PLAN FOR SHOOT Packing Scene

Casting
Leigh Evens:
The wife of Tanay (professional tennis player)
She is needed from: 11:00 - 12:30

Location:
Setting: At Harriet's house 
Date: 13/01/19
Time: 11:00 - 12:30

Equipment:

• Tripod
• Sony A58

Props:

• Male clothing
• Tennis Racket
• Pictures of Tanay and Team
• Trophies
• Make up

Dialogue:

None

Shots:

• ELS of the house (establishing shot)
• Master shot of the bedroom
• Panning shot of the pictures and trophies
• Over the shoulder shot of wife picking up a photograph
• ECU and sharp focus on the photograph
• CU of the wife opening the wardrobe 
• Continuous editing of her taking the clothes
• HA of wife putting clothes in the suit case
• Another panning shot of wife going downstairs with suitcase
• ECU of her locking the door and throwing it in the letter box

PODCAST 6 review of jogging scene, 2 upcoming shoots, eval qs

In this week podcast we discuss:

• review of the jogging scene we filmed/edited over Christmas 
• plans for shoot of hospital scene today
• plans for tennis and packing scene reshoots on Sunday
• initial brainstorming for creative ways of answering the evaluation questions

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INITIAL AUDIENCE RESEARCH: Survey

Question sheet

This week we did a survey to see if out target audience (primarily male aged 15-24) would be interested in our film idea:

• We showed them clips form 7 social realist films
• Cathy Come Home, Tyrannosaur, This is England, '71, Billy Elliot, Submarine, Slumdog Millionaire
• We gave them a question sheet about the clips
• Asked them to fill in their age/gender (almost all of them were a part of our target demographic)
  

  

  The questions were presented to ppts in a table
  format, but these were the questions

WHAT WE FOUND

• Name the film: 
• they couldn't name most of the films
• most recognised Billy Elliot and Slumdog Millionaire, which makes sense as these were the 2 most commercially successful.
• Genre:
• we suspected a teenage audience would use the word 'drama' to describe most of the films, with hybrid exceptions '71 and Submarine probably being labelled as action/romcom. 
• This was true for the most part, though 2 recognised the social realist theme. 
• Slumdog Millionaire was thought to be a Bollywood production by a few of the participants (which makes sense as the majority of Indian films are Bollywood films), but the majority labelled it as rom-com/drama.
• Would they want to see more of the films: 
• almost no one said they wanted to continue watching Cathy Come Home or Tyrannosaur, 
• more girls than Boys said they would want to continue Billy Elliot (probably because the ballet plot line is too 'girly'). 
• '71 was the most popular among participants that they said they would want to continue because of the genre, but Slumdog Millionaire was also a popular choice.
• Had they seen any other films/tv shows that seemed similar:
• Only a few participants named similar films/tv shows they had seen
• This is England, A Streetcar Named Desire, The Book Thief and Inglorious Bastards were some that were mentioned 
• But most said they had watched similar things
• this is positive feedback as it shows that though our target audience may not have been familiar with the clips we showed, they do have some interest in the genre
• Had they been to the cinema to see any films like these:
• only 1 participant had been to the cinema to see a social realist film (Slumdog Millionaire)
• This makes sense, as discussed in other posts low-budget indie films which tend to be more likely to explore heavy social realist themes are less commercially successful than studio/comedy films and therefore have a more difficult time with theatrical distribution
• Even The Journeyman, which we are taking lots of influence from, was screened at an indie film festival (The British and Irish Film festival)

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TITLES/FONT Audience Feedback

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After getting some audience feedback, they all agreed that the first font fits best for our social realist film. The sharp edges (serif-font) connotes seriousness. The second one fits better for a horror/slasher movie and the third one it too childish.

Podcast5

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In this podcast we are talking about:

• the scenes we are going to shoot
• update on cast
• some behind the scenes
• essay practice about film industry and comparison between Warp and Working Title

Pre-Production evidence

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In this video, I included some behind the scenes, character, the different shot types and some ideas. However, there is more footage to be added the next time we are filming and also more precise details about the set and mise-en-scene.

SAMPLE SCENE3 Jogging/Car Crash

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For this sample scene I included:

• diegetic sound
• I would like to recreate a similar background music I have used in this sample scene (maybe using garage band + a tutorial video)
• natural lighting
• shaky/handheld shots which you find in social realist movies like Tyrannosaur
• tracking shot to signify Tanay is the central protagonist
• Extreme Long Shot
• Close Up
• Long Shot
• Tilting/Panning shot
• it was filmed handheld form a car
• the panting is Foley sound found on the website freesound (copyright free) because the noise from the car and wind made the audio form the clips unusable

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FEEDBACK

• include titles
• there is shading at the top of the frame in the first shot form where the top of the car window is
• include more takes of Tanay running (shot variety, static shots etc.)
• shots of his feet, POV shots, in front/behind etc.
• the image is blurry/pixelated
• the drumbeat sounds like muffled ambient sound, not a drum
• the patch on the arm of the jacket (the jacket in general) doesn't fit - make the character more clear through costume/set dressing
• can create a character that seems careless
• person in business clothes, holding briefcase, papers full, fumbling for key, coffee and on phone - busy, stressed and distracted, likely to be in an accident 
• body language, costume, do not necessarily have to see a face
• would add to verisimilitude 
• be more careful with where/when sad music plays
• there's no real buildup to the climactic car crash
• get frontal OTS shot of the car coming up 
• Tanay could be listening to music - explanation as to why he doesn't heat the car (and would add more verisimilitude)
• the sound - theres the sound of glass shattering but then theres no damage to the car
• we didn't inlaced a shot of Tanay lying on the ground and smoke coming out of thecae because it seemed unrealistic and looked silly
• remove glass shattering sound
• The bleak deep field of focus for the tilting down shot works to show the trees, but shallow field of focus would work better afterwards (don't want be cutting between shots with different fields of focus too much)

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PLAN FOR SHOOT hospital scene

Casting
Tanay Saigal
The protagonist/tennis player
He is needed from:
11:40-12:30
3:15-4:30

Hannah Ni Leigh Evans
The partner of Tanay
She is needed from:
11:40-12:30
3:15-4:30

Sam Lau
The coach
He is needed from:
11:40-12:30
3:15-4:30

Harriet Barlow
Tanay's teammate
She is needed form:
11:40-12:30
3:15-4:30

School nurse
Nurse
She is needed from:
11:40-12:30
3:15-4:30


Location
The school nurses' office in our school, we had to ask the nurses for permission and we gave them a brief of what we want to do - we had to be flexible for shooting because if a student came in the space had to be free
We eventually filmed after school so we had more time to get all the shots we wanted
Date:
27/12/18 - cancelled because actor could not make it
28/12/18 - cancelled because nurses office was occupied
07/01/19 - "
11/01/19 - "
14/01/19
Time: 
11:40-12:30 
3:15-4:30


Equipment

• Sony A58
• Tripod
• Dolly

Props

• printed out picture of brain scans
• folder
• bandages
• blanket
• trophy
• cigarettes/packet - we included this in the training scene because it made more sense
• Nurses outfit
• Coach's costume

Shot List

• POV shots of Tanay waking up (hand-held)
• MS 2 shot of teammate and partner next to Tanay in bed
• CU BE of Tanay's face waking up
• ECU hand nervously tapping on trophy
• MLS 3 shot of coach arriving
• shot reverse shot sequence for dialogue
• CU HA of trophy being put on bedside table
• MLS 3 shot of all dialogue
• OTS MLS of nurse coming in and her dialogue 
• MS of nurse's dialogue
• CU OTS of nurse  pointing at brain scan images in folder
• CU of coach's reaction to tennis news
• try 
• try a few different shots for reactions to the news
• CU of various things in the space (looking at watch, stethoscope, bandages etc.)

Screenplay

I showed the screenplay to the nurse, and she suggested edits for her lines to make them more realistic, those are the ones used in the final cut
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Sample scene 2: Packing scene - 1st attempt

This is the scene where the Tennis player's partner is leaving him

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NOTES FOR IMPROVEMENT

• Mise-en-scene
• include tennis equipment in the background (racket, bag, water bottle)
• passport (shot of it being put in the bag)
• photos of the couple together and the team (have partner pick them up then put them down again, angrily)
• panning shots of props
• in wardrobe have clear split of his/her side
• have a larger suitcase, get a shot of Cathy grabbing everything from one side of the wardrobe and putting it in the suitcase
• Acting
• include clearer demonstrations for the actor/actress
• make it angrier and sadder
• aggressively throwing clothes into the bag
• slamming down the photos
• get a closeup of her face (expression)
• do a 'final look' around the house (living/kitchen) - more realistic and chance to include more mise-en-scene for exposition
  
• Editing
• bit at the start has very fast-paced editing, but you can't really see the shots because its so fast
• get some more ELSs to use for establish shots (closer and closer to the house, similar to in Psycho) 
• Get shots of the wife entering the car and slamming the door

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Sample Scene

This is the scene from The Journey where the wife is leaving her partner.
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• we are still missing the panning shot of the pictures, trophies (connotes he is a professional tennis player)

PODCAST4

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In this podcast we are talking about:

• the shoot this weekend(the packing scene, jogging in the forest, Tanay practicing tennis and the scene where he gets hit by the car)
• updates on cast
• more industry research
• and another deconstruction of a social realist film

GENRE RESEARCH Historical context

French New Wave (nouvelle vague)
In the 1950s and 60's a post-war movement began in France, lead by writer's for a French magazine Cahiers du Cinema such as Francois Truffaut, Jean-Luc Godard (A Bout de Souffle) and Claude Chabrol . It encompassed a lot of documentary style film techniques in order to challenge traditional film styles and make audiences acutely aware that they are watching a media text which has been artificially constructed, as a backlash against the influence of Nazi propaganda.

A Bout de Souffle poster

 


The idea of an anti-hero emerged form a lot of these films, having protagonists be morally ambiguous and focusing more on an aspect of audience identification rather than aspiration.


Some conventions of the movement found through research:

• Low budget
• pretty much all indie productions
• shot on site because of this (people's houses or public locations)
• cast was often people that the director already knew
• transportable equipment
• e.g. in Godard's A Bout de Souffle a scene shot on the Champs Elysees used a shopping trolley for a tracking shot
• improvisation (of lines, and spontaneity in filming)
• Themes:
• existentialism (often criticisms of organized religion, or nihilistic protagonists)
• gritty (disillusionment, abortion, rape, violence, poverty)
• Jean-Luc Godard did extensive research into Marxism and it is present in some of his films
• Techniques
• long takes (film reel was expensive)
• hand-held cameras
• fast cuts
• breaks of convention (e.g. the 180 degree rule) to subvert expectations
• jump cuts
• character asides
• breaking eye line matches
• Discontinuity editing (more on this in prelim blog post)
• Other:
• Lots of intertextual references
• e.g. A Bout de Souffle has quotes form Dylan Thomas, William Faulkner; music from Bach and Mozart, and lots of film posters as a part of set dressing
• They were black and white films, a lot of them made for television due to low budget
• The progression of time was often close to that of real life
• Cleo 5 to 7 follows 2 hours in the life of an actress/singer as she awaits the results of a medical test, however the narrative is divided into chapters follow her state of mind

  

  Cleo from 5 to 7 screenshot

• Open ended narratives
• some scenes are shown more than once but from the points of views of different characters - showing both the objective and subjective events

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British New Wave
British New Wave (1959-63) was inherently similar to French New Wave, as it was the spreading of the movement. Because of this most of the techniques used were the same, but some notable differences:

• Often had a focus on working class struggles, particularly those in the North of England
• e.g. Room at the Top has a protagonist from Yorkshire (though the actor's accent is inconsistent at best) 
• Heavier focus on relationship and social drama (hence the name 'kitchen sink drama/realism)
• e.g. Billy Liar follows the life of a man with three girlfriends
• e.g. The L-shaped Room uses the social interactions between the protagonist and her neighbors to explore social conventions and challenge social status quos
• 
  

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Italian Neorealism
TBC


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