Don't worry! There's pictures!

LOTS to blog about, I'll start off with Little Clown and then move onto Edinburgh Film Festival. Hold onto your butts!


LITTLE CLOWN:
I'm going to find it difficult to exactly pinpoint things that happened but instead I'll generally focus on-set etiquette and such.

Staying over at Benoit's helped me a lot and the "cabin fever" didn't hit as much as I thought since often, everyone would go do their own thing for a little period of time post-filming and then usually come back together for dinner.

Back in pre-production, I feel that the camera department was not as cohesive as we should have been, I'm not going to blame one particular person since we all had a hand in it but I know how things could have been handled better. Once the storyboards were completed, it fell to us to assemble the shot-list, this I felt was our first set back, since we each took a section but it was never properly assembled together, or checked properly by anyone for a week which meant it had to be assembled properly by someone. I decided to step up, since no-one else was jumping at the chance to do it, but it did help me learn the shot list inside-out, I always feel I need to know everything that's going on, whether I'm in a key role or not. Once I'd fixed a version of it, Charlotte, Galina and later John had a hand in the shot list, though Charlotte's input increased the shot list but I couldn't argue with it much since I understand her wanting to get the film as close to her ideal version as possible. There were a few times were I revised this and by the time it came to being on-set, I knew both the script and shot-list inside-out, backwards and forwards, whether I needed to or not.

Besides the shot-list, I made myself available to the production team at every opportunity since I knew they needed as much support as possible and I had the pleasure of filling in for Murdo for the child auditions. While I was in a glorified runner role for the evening, I still enjoyed the casting process, even in this altered fashion since I have never previously been part of choosing cast for any project beside my own, where I never actually auditioned anyone, it was only ever who was available. I was also around for the make-up test days and managed to take several photos for Gavin to then grade. I was also the driver of the van for the two days we needed it. I still love driving vans and thankfully it never clashed with my on-set role besides a little on the get-out, where myself and Gavin had to run and get the van and I didn't get a chance to check off the kit like I would have wanted to. We only had the van for a short time, which forced us to avoid some of the "shenanigans" from before, sadly.

The night before the first day, I had a small accident, though if you had to believe some at the academy, you would think I damaged myself much further. I tried to take out a kino bulb and the end of it snapped and a shard went into my finger, cutting it and from then, the blood wouldn't stop running. Thankfully, Gavin had already purchased the first-aid kit and Charlotte and Galina were on hand to help me with it. By the next day however, the news had got to a few of the 3rd years, who I think thought I'd lost my hand. Chinese whispers I reckon. I would say it's mostly my own fault but it is also down to lack of training on that specific kino, which none of us had used before. The injury didn't set-back shooting any, I'd hated to have been the one to delay it.

Generally on-set, when our department worked well, we worked really well but as soon as someone got distracted for a moment, communication more than anything fell apart. Also, as soon as it came to certain types of breaks, a member of our crew was difficult to get a hold of, meaning that I had to fill in on more than a few occasions, just to set-up the camera for a take. I ended up also having to be the liason between John and Benoit on-set, which stepped up the amount of communication considerably, with John's thoughts often having to be repeated on multiple occasions. This increased communication meant something had to go, and I came up with the idea on the first day that it would be much better if I wrote the timecode down rather than read it out. This meant that if Charlotte or John wanted to go for another take or quickly fix something, they could and the timecode wouldn't be getting shouted over everyone else speaking. We wouldn't have had this problem if the BNC connection had worked but I was glad that our entire crew could easily cut down communication to help facilitate the vision that bit better.

Something I tried to push for as much as I could, was focus pulling, even if it were only subtly since I've found that even just a subtle focus pull helps the look of a film so much better than just a flat image. Often, Charlotte was happy with the focus pulls and I quickly got to grips with it, you could say I was "sharp" about it. Painful. We've still yet to learn how to do it properly, this will come next year.

On-set, it often showed when the camera department didn't know the script and I often found myself correcting some of my departmental peers, but I put this down to me going a bit overkill, reading the shot list and script almost daily in pre-production. This did allow me to quietly make suggestions to John and Charlotte if something didn't work or if I thought something could be improved upon. A couple of times I was politely told that we didn't need it or whatever but often the suggestion was taken on board. Since I was in a lesser role, I could often give a more objective view, explaining why something wouldn't work or wouldn't cut but I don't see this as me trying to take over someone-elses role, merely partly filling in for the on-set visits we should have got more of. My little previous experience sometimes helps. Often it was myself, John and Charlotte discussing set-ups and lighting, I'm unsure whether this was my place but I enjoyed being part of the discussions.

Delegating was something I quickly got used to as well, and Luke was amazing as my right-hand man on-set and quickly we developed a silent shorthand for the clapper board, although sometimes the frame had to be changed. I always thought that a frame would be locked off and then a focus point would be made for the clapper board, but I guess we're still learning.

While many of my comments here may sound negative, they aren't supposed to be. I know everyone, myself included are still deep in a learning process but it did feel like the kids were let out to play again, whether that was the intention or not. A special note must be written about how well the producers worked, Gavin being the on-set mother, Galina being the on-set father (1st AD) and Murdo doubling as a boom op. These guys spent hours after the shoot assembling shooting schedules for the next day on top of doing background organising. Their input will certainly be remembered and appreciated, at least by me. Galina especially managed to keep most people in check, even if she did pick on me at a few points when I was ACTUALLY fixing things. Michael's continuality came into it's own on the second, third and fourth days and many of the on-set stills supported him to an extent. Graeme was fine on-set, even if he did want to remind people he was still there sometimes, as if we could forget about him. John also brought his A-game while on-set and was often very focused on the composition of the frame. Both John and Charlotte worked well together and often their visions seemed to merge, and being a lesser crew member, it's great to know that the head of department and director know exactly what they want.

Finally, it'd be hard to overlook Charlotte's hard work on-set. She certainly has a natural talent for directing actors and was always calm and cool, no matter how hyper Robert may have been. She knew what she wanted to see on-screen but was also happy to take on anything that could improve a set-up or make a scene easier to cut. Charlotte had said previously that she finds it hard to choose a specialism, and from this shoot, I think a directing specialism would have been ideal for her. Somehow this sounds more like a eulogy than anything else but very well done to you Charlotte, no doubt a great film will turn out by the end of next week!

All in all a grand experience and it will be one of my more fondly remembered DFTV1 memories.


EDINBURGH FILM FESTIVAL 2009:

Arriving in Edinburgh on the Friday night helped us get prepared for our film festival days. We did miss Moon however and we realised on the second of the three days that we could get delegate tickets for public screenings. That evening I was a tad disappointed but this would later work in our favour. Anyway, during the day on Saturday, we wanted to ease ourselves in (I think) and went to see Adventureland the new film from Greg Mottola who directed Superbad which I thought was a great comedy, or at least the cop parts were. Adventureland was overly disappointing, the cheap Michael Cera-type lead put me right off with his almost lack of charisma. The film also starred Kristen Stewart who will be familiar to the Twilight crowd but personally, she's still the wee boy from Panic Room. She was ok but the film was far too bland, generic and it left me with a horrible taste of overkill from the Apatow (or whoever is doing a similar job) stable. It didn't tick any boxes on the festival checklist and really, it felt like a waste of time.

The London Film Academy seminar that some of us went to was fairly useful since it dealt with talking to and directing actors. The second part of it was less useful, since the director simply talked about coverage. Still, this is something we haven't (or at least DFTV1 hasn't) had any of this year and while I'm certainly more of a tech head, actors are a key component which we will all have to deal with in our professional lives.

Saturday night was left to mostly chill out and visit Mary King's Close, which was a little fun and quite creepy at points but the tour guides bad puns killed me every time.

On the Sunday, I dragged a few of the guys along to Garapa, which I must admit, I only wanted to see so as to tick the box. This being a black and white foreign language documentary, it had the possibility to tick two boxes but I backed myself up with another documentary later. Garapa was certainly a difficult watch, it had no form of narrative and seemed to just spend two hours telling us how poor the families were. The film also felt like we were sat in front of the rushes for a news report, which is all I could ever imagine the film really being. Many times I wanted to walk out and I almost dropped off a few times as well but I still don't understand why this was ever made. Certainly the worst film I caught at the festival.

Later in the afternoon was Running In Traffic on which Abigail was one of the producers. While I imagine Abigail is a great producer, this was a total stinker. It had all the hallmarks of a new Scottish (and specifically Glaswegian) film:

• Leading storyline involving drugs
• O.T.T. Glaswegian accents
• That "exciting" blue tint.
• Characters we couldn't care less about.

The list can go on but it ticked so many cliche'd boxes that I couldn't help but look for flaws. For example, I don't claim to be a DoP at any level just yet, but the particularly harsh shadows on the walls throughout the indoors made me feel sick. It's something I'd have to explain in person or in a longer winded post but just trust me when I say it looks terrible. The characters all felt very cold and unrelatable which is something I struggle with constantly when writing but I thought at this level, the script and characters would be further developed than they were on display here. Another miserable Scottish film we can forget about, except for the parts of Tony Greengrass, who played a very similar role in Melissa's Mail. It was odd to see an actor we worked with on the big screen, there's only one natural progression from there, to see ourselves, or rather our names there also.

In the evening was a neat double-bill. First up was Outrage, a documentary about the number of American politicians who are homosexual and oddly speak out against homosexual issues. The documentary was enlightening though even when it was under 90 minutes, it seemed to run for a little too long. It was great to see how big a cover up this is and how many politicians want to be seen as open and honest and yet can't even do this with their sexuality. And people wonder why voter turn-outs are so low!

We quickly left Cineworld to get to the Cameo for Vinyan and had to go via squashing 6 people into a 5 passenger taxi. The taxi driver got a good tip but Charlotte was the one forced to the floor, fun times! We could have walked however, since the film started a good 10 minutes after it was supposed to. The film itself I totally adored, Rufus Sewell was a little annoying but the film had a great, if somewhat familiar premise and while it did seem Act 2 was badly padded, the nightmare sequences had me on the edge of my seat. The tension built in the last half hour and by the end I was stunned into silence, if only for the creepy closing moments. What I think stunned me as well was that a film like this exists with next to no-one knowing about it at all. The central performance from Emmanuelle Beart was particularly noteworthy, though I was constantly distracted by that familiar feeling and after hunting IMDB, I found she had a key role in Mission: Impossible. I loved it and I think I'll be catching it again on general release, though it is already available in the U.S. on DVD.

The Girlfriend Experience was our second to last film of the festival and again, I have yet to see what the big deal is about Steven Soderbergh, though I have only watched Erin Brockovich and Che: Part One. The Girlfriend Experience stars "adult entertainment" star Sasha Grey as a girlfriend who is also an escort. That was it really, nothing seemed to happen in the film at all and by the time the character seemed setup, the film was over. It did look fantastic however, being shot entirely on Red (as the symbol at the end of the film showed) but I fail to see any reason for sitting through it again or for that matter, for others to see it for a first time. Sasha Grey is an attractive lady but I found the film instantly forgettable.

The final film of the festival was in fact the best, the most controversial and what no doubt ended up being the most talked about also. The film was Lars Von Trier's Antichrist which I loved almost from the outset. I've never seen a Lars Von Trier film before but how it looked and it's ability to go far beyond what I thought was possible in film made me think about the film long after the credits spun. The film didn't have the most original narrative but I was still engrossed in each and every frame and just when I thought the film was wandering aimlessly, it threw me in an entirely new direction, like a crazy cinematic version of the waltzers. The final half hour seems entirely burned into my head and the film didn't seem to follow any terrible "horror" cliche's since there were only actually two main characters who's enemies were each other. While many other films would have chosen to sit on one side or the other, this film could possibly be the first film to ever have both sexes wince. Though it seems to be each sex winces for the other. It's classed as a horror film, but I don't consider it one, it is certainly creepy and the tension is often nail-biting but I didn't think of it as a horror. Some of our group wondered how I could enjoy it and I know for a fact it's not for everyone but I really think that it was often tight, almost always tense and was very well paced, even more so in the second half. I got more than I wanted from it and it's the second film I've watched in the cinema knowing nothing about it before hand (the other was Children Of Men) and in that capacity, it's the second one I've adored. Thank you to Galina for recommending we go see it, even though I don't think you enjoyed it afterwards.

The Meera Syal talk wasn't up my street but it was entertaining during the time it took but really, for me at least, it was merely a timekiller for DARREN ARONOFSKY! This 1hr and a half was the best thing that happened over the course of the festival. I could rave for ages but I'll just say that the man came across as intelligent and I got everything I wanted and more from the talk. Thankfully, there was little talk of The Wrestler, which I think we all know enough about already. After it, whether my fellow academy bods wanted it or not, I thought I would go pester him, at least for a handshake and signature, since I doubt I'll ever get a chance to again. I succeeded and just being next to him filled me with such confidence, considering how much a couple of his films, Requiem For A Dream and The Fountain, have affected me. Yeah it's a total geek moment, yeah it's not at all a professional attitude but sometimes, you've got to just take your professional hat off for a moment and just go all neeeee! There couldn't have been a better way to finish the festival, though in an ideal world I'd prefer a more personal conversation but in that event, I'd not be able to hang onto my nerves. I find it hard to have a "favourite" director but in terms of respect, Darren is certainly top of my list.

The entire Edinburgh experience was immense, staying in a room with 5 people (and Luke who often crashed and Gavin who was a frequent visitor) I have known for barely 9 months was great fun and I couldn't imagine doing it any other way. Although it would cost more money for myself and others, I would much rather have went for at least a full week, since there were far too many good things that we missed out on. Ideally, i'd like to have caught much more and in the future I'd like to think that I'll be more open to different films and filmmakers, though heroin filled Scottish films may be passed on instantly. I would quite happily pay for a longer pass out of my own pocket next year.

Power drills, that shot list and the van.

Closer and closer to production and now I sit on the eve, of the eve of Little Clown and somehow I'm blogging.

I can't remember Monday, I was probably working on the shot list (one of a couple of achievements, this was certainly a considerable one) and Tuesday was the tech recce. To help silence the vicious rumour that is making it's way through all of the DFTV classes and lecturers: NO-ONE went to see Terminator: Salvation on this day! Everyone was there, at least physically. I'll say no more on the matter. A few of the times this week, I've dipped in and out of the production department, at least in terms of going to get stuff. It's helped keep me busy when there was seemingly nothing going on in the camera department. I can't really explain why this is without my comments seeming bitchy so I won't try.

Myself, Charlotte and John stayed through to seven in an attempt to amend the shot list and make it work, taking into account our schedule but trying to preserve a great story and give the editors options, we all know what it's like when the editors are left with little or no options. There were a few major disagreements between the three of us (maybe a bit more on my part) but I admire Charlotte for putting her foot down at a few points and trying to get as much of her definitive vision on-screen as possible. Learning to be told "No I don't want that" and respecting that is something I'm coming to terms with. This was the first time I'd felt real collaboration on the project, with each of our minds bringing great ideas to the table and no-one's thoughts were ever written off. A truly creative (and tiring) environment.

A planned night of a further recce fell through at Benoits put down to miscommunication between everyone and this is something which I think is quite a problem, mainly due to not everyone reading the very important daily updates and relevant paperwork. These aren't just there for the production crew, they're for everyone.

Gavin and I were working with Ali DeSouza and two academy actors on Friday morning which came off much more useful than I expected, even if it was all about them. The two actors were Helen from Melissa's Mail and Jack Lowden of Irn-Bru ad fame, so we were familiar with both of them to an extent, but we were even more so after the session. Both of them are great actors-in-training and I'd love to be part of the team that cast Jack as something other than a sweet teenager. His comment on the playback that his hair looked ginger has to be my biggest bite-your-tongue-Paul moment of recent times since I did want to say "Yes, but it's phenomenal!"

Friday afternoon was hectic, driving to Benoit's and back MANY times for props, kit and other stuff. The kit wasn't perfectly organised and while me, as 1st AC, should have been organising this, I did have the van to worry about. Luckily, we only left behind gels (everything else was again down to miscommunication) that hopefully someone will have picked up today, because if we don't have these, we will be truly Donald Duck'd.

Some members, or rather member of the crew, constantly put down my driving though probably didn't realise that there are certain rules you have to follow when you drive, such as you can't just drive through red traffic lights, no matter what the purpose.

However, I've not had the best of days and the consequence that we found ourselves in last night didn't help matters. Since we missed the 8pm return for the van, something had to be done to avoid larger costs and luckily, I could phone my supervisor in work who was fine with me coming in later to drop the van off, even if I had to work a few hours later. So a 5:30 rise, drop off the van, head to work for 9 and finish at 7, a bit of a crazy day. Especially considering I was so close to being fired (or at least counselled) because the customer service person who I phoned at 7am to say that I'd be in at 9am, misheard my message and somehow told my manager that I wasn't coming in. Once I explained everything later he was fine, everyone was quite happy to see me in, since they would have struggled all day (yes, I AM important somewhere :P). My manager showed his appreciation with a some-what mock kiss on the cheek, not something I wanted from a bald man in his late 40's at 9 in the morning. The main problem of the entire thing is there are not enough legal van drivers in our class! C'mon everyone, grow up faster!

Roll on set-dressing and production.

While writing the shot list the other night, I came across this gem on the BTS doc on the Iron Man DVD. Look at what the DoP, Matthew Libatique is doing while on the outside of the SUV, he's using a power drill! I assume this is to give a certain feel to the action. It happens about 11 seconds in and I have no idea why the green subtitles come up on screen. Just thought I'd pass it on if anyone was interested.

Cams, kids and (still) clowns

This week has been a bit of a mad, time has just vanished. I can't believe I've got to go to work tomorrow already.

Monday was a tutorial with Adam for mine and Benoit's The Female Anatomy web content project. While I thought my idea was the strongest of the TV series we both pitched originally (at least for the format), I'm shocked at how quickly Benoit has taken to the idea. He has put as much work in as I have at this point and plans to do more. Though I've yet to decide whether looking into the food they'll eat on the road is too much. What was more exciting about the tutorial was that Adam said that he had been thinking about the idea in his own time and then went on to make a few good suggestions. I don't know whether he said this to everyone, but I get a good feeling when even someone as busy as Adam is thinking of ideas for our material long after he has clocked out.

In the afternoon was Kim's class and while some of my peers may not enjoy it, I do. Ok, I have no interest to work in soaps but I think this works in my favour, since I can look at things in a more conventional drama way. The class has helped me think about tv series ideas in terms of pacing them out over an extended period of time, something which I'm fascinated by, though more on a larger scale like Lost than in soap form. Though is Lost simply Corrie on a Sci-Fi island? They certainly share a few things. That'll be the last time that comparison is made.

On Tuesday we took some kit out, mostly to get used to using the dedo's and kino lights, items which we have barely had a chance to use. We didn't get any sort of look John wanted but I think getting familiar with them was more than enough.

On Wednesday was Ray Day interspersed with a PAT (you know it's summer when Andy comes out in short sleeved shirts) and while the conditions were poor thanks to music students above us, I still managed to pick up some neat things that will help us on the shoot. The big deal for me was the Matte Box and Follow Focus, oh the possibilities. I imagine like everything else the novelty wears off soon enough but since these will be my new toys on Little Clown, I'll be having as much fun as possible with them. Ok, I don't yet understand all of the filters (the science part at least) but a day or two will help out. Gavin has explained how a polarising filter works and while I now know what it does, I can't explain the science of it, I'll leave that to Mr Laing. We packed up early since the music was far too loud, we re-convene next week at Benoit's.

Another production class with Abigail and as usual, I feel like I'm merely observing but I'm certainly learning bits and pieces. Useful for if I need to go talk/fight producers, or fill in bits of paperwork in the future. I don't really get the disdain some have for the class, it's all as essential as backfocussing and white balancing.

Thursday was an odd day, most of it was spent trying to do work but then having to help with some minor producing tasks. In the end I didn't mind it, we all should be pitching in when we end up a man down and I'd do anything to make sure the running of the production when that bit smoother, especially since our department has been one of the least busy. The evening was taken up auditioning kids for the 'Beau' role, something I wouldn't have done by choice but in the end I didn't regret it. It was quite entertaining, each of the kids had a distinct personality and provided lots of laughs throughout. It was also good to have our Simon Cowell-like decision time at the end, though I think Charlotte was quite heartbroken that the kid she adored wasn't right for the role. Still, something quite fun and it was the first audition I'd ever sat in on, I'd love to do one again but I don't think I could go through with telling people over the phone that they didn't get the part. I imagine there are 4 fairly upset kids in Scotland tonight.

Today was possibly the last relaxed school day we'll have until after production. The morning was spent taking stills on my new digital camera (a Nikon D60 if you must know) and going back to doing the sort of things I did when I was doing stills photography at NGC: wandering aimlessly about Glasgow. It was great fun to get back into stills photography and any spare minutes I find in the next few weeks will probably be spent doing similar things. I'd love to be good at it but really it's just for messing around and taking good quality stills, rather than having one of those handbag cameras everyone has nowadays. In every aspect of life, it's best to experiment and that's what I'm sort of doing.

If anyone is at all interested, I'll be constantly uploading photos (at least while the novelty is still there) to all of the social networking sites as well as my flickr page. Taking stills also allows me to intersperse this page with some stills, rather than just random photos!

In the afternoon we had a short class with Andy talking about the film fest (which I can't wait for! And now I know that there's free drink every night, I know myself and most of our party will be making a point of going). All my questions were quickly answered, though the dates we've chosen are likely to have us miss everything I wanted to see, hopefully Moon will be replayed at some point or we could just ...*GASP* pay. This was followed by a short production class from Abigail which I decided to stay right through to the end for, listening in to everything, picking up little things.

I'm unhappy with our final moodle assignment, it would have been nice to have some more time but I guess we should have all just organised our time that bit better.

Next week will be a lot more hectic, the last week of Pre!

Must blog about For Your Eyes Only next time!
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