresh eyes!) but this scene involved just one character who actually has a connection to the leads. Whilst I've thrown about 60 pictures from the shoot on flickr and Facebook - I've selected them carefully, we managed to take 120 photos that day. Some of them I didn't upload because they were too similar to ones that did go up, others just showed things that I didn't want people to see. So whilst a lot can be seen, there's a lot less than it might seem.
Anyway, we cast a guy called Blue Jigsaw for this character and the reason we cast him was his audition video. Apparently cameras were smashed recording it and I can totally see that! But, it was well worth it I think because the video stands out a mile. There was one other person that was under consideration for the character but I don't think this person appreciated the role for what it is and the enthusiasm wasn't there. I've asked Blue if I can get the video up on the YouTube channel - something I'll try and organise soon.
Blue went above and beyond the call of duty - he brought his own stage blood with him and a baseball bat (it was in the script before anyone wonders!) - it's nice to have actors contribute to the film. Makes me feel better about the film when others are putting their all into it and it will show in the finished product.
As also mentioned plenty of times previously, I'd storyboarded this scene as I knew it was going to be action heavy and didn't want a reprise of my mind blank that Sunday morning with the leads. You really do live and learn. We all felt that having the storyboards and following a specific shot list this time made shooting an action heavy scene very easy. So already, I'd say my ability to stage and shot an action scene has increased massively. I shot the whole scene with one camera but with the second camera just recording everything from a different angle so that I have coverage should an edit not work etc.
I mentioned storyboards though because a funny thing happened whilst shooting that affected the storyboards and indeed the script. Before we started filming a specific shot, Blue and I had a conversation about how we stage it because props could get damaged, props that we still need. After this, we went ahead and shot the scene. Blue did exactly what we'd discussed but somehow, the prop still managed to get destroyed. Destroyed in such a way that taping it up wouldn't work. When it happened, you could hear everyone go quiet as everyone came to the same realisation - we can't finish the scene now. When we looked at the situation though, it wasn't that severe, it just meant that I couldn't use two pages of storyboards now and would also have to reorder things. But there wasn't anything lost. I'd said this to Blue after the shoot, what happened could actually benefit the film as we haven't finished shooting yet. Knowing what we know now, we can go in and tweak the remaining scenes to play up what happens and make (hopefully) a good joke from it. You can totally benefit from problems!
The shoot took four and a half hours - this is for one page of script. That's how complicated it was. If I hadn't storyboarded the scene, I dread to think about what might have happened. I've started rough cutting this scene for two reasons - first reason being that as I followed the shot list in one camera, it really is just a matter of cutting the shots together and the second reason being, I wanted to see if I'd successfully translated storyboards to screen. And so far, it works. The slightly odd thing is, it's a lot longer than I thought it would be. We're a minute and a half in and probably only about a third of the way through the scene. Which is good in a way as it means there's a certain weight to it, not a blink and you'll miss it type thing.
I'm also cutting things now as I'm trying to sort a trailer out and figure it'll be a lot easier to cut one from already constructed footage. But a trailer will definitely look interesting - now that I have bits of the film cut together, its funny seeing the contrast between the stuff with the leads and now the stuff with Blue - I think it makes for a good tone. The film is definitely starting to look exactly like the kind of film I would watch - hopefully other people will want to as well!
Big thanks to Blue Jigsaw - you were great to work with and as mentioned, you really jumped into it, bringing your own stuff along, really did make me feel good knowing that you were that committed to it! It'll definitely come through in the finished product!
Again, Jenny and Wayne - we'll have this down to a fine art by the end of it (if it ever does end!).
And Paul Hart - for standing in the line of fire, almost literally - watching back the rushes I can safely say, only a f-ing brave man would sit where you sat, holding the scAIRcrow!
I'll put up a general blog in the next couple of days about where we are with things - it won't take as long as this to do, will be up Sunday at the latest. 'Til then!
Sunday, 5 September 2010
Editing
So yesterday I touched on the fact that I was struggling with the editing, purely because of the amount of footage that there is.
We put my idea of watching the footage together, scene by scene, into action today with scene 2. It took a few hours going back over takes and angles and deciding what worked and what bits of takes worked better than others. For the three and a bit page scene 2 we managed to agree a take for every line of dialogue in the scene.
Some of it was easier than others. I found there were subtle differences in lines that potentially could help the mood/character and so we zeroed in on every little thing to come up with this list. What I especially wanted to retain were the moments when the actors took something that wasn't written down but somehow saw it anyway - I know it's my film so I'm probably too close to it but I honestly believe there are a few amazing deliveries that make me feel slightly bad for bringing the whole thing down later by throwing flying scarecrows into the mix.
In some of the auditions (and also away from them) people have commented on how the dialogue in the script 'flows'. Even though I wrote it, I can't see that. I truly am my own worst critic and it's something I'm really trying hard to move away from but I only ever seem to focus on the bad.
However, I've now edited the first 48 seconds of scAIRcrows and I can finally see it working. The dialogue does flow but I really don't think that's down to me but whatever, it does work and that's all that matters.
I've watched these 48 seconds over and over trying to pick fault in it and there's a few tiny things that need to be fixed but on the whole, this is the beginning of the end. There's all the other stuff to shoot and this cut will still need to be colour adjusted and the sound cleaned up but for all intents and purposes, a finished 48 seconds of the film exists.
It sounds tiny but I couldn't be happier - something I wrote a few months ago now exists in complete form and it's a surreal thing - to be watching a page of something I've written actually playing out.
I had doubts about doing editing whilst shooting was still ongoing but I think it was a wise move - seeing what didn't make the cut and why it didn't has definitely informed how I go about the next lot of shooting.
I did think that editing was the devil's work but I'm actually coming around to it - I think it's all in the approach. Once I had the takes that I knew I was going to use it moved quite quickly. I want to say it all just slotted together but that isn't true. In cutting the takes together, I realised that some of the things that we had on paper just didn't work in the greater context and so it took a bit more work figuring out how to get to the next shot I wanted to use but as with this entire project, I haven't expected any of it to be easy.
I keep threatening storyboards - they exist and they are rubbish but they will help immeasurably in trying to co-ordinate one of the next scenes. Seems too easy now and no doubt something will happen that means we have to deviate slightly but we have a fairly solid 'map' now. I will post some of them sometime this week.
We also went over various bits re. the next shoot but that's all fairly boring stuff. We've settled on a poster design now, just tweaking a few things here and there so that should appear fairly soon and hopefully, after the next shoot, I might be in a position to cut together a short teaser. Who knows what the next few weeks will bring but we're definitely moving in the right direction.
We put my idea of watching the footage together, scene by scene, into action today with scene 2. It took a few hours going back over takes and angles and deciding what worked and what bits of takes worked better than others. For the three and a bit page scene 2 we managed to agree a take for every line of dialogue in the scene.
Some of it was easier than others. I found there were subtle differences in lines that potentially could help the mood/character and so we zeroed in on every little thing to come up with this list. What I especially wanted to retain were the moments when the actors took something that wasn't written down but somehow saw it anyway - I know it's my film so I'm probably too close to it but I honestly believe there are a few amazing deliveries that make me feel slightly bad for bringing the whole thing down later by throwing flying scarecrows into the mix.
In some of the auditions (and also away from them) people have commented on how the dialogue in the script 'flows'. Even though I wrote it, I can't see that. I truly am my own worst critic and it's something I'm really trying hard to move away from but I only ever seem to focus on the bad.
However, I've now edited the first 48 seconds of scAIRcrows and I can finally see it working. The dialogue does flow but I really don't think that's down to me but whatever, it does work and that's all that matters.
I've watched these 48 seconds over and over trying to pick fault in it and there's a few tiny things that need to be fixed but on the whole, this is the beginning of the end. There's all the other stuff to shoot and this cut will still need to be colour adjusted and the sound cleaned up but for all intents and purposes, a finished 48 seconds of the film exists.
It sounds tiny but I couldn't be happier - something I wrote a few months ago now exists in complete form and it's a surreal thing - to be watching a page of something I've written actually playing out.
I had doubts about doing editing whilst shooting was still ongoing but I think it was a wise move - seeing what didn't make the cut and why it didn't has definitely informed how I go about the next lot of shooting.
I did think that editing was the devil's work but I'm actually coming around to it - I think it's all in the approach. Once I had the takes that I knew I was going to use it moved quite quickly. I want to say it all just slotted together but that isn't true. In cutting the takes together, I realised that some of the things that we had on paper just didn't work in the greater context and so it took a bit more work figuring out how to get to the next shot I wanted to use but as with this entire project, I haven't expected any of it to be easy.
I keep threatening storyboards - they exist and they are rubbish but they will help immeasurably in trying to co-ordinate one of the next scenes. Seems too easy now and no doubt something will happen that means we have to deviate slightly but we have a fairly solid 'map' now. I will post some of them sometime this week.
We also went over various bits re. the next shoot but that's all fairly boring stuff. We've settled on a poster design now, just tweaking a few things here and there so that should appear fairly soon and hopefully, after the next shoot, I might be in a position to cut together a short teaser. Who knows what the next few weeks will bring but we're definitely moving in the right direction.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)