REFLECTIONS

Reflection on the module

At this point in my studies, I think that It would be appropriate to recap on the things that i have learnt whilst I have been preparing my film.

During the beginning stages of this module, we were asked to think about what it was that we wanted to achieve for our final project, this involved  group sessions where we were encouraged to take turns discussing our ideas and our practices for bringing life to these ideas. we were encouraged to think about  the size of the film, the budget, the actors and the crew, the equipment, how it would look etc.

Over the next couple of weeks , we were shown examples of films and  visual accounts of practices which may be useful for us when carrying out the planning and pre- production of our 

works

films such as Run Lola Run (Dir. T. Twyker 1998) and Boy and Bicycle ( Dir. R. Scott 1956 ). I found the latter very interesting, it was filming on next to nothing , moneywise on very obvious locations but there was an depth and richness to it that belied it's modest beginnings. there seemed to be an emotional quality  and a visual style that was both surprising and insightful

We were asked to study shots from " Olympia" by Leni Riefenstahl  in regards to  framing, the composition of certain shots. In fact what we were asked to do was to draw them, so as to be an exercise in storyboarding, but quite frankly I found it very frustrating as my illustration skills leave a lot to be desired. It did get me to reflect on how it can be very hard to communicate what you  can see in your head , even with the skills to draw it to present to your crew.

Overall, I have found the exercises presented very helpful. One such occurrence I remember because we were told to not let our surroundings us, we were encouraged to look at what was around us and use it to its fullest abilities. I know that this certainly rings true for my film, because it got me thinking about possible locations and ways to make my film as economic as possible, as I was basically working on a budget of next to nothing. I would have to use all the resources available to me, which lead me to really think about the narrative of my film and how I could build the notion on the " lack of money" into the film itself. I have realised that I may have to wear many different hats in terms of this production to be able to get the desired result.

Getting on with it!

Getting on with it

As much as I can prepare for this film , I can have all the risk assessments in place, call sheets, equipment logs etc, It was important to just start shooting. I thought the best course of action would be to shoot at Lanjore farm first. On the 11th of March I knew that the weather was looking good, everyone who I wanted to be in the film was more or less available to help.

I took a Z1 camera and a zoom recorder and a M60 mic down to the farm as well as a pint of fake blood, which bore the label " Vampire Blood " and then stated on the back the ironic instruction of    " do not get near eyes, mouth or face ".  I didn't really have anything scripted for this particular evening of shooting as most of the footage would simply be moments of action that were to make up a fake  trailer and some other footage to be  woven into the interview sequences.

So this could be considered an exercise in improvisation, I think, in some ways, this helped these actors , or non-actors, get involved in the creative process at some level. Suggestions were passed around and although I voiced my concerns regarding the scenes and  how I wanted them to play out,  I was more than happy to let the actors come up with their own lines and to dictate their own performances.

I think it made for a relaxing and enjoyable experience, being able to treat the situation with a sense of fun allowed them to feel comfortable and through feeling comfortable, I think they were more willing to try different things.

Sometimes it's hard to remember, that you are they only person that really has any idea of how the film may turn out or at least, how you'd like it to come across to other people. The people who had kindly given their time to be in my film are all non-actors and people with little to no knowledge about film production or film-making, so they're never quite sure whether or not they're going to look  ridiculous. I really wanted them to be at ease and happy, I tried to utilise their time as swiftly as possible, so they wouldn't be kept away from their own commitments. I made sure that the set ups were quick and simple, after all I was trying to emulate the spontaneity of people like Sam Raimi  and John Carpenter, so It was important to me , to not make things overtly staged or technical, I purposefully used as many natural light sources as possible and the gain settings on the camera as well as the filters to try and give the footage an aged and amateurish look.

All in all, I had managed to get all the shots I wanted within a relatively short shooting window of 3.30pm to 8.30 pm and then It was a simple task of taking that footage home, capturing it and preparing for the next day of shooting.

Treatment

Filth on film

The Story of the Journey of the Making of

THE VERY DEAD !

This short film documents a look back at the notorious cult classic " The very dead ". comprised of a visit to the original shooting location,  conversations with the temperamental producer Conrad Berk and the somewhat confused and beleaguered director Martin King and long lost clips from this much missed piece of cinematic excellence.

* The film is intended to be a parody in the vein of " This Is Spinal Tap" or " The Day Today", the intention is to employ the clichés found in late 70's early 80's horror films as well as employing some of the cliché's found in retrospective documentaries  whilst trying to stay "true" to the general aesthetic of the material that has influenced this film. I.e. the actors delivering the material seriously, not acknowledging that it is a joke.

THE VERY DEAD !

The Very Dead!

To do list:

·         Locations : Landjore Farm for " The very dead " Interiors and Exteriors. Use the barn and the driveways

·         Interviews to be done at Arts Centre and T3.18

·         Plan budget:-  Fake blood, contact lenses,  facial make up, prosthetics, guts and entrails.

·         Actors- start Looking!

·         Script must be started- you may need to do trailer dialogue separately

·         Find shooting date

·         Music.

·         find out about posters, can you create one yourself?.

·         Have a making of to document the film.

get paperwork together i.e. Risk Assessments/ call sheets/shot lists.

THE VERY DEAD!

Pre Production  ( to be completed by 11/03/2014)

·         Script

·         props  i.e.  make-up/ contact lenses/ fake blood

·         " making of " stills, production stills ( Monday 10th March)

·         Posters for background

·         Equipment booked.

·         crew/ cast confirmed

·         Budget

·         All relevant paperwork i.e. risk assessments/equipment lists/release forms etc

·         Shoot " tracking shots "

·         Shoot "making of "

Production

Location: Landjore Farm

CAST

Edward Haddon

James Haddon

Jeremy Haddon

Aimee Haddon ?

SHOOT:  Trailer scene one:  camera follows Aimee

Trailer Scene two: Jeremy, Eddie, James possessed

Trailer Scene three : Eddie Possessed

Trailer Scene four : Aimee Screaming

Trailer Scene five :  Eddie pulling guts out of Jez's stomach

Trailer Scene six: Jimmy, Ed, Jez and Aimee pull up to the house ( daytime)

Trailer Scene seven : door opens on it's own

Trailer Scene eight :  Cat

 

Gravity or " George Clooney saves a woman, even when he's dead"

I'd heard about Gravity, I read about it, I'd seen the mind blowing trailer, let's face it , the footage was rather spectacular, even at my age and my experience with films, I still get swept away with hype sometimes, after all isn't that the point of a marketing campaign?. I was even interested in the whole " 3-D " aspect of it and how it was the first film to really explore the artistic possibilities of the medium, rather than tack it on to the film as a cynical ploy to dissuade pirates. ( If that meant that I wouldn't have to see Johnny Depp pretend to a pissed up reject from the sunset strip again, I'd want every film to be in 3-D).

Yet as it was screened for me and my fellow group of bitter students, I felt a sudden feeling of " this isn't very good " creeping in. I felt like i had  "sold out " a little bit, seeing as I had raised my hand in favour of      
" Gravity" when we could have watched  " It's A Wonderful Life ". within twenty minutes I regretted this decision, I could have watched, what is regarded as one of the greatest films of all time, at Christmas on a cinema screen with a group  of relatively like-minded people, but I decided to go for the eye-candy, current release, knowing that If i saw it now, I wouldn't have to pay out for a screening, seeing as the film was free.

Amidst the "Boos" and " Hisses" and inadvertent laughter targeted at the events on screen, I decided first of all, that I really couldn't see what the fuss was all about!. I did'nt really feel one way or another about it, it's was certainly becoming tedious to me and a bit repetitive but it i did'nt hate it.

...something bothered me about it though and  as usual my brain decided to take it's sweet ass time to decide what it was that I did'nt like about it.

Then it suddenly became clear to me!. It's a pandering sexist and condescending take on what could've been a genuine attempt by Hollywood to portray a woman solving her own problems.
Here is a woman , who for the most part manages to rise above her relative inexperience as an astronaut to survive and prosper in a situation where 99% of the human population would  just fill their underwear with bodily pudding. there is even an attempt to portray her as a tortured and damaged individual, an obvious attempt to give instill some depth and humanity into the character. Yet after all this, even after they kill off Buzz Lightyear...i mean George Clooney...they have him return in what be one of the most blundering  attempts at a cinematic "pep-talk" I have ever witnessed. Sandra bullock has run out of options, all hope is lost and she has given up. she has turned up the CO2 levels so she can slip into unconsciousness and die peacefully, yet at her darkest moment, who should arrive but " George- Batman, Peacemaker, Billy Ocean ( or some other ocean bloke)- Clooney to tell her that " she can do it and to not give up!". So after all this groundwork, you're willing to kill yourself until a man tells you not to...worse than that he's dead, it's a dream sequence, so it's now the voice of a man in her head telling her what to do and it's George Clooney!. the manliest of all Hollywood alpha males. Well Done, here's to the 21st century when it arrives. Christ, even Lois Lane in Man of Steel, a film inherently man-centric, the clue is in the title did a better job of portraying a what an independent modern working woman should behave like and that script was horrible!

Maybe I'm looking at this film too much in the wrong way and I should just see it as the " vehicle" that it is meant to be. that's always going to be a default argument for a big budget Hollywood movie, that it doesn't need to have any substance or any anything deeper than it's surface value.

That's true it doesn't, but for a film that has got so much critical praise, I'm baffled by how stupid it actually is.

I'm sure the makers are really considering the political and social economics of the film all the way to the bank but It's  not going to stop me and my empty bank account from going on this tirade!

The Very Dead!

My pitch for my final project is to present a film that acts as a " mockumentary" in the vein of 
" This is Spinal Tap" where i want my film to  act as retrospective documentary for a film called " The Very Dead ". I would like to intersperse the interview footage with excerpts of scenes from " The very dead". i have already identified a place to shoot the footage from the " film" and I'm thinking of asking the arts centre if i can use their screening room as one of the interview locations.

I have started writing as script and should start storyboarding soon and potentially i would like to start shooting end of February /beginning of march.

I would really like to use this as an opportunity to experiment with make-up and effects, use different filming practices that i have acquired over the last three years.

Most importantly I would like this project to be enjoyable for the audience and to be able to leave my mark, to make my final academic project stand out from the rest of my work.