End Of Year Films, The Epic Final Chapter: Shooting Breathing Room

Since camera is my chosen specialism and has been for the longest time, since a few weeks into the course, I was quite looking forward to shooting our end of year films this year. I will admit that I was apprehensive about shooting our end of year films on RED, mostly because the weeks of training time that were originally mentioned didn't come to fruition. I'm quite happy to now admit that I was wrong.

Before shooting, it was hard to find time to get anything moving for Breathing Room, mostly due to producing Sole Mates and having to work part-time. This is maybe the 14th time I've brought this is but both were the major downfall for DP'ing Breathing Room.

Early in pre-production, I had a certain type of vision for the film. Since Jackie was living in solitude, locked away from the world by her own choice, I planned to shoot everything very wide, almost as if we were simply watching a landscape with a small creature wandering through. This would then change to a very handheld, tight, claustrophobic feeling when the tramp and the dog get into the house. Unlike Sole Mates and Broken Bubbles, it was very difficult for us to have a consistent colour palette. The other two films were creating a charity shop or creating a workshop but for Breathing Room, we really could only work with whatever the house was like, there was no way to overhaul the house on the budget we had. In terms of colour, I also found it very difficult to add tints or set certain colour temperatures on the RED to give a feel since it was too easy to just go for the most beautiful image with the most beautiful colour rather than setting a colour to give a feel. Hopefully this can be corrected in post.

With the loss of the RED for the duration of Sole Mates, it was up in the air for an entire week whether we would actually be shooting on it. While others were very downhearted about it, I was quite happy just to be shooting something and would have happily shot on the 570's if there were no other options.

In pre-production, Graeme started on the shot list and this was a good base but I obviously had to put my own hand into it. Graeme didn't want to do storyboards which was a definite downfall for us, even though I would have rather done photoboards since neither of us can draw, and taking a photo involves a proper frame meaning that you can place a person in a similar background and instantly anyone can get a feel for what is going to be shot. Twice we attempted to make a pass on the shot list but since both of us were working, work for Sole Mates wasn't finished until the day after the shoot and the location was quite a trek from Glasgow, very minimal work could get done. Graeme believed that I could phone in sick for work in order to do a recce but since I had already taken many days off work for the shoot and Edinburgh there was no way I could. Rent payments have to come first.

After finishing work at 1:00am early on the Monday morning, myself and the camera department (Ross, John, Luke and David) drove to Gourock to get ahead of the game. I made the suggestion since I wanted to have as much time as possible at the location and the only way to do it was right after work. The drive was hilarious and I believe it was the early hours of the day before we fell asleep. Luckily, we had a little while longer to sleep than everyone who was coming down on the train.

We all had a quick working breakfast on the first morning ahead of the hectic day that lay ahead. Yes it was hectic but in fact, the entire crew coped extremely well with the dog on-set. The day was filled with hesitation since the dog handler caused more than a little bit of trouble. She wasn't the easiest to get on with and was under the illusion that the dog was merely in the background. She clearly hadn't listened to Michael or read the script.

We fired through slates and while many times we were thinking on our feet, we worked well enough as a crew to cope with any set backs. What probably helped us move quickly and allowed us to sacrifice shots here and there was my back-up shot list. Anyone involved had my ideal shot list but in my head I knew what we needed to get so when we were told we were tight on time (which always happens) I could sacrifice shots without sacrificing the film. It's a technique I'll probably employ in the future as well since it seemed to work well. And only you and I will know about it, dear reader.

By Day 2 we had hit our stride, we had an easier day 1 than we thought and managed to shoot all of our coverage with the dog and minimal complications. We didn't take our metaphorical feet off the pedals though and continued filming our final scenes with Rhys as the tramp and also our ending.

As a nice tidy bookend, we filmed the end of the film at the end of the 2nd day and the beginning of the film at the beginning of the 3rd day. Both scenes weren't quite what they were like on the storyboards but I'm pleased with both of them and I hope all of it cuts together well.

On the 3rd day, we wrapped at around 4:30 because the actor had to leave but we had in fact shot all of our coverage that we reckon we needed. No doubt it'll shine through in the edit if this isn't the case.

Rather than go into great detail about each individual day. I thought I would talk more about each person on-set and beforehand. Since the majority of us (camera crew, Graeme, Lanni, Charlotte, Murdo and even Rhys and Michael for one night) lived on-set for the duration of the shoot, there soon became a great sense of camaraderie and it became very far from just a 9 to 5 job for everyone. It had the same sort of atmosphere as Little Clown did last year all of us who stayed at Benoits on those days remember the experience fondly.

Graeme did a good job and shouldn't be as hard on himself. He seemed to make the actors comfortable and in general I had no problems communicating with him. The problems that we did have was essentially in our lack of prep. Graeme hadn't read the shot list and so would be explaining his coverage to the actors and then mentioning shots that weren't on the shot list. This infuriated me greatly and we lost some time due to this. The duration of shots and their exact coverage was often also unclear and small arguments were had at some point. Still, Graeme did a great job at his first time directing, none of us are perfect at it, that's why we're at the academy. His knowledge of the environment (with it being his own house) certainly aided us in both the shooting and the day to day running of the film.

Michael first bash at producing was obviously quite successful. We did eventually get a location, actors and a dog. If I'm being honest, I was often jealous of Michael, since besides constantly phoning around about locations, his film was a little easier to produce than mine. Props weren't an issue, neither were extras, location moves or bikes. It still wasn't easy though and everytime I still go into the production office, I can still picture Michael on the phone to either a location, an actor's agent or a dog handler only to be refused minutes later. The one major downfall came with the catering. If it wasn't for Graeme working in Dominoes, we wouldn't have eaten as well as we did. 10 bags of pasta and sauce aren't going to nourish a crew. Again, an excellent job done for a first attempt and Michael keeps talking about how much he wants to produce next year.

As I mentioned in my previous blog, Lanni was a good AD and he just needs to stay focussed to master his craft. On Breathing Room, I sometimes felt it was me and Lanni who would be pushing forward and wanting everything shot and we both think we were responsible for the early wrap and meeting our quota each day. The fact that we were pushing means that, on reflection, Graeme was focussed on the moment with the actors which is a good thing for everyone.

Ross and John worked very well as a team. I wasn't sure if they would work well together but I'm glad to say that I should have had faith. Lanni made the comparison that they are the David and Kerr of our year, hefty boots which I hope they can fill (if they want to) next year. They were always on hand when they were needed and always on the ball. Ross would always either meet or surpass my idea of a shot and would wait about quietly, or with suggestions while I was locking down the movement or lighting. Both gave their all in one particular shot where they had to be inside the boiling hot conservatory to get a shot. Their dedication to getting this shot done in the best possible way will stay with me when I see the final film.

I don't remember a single operating error that Ross didn't notice himself and each time, he would be willing to try again when it would often be sorted. John constantly had his head in the game. His focus points were often spot on and both he and Ross would work together so that they were both at a certain comfort level with the shot. I don't consider myself experienced in the art of cinematography yet so I was more than happy to listen to John, Ross, David and Luke's suggestions at times and as a team, I reckon we worked really well together. My thoughts for the film's lighting was to have it look very natural and use little to no practical lighting. Not the most exciting plan for a gaffer but we pulled it off and Luke was always ready to go. It's a bit of a thankless job but he was very good at it and shouldn't beat himself up about the lost kit. The one time he did need a hand though, I burned myself. The scar still lingers! Then again pain is temporary...

David deserves a special note since his experience was certainly my safety mat. Often I would have a lighting set up that I was happy with, but a few times, I had to ask my lads for suggestions and everyone would be very attentive to David's thoughts which would often just give the setups the edge they needed. At times though, he would make suggestions and be quite happy to have me refuse them, something which I think is difficult to learn but a good mentality to have. His constant insistence of "that's not your job" made me feel much more confident in my role. I'm used to working on small productions were everyone pitches in but with everyone having actual roles, it's hard to forget when to not pitch in. There truly is only one David Van Der Zanden!

Murdo kept himself to himself most of the time and I would always make a point of spending a moment as soon as I could to giving him an edge for his boom. While I'm a camera boy at heart, it annoys me that sound gets entirely overlooked and forgotten about on-set and all they usually need is a few moments of our time. Not much to ask considering everything is generally manipulated for the camera.

Lauren was always available (unlike other members of TPA) and would be close by if anything needed done. The day that John wasn't feeling well she did a great job of slating with minimal guidance which showed she had been paying attention.

Charlotte's job of DIT was done to the best possible standard, doubling as a stills photographer at times, though she ate far too much of our production food which meant that I had far less snacks than I wanted. The job really just consists of sitting pretty, which Charlotte struggles to do at the best of times! ;)! Is that a punch I hear coming my way?

All in, an excellent crew and one of my favourite on-set experiences, not least for being the DP on the first film we have made shot entirely on RED. We had our pitfalls in pre-production but with time and practice, these will be forgotten and improved upon and I look forward to being in a similar position this time next year. Though obviously, like everyone else, I'd love that elusive grad film directing position. The chance to direct anything would be awesome! Next time though, I want someone asking me constantly if I want a coffee, just so I can have a bit of a diva tantrum!

So long 2009/2010!!!

End of year films, Chapter 2: Sole Mates Shooting

The first day of the Sole Mates shoot was quite chaotic. We had scheduled all of our location moves that day so that we would have two easier days for the rest of the shoot.

We made it to Eaglesham and turned over ahead of time and everything went pretty well to begin with. And then it rained. The Eaglesham scenes were finished on RED and the decision was made to move the city scenes to another day. This wasn't the end of the world, a bit of a set back but nothing major. So we then move to the shop, so that we were shooting something.

On the way back from Eaglesham, I mentioned to Lanni that I would have to get some petrol in before heading back and we both made the decision that we probably had enough to get us there as soon as possible. As we were about to come off the motorway, the car started to stutter. I remember changing from 5th, to 4th, to 3rd, to 2nd then to 1st gear and then a total stall. All in a very comedic fashion. The worst part though, was that my passengers were Lanni, our 1st AD, Gavin, our director, Charlotte our DP and Helen, our lead actress. With us able to go nowhere, the film was going to be doing the same. My first instinct was to push which me and Lanni did but soon, I had to concede and try and phone the RAC. Everyone else was remarkably calm while I was slowly panicking. I was being told I had to sign up to a payment plan by the RAC before I would be taken off the road so I spent a good 5 or 10 minutes signing up and like a small miracle, Amey, the trunk road clearance people saved me money and the wrath of everyone on-set. They took us off the road and I ran to the petrol station while my passengers got a taxi back to set.

When we returned to the set, we were hit with some terrible news that the RED was broken. It was a shame but the crew did an amazing job of just cracking on with it. They used both Ross and Galina's 550D cameras which worked well and while not the quality of RED, were the best cameras on hand to satisfy the vision. Charlotte and the camera guys did well in working with what they had and while most of the usual on-set roles broke down, they all worked well as a team, showing that each of them can cope under such pressure. Less people needed to be near the camera and Galina was the only one who could view the action as it was happening but I don't think this affected the shoot much since it was very easy to play it all back.

The first day eventually came to an end as I sat in the shop, pleased as punch with how things were working and that we had overcome just about every obstacle...

The second day started out okay but really, it's now all a blur. Since none of the 1st years were available I ended up as a runner for the second and third days. This was a total nightmare and frustrated me no-end and yet there was absolutely nothing I could do about it. It's such a shame as well that the shoot would have been weakened had I not been able to drive. This makes me feel needed but at the same time, it concerns me about what troubles we'll run into on our grad shoots. Hopefully more of the class will have a car or the ability to drive by this time next year.

The strength of the crew went beyond the camera department who I mentioned previously. Mick is an excellent sound recordist and while everyone else seems to have their flashes of un-professionalism, Mick is a constant professional and is always there when he is needed.

Lanni was excellent as the 1st AD on both shoots and his experience was valuable to me both as a producer and as DP. I wish him the best of luck in the future and just hope that he can keep himself under control which I reckon will be easier in a more experienced environment.

Gavin was by far the strongest of anyone on-set. His perseverance to have the story told despite all the set backs was astounding and his dedication to performance is probably the best I've seen from anyone at student level. His confidence also kept the crew in a good mood, even when we ran over by a few hours. He held the set together and I have no doubt that he'll do well in the future.

I enjoyed the experience on Sole Mates and it has taught me one thing; I don't ever want to produce, I love being on-set and being close to the camera and I don't get this from production. The paperwork side doesn't annoy me and I think I've now gotten over my fear of being on the phone and I'm a little more confident when approaching people to get them to do things for nothing. I think I just felt overloaded with too many things and wasn't able to not focus on the smaller aspects of the production.

In my next blog post, I'll be talking about my DP experience on Breathing Room.

End of year films, Chapter 1: Sole Mates Pre-Production

Well, it's been a chaotic few weeks. And by chaotic I mean no time for TV, no time for film watching no time for free time kind of chaotic. Not that I'm complaining, we should be considering ourselves priveleged to be in the positions that we are and at this stage in the course it's very easy to forget. Sometimes I find it hard to remind myself where I was two years ago.

The writing of this blog has came much later than expected but in my defence, as I said earlier, I have been really busy. This means that the entire blog will be from a reflective point with many of my thoughts and feelings no doubt having changed.

When I heard that I was producing and DP-ing I was excited. Excited that I would be getting to flex my muscles in both of my chosen specialisms. The first being camera, the second in production. The reason for production as a second choice came from my general dislike of the lack of respect any sound person gets on seemingly every set and that I can't stand being stuck with a computer and someone nagging me for days and weeks on end. I also wanted to know what a producer went through so that in the future I know exactly what they have to do.

My first issue came when I saw that both films were going back to back. This meant that I would have to manage my time meticulously. As always, this is easier said than done.

I initially started out quite well. Since the producer seems to have most of their work in pre-production, I spent the majority of my time on "Sole Mates", mostly recce'ing and spending time on setting our production assistants tasks as well as taking my time with casting and the chasing up of locations. Since Gavin and Charlotte knew how heavy my workload would be with working on both films, they helped me greatly in the pre-production phase, which benefitted all of us. Gavin naturally gravitates to production so he was often thinking of things I wouldn't be which would inform me in my quest to successfully produce the film. The only problem was that for the first week or two, it didn't feel like I was producing at all, it felt like I was merely a pair of hands to do Gavin's work. I raised this to Gavin after the shoot and I meant nothing mean-spirited about it but looking back, I realise I couldn't have done it without his support. Charlotte did a great job at chasing up casting but sadly, old people are very hard to find and when agents say "they are no longer with us" it doesn't mean that they are no longer with the agency.

While I imagine that everyone will say the same about themselves, I genuinely believe that the three of us worked together better than most, mostly since we all get on very well and each of us find it easy to stay dedicated to whatever is thrown at us. Our communication was awesome and each of our experiences and interests seemed to inform the other. I'd love for us to be forced together again in the future.

As we got close to shooting, delegating became a key element of producing. Me and Graeme were trying to meet once a week and even then, it was far from enough and Sole Mates was taking over. Sometimes I felt really bad having to leave Gavin to do things he wouldn't be if I was only producing but it felt necessary to make sure that Breathing Room didn't fall apart because of me.

What I did learn more than anything when producing Sole Mates, was that you can't rely on people who aren't used to the environment. I don't want to publicly slate them but the art department didn't quite meet the expectations we had of them or get close to the early promise that was shown. Any time I spoke to them, Broken Bubbles would come up in conversation, which made me feel that they were all much more focussed on that film rather than both Sole Mates and Breathing Room. Broken Bubbles is much more art department heavy but I feel that Sole Mates especially suffered from their lack of total dedication. Matt did a great job as our art department head but soon, the cracks showed when no props were turning up on-set.

Once we secured a shop, for the reasonable £100 fee, we could then focus more on casting and matching Eaglesham as our village to the shop on Duke Street. Anyone who knows both of those locations will know how different they are in every way but I believe that our DP and director did their darndest to make them match. The cast issue was a great concern in the final week of pre-production since Gavin had to accomodate an actor into the script when there wasn't a part there for him originally, mere days before we turned over and Gavin also didn't get his first, second, third or fourth choice of actresses for his lead. If it weren't for the fact that Gavin has worked with Helen Macfarlane several times over the past year or so, the miniscule rehearsal time would have been close to pointless.

I was quite strict with the budget, some tight-fisted-ness was employed and in the end, has worked in our favour...

Since everything else I'm doing has a to-do list...

To-Do List:
1. Produce one end of year film.
2. DP the next end of year film.
3. Work part-time.
4. Blog about 1 and 2.

When one eight becomes two zeroes...

Just back from a Hot Tub Time Machine preview screening. In short, fantastic and downright hilarious. Better than last year's most over-rated comedy, The Hangover. Rob Corddry deserves to be this years "that guy from..." and Crispin Glover in cameo form is hilarious and seems to have barely aged since 1985. Though I still hold it against him for not doing Back To The Future 2.

Outside Production Blog 2: "Could we just find an actress who has a twin?"

Knee-deep in pre-production, I have a meeting with our director, Michael Maxwell and in discussion of somehow getting a severed head, the quoted title was mentioned. While it was (hopefully) made in jest, it got me thinking about what lengths some would go to shooting a film. I imagine there are some who would, and maybe have, killed for the "art". The closest thing that comes to mind is the Italian atrocity Cannibal Holocaust which consists of I think 3 live animal killings only for the sake of getting the brutality on camera. I guess it's no better than a slaughterhouse but at the same time, I don't consider that art. Though that's a rant for another time.

This week has been a bit nerve-wracking (though far from stressful) but reckon I'm doing well, even if the production is really simple compared to the planning of say, a grad film. We've lost and gained a location or two but are now settled at Galina's flat which, like any location, has it's problems but I think we can easily work our way around these ones. It also doesn't have a massive mirror which would have to have been covered up.

After I confirmed with Michael the section he wanted to audition and he detailed the character description e.t.c. I sent a blanket e-mail to the actors of the academy. I learned a couple of things from this. First, this was the first time my "ok, I'll not direct to see if I can collaborate" idea took a step forward: I had created this character and Michael developed the backstory. It feels odd, but very gratifying, the fact that I can create a character and after reading the script and talking a bit about her, Michael created a background that enhanced everything I said. I guess it'd be like doing the line drawing side of a comic book and then someone comes along and colours it in.

Secondly, this was my first attempt at seeing how 'lucky' we really are to be at the academy. One of the advantages of studying at the RSAMD was that actors and such are close-by to help you when casting e.t.c. While this had been told to me ever since Creative Beginnings, I didn't believe it worked until this week. I pieced together an e-mail with my questionable English skills and not only did they understand me, but I got a few replies, two of them almost instantly. It maybe would mean nothing to anyone else but I love the idea that actresses were willing to audition for something which initially was just an idea to go out and shoot something. Even more so, I imagined that the ladies of the acting course would be put off by a horror of any variety due to that stigma (you've read the paragraphs in my other post?) so I was shocked to get any replies.

I was quite nervous before the auditions, as I was last week when we did Zam's directing assessment but I've come to accept this as normality for anytime an ounce of pressure is applied to anything I do but I do my best to cover it up. Laughing is a great one and I also wanted to get into the audition room as early as possible, so that at least I was comfortable. With our first audition I decided to dive right in and just introduce myself as confident and talkative. Usually I struggle with those initial few seconds of an introduction: Smile, be polite, be clear, make sure when you shake hands that you "stay on target" for their hand, eye contact, polite banter and then on to business. It's too much to do all at once sometimes but I reckon after 24 years I'm slowly getting better at it.

So I introduced our first auditionee to the rest of the "panel": Michael and Charlotte. Before it we made sure that we followed Zam's advice, no table, make them comfortable, take your time with them ask them their thoughts on the script e.t.c. and then once you've chatted a little get down to it. Each time it seemed to work quite well, Michael was the general motivator for the sessions and myself and Charlotte were his wingmen (sorry Deborah "wingpeople"), bailing him out when he needed help answering a question or wanted to give the actor another note. I loved the entire process and while I sometimes had to restrain myself from wanting to take over, it felt good to have the 4 of us in the room work to hone the performance in the audition. I do rabble sometimes because I find it hard to be precise in my wording but I did a good job and only once did I have to take an actual pause before answering a question. Instantly though, from that first audition, I was shocked at the quality of the acting. In the same way that I'm shocked about how much we as 2nd year DFTV students actually know, I'm shocked at how much they, as 1st and 2nd year actors, can bring a great performance instantly to the table. They were also EXTREMELY willing to look scared, frightened and unglamourous, which isn't the first place you think young actresses might want to go to in their career. In all, I loved the process and really want to do it again, the hardest part will be telling the unsuccessful how much we loved them but unfortunatly we didn't go with them this time. Whichever actress we decide to cast, I reckon we'll get a pretty good performance out of them.

UPDATE: We decided to go with Emily! Thankfully Amiera (who we didn't go with on this occasion) replied with a nice e-mail and was even polite enough to give me a little wave in the corridor. Good to know there's no hard feelings. That must be what professionalism is like.

I've now booked the moose bars and Black Pro Mist which my good DP advisor reckons will help the look of the film. This week, the plan is to have a tech recce, leave Michael to rehearsing and then...begin shooting! It'll be chaotic but fingers crossed all of the hard work pays off.

Sorry if this post is a bit out of step with itself, I've constructed it over a few nights!

"It was kind of boring for me to have to eat.
I would know that I had to, and I would."
Kate Moss

Outside Production Blog 1: "It starts. You think you know a guy."

So this is my first post where I will try and chronicle current and future productions within and maybe eventually, outside of the academy. I can't guarantee photos or media but I can guarantee bad spelling and grammar, which may well become the main selling point of this. It all sounds quite pretentious but I'm more interested in doing this for myself as a reflective/progression log than for anyone else. Though if other's get a kick out of it, that's cool.

The first production (post-assessable blog), is Outside (I think this is still a working title) which is a short horror based around a girl who enters her bathroom, uncertain of who, or what lies outside. Now on paper, you're not even going to read that over twice to make sure it WAS as dull as you thought it but our intention isn't to have an enthralling premise.

The genesis of the idea came from my own mind (some of my ideas often do) and stemmed from my wonderment of why it was that no-one makes short horrors. Richard had shown us the opening to Scream and while I knew it inside-out and I believe that I have become invulnerable to most horror conventions, I still knew it was terrifying and built tension very well. Like the Bond films, the intro to Scream is almost a short, self-contained story in itself and if I had to see that one scene as a short film I think I'd be quite impressed.

So my thoughts continued, "Why isn't anyone interested in doing a horror?". My final thought (Jerry! Jerry!) was that no-one is interested in making one because of the terrible stigma stuck to them. Horror, traditionally at least, is thought to have low production values, lots of jumps, be needlessly gory, have big boobed, barely dressed ladies and poor writing. Some of which, I believe, are as important to their genre as the iconography of any other genre. I could talk and talk about it but I'll skip the rest of my one-sided discussion.

I then thought how could I do a short horror and one which could be shot in a day or a weekend with minimal locations and minimal actors. My first thought, was that I set it entirely in a bathroom, a room in which we all spend significant parts of our lives and in our home environment, this is somewhere we also feel very comfortable in. The bathroom has also become a staple of the horror genre, EVERY horror has one (the good one's at least) and every film also has a scare or two in there as well. This first thought was the one I pursued though we have no cliche'd cabinet door closes in this.

Now, who is the person inside the bathroom and more importantly, why? It seems a very obvious issue, but why does everything have to be complicated? Since we were telling a short (2-3 minute) story, the character had to progress fairly quickly and while it would be great to go against the grain, the character had to be female. I guess it's sort of sexist, but I'm following the genre signposts in that the strong-willed woman, even with the tears and distress, is the only one who can face and often survive the situation. Even in the 70's, which could be seen as the height of horror, women were in these sorts of roles when most other films made where casting their leading ladies as damsels in distress. Though that might just be my weak excuse for sexism. Since the initial script, a background has been created for the character, though we plan on working with the actress on developing the character rather than painting an overly specific background.

The why was always going to be the biggest problem, since everything has been done. There's no way you can have an original antagonist in horror so I guess the best thing is to go with is what I would find scary. Something which you'll have to watch the film (or read the script) to find out about. And no it's not essays or maths equations.

So there it sat, a basic premise with very little reason for going anywhere but soon, as our scripts began to progress with Richard, our class assembled to talk about extra-curricular ideas. At this, we discussed our ideas (of which there were 20+) but only a few have since been developed. One was ours, obviously, though understandably it wasn't the one that everyone gravitated to. You remember the premise don't you?

I've referred to this as "our" idea throughout and while the genesis is all my own, I haven't been alone. On facebook chat, a little while back, I spoke to Michael about both of our scripts for Richard and we considered developing the "Bathroom Horror" together as a trial run for Michael directing his horror script. I'd love to direct but at the same time, I'm quite interested in the idea of someone else directing something I have written as a test within myself to see how well I can collaborate on a creation, rather than helping hand level. Michael agreed to direct and after the meeting (it was instantly minuted), we started to bounce ideas about between each other.

Sometimes, when your confident in your own ideas, you get a kipper to the face which somehow winds you for a moment or two. The script I was working on for Richard didn't make the shortlist and everyone who didn't make it was no doubt a little gutted (as Adolf himself has publicised) but after the tears, sobs and nights spent rocking myself back and forward in a dark room with a lone candle while cradeling a small firearm, I was motivated. Motivated to have something I authored be made this year. All too often I'm a tech person and as much as I enjoy it, I had it in my head that no-one was interested in seeing, or taking an interest in a story I had originated. I doubt I'll get the chance to do it on an academy scale but I'd like to at least have a few things I've written get made and no-one is going to fix that besides me. As my mother always said: "Stop crying you little sissy and go get some work done before I whup you with the rolling pin". To be honest, I don't mind dealing with rejection, it grounds you a little and forces you to fight a bit better next time.

So one massive failure (I'm over-selling it, but sometimes things read better when they're over-dramatised) led into a massive motivation, and to quote Chumbawamba, showed that "I get knocked down, but I get up again." Ok, poor use of that reference but the song suddenly popped into my head and it was slightly relevant.

Myself and Michael bashed out a script in a few days and then sent the script to the powers at be and eventually got approval. Which is sort of where we are just now. Pre-Production has begun and after a short chat, it looks like I'll be producing as well. I've wanted to give producing a bash just so that when I'm told by a producer how difficult their job is, I know EXACTLY what they're going through. Then I can quickly remind myself why I don't want to do it. If that makes sense. So now I'm writer/producer/DoP. Can I handle it? We'll see. It's only a small project, how hard can it be?

"I know the human being and fish can coexist peacefully."
George W. Bush

Cinematography Study - The Fountain

PAUL FOREST – CINEMATOGRAPHY STUDY

THE FOUNTAIN

DIRECTED BY DARREN ARONOFSKY
CINEMATOGRAPHY BY MATTHEW LIBATIQUE

For this assignment, I will be looking at the cinematography in the Darren Aronofsky film, The Fountain, which was released in the UK in 2007. The film was shot by frequent Aronofsky collaborator Matthew Libatique who didn’t shoot Aronofsky’s Oscar baiting The Wrestler but who has worked with him on both Pi and Requiem For A Dream as well as the forthcoming Black Swan. Libatique has also worked on Inside Man, Phone Booth and Iron Man and it’s sequel.

My focus is going to be on what I'll call the tree sap sequence which is between the running times of 1:20:40 and 1:23:48 on the DVD (or in it's entirety below). I will specifically be looking at the palette choices as well as how much of it was artificially achieved and how much was in-camera since Aronofsky has said he was looking for a more traditional optical approach rather than CGI for the film.

The sequence itself is the final conquistador sequence with Tomas finally finding the Tree of Life which will supposedly save Spain. Whether it does or not is never confirmed but from what happens after this sequence, we can assume that he is successful. When he arrives, via the Mayan temple, he discovers the tree of life and using a religious dagger previously taken from a Mayan priest, thrusts it into it's bark releasing it's sap. Upon drinking this, one is supposed to “live forever” when in fact, he does not live forever as himself but he is turned to earth and plant life. Since the Queen knew that the Inquisitor was coming for her, I assume that she meant that they would live forever in the afterlife.

The sequence is very distinct and unforgettable and I believe this is down to the look of it. The colour palette of mainly golds and whites, were chosen 2 years before production as Matthew Libatique mentions in his American Cinematographer interview:

“When I work with Darren, we always talk about the palette first because it's an element we try to limit. Once Darren sets the pallete, it becomes my job, -along with the production designer and costume designer- to adhere to that choice.”

Libatique goes on to mention that the colour gold is said to represent the Mayans and a sort of “fools gold, a false truth.” The whites are said to represent mortality and truth which is why Izzy is enveloped in white light, or entirely dressed in white, throughout the film since she is used as a metaphor for the truth. While these colours are the main choice throughout the film, the tree sap sequence also contains green which Libatique says represents the “colour of life”, which is the reason why as Tomas is dying, it is deeply green plants that burst from his body.

While the choice of colour was key and emphasised many subtleties throughout, there was another reason for the pallete to be kept consistent.

“We wanted to facilitate the editing. The movie was going to cut jarringly by virtue of what you saw in the frame, but if we were consistent with the colour, at least that element wouldn't seem so jarring.”

In post-production, Libatique also did some fine tuning in the Digital Intermediate. He wanted to create fluid transitions between the golds in each of the time periods. The Efilm colourists also allowed him to get true white which wasn't quite possible to achieve in-camera.
Beyond the palette, Aronofsky knew that he wanted to create a film that was visually unique and wouldn't date too badly. The majority of the space and star effects were shot with macro photography, using many close-ups on chemical reactions. These give the film a very believable and familiar feeling while showing you images that are almost entirely alien.
The sets for the film were all constructed in a linear fashion to help represent the journey. The Tree of Life set was all physically built in Montreal, though green screen water and a tree extension was used for the first establishing shot in the sequence. CGI was implemented for the background of the shot to show the vast expanse behind the Mayan temple but this was more of a “CGI Matte” than a visual effect and something which would be very hard and expensive to shoot practically. In the wider, profile shots of Tomas with the tree to the left of frame, the background used was a cyclorama which helped sell the realism in the sequence and the water in the background was also created fairly conventionally, with someone using a massive piece of wood off-camera.

To light the sequence, Libatique created sources for light as often as possible throughout the film:

“We talked a lot about creating sources that would justify the light we were seeing. It was like working backwards. I would create the effect of something, and they had to justify it with a credible source.”

These sources can be seen shining through the tree in the sequence where the surroundings also act as backlight and fill since the source light bounces across the water and tree foliage.
Like the set, the elements in the transformation sequence where Tomas no longer becomes human and instead becomes plant-life, is almost entirely practical. Early in the sequence, the sap which oozes from the tree is creamy frosting which was created on-set, minutes before shooting. The white fizz that can be seen on Tomas' stomach when he places the sap on there was one of the simplest effects; Alka-seltzer which actor Hugh Jackman would then rub water onto to create the effect.
In order to create the flowers bursting from Tomas at the end of the sequence a mix of practical and computer generated effects were used. A “bladder of flowers” was created and prop flowers burst from behind the costume. Hugh Jackman was placed underneath the stage and wore a torso which was remotely controlled off-screen. The flowers coming from his mouth were also practical though all of these practical flowers couldn't do one thing: bloom. This is one of the few times that Aronofsky relented to using CGI, though it was only after all of the possible practical routes were followed.

Through the research of this essay, I have realised how important the colour pallet choice is for any film and how even a specific colour can assist the storytelling. I have also learned that even though many filmmakers seem to only create worlds inside a computer, many still want to create them in-camera. This has all informed my knowledge and in pursuit of my specialism next year, I'll be sure to think of colour as well as simply lighting a scene.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

John Calhoun
"Eternal Love"
American Cinematographer
November 2006

Darren Aronofsky
The Fountain Audio Commentary
http://darrenaronofskyforum.com/index/
2007

20th Century Fox
"Spain - 16th Century"
The Fountain DVD Special Features
2007

20th Century Fox
"The 21st Century"
The Fountain DVD Special Features
2007

20th Century Fox
"The Endless Field"
The Fountain DVD Special Features
2007

"I'm sorry you had to see me like that."

On my part, blogging has almost ceased this term since I seem to constantly have many things to do and very little time to do them. As a result of this blogging has fell to the bottom of the pile. While it's great to be critically thinking about films and tv outside of classes, I find discussions much more useful now than a blog which tends to be one sided and very rarely discussed. Since the blogs will no longer be assessed, I reckon I may stop critical blogging almost altogether. My plan is to write about anything which I adore/hate and to especially use the blog for reflection, mostly during shoots and shoot developments.

Anyway, shows/films I've watched recently:

FILMS

The Road - A great apocalyptic movie (post-apocalypse, apparently, shouldn't exist since there can be nothing after the end of the world) which has a very simple premise, a man and boy have to survive with very little resources. The relationship was something I felt a great connection to, since I know that neither of my parents are going to be around forever and at some point, I'll have to move on and start a family of my own. As much as I loved it, one element stood out, product placement. The can of Coke sequence and Vitamin water usage, made me cringe. I know that it sort of made sense but at the same time it was a bit too much. Many have called the film depressing but really, I find the idea of a bad film depressing much more so than a film that is merely downbeat.

The Book of Eli - It's a shame that this came out when it did, since the film seems to have been met with very little fanfare. First, "A Hughes Brother's Film" meant nothing to me. It turns out they made Menace To Society and an apparently underrated movie called Dead Presidents. So any name recognition was lost on me. Secondly, this film is sort of like a funny friend with really smelly feet or body odour. They're entertaining at times, sometimes funny, sometimes absurd but at the end of the day, they still stink. The film builds and builds but pulls the rug from underneath the audience in it's closing minutes making the entire film seem pointless and as useful as the Saw flashback montages. It does have it's moments but between this and The Road, I'd take one for The Road.

Sherlock Holmes - RDJ does his equivalent of Johnny Depp's eternally drunk Englishman in a film that is good, but not particularly great. There seems to be little to no mystery and the standout moments are those where Downey is given reams of dialogue and action scenes. Could be the start of a good franchise though...

This Is England - An excellent example of English social realism and much better than Shane Meadows fabulous Dead Man's Shoes. Thomas Turgoose is great as are the supporting cast and I loved every mention and reference to everything 80's, especially the opening montage.

The Lives Of Others - Good, very good in fact but I didn't have a clue what was going on for the first 20 minutes or so since it seemed to move far too fast and I had no idea about German politics. This was the only flaw and I managed to assemble the rest of the story in my head. Excellent performances and superb cinematography.

Gomorrah - Since I watched this just over a year ago, I thought that I would simply regurgitate and slim down my thoughts. After this second viewing, none of my feelings have changed.

I found the film very hard to follow, I don't know whether it was my poor fragile brain that just couldn't get it, or whether the film actually IS hard to follow. It plays out like a realistic Pulp Fiction, intermingling stories all over the shop, though, since there was so much crossing over of characters I found it hard to tell exactly what was going on. There are two stories that would have made good films in themselves, the kids who want to be like Scarface and the kid who wants to join the life of crime, besides those, I found the rest of the film forgettable.

I'm thinking that maybe it was just a sensory overload and that's why I don't understand thefilm, too much happening at the same time. I did like how gritty and realistic the film felt, when people were killed it almost felt like they were ACTUALLY being killed and not like a Hollywood film where you barely care for those being killed. I'm quite shocked at the '15' rating though, considering the amount of drugs shown on screen as well as guns fired. It's maybe another example of how the BBFC goes easy on foreign films, though I doubt any 15 year olds would be going to see Gomorrah, kids hate subtitles.

To sum up then: I didn't hate the film, it's more that I just didn't understand it. The film feels very gritty and realistic though I think there are far too many stories to make it remotely accessible.

Percy Jackson and The Lightening Thief - Or to give it it's full title: Percy Jackson and The Olympians: The Lightening Thief. A pretty decent family film that I can sum up in one short sentence for those confused about it at the box office: Harry Potter, with Greek Gods.

TV

Glee - A show which is probably destined to be remembered as a guilty pleasure in a few years to come. I can't help but love it since it's been a while since something so refreshing has aired on TV. I'd love to see it run for a while but I just wonder what they do when the group have their eventual success. Looking forward to watching it again, as much as I look forward to every new episode.

Lost - There's no point me raving on about it but I'll say two things which will allow you to make your own choices on the new season. (SPOILERS): Flash-sideways (there are now two time periods, the continuing island one and one where the plane doesn't crash on the island, though many things have changed...) and The Man in Black, who is inhabiting (one of) the bodies of John Locke, is the smoke-monster. Yes, even just that sentence make it sound insane but in the world of the show, that sounds normal. Looking forward to the other 16 episodes of the final season. What will hold my sci-fi attention next year?

"I read the book, I read the script, I saw the movie,
and I still don't understand it."
Sean Connery, on the reason he turned down the role of Gandalf.

New Year, new job, new blog and yes, I may have showered for the new year also.

Now you know what's been missing from your life! Another one of my blog posts. Feel free to sigh, chill out and grab a beer for this casual read...

Well, a new job for me. Bye bye Asda, hello Cineworld. Over 6 years at the Hamilton Asda and I managed to finally peel myself away and join the ranks of the Cineworld 'Elite', like many more of my fellow DFTV'ers. So far I'm really enjoying it, most seem to have my level of commitment (or lower) and the job itself is much lighter than Asda since I'll be working on the box and bar and won't have to move massive cages everyday. So far, the good days are when I'm within the +/- £2.50 limit and the bad days are the ones when I'm out with it. Far less banter on Box than I hoped though!

Monday was a short return (R1 was bloody freezing) with Andy on Italian neorealism and so obviously, we spoke a lot about Avatar. Good fun and getting away earlier allowed some of us to go see Sherlock Holmes which was preceded by Graeme going all Godzilla on one of the leaflet stands.

Tuesday with Adam was good, in the way that he gave us a hint that we'll be making documentaries this term. His class itself was interesting, since we learned that docs have as much structure as drama and by the sound of it, shooting ratios are much, much higher also. I'm intrigued to know what and when we are making these documentaries and while I've never thought of it before, I'm excited to see where it all goes.

Wednesday was a full day with Zam to which I lost an hour of because of the dentist. Explaining where I was with what must have sounded like a mouth full of marbles, was very uncomfortable, as was the preceeding hour or two until the numb mouth wore off. Good class all in though our action scene may be a bit too overblown to say the least. An(other) assignment was given to us by Zam which may lead to a few interesting things in the future.

Thursday was timetabled as a full day with Ray. We watched one great, and one not so great episode of The Street and frankly, afterwards, the DTU felt like some sort of insane asylum. Far too much social realism for my liking in one day. The production quality was excellent and it was all very well shot and engaging but the subject matter was far too tough for two whole hours. Our discussion with Ray afterward (and then on Moodle) was good and it's great to have everyone throwing their opinions in. Yet another assignment was given out with us each having to study an aspect of Cinematographers as storytellers. Even though these are essays, I don't mind these (this and Andy's) too much since we are choosing our own subjects and if we hate it, it is essentially our own faults.

Friday was a screening of Saturday Night and Sunday Morning and since I have no idea when I'll get round to doing a film/tv blog, I'll just say that I was pleasantly surprised by it. The characters seemed so believable and relatable and while the film was clearly set in the time period it was made, it was still very watchable. The story also wasn't as depressing as some films in the genre seem to be though at the end of the film, I did feel concerned for the central character the same way a psychiatrist may feel when a patient tells them they're fine when they leave the room.

This previous Monday was a class on the French New Wave and every time it's brought up, I remember how much I loved The 400 Blows. It's a film that has settled in my head and I may be ready for another viewing some point in the future...after the mountain of other things I still have to do!

Tuesday was another look into documentaries and as hard as we tried, our visions ended up being slated as pretty poor. I think it was maybe the time limit and the fact that in our heads, we couldn't imagine showing alcoholism without being at least a little cliche. It's nice to be put down from time to time however, it keeps your mind grounded when everyone seems too polite to be honest. I'm looking forward to doing docs as something different but I think we might have set the standards expected of us a little too high. Still, I'm looking forward to our briefs (though I'd prefer boxers) this Tuesday (even though I won't be in :()

Wednesday was a day that me and Michael had set aside to go do Cinematography research at the Mitchell. Sadly, no-one in the Mitchell seems to know what cinematography is and they only have a handful of cinematography books. Michael commented that it's no wonder there's no Scottish film industry...true Mikey...true! It turns out American Cinematographer is actually stored at Glasgow Uni. A few of us went there on Thursday after our cancellation of tech classes (and a GREAT class Cinematography discussion between us and Ray). I wanted to stay longer because every article is so fascinating but the Cineworld bell was ringing.

Friday had a screening of This Is England, which, in short, I adored. Afterwards, Abigail assaulted us with yet ANOTHER assignment which at this point in time, I have just about completed. So far, I'm managing what little free time I have very well.

"Gwyneth Paltrow is quite pretty, in a British, horsey sort of way."
Julia Roberts

Fulims an telly whit ah saw ova Chrimbo

Like the title, just not spelt the same.

It looks like a pretty pathetic list but considering this included an end of Lost re-watch, changing jobs (which involved a 2:30am rise and a 7:00pm return home) some Xbox and some actual academy work getting done, I don't think I did too badly!

FILM

The Box - Pretty bad, and proof Donnie Darko definitely was a fluke for Richard Kelly. I was watching it forgiving all of it's shortcomings until the abysmal, pointless ending. I'm all for fitting downbeat endings but this was dire. Much worse than Southland Tales.

Where The Wild Things Are - A beautiful looking film which left me feeling a bit empty and could have done with a little more setup. There seems to be little substance or message and when Max leaves the island at the end of the film, something didn't sit quite right with me. It felt very much like it was directed by a music video director...

Avatar - Amazing! I was quite clearly wrong, though the marketing doesn't do the film any favours. It is a little bit baggy here and there and some of the dialogue is weak but besides those minor issues and the fact that 3D with lots of action doesn't quite work, the film was really good. Shame the maguffin was entitled "unobtainium" though.

Valkyrie - Alright, I could forgive the Brit accents but the film may have worked better if they continued using an all British cast, instead of Cruise. A nice almost-assassination moment near the end though.

Dead Space: Downfall - A videogame tie-in done in the Manga style which gave a nice look at the backstory to one of my favourite games of 2008. Not one I'll probably watch again but worth the £3.

TV

Dexter - Season 1 - An amazing first season and not a weak episode or moment throughout. Michael C. Hall is addictive as the titular character and I'm still not sure how we, the audience, manage to love him. Is it maybe because he's a good guy with the best intentions and that he just has one major, bloodthirsty vice? Maybe, but it's rare that I feel such a relatablity to a television character. I'm not saying I'm a killer (or am I?) but I think we all have secrets that we would prefer to stay that way, whether they be of our own doing or inherint in our character. A great season which will hopefully be followed by other essential seasons.

Entourage - Season 3 - From the premiere of James Cameron's Aquaman to Vince finally getting the lead role in his passion project Medellin, this season of the show was perhaps the best (and certainly the longest) so far. We saw Ari Gold with his back to the wall and down on his luck and his return to form. We saw Lloyd become an agent and be the first to get Johnny Drama a part on not just any pilot, but a pilot that would then get picked up for a series. Eric had to raise his game as Vince's manager and Turtle, well, Turtle found love.

The show may be formulaic, simple and aimed at wannabe actors who believe that they're break in the industry will be as successful as Vince's but when you break it down, this is the ultimate bro-mance (if you can bear that term). No matter what happens, who guest stars, what roles/houses/ladies/agents enter and exit their lives, the show is always about the central relationship between the five leads. As shown in the Vegas episode (where Seth Green plays himself how the public perceive him apparently), when the going gets tough, these brothers stand up for each other.

Only a few shows are worth "entire-disk" viewing and with these often short, snappy and well-paced episodes it's a hard fight against the just-one-more feeling. I really can't praise the show enough and I look forward to collecting the further adventures of the Entourage. This College Humour spoof is almost the exact format of the show but I challenge anyone to watch a season of this show and not love it (embedding disabled by the user so it means you'll have an extra click):

College Humor Entourage Spoof

My Name Is Earl - Season 2 - A great follow-up to the mighty premiere season though it's quite clear where the cracks lie in the shows format. Each episode seems to rely on flashbacks to set-up why Earl is ticking a certain item off his list. While I don't see it as a weakness, the show relies very heavily on it's recurring characters, infact, this may be the only live action show that comes close The Simpsons level of secondary characters. What was nice during the 2nd year was an actual arc over the course of the season for Joy and her court case which left it all on a really good cliffhanger.

Every sitcom has it's foil and it's funnyman and Jason Lee and Ethan Suplee complement each other brilliantly, with Ethan Suplee as Randy being the stand-out performance. His simplicity could easily be overplayed but it's the subtlety in his background actions that make him so entertaining to watch. In one episode, a story is told from various viewpoints and each character's viewpoint is bookended with a "My Name Is..." credit which made me realise I'd love to watch My Name Is Randy, it's just a shame the show was cancelled. I can't wait to get started on the third season.

The Day Of The Triffids - The BBC took a bash at the classic John Wyndham novel (again) and I was neither impressed nor disappointed. At times it felt close to the novel and at others it seemed to be doing to it what Zack Snyder's Dawn Of The Dead did to it's original: update for the masses. I think the problem with The Day Of The Triffids, is that it doesn't work visually, plants just aren't scary enough. They are in text but not as soon as you see a plant skulking down a London street, any fear is lost. What I did love though, was a reminder of how much 28 Days Later had borrowed from the novel and how much, in return, this has borrowed from 28 Days Later. The deserted London scenes actually looked much better than 28 Days Later, as did the effects themselves, the triffids weren't scary but at least they looked like they existed in the world.

The major downfall was the problem I had going in: Dougray Scott. I have no idea why, but I really can't bare his face or even his mouth being open. In short, his existence bothers me! Whether it's his "Yes I am GAGGING for IT!" OTT Scotsman in Mission Impossible 2, his dodgy accent/performance in the Dark Water remake and now his ability to make bad dialogue cringeworthy in this. The rest of the cast were pretty cringeworthy also and it was almost worth it just to see Brian Cox for 20 minutes.

Still, the action scenes were pretty decent and at least they didn't go all Flashforward and just begin living with the problem. My final opinion: it passed some time.

DOCUMENTARY

The Beatles Anthology - I finally finished the epic 10+hour documentary and while I still question the honesty of some of it, since the (at the time) remaining members are the main contributors, each episode gives more reasons why the band are important and remarkably, still relevant. Very few artists can and have affected the world in such a short span.

BOOKS

In the last of my 4-pronged attack, I should mention that beyond reading the usual mags/trash, I've began reading The Battle of Brazil by Jack Mathews, a journalist who was a sort of invigilator between Terry Gilliam and Universal Studios or more specifically, Sid Sheinberg during the release phase of Gilliam's Brazil. Brazil is a film that I've came to adore even more with each viewing and the frequently used allegory that Gilliam is much like the film's protagonist Sam Lowery and the studio is the Ministry of Information shown in the film is one that seems to constantly ring true. The book is an excellent insight into the manipulation of director's in their vision (can you ever imagine THAT ending being something different) by major studios and the fact that Sheinberg was the one who had a hand in giving Spielberg his start, I wonder how much of HIS remarkable work has/had been through the over-bearing producer wringer. Though, is it simply because Gilliam's work look's very out-of-place in the mainstream that he has, over the years, become a man with a certain interfering curse? Who knows?

The book also comes with the director's cut of the screenplay and many black & white film stills. I hope the rest of the book is as good as it's opening chapters.

"When I look at an audience all I see are beautiful people."
Stevie Wonder, blind from infancy.

The final blog of 2009...definitely!

The penultimate academic week of 2009 began on Tuesday with a screening of This Film Is Not Yet Rated. This was a great documentary which I'm certain I've seen before, it was well-paced and Kirby Dick made for an excellent documentarian. I found the section on how sensitive the MPAA are to homosexual sex quite eye-opening. In this day and age when the world is (generally) accepting of someone's sexuality, why can't art be as well? I don't want to witness "tough" sex scenes in every film but sometimes, the story naturally gravitates that way.

Wednesday & Thursday were Zam's classes where we looked at comedy, good fun and then Thursday with Gav as we looked at the Balamory footage. Friday was a screening of many of our shorts. No offence to the others but Slag! and Little Clown stood out highest among the group, Melissa's Mail, The Golden Rule and Dust were pretty good, each being visual treats (I still love my tracking shot in Melissa's Mail). Suckerpunch came out far better than I had heard from others and it was nice to see a film I was part of, non-creatively, see finished.

The final Monday was our day editing Balamory and I soon realised any "performance" on the show, is crafted in the edit, since none of them seem to know what they are doing. Tuesday was all day with Zam and then a confidence boosting Richard tutorial over Skype, which took a few minutes to get used to but then I found a level of comfort with it. Doesn't beat face time though. The class with Zam was entertaining since we had to come up with a story that used a ticking clock scenario and myself, Ross and Luke struggled for most of the time, throwing out several ideas before finding one that we loved and could work with. The problem came when we came up with our idea a few hours after everyone else had settled on theirs. Luckily, we seemed to all know exactly what the idea was and could quickly work out the beats and Ross' storyboards certainly helped us when it came to presenting. I wish we had the budget to do a grad film in a space station!

Thursday was a short day with Cammy and Friday consisted of a screening of Gremlins, which led to Avatar and then our class Christmas dinner, which was great fun. A nice end to the year.

"That's not a place where I'm considered good-looking."
Mark Hoppus of Blink-182, on why he had never visited Kenya.