Major Project: Critical Reflection / Final Film

''I Pull The Strings'' has finally been created - what do I think of the overall project?

It's definitely had it's ups and downs! I think the film has come together really nicely, however, there's lots of things I would change about it if I had the chance to do it again - and the money! Vic and I definitely worked well together and I felt like there was a lot of support there throughout. Our cast and crew worked really closely with us, and although not everything went to plan, everyone kept pushing for the film to be done to our standards - especially Adam, which was great.

Pre Production

Pre production through the past unit and the current one has felt like non stop work. I have had lots of troubles with casting and locations, however, I am happy with the overall locations that was picked. The theatre is definitely my favourite location and it's something I was so close to not finding. I also really like the dancing/old rehearsal room location, I think it fits with the story really well, and it's not too over dramatic. Although originally I mentioned it was going to be quite dungeon like, I'm glad I didn't chose that location as in reality - not many small theatres have dark, cellar like rooms. The lighting worked really well and I think the best scenes were definitely filmed in these two locations. Overall, as a script writer, I felt pretty confident at the beginning, I was proud of my script and thought it would make a great story. Although I still enjoy the story - especially the ending, I think it can be improved on drastically and I don't think I have wrote the best story I could.

Props was something I really enjoyed looking for, during every project on the course i've always loved to find props to make the scenes come to life and to give to the characters to make them seem real. During this unit, I was so excited to get all the masks for the extras, to find the backdrop for the theatre play, and to find Bethany's end costume for the show. I do think I did well as a producer in the mise en scene of the film as in every scene nearly theres things added to create a better atmosphere and make the characters have a real life. For example, I set up a photoshoot with Amy and Joseph to take some photographs for some photo frames and for a mug. I think these photos worked effectively and really brought truth to the idea that they was a couple. I also bought lots of trophies that had 'Bethany Hutson' engraved into it (we didn't end up using these but!). Overall, as a producer for pre production I think i've done well and I'm really happy that Vic helped me throughout as it was a lot! of work to do. If I was to change anything throughout, it would be to change the story slightly, as a lot of time was spent trying to find the perfect theatre and I think the story idea was a little too big for a short film.

Production

Production was really stressful for both me and Vic. I was really happy how well Vic did with directing, as there was a lot of people and he managed them all really well and got on with what he did. He knew what he wanted and made sure that the actors knew his vision which worked well. As a producer on some occasions I felt a little overwhelmed. This was especially when the extras for the scene didn't turn up, everyone turned to me and I didn't want to freeze up not knowing what to do. I felt like I handled it well though as I waited a little while, and then decided to move on to the next scene as it would be wasting valuable time that we had of the actors and of the location. I am really happy with Chris' support throughout our production also, he always was there to give advice when we asked, and came with us on every shoot - along with climbing up a ladder to help put the back cloth up! 

A problem with production was sound - I think it let us down the most, and although some scenes aren't too bad - a lot of them are. I think to fix this we should of checked the equipment more thoroughly before use, however, it often sounded great and then went back to tin like - so it wasn't guaranteed that during a check we'd of known anyway. On the day the zoom recorder wasn't working properly and we took it in to Ferg who confirmed it was a problem with the recorder. 

I think I managed the team overall well through production and tried my hardest to push forward with filming without rushing Vic.

Post Production

During post production, I tried my best to help Vic by doing the sound editing. It was such a huge job that definitely isn't as simple as syncing the audio to the video. There was so much noise reduction to do, fixing the levels, and adding in sound effects and music were necessary. To help manage ourselves, a post production schedule was made for both of us. I made sure that I'd evened everything out so that I wasn't giving loads of things to do for Vic in only a few weeks. I tried to split the weeks between editing, sound and colour grading. This proved to be helpful as after a slow first few rough cuts, Vic managed to edit the rest of the film quickly and confidently. Collaborating with the composers was initially really exciting, Declan is such a talented composer, and created the song that is in the dancing scene with Bethany and Francis. However, we struggled to receive music as the months went on, and although our composers were good it was stressful as the film needed the music. Post production was something that felt like it kept going and going. Whenever we would watch the film through fully, we would notice something that needed to be fixed. Although the film wasn't the best when we first saw it, I think Vic did really well to edit together a story with what he had. 

Overall

Now that we've finished, it's definitely helped me to see what i'd like to do in the future. I think I need more time to practicing my writing, however, I would like to carry it on. Producing wise - it was so stressful, but when you see the film finished, although it's not the best, it's still rewarding to see all your work put together. 

The best aspect of our production was the team work. Vic and I both had a similar vision to the story which helped greatly in deciding on ideas that we could do for the film. 

www.ipullthestringsfilm.com

Major Project: The Opening Scene

Throughout post production, I was thinking a lot about the beginning in Iron Man, and really liked how they started with his face really bright and close to the camera, and then cut to 48 hours earlier. I think the technique of teasing the audience with a dramatic scene in your film is something which works really well, as, if done well it can hook the audience from the beginning.

Originally, our opening scene was Bethany on the stage having a heated argument with a man, in which she is punched and dragged off stage. However, I looked over this scene with Vic and felt like we could change it to make it much better and dramatic. Vic and I had a long talk and I showed him the Iron Man scene and he agree'd it fit really well. We began brainstorming and thought the scene were Bethany is tied up in the old dressing room would work well at the beginning of the scene. This is because it's very clear footage of her face, clearly showing she is injured, and it's very close to her. 

I decided beforehand, to look into some films which are similar to ours, and start (near enough) at the end and see the different impacts different styles have on the viewing.

The beginning of Memento also starts with the end, however, it's quite a long scene and I think it's not much of a teaser as the whole film isn't linear anyway. Although it still works well, I think if we followed this technique our scene would go on way too long.

Fight Club, however, is styled very similar to our film. Just before this video starts, the man is shot in the mouth which is shown at the very beginning of the scene, he is in a dark room and the light is very strange and he is very close to the camera. I think this works really effectively as it's such a dramatic beginning that it makes you wonder what could happen next. Towards the end of the film, we go back to this scene, and it carries on until the end when they are stood looking out the window.

The introduction for Limitless is also another film which works really creatively. The film begins with a man in a building talking over the clip. The room is very unusual as it's empty with boxes and someone is banging on his door. Soon after this, we see him stood on a very tall building, looking over the edge. The music really builds up the enigma, and although it doesn't start straight away on the building, it builds up to it which is really effective. Something that also works well is the voiceover, it really helps to build the tension and suspense building up to that moment and immediately hooks you into the film. I think this may have worked with ours if we had more voice over like this film does, however, if we did voiceover I think it would definitely ruin it.

The final video, is the opening to Iron Man which is what I looked at first. It really inspired me to think about how we can make our film much more dramatic. Although the film doesn't start straight away with Tony at gun point, it builds up to it and we are still a little lost as to whats going on. However, I really like how the bright light comes on and there is a close up of his face, with unfamiliar voices in the background. At this point we're still not sure what's going on, just that he is in danger. I think it's such an effective way to start the film and really builds up the tension. After this clip ends, it goes back to Tony in a office meeting, with the titles '48 hours earlier' written on the screen which also helps the audience to know what's going on.

Although it's not that much of a change, I still think it makes a huge difference in our film and will be really effective in the final film after it's had colour correction and sound added to it.

Major Project: Foley Sound Research

Throughout shooting, I began to realise that a lot of sounds would need to be added in in post production - even those that I thought wouldn't need it. Initially, I thought to look for sound effects online, however, it's not always so simple and a lot of the time they aren't exactly the same, or have to be paid for. Worst of all, it's very time consuming and if it's not right then it will push the level of professionalism down in our film as the sound is extremely important in creating a believable story. 

I decided to look into Foley sound - as this is the one thing that is used most in films.

A foley artist is someone who 'recreates' sound effects for film and television. Foley artists don't just record the specific objects they want to use, they use other objects to mimic the sound and make it clear. For example, a foley artist may use a different object to mimic someone being punched. 

A foley artist usually recreates the sound in front of a screen which is playing the film. (See image to the right)

I began reading some articles on Foley, and Philip Rodrigues had an interesting point.

''On a film set nothing is real - the sword is made of plastic, the marble floor is painted plywood. Foley replaces or enhances that live sound; the result is a sword that rings like metal and floors that echo like marble!"

It would make much more sense to add in realistic sound effects, since a lot of the set is fake - as we don't want          something rubbery/plastic to be recorded and used as the sound. 

He also points out the fact that when you cut in-between takes, the sound can mess up - which proved the same with our ballerina music track.

''The process of filming also creates dips in the sound since each scene is filmed from different angles over several takes for the best look and performance. Once cut together, the picture flows from shot to shot in a fluid motion but the sound can become choppy and overlapped. Once again, Foley provides a foundation that bridges these gaps.''

Here is an example Philip uses when he describes how the foley artist, actor and sound editor can work together to create seamless pieces of sound.

Let's say in a scene the actor grabs his gun, walks to his motorcycle, starts it up and drives away...

Foley would recreate the sound of the leather jacket and jeans as the actor walks, footsteps (heavy cowboy boots!), the gun pickup and handling, handlebar grab and bike moves - and maybe some key sounds as he puts them in the lock.

The Sound FX Editor would create the roar of the motorcycle engine starting and driving away, a tire squeal and background ambiances (birds, wind etc.)

In an ADR studio the actor would rerecord his line, "I'll be back...", which was inaudible on location with the motorcycle engine running.

The Dialogue Editor would conform the production and ADR into one.

When played together, the tracks produce a seamless tapestry of sound.

Reference: http://www.marblehead.net/foley/whatisitman.html

Foley was created in 1927 by Jack Donovan Foley. Foley got the idea of projecting the moving image in a sound stage and recording sounds in sync with the actors' movements, using different surfaces and an array of props. It was said that Foley could make the sound of three men walking together using only his two feet and a cane.

Gary Hecker is a world known foley artist working on films such as Superman, Robin Hood, Django Unchained and A Knights Tale. 

I decided to look at a video which entails him showing us exactly what he does to create different sound effects. The video was really inspiring and I was amazed by the amount of different things he does; especially using his own voice for horse noises and for breathing sound effects was something I definitely didn't expect. Gary shows us the amount of layers of sound he creates for just one small scene, however, it really does paint a picture and build up the scene to make it so much more realistic and powerful.

It's amazing the amount of detail which goes into foley - and although we don't need foley to this level, and we definitely don't have all the props and skill it takes, it would be great to experiment with it to get a much more crisp and professional sound design in our film.

Reference: http://nofilmschool.com/2012/11/foley-artist-gary-hecker and https://samnealesoundandcamera.wordpress.com/2014/03/17/gary-hecker-foley-artist-sound-research/

I also looked at some more videos to see how other artists create the sound effects which was also really interesting. 

I think foley sound design is such an important part of films that often gets overlooked by small budget films. Researching into the amount of sounds that are actually added is shocking but really encouraging as at first I did wonder how we could get such crisp and fine tuned sound from our actors - but listening to Gary and the other foley artists has proven how much is added, even down to small things such as breathing.

Vic and I have booked out some sound equipment for a week and we are going to try our best to add in some of our own sounds. We've already got some ideas and this research has really helped to make me think much more creatively and out of the box to what we can use to record the sound effects.

Major Project: Sound Design

I have taken up the role of doing the sound editing. The sound is such an important aspect of the film and it shouldn't be overlooked - but often is. I knew when we was recording on set that there wasn't only the dialogue to sync and music to add, but there was a lot of foley and sound effects that needed to be added. I wanted to do some research to find any techniques that may help the process along, and all the right technical information such as what the levels should be on.

I first decided to create a sound design, a list with information on where needs music and foley sounds.

                                       

From here, I looked at the video below which has some basic information on audio. This included the levels of each particular audio, the difference between stereo, dual and surround.

The video was really helpful, and I learnt a lot of tips that will make editing easier.

Something which I struggled with what making sure the levels are all correct.

He explains that the correct level OVERALL (once music and audio and sounds are sync together) should be at 0. If it's over 0 it may sound distorted when you play it after its exported. 

A tip I found to always monitor the levels, was to double click on the small audio meter next to the main time and the levels will come up at the right hand side. This is really helpful as when playing the film i'll constantly be able to see if the sound is going higher than it should be.

In the image above, I also found a technique that's handy for cut the clip at certain points. When the red line is on the section you want, you can click Option [ to start the clip where your line is, or Option ] to end the clip where your line is. This is so much more beneficial than having to keep cutting it using the blade tool as it's not always accurate.

https://www.macprovideo.com/hub/final-cut/5-editing-tips-every-final-cut-pro-x-editor-should-know


I also was reading the article ''Mixing Sound for Film'' and found the correct levels that have been suggested below:

• Max peak: -2db  (This was absolute on everything that I tested probably because of BS1770-3/A85)
• Loud sound effects (explosions, gunshots): -3db to -2db
• Louder soundtrack or score music not competing with dialog:  -5db to -4db
• Dialog level: -11.5db to -10db

Peach pit's article also discusses the level of audios, interviews, sound effects, and music. 

''Most audio mixers set the dialogue, interview, or narration to an average audio level of –12 dB, which allows plenty of room for adding sound effects, music, and other elements without risking over-modulating. This average audio level also provides a little headroom if you want to make a specific sound deliberately louder than the dialogue (such as a music swell or explosion).''

They also mention that sound mixers who work on theatrical films set the dialogue levels to -24 dB or -31 dB as they turn up their speakers so the dialogue plays at a comfortable levels. I've also noticed in our footage there is a lot of unwanted hum and noise. In some clips, the sound is extremely bad from the sound recorder not working on one specific day - it sounds very tin like and is something which i'm working hard on to remove. 

I found that because final cut pro is just a video editor and the sound editing isn't very reliable, we should try other programmes such as Audacity to fix the audio.

I've watched a few videos and the hum removal tool looks especially helpful. We also have a few high pitched tones in our audio which I really want to fix so hopefully I can find another software that will help out with this. In regards to the tin like sound we have (dinner scene + Lucy and Bethany in dining room) I think it is unfixable, as you can't add audio that isn't there (there voices sound quite different) but nevertheless, i'll try my best to fix the audio we have.

However, beware of using this trick if your target platforms are computers, handheld devices, or televisions without fancy sound systems. Those lower-quality speakers may not be able to reproduce so much dynamic range (variance between the loudest and quietest sounds), and your audio mixing artistry may come across as a muddy mess.

I've decided to work on the sound from a small external speaker due to the laptop sound not being very loud at all, this will enable me to edit sharper sounds and make sure that I can hear everything in the scene clearly.

Source: http://www.peachpit.com/articles/article.aspx?p=1879718

Major Project: Promoting Through Social Media RESEARCH

Our film is getting closer to the screening date, and I want to make sure that we have all the promotion needed on all our platforms to make sure we are giving the best behind the scenes and pictures as we can. I have begun to research into other upcoming films ways of promoting themselves and have found a variety of techniques and ideas which could potentially help our films promotion. 

I looked at the website Smashing Magazine (https://www.smashingmagazine.com/2009/02/movie-website-designs-examples-and-current-practices/) which was extremely helpful on things to post onto the website, it included so many examples and some things I knew, but hadn't fully thought about.

Some of the things which they mentioned are;





FLASH

A lot of websites now use Flash, which allows them to have moving content on the background, such as videos or games. These are really great things as audience love things which are interactive, and videos will give them a better insight into what the film is about. It would be great if I could incorporate these onto our website but I'm not sure what sort of thing to put, as I like the idea of the trailer not being TOO big.

LARGE BACKGROUND IMAGERY 

A lot of films now have huge pictures on their backgrounds as the main image, and then other smaller videos and imagery beside it , which really stands out. I have already done this on the website when I created it last year, however, I think it needs updating and I can use some imagery we took, or some dramatic stills from the shoot which could work well also.

SHORT PAGE LENGTH
This is something I researched into last year and tried to do on our page - have everything on the page, without scrolling down. This ensures the viewer gets to see everything and doesn't need to scroll for any other information as all the links and videos are there infant of them.

DOWNLOADS
Something I hadn't yet thought about that was brought to my attention through this article, was a downloads page. This can feature imagery that the viewers can download and would be an interesting concept to have on the website.

FUN EXTRAS

Some websites also have additional content such as games and activities. This works on most genres, however, I feel for our film it would not work as our film is very serious and there wouldn't be a game we could create that would fit without it looking like we created it just to put it there. Additionally, i'm not sure how much it would cost and we don't have the budget to do this right now!

Reference: https://www.smashingmagazine.com/2009/02/movie-website-designs-examples-and-current-practices/

Add content & build pages

As complicated and high-tech as some big-budget Hollywood film websites may appear, they’re always short and simple when it comes to information and content pages. The standard things they’ll always include, however, are as follows:

• A trailer
• Release date information
• Synopsis/storyline
• Awards and nominations and/or critics’ ratings
• Names of cast, crew members and all companies/studios involved
• Images and videos of the main cast
• Social media buttons and icons

Reference: https://www.nyfa.edu/student-resources/how-to-make-a-website-for-your-film/


The image below, is for the upcoming film 'Criminal'. Although there isn't many pictures featured heavily on the website homepage, they still have a lot of information about the film and have made it stand out with the colours and fonts they have used.

Although 'Bad Neighbours 2' isn't in the same genre of film as ours, I still looked at it to see what they would do to market their film, as I know for the first film there was a lot of marketing and build up to the film. I noticed that on the homepage they have stills and short videos of the cast and have made them really bright and colourful to fit with the summer vibe of their film. The continued theme of pictures goes all the way down the website and it's something I could also try on our website. I'd have to take some stills from the film as I obviously don't want cast and crew in it, however, i'm not sure if the same effect would work - as this film is very comical, whereas ours is more serious and the nature of the writing may not fit, unless I made it very dramatic and bold.

Another detail I have noticed is that all the films start of their film with the trailer playing HUGE, on the front page. This is something I definitely want to do, this will mean it's the right thing our audience see's and will straight away have a little insight into what the films about. This will also encourage them to stay on the page to find out more information on the film if they enjoyed the trailer. Right now on the website, we have a teaser which is featured, however, this will soon move to another page, and the trailer will be featured first on the front page.

'Now You See Me 2'

I looked at the website for 'Now You See Me 2' which has done amazing with their marketing techniques. Obviously, they have a lot more budget and team behind them but we could still do some of the smaller things which they do such as imagery and video effects. As the film is based around magic and a thriller theme, they have tailored their website around an animation in which you scroll through the different 'levels' and see information about the film while also getting a taste of what the film will be like. There is a lot of colour and pictures throughout which makes you want to carry on scrolling through to find out more. It is probably one of the best film websites I've seen in a while as right from the beginning it's like a puzzle that you go through and on each animated section theres lots of things to look at and it definitely keeps the viewer interested and is a great way for you to make them look through the whole website and information without them even intending to - animation/pictures definitely work a lot better than just text by itself.

They have also created individual posters for each cast member which when you scroll through them all together on the website, it's really enticing and they have made it look really strange to fit with the theme of the film.

This is something I hadn't thought of however, if possible, it would be great to do some individual posters of each cast member to edit them to fit with the style of our film.


Instead of just looking at the websites alone, i've moved on to looking at their other social media pages to see if they have put the same amount of effort into each one. On the image to the right, you can see that they have filled their page with videos, imagery and the same theme as on their website, which is great as I can immediately see that it's the same film. I also like that the logo on the default picture is so simple yet really fits the theme of their film and isn't boring at all.

I also found that on the Facebook page they have gone to a lot of trouble to create short GIF's, moving images of the cast to tease the audience into wondering what will happen. Scrolling further down they have done this a lot and the videos aren't at all boring, although very quick the colours and boldness make you want to click to watch them.

 The website has also heavily featured posters that they have creates which is definitely something I will be doing once we have created it. Along side the poster they write simple messages to accompany the image.

I also checked out their Twitter, which is also quite similar and sticks to the same themes once again, posting a variety of cast and crew imagery along side animated imagery that they have created purposefully for marketing. There are definitely some things we can do to create enticing imagery for our social media and i'll definitely look more into it.

Finally, I looked at the film 'The 5th Wave' and it's promotion on social media. It was quite similar to the others and also featured a video as the background, along with the trailer playing in the upper left corner. I really like how they are all so simply yet really effective. They also stuck to the small page idea, not having to scroll to see anything else and all the links and information on the landing page.

Something this website has done, which I also made sure to do, was to feature a track playing in the background, which can be paused if the viewer doesn't want to listen to it. I think this builds up the hype on the website and allows you to feel how the film is going to be like - style and tone wise.

Looking into their Facebook and Twitter pages, they carried the same theme across, allowing us to easily establish that they are the same film. Once again, their logo is very simple, yet so effective. I think I have been thinking too much about it, trying to make it over the top and stand out, when a simple font on a simplistic background can really make it pop. They are also constantly posting on Twitter, not only about the film directly, but advertising the film indirectly. They post pictures along with little quotes from the characters which is nice and entices you to wonder what will happen.

Another thing they did on their Facebook page, is the same thing again with the quotes but a little differently. They have edited the character with an effect, and placed a quote in the post. I think this is a great idea to do and will allow us to show more of the characters before anyone see's the film, along with letting the audience get to know the characters more themselves.

Overall, this research has been very beneficial to me, and although the website has already been created, it will be great to develop it further from the pre production stage and with more content now available to me, I can update all the social medias further to create more enticing pages for the viewers.

Major Project: Marketing and Promotion

To promote our film, I need to make sure I am not only posting on social media, but also looking into other ways I can promote the film. I have decided to research and read some books on marketing and promotion techniques that I may be able to use.

First, I looked on Animation Career Revier. This particular article about promoting your short film was helpful to me as it discusses techniques which I can look into on how to promote our film. Here is some information on what I found, along with ways in which I will use the information for myself.

1. Create a website that best represents your short film. 

To start promoting your film, there needs to be a “home base”.  One place that you can send people that has all the information about your movie, including the premise, cast/crew info, where they can see it, etc.

Don’t feel like you have to go flashy.  Keep it simple and succinct.  A great resource is to check into local universities to see if there are any students who are willing to work for less to generate content for their portfolio.  There are many people who ask students to work for nothing, if you have the heart to pay even a little, the results will be so much better.

Once you have the site up, submit it to sites like Digg and Del.icio.us to get a wider viewing audience and high search engine hits.

Creating a website is something I've already done and I am trying to constantly update it. However, I decided to look further into Digg and Del.icio.us to see what they are all about and how it could help me.

The site is really interesting and it has a lot of random posts that are either factual, entertainment, sports, science and more different topics. People submit their articles/short films and you can look on the website to see different things. This would be a great way to spread our short film. If I sign up and submit it once it's done, or just submit the website, it'd let people see our film and website and get more views and a variety of audience.

2. Keep a process journal about the making of the film. 

Instead of only writing it on paper with pen, post it publicly online.  People root for the underdog.  People love being compelled by someone’s journey.  There are many students and amateur filmmakers that want to create their own short film.  When they see someone else making it happen, they feel empowered to do it themselves too.  Not only that, they are more likely to share it via social network or word of mouth to their friends. 

This has given me an idea which would of been great to do from the beginning. If I could go back I'd of gathered the team together and discussed the idea that we could of all done a weekly video on our Facebook page, discussing our films ideas and our roles. I think this would of been a great way to get people more interested in our films as they might of been excited to see what we would say each week and it's nice to see the producer and director talking about something they are passionate about. However, although it's too late to do this now since we've already done the majority of filming, we could still do a production diary in the form of a book with pictures and information on what we did which could also work out great too.

3. Create a HEAD SCRATCHING teaser 

Essentially you want this reaction from the viewer:  “What is this movie about?!  I MUST KNOW!” 

Obviously, they will sign up for updates because they are so bewildered and intrigued.  This means that you better have your website clearly posted at the end of your teaser so your potential fan knows where to go for more information.

We have already created a teaser for our film, but this was done in the style of our film and only had one of our cast members in it. So it would be greatly beneficial to create another short 30 second television teaser which would quickly intrigue our viewing audience. I definitely think this is something extra we can begin to do and then move on to the official trailer. 

4. Create a JAW DROPPING trailer 

A few things on what not to do when creating your short film’s trailer include DO NOT make it longer than your film and DO NOT tell the whole story.  Again, you want to intrigue your audience and catch their attention.  

When creating the trailer for our film, I'm definitely going to do some extra research into how to create a great trailer and look at a lot of examples in how to do it. I want to make sure the trailer doesn't give anything away yet make sure it's enticing enough so the viewer wants to watch the film.

9. Submit to online film sites 

Once you’ve hit the film festival circuit, do the same online.  Some will have your short film posted in their archives infinitely and some are only for a limited time.  Either way, this shows off your film to an even greater audience.  

Here’s a short list of great film sites: ShortOfTheWeek.com, Undergroundfilm.com, iFilm.com, AtomFilms.com, BrownFish.com.

The more places you can get your film seen or written about, the better.  Whether it is a amateur or professional movie blogger, or even something off radar like a fashion blogger writing about your movie, that increases your film’s visibility.  

This is really helpful as I didn't know that you could submit to online sites as well, so I will definitely look into these other online film sites and see if I can submit our film to these to get more publicity and views on our films. 

Reference: http://www.animationcareerreview.com/articles/10-ways-successfully-promote-your-short-film

I also looked onto Indie Wire, which is a website that shares thousands of articles around tips and techniques around movies, filmmaking and television. I found a particular article that was helpful when looking at tips on promoting our film with a campaign.

1) You shall engage an audience before you launch a campaign

Social media should be treated like a dialogue between friends - a two way street rather than a one-way road with no turns.
This is something that I've definitely been doing from the start. We began with setting up the pages and then I began posting constantly before posting anything about the website which I think was very helpful as it made our audiences wait and become excited to see what we was going to be releasing.

2. You shall give value with every update

You'll want to show your followers that you're worth the follow.
When posting, I want to make sure every post has something to offer, whether that be letting our audience know about any upcoming filming, or whether it tease about the trailer being released. I think this is important as it will let the audience know that when we are posting content, it's not just ramble about nothing, that every post has something to give to them.

3. You shall be active on no more than five social media sites.

Any more and your own level of engagement is bound to wane, thus you won't be able to interact as much.
Currently, we have a Twitter, Facebook and website, so we are balancing all the updates easily and being able to engage with the audience at all times.

4. You shall always use relevant hashtags.

On Twitter and even on Facebook,, be sure to hashtag words and phrases relevant to your film campaign.
This is something i've been doing a lot more of, as it establishes the hashtags that are relevant to our film and if for instant, some one was to search for us on Twitter, they would find our film immediately. It also encourages viewers to use the hashtags which means it will allow more people to see the hashtag and become interested in looking into the film.

5. You shall use images because they speak louder than words.

This is something i've been trying to do more especially on filming days, as I know they are extremely eye catching and if we post about filming with a picture, it's much more engaging and interesting than just posting without imagery. It's also really exciting as it brings our project to life in a way we've not seen before. We can finally post about our film with actors faces to our characters which is really nice and exciting for not only the viewers, but for ourself too.

6. You shall keep up your activity even after the campaign ends.
I definitely want to keep doing this as I think it will engage the audience more and make them excited to see the films development. It's also a great way to allow the viewers to catch up with stages of the edit and see sneak peaks!

Major Project: Post Production Research

Throughout post production, I know that I will need to always be overlooking the project, making sure we are sticking to deadlines and making sure that the composers are constantly giving us music updates. Luckily, the composers have been on board with the project since last year and have already began giving us pieces and tests of what we want for certain scenes. I have decided to look further into a producers role in post production to allow myself to look at other jobs I can do to help myself get organised more, as well as looking into other films to see how they update social media and keep the audience interested. 

''Your function will be to hire people and oversee them by dropping in for half an hour here and there.''

I looked onto Indie Wire which has a few articles entailing tips to help yourself in post production. I read these tips and found a lot of them really helpful - it was also reassuring to find that I had already done some of the tips, meaning I was hopefully on the right track! Here are the tips and what I will do to follow these along with any actions I will/ have already taken.

• Screen the movie, collect feedback.

If handled the right way, screening a rough cut of the film in private, for friends and family and those you trust, before locking picture can help identify problems early on. If the majority of the audience flags something as an issue, then it is better to know that before the film is put in front of real audiences. I combine these screenings with a 1- or 2 page feedback form given out directly after the movie has finished and then collected before a verbal Q and A starts. 

I know that we will definitely be getting feedback through a through sources from giving rough cuts to our Simon, along with guests who will be coming in such as editor Tim Bentham and producer Sam Adams. I will definitely be keeping notes along the way, and I want to also try show people who have no idea on the films storyline such as friends and other people so that we have a variety of feedback. I will also try to look at the film from the audiences' perspective - this is particularly hard with our film as it is a mystery drama and I want to make sure that the film makes sense, and that the audience know what's going on without having to explain it too much.

• Deal with music early on.

Leaving music to the last minute is another common mistake. This includes both source music and score. Remember, a composer needs time to come up with themes and ideas, so including them in the screening of rough cuts can be useful. 

I'm happy that the composers have already began giving us pieces, even before we began filming, and are in constant communication with us. However, I think the advice to keep giving them rough cuts is really helpful and beneficial. It will help so much if they begin seeing visuals instead of just going off notes and ideas that we have, i'll definitely be sending them a lot of rough cuts. 

• Know your director and his needs.

Every director has a different process. This relates to time needed to edit, the staffing support they need during the process or simply the way they work best. Talk to your director about how he or she has worked in the past and build a post schedule realistic to their needs. Plan and budget accordingly so no one is surprised later on.

This is something very important with our film, we don't have all the time in the world to edit this film, and usually, it takes 8-10 weeks for a feature film to be edited, so ideally, we need the edit to be done in less time. I want to make sure that the edit isn't being edited right down to the last minute and make sure we have enough time on each section - editing, colour grading and sound. I think each one of these should be scene as it's own project, as the edit is such a huge thing to do, and then the colour grading and sound are also huge things to think about. So, I want to make sure we have a schedule that is not only organised and planned, but is also realistic to our project. I have been talking to the Director/Editor Vic, and have created a schedule that I think will benefit all of us. It will allow Vic to know how long he has until the next rough cut viewing, and allow us and our composers to know when we will have music by. Creating the post production schedule has really helped me to see more clear how long we will have after the final filming day and definitely puts everything into a more realistic perspective.

Post production schedule:

March Schedule 

April Schedule

Reference: http://www.indiewire.com/article/the-8-keys-to-a-successful-post-production-from-the-producer-of-blue-valentine-and-half-nelson?page=1

I decided to also look further into the actual role of a producer in post production. I want to make sure I am doing everything correctly and fulfilling all my jobs. 

The Role of Producers
in Post-Production

Producers have the responsibility of delivering the film in whichever formats are required at the end of post-production.

As well as making sure that everything is completed and that everything from the production phase is closed down properly, the Producer will support the Director, as in production. As such they are a sounding board in the editing suite and are likely to be preparing for pushing the film towards exhibition while finding ways to promote it, possibly with the assistance of a Marketing team.

Producers have often worked their way up through other departments to gain the necessary understanding of the industry and a strong network of contacts, crucial for finding talented people to work with and ensuring the film gets made. They tend to either have a background in development or production but can come from other areas or disciplines entirely.

reference: http://www.myfirstjobinfilm.co.uk/producersinpost.html

Something which I need to be constantly working on as the producer is marketing. I need to be promoting the film and making sure that it is getting hyped up for the audience. In post production I had a lot of ideas what we could do after doing research on larger movies marketing. However, it doesn't fit in our budget and would take too long. However, I've still got some ideas which I could do to market our film such as creating behind the scenes footage, and creating a trailer which can go on all of our social media platforms. I've also been looking into films which are going to be released in the summer, and I want to see how they entice their audience through images and pictures on their website. 

Finally, I have decided to look at Raindances' '13 Steps of Post-Production'

The 13 Steps of Post-Production

1. Pick an editing format

For our film, we will be editing on Final Cut Pro.

2. Hire a picture editor

The Director Vic will be the editor for our film.

3. Hire a sound editor

For sound as it's just a huge job and will need sound effects, music, and voice syncing in, I will be doing the majority of the sound editing whilst Vic will be editing the film and doing the colour grading, however he will also be helping with some sound too.

4. Do ADR

(Automatic Dialogue Replacement) This is when the actors lip sync to what they have said and you re record it. However, we won't be doing this step as we recorded the audio separately so we have to just sync it up with the video.

5. Do Foley

This is something I have been thinking a lot about recently and we will definitely be needed to record some foley for any sounds which we just couldn't get on the filming days.

6. Secure Music

For our project, we have got a lot of music already from our composers, however I have also found a website called https://filmstro.com in which you can download the application and download unlimited songs for around $7 a month. This is such a helpful website as when you are picking the songs you can change the depth of the song and turn some of the instruments up and down along with the pace of the song. This website is really helpful and we will definitely look more into it as we can cancel the membership afterward and still have the licence for the music. 

7. Do The Mix

This will be layering all the sound effects, music and voice overs together which I am confident will be done right in the edit.

8. Get an M&E

This is when you just export the film with the music and effects - no dialogue. This is so that other producers can add dubbing to it. However, we will be skipping this step right now due to not sending our film to any other country.

9. Get your titles

Once the edit has been finished, or whilst it's still being finished, we will need to create some titles for our film. Vic and I have had lots of different ideas on how to do this, if we want to incorporate them into the film or if we want them just to appear on the screen separate from the videos. We will work on this further together and create some titles for our film.

10. Get a DCP

A DCP is a Digital Camera Package - a hard drive which has your final film, encoded so that it can be played in the cinema. We will be putting our film onto a hard drive however, it doesn't need the cinema coding as it will not be playing into a full cinema. We do need to check with Ferg though in which format our film needs to be in.

11. Get a dialogue script

A dialogue script is a version of the script which has the prices time code so the dubbing artist knows exactly where to place their dialogue. However, this is something which we once again don't need so will skip this.

12. Get a campaign image

The campaign image is something that should have titles and credits and should let the viewer know exactly what our film is about. During pre production we took a variety of images of our main actress and the mask to use on our different poster ideas.

13. Get a trailer

A trailer is something I definitely want to have as part of our final film marketing, as it's something that will help encourage our audience to want to see the film and will allow us to put it on our website and build up the hype of the film.

Reference: http://www.raindance.org/the-13-steps-of-post-production

I'm really happy that I read this and it's really encouraged me with what I will be doing such as marketing as a lot of the steps we are already in the process of doing. 

Overall, the research I have done into my role as a producer in post production has given me a further insight into what I should be doing and all the extra marketing work which I can look into. It's also helped me to schedule myself and Vic further and now we have more detailed deadlines and times for the post production schedule and i'm confident we will be able to get it all done. 

Major Project: Filming Review

FILMING DAY 1: 17th February 2016

Today we filmed the flashback scene between Bethany, Francis and Julie. My job as producer was to make sure everything was all prepared for the shoot, along with setting out the set for the day and making sure all cast and crew knew what they was doing. The actress who is playing the younger Bethany, Saoirsa Addison's guardian Jillian Addison came along to look after her.

We began with setting up the room which we was filming in - which is a living room that we made to look 90s style. To do this we took out all modern equipment that may get in the way such as laptops and modern film photographs on the wall. Next, was to double check all the actors felt comfortable and make sure the costumes and mise en scene looked perfect.

Adam brought along a few different jumpers, along with a denim jacket and denim jeans with a plain top. I'd asked him to clean shave so he will look younger, and we planned to have his hair put fluffed forwards instead of gelled back (as it usually is) which made him look younger too.Saoirsa is wearing a pink leotard with a pink tutu and her hair tied up, which is quite straight forward. And Thea's outfit was perfect too Saoirsa was feeling really excited and confident and we made sure she was comfortable and talked through the scene with her first. As she is quite young and it was her and Adam's first time meeting each other we talked for a while before to make sure she was fully comfortable.

We began the scene and Saoirsa did great, she was really confident and took Vic's direction extremely well. The day was only a few hours long and everything went according to plan. Considering it's our first day i'm really please as we've been nervous about the flashback scene due to making the characters look younger and hoping that Saoirsa and Adam would perform well together. Adam did great which was really comforting as our actor change made us nervous but Adam performed the role of Francis perfect.

Problems We Had? What would I change?

Today we didn't have any problems, everything actually went to plan which made me feel confident that I'd planned the day out fully. Also, Vic did really well considering he was nervous as it was the first day.

Update:
After filming, Vic and I looked over the footage, it was all great and we are confident with what we have. However, unfortunately Lawrence messaged us saying he is no longer available - which is unfortunate as we'd already gone over the dates, but we have Chris as a backup camera man and Sam will now be doing sound instead which we've all agreed upon.


FILMING DAY 2: 24th February 2016

Today was quite a big day for us. We have 2 locations which means we have to move half way through. I made sure I had all the props with me at all times so that we was prepared for each shoot. We all meet in town which was myself, Vic, Sam, Chris, Amy, Joseph and Georgina. We began shooting the outside scene where Bethany is walking down the street and see's Georgina and George together. We had the tracks booked out, however, we had to return them by half 10 as the second years was using them. Some problems occurred during filming which set us back quite a while, even for the rest of the day. The zoom recorder stopped working and the audio only came in properly a few times. We could hear it in the headphones but every so often it would either cut out or a loud noise would interfere. Recording sound for this was really hard and because it was taking up so much time we decided to record the scene the next day instead of wasting more time. We headed to our next location which was a 10 minute drive away. There, we met actor Julian and Lawrence (who was there to take behind the scenes pictures)
The problems continued with the zoom recorder it was really frustrating with what to do. At one point it completely stopped working for a while and Vic and I was stressing out as we had 4 actors and crew to try please. Eventually, the zoom recorder started working again and we just went with it and recorded what we could whilst it was working. The dinner scene overall as a shot went really well. Vic got lots of different angles for us to work with and we lit the scene in a way (along with turning on the lamp) to make it have a warm tone effect. Finally, we shot the last scene which is Lucy and Bethany in the dining room after work.




Problems We Had? What would I change?

Overall, it was such a stressful day and we went over the schedule very much. Vic and I did our best to work with what we had and I knew that Vic felt extremely pressured which was hard for me to help with due to us not being able to record anything at all until the audio was working. If the audio would of been working, the scene would have been perfect. All the acting I felt was great for this scene, and the lighting worked really effectively. This day really did knock my confidence as we'd had a smooth plan that went really wrong and although it's set us back with having to re shoot the outside scene again, hopefully the rest of the days will go a little more planned.




FILMING DAY 3 - 25th February 2016

Prior to filming, we headed back to Uni and spoke with Ferg about it and he confirmed the recorder wasn't working. This was really irritating, however, he quickly gave us a knew one and after we tested it a few times we felt much more confident. First, we booked out the tracks again and went back to the first location which we are re shooting from yesterday. After a long set up process and Chris planning the movement on the tripod, it was finally time to film. I felt very confident with the team as Chris and Vic were always working closely together which put me more at ease as Chris understands what Vic wants and we are confident in his camera skills.

I made sure that I was always keeping an eye on the time and we was running to schedule. This day was especially important as it wasn't planned out till yesterday and we still had another location to go to. However, Vic worked really efficiently and got all the shots done that he liked. We did stay at the location slightly longer than expected but the reasons was to practice the camera movement and get additional takes to make sure we had enough coverage, so it was fine to do so. I was really pleased with the shots and the tracks definitely helped create a more professional look.

Surprisingly, the sound we recorded for this day was probably one of the best, and we was outside - so i'm very happy with that as I was worried that there would be too much wing.


Next, we moved to Charlie's house once again to film the breakfast scene with Amy and Joseph. With all the props to hand, the set up for this scene ran quite smoothly, we had a number of angles filmed which we was confident about. However, in the edit we noticed the angle of George was out of focus so this was unusable - to fix the problem Vic changed to a two shot so we still had coverage of him which worked well. The scene took a little longer to film than expected, however we didn't finish too late and the extra time was definitely needed.



Finally, we headed to Rochester to film the argument scene,
this was was challenging to film as the lighting seemed to be hard to set. Some shots worked really nicely, however some were a little dark and I worried about the grain that may show up. I tried my best to help with the lighting, however, it was hard to get the middle stye we wanted - so decided to try darken it in post production.
The scene worked really well and the actors was always wanting feedback especially Joseph as he was really into the scene and enjoyed doing it.



Problems We Had? What would I change?


Overall, this day was quite challenging. We had a lot of location movements which meant I never felt very settled as I was trying to make sure we wasn't running over time. However, if I was to change anything about the day, it would be more lighting planning in the room we filmed the argument scene in. Only because, it would of been nice to have a more set lighting tone, instead of it always changing when we moved the equipment. Also, I wish I'd decorated the room a little more as I think it looks a bit TOO empty (the walls aren't decorated). I am happy with today though and am excited with the rest of the filming days in the theatre!




FILMING DAY 3 - 29th February 2016

Today was our first day filming at the theatre. We set off at around 8am and arrived at 8:30. Today was the day we had around 9 cast and crew in total and was quite nerve racking as it was a huge day. I was a little nervous incase my schedules didn't work efficiently, however, they proved to be scheduled perfectly as we had enough time for each scene without worrying about time at all. First, we shot the scene where Lucy is stood waiting for Bethany on the stage. We had a lot of variation of shots so that we had more of a variety. The lighting also worked really well as we was using the stage lighting and had full access to what we wanted which was really helpful. I was glad that we had prepared with our test shoot as it allowed us to pre prepare the lights and make sure they would fit with the scene, along with knowing if we would need any additional lights - which we did as it was very dark and we needed to light each individual person.
We also shot the scene where Lucy meets Francis which I think worked really well. After a while of practicing a three shot, Vic felt much more confident and shot lots of angles which meant much more room to work with in post. The lighting was also great in this scene and I think the shots with Francis are the best.
Finally, we shot the scene where Bethany, Daniel and Francis are all talking together. This worked really well and i'm happy with all the actors performances' - especially Michael as he brought such a great performance for Daniel. Once again, the lighting was really great as we tried to light not only the characters, but the background so that the red tone of the seats would fit nicely in the shot - which worked really well.





Problems We Had? What would I change?



Overall, I'm extremely pleased with the first day at the theatre, and very glad with the support we had off everyone. I was really happy with the actors costumes that we'd planned out and think it definitely helped bring the characters to life. I was really glad Patricia was there as she was really helpful with anything we needed, and helped out with the clapper board and saying the shot name for the camera and audio for post production purposes. Patricia also managed the amount of people well and was always saying 'quiet on set please' to make sure there was no one talking when we was getting ready to shoot. I think the day went well and we used our time wisely, we didn't go over any time at all and I'm very happy with the shots that we filmed.



FILMING DAY 5 - 1st March 2016

Today was a very daunting and stressful day for myself as a producer and Vic as director. The first problem literally started from when I woke up. I received a text from the makeup artist mentioning she couldn't make it which just started my day off really bad. I was looking forward to having hair and makeup done professionally for Amy when she is on stage, and also when she comes back on at the end and has bruises over her. I was a little worried already as the previous day I'd called the courier who was delivering the cloth as asked where it was as it was meant to arrive the previous day to the call. I asked for it to be delivered straight to the theatre (as it was so heavy and came on a palette).
They said they would send it there instead but couldn't guarantee it would arrive before lunch. This really daunted my confidence as at 9am we was meant to be filming the masquerade ball scene and I would have so many extras waiting around, plus the time it would take to put the cloth up. When we arrived the cloth was there which I was SO relieved about. The next step was to put it up which definitely wasn't easy. Luckily that day we had myself, Vic, Chris, Sam and sound op Tom Fishenden to help out. Everyone really pushed together to get the cloth up and although it was too big, once it was up I think it brought the stage to light so much better as the colours worked really well. This took about an hour to set up, and throughout that hour I was wondering where the extras were. I received a phone call to the theatre from an extra expressing he was sorry but couldn't come due to illness, and an email from an extra mentioning she couldn't come any more due to personal issues - however, everyone else just didn't turn up. Honestly, I was so upset because we'd spent ages putting up this cloth, had the helium machine with us, balloons bought, ribbon ready, around 15 - 20 masquerade masks ready and lots of props such as glasses and a small tray with nibbles on it for one of the extras to carry round as a waiter to set the scene of the ball. Anyway - there was nothing we could do as there wasn't enough actors on the day to try create a different type of ball, so after a while of waiting, I decided we just needed to move on and do the next scene.

We moved on to film the next scene which was the stage scene with Bethany and Francis. I really enjoyed this scene as we'd already done rehearsals for it so the cast was confident with the movements and what they was going to do. We'd also done a test shoot so we knew the types of shots that would be filmed which helped a lot. I think Vic directed the scene really well and we had a lot of wide shots, mid shots and close ups to look through. The lighting worked perfectly and I'm really happy with the way the scene was filmed.

Finally, in the afternoon we filmed the audience scene. Due to no extras, we did our best with putting all the cast together in the seats and lighting it in a way so you could only see a few heads / bodies. We also tried to put some crew in the audience to create a bit of a better atmosphere. Although this wasn't the best, we did what we could with the time and people we had and I think it worked well. Once we have the stage talking in the background I think the atmosphere will feel more realistic.

Problems We Had? What would I change?

Obviously, the problems we had have already been discussed - however, if there was anything to change it would be to try fix more contracts / exciting material to keep the extras, although it was unpaid and we could only offer them food, drink and copies of the film, it's obviously not enough to keep people interested. It was such a long process to find all the extras and with the amount of resources that I used, I wasn't sure how else I could find them without a payment method. Overall, the rest of the day went really well and I'm happy with how the scenes we filmed turned out.

DAY 6 - 2nd March 2016

Today was the final day at the theatre. I think this is the day with a lot of scenes, however they are all small, therefore a shorter day has been scheduled. We arrived at the theatre and began filming with Amy in the backstage room. Although it's a used space, we decided to try decorate it a bit with clothes and props to make it seem more realistic as it was a little bare. We also put fairy lights around the mirror to decorate it a little, and added lots of makeup and hair props to the table to make it look like a space that Bethany would sit at to get ready for shows.

The first scene worked very well and was quite simple to film. Vic and Chris used a few trick shots by moving the table forward slightly and filming behind it to make the room seem bigger and have more room to film Amy.

Next, we filmed the scene with James, Adam and Amy which was the rehearsals of Bethany and Matt. We decided to extend the dialogue a little during production as it would allow to show Francis' character a little more as he's stood there pushing for them to work harder. It also would allow us to see the stress on Bethany's face more, instead of just having them chatting about the lines. I'm happy this change was made as when shooting the scene it worked really well and I think it made the scene much more interesting. I made sure that the necessary props were there and that Matt dressed appropriately. The shots with Francis stood looking at the stage worked beautifully as the light flare works well with the red seats in the background. Vic also made the decision to have Francis sat down when he's talking to Bethany - this worked well as he's very casual at first, and the placement of the characters makes Bethany look like the powerful character when she is talking about working for Daniel, however, Francis then stands up and becomes the powerful one again and she becomes little once he tries to overpower him.

Another scene we shot was when Bethany is peaking behind the curtain to look for George, and Francis sneaks up behind her. During this scene we found that it was a little awkward for Francis to just walk off during the conversation, and didn't work as well as I thought it would. Vic decided to change it so that someone calls Bethany's name from backstage, and she says 'oh, sorry gotta go, on in 5!' so she is the one that leaves the conversation and Francis is stood by himself, annoyed.
I think this works extremely well and I'm glad that Vic made this decision as a director. It also makes Bethany's character look more powerful and enables us to see the development of her character as she is getting stronger and less bothered about Francis' opinion.

Finally, the last scene we shot, was Bethany staggering back on to the stage looking into the audience. Due to having no extras, we tried to create a HUGE bright light in front of Bethany as she looks into the audience from behind her, although it was hard to do, we still managed it and I think it will work well with the applause and the music in the background. We also tried to create light flares which was hard as Bethany is spinning round and often I was in the shot as I tried to carry the light around her at an upwards angle.

Problems We Had? What would I change?

Today we didn't have many problems at all, and I think me and Vic's team work has definitely got stronger throughout the project. One minor problem was the makeup artist not being there, so I had to improvise and do my best with what I had with me as I knew I'd have to do the makeup for this scene. On the final filming day, Amy will be doing the makeup as she has the proper equipment and can do bruises better than me. I think because the scene is quite short, the makeup isn't too noticeable so it won't look too different to when Amy does it. Although I want it to look the same, we have a lot of close up shots on the next filming day, and I definitely don't want the makeup I did to be on the shot as it's not the best and will take the production level down.

DAY 7 - 8th March 2016

Final day! Today is the day we filmed a few pick up shots, the outside scene, and the big finale dancing scene in Dartford. We began by filming the scene outside with Francis and Bethany when they are talking outside the theatre, this scene went really well and we easily got all the shots needed, along with some great sounds which Vic and I were happy about.
Soon after, we went into the room we had booked out and Dan had already taken out the drum kits and extra things in there, we wanted a completely empty room. Vic and I had been busy buying props for the scene and had a car full of props which I was completely happy with. What we brought was;
-3 Clothes rails
-Black cloths to cover some speakers
-Ballet costume
-Mask
-Photograph
-Tall light
-Small speaker
-Clothes to put on the rail

It did take much longer than expected to set up, as the rails was in 3 separate boxes and needed to be put together from scratch. We couldn't of put them together beforehand, obviously because of the size so we did what we could with the time. It took around an hour to set up, although it set us back, I think it was worth it as we created a set up that looked like an old, dark backstage dressing room.

I really liked how Adam portrayed the character of Francis, he literally looked crazy - and it was such a dramatic change seeing him scrubbed up and with messed up hair, compared to when we usually see him in smart suits with his hair gelled back and looking (mostly) smiley. I think the overall costumes worked well and I'm very happy with the outcome of this scene especially.

Finally, Vic, Amy, Joseph and I all went back to Rochester to film a pick up scene of Bethany walking in the bedroom when George is asleep which was reasonably simple to film and was done very quickly! Our final scene we filmed was George 'rushing' down the street to get to the theatre. I really liked the lighting that we filmed in, it was all natural and we chose a great time to film as there was also a street light on behind which made the scene a little more golden. The scene went well however, for this scene it was just Vic and I filming and doing sound and it was very hard to walk backwards quickly in time with Joseph without shaking the camera. Vic and I switched roles numerous times to both see if either of us could do it, however the tracks were essential. This is something I should of thought about more, and should of booked the tracks out for. Hopefully we can fix this in post somehow. The sound however was recorded really clearly which I'm happy with as we kept listening to make sure it wasn't too loud from on coming traffic. We was filming on a main road and often people would walk past talking loudly or a lorry would drive past, but eventually we got there and filmed it great.

Problems We Had? What would I change?

I think the day went to plan really well, however, I think in my head when writing the script I had a much more elaborate vision of the dancing scene with Amy. I know she's not a dancer and I can't expect that from her, however, I wish there was a little more that was done to build the scene up more before Francis and Bethany begin spinning round as much. Vic knew that this was the scene I had been so excited for, so Adam and I tried to go through with Bethany some tips on what she could do to do the dancing a bit better, Adam had experience with dancers so he was helpful in supporting me in this. I know it's not the best but I was determined to make sure we had enough footage for that scene as it's such a big scene were we find out the truth and the dancing is meant to be quite dramatic. I was thinking of finding a professional dancer on Casting Call and filming some legs and arms sequences (no face) that could be edited in along side Amy. However, I'm not sure if we will have time, however, I'll look more into it. Another thing that could be changed is the makeup. Although Amy did it really good, I think it should of been darker to look more realistic. I really like the location we filmed at and it fit my vision perfectly after realising that a dungeon was a little dramatic for a small theatre. Finally, I would make sure to book out the tracks on all scenes which a character is walking fast for, this is a mistake on my half and I should of thought about it more clearly. Overall, the day went very well and I can't wait to see the edit together!

PICK UP DAY! 

Finally, day 8 was a short pick up day that we hadn't had time to shoot on the other days. We travelled to Charlies house and met up with Amy, there we filmed her reaction in the dining room when she finds that the box is empty. This was filmed quickly and Vic tried lots of different angles which worked well. We also recorded some sound separately of the noises of the tissue paper which sounded great on the recording.
The last scene we shot was of Bethany waking up in the morning and seeing the rose in the musical box. This scene was great to film and Vic tried some new establishing shots of a pan into the room instead of already being in the room, this worked effectively and I think it makes the introduction to the scene all that more creepier.

Overall, the filming has been so much fun to do, with some parts that have made me so stressed out! However, I'm really happy with the finished shots and think that something great can be created in post production. I'm so excited to see the first edit and get everything put together, it's been really nice to see my script come to life and see how working with other people really helps to create the idea you want. I'm very thankful for all the support i've received throughout from the cast and crew and especially Vic, as he's helped me throughout with the amount of work I had, he gave tips and ideas, and I tried my best to support him also throughout the filming days.

I think as a producer, I have succeeded most in the mise en scene side of things. I always did my best to look for the best props possible, and to think about all the small things in the scene and the sentimental things that can help bring the scene to life. I ordered so many dresses and we tried them with Amy to see which would fit best. Although some things was only for one scene, it was still essential that I made sure they was to the best standard possible. I think the weakest part of myself as a producer was casting. Although i'm thrilled with everyone, there are some people who I think aren't as strong as I would of liked. I did pick the best from who we had, however, I think it would of benefitted our film much more if some people were more natural to the roles.