16x9 Film Project
The Brief:
Working in groups of 4 to 5 and using the tools of artistic direction and film, create a 2 minute experimental short film using London as a catalyst.
Use this film to create an unfamiliar story or narrative. You must avoid the usual (and clichéd), and look beyond the ordinary. See differently. See through fresh eyes, and surprise us. Use this as an opportunity to explore something you are interested in. Have you a passion for narrative? Are you interested in characters - real or imaginary? Places or things? Animal, vegetable or mineral? Are you going to make a constructed narrative, a documentary, or a mix of the both? Your film can be realism at its most brutal, or magical - or wholly surrealist. What are you in to? Whom? Where? When? Show us in your film. Your film should not be wholly abstracted but remain connected to its subject. Remember - this is not an ‘art film’ but a piece of communication. Decide what you’d like to say and say it in an interesting way. We are looking for ‘great ideas, beautifully made’. If you put in the ground work and do the pre production work (especially regarding working out your shots and camera moves in the storyboard) your shoot and edit will run much much more smoothly. You might find your inspiration in Looking behind closed doors, an overheard conversation on the bus, a reflection in a window, 1000s of everyday faces, the colour and vibrancy of the city (or lack of it), the music and image of your neighbourhood, oblique juxtapositions, the sound of city life, everyday behaviours, patterns & movement, or beauty in the mundane. Use the strengths of the different members of your group to make your film as good as possible. Consider treatment writing, production, storyboarding, directing, cinematography, art direction, and editing, sfx and grading all as important as the other and split these jobs up accordingly.
30/10/18
Finally, I get to start the 16x9 project. I've been looking forward to this ever since watching the screening last year. Shortly after the briefing with Anna, we got to pick our own groups. I'm in a group with Gabby, Ghia, Shelley & Matilde. After sitting down we got straight into brainstorming ideas. I live for this & found myself getting really creative. I was first to pitch an idea, inspired by the diversity in London and the people. We pass strangers in the street every day. The idea started as a scene on the tube, where people are wondering about each-others lives while travelling. The scene would start with an individual wondering about another person's secret life, cut to a funny dream scenario where that ordinary person sitting on the tube has a secret/crazy life behind the surface. This would happen between 3-4 individuals while on their daily commute & the scene would end in a full-circle.
However we realised that continuity on the tube would be an instant issue, therefore I pitched the idea of setting it in a lift/elevator. Standing in lifts is always an awkward experience, no one's talking & everyone's stood too close for comfort. In this scene, there would be 3 people, an old granny, a teenage girl & a 30 year old man. The girl is sweet & innocent, the granny old & frail, and the man resembles a hipster/lumberjack. All ordinary people. The scene would start with the girl entering the lift where the granny is stood. The gran would take a glance at the innocent girl, before cutting to a scene where the granny has a dreamlike imaginative scene of this innocent girl disco dancing or doing something unexpected. Cut back to the lift, the man enters, & it's the girl's turn to have an imaginative dream scene where this ordinary dude is a "goth/emo rockstar" jamming to metal. Cut back to the lift, the man looks at the granny. Cut to a scene where the granny is dancing to "sexy" jazz music wearing stockings & making suggestive poses. Cut to the lift again, the granny leaves the lift & the camera, facing outwards, watches the granny go, before an iris lens closes in on a thong hanging from her back pocket. Ending the scene with a twist adds a certain charm to it, as if to say - this is London - people are diverse & different & they do what they want.
As a group we discussed the type of style/art direction we like & we all agree that we need to create something with a Wes Anderson feel. We discussed other ideas for a film & different locations. These are all noted in my notes below.
Our other ideas were Phone Conversations. Following people from their perspective walking the streets on their phone, as they pass a cyclist the perspective changes to the cyclist and so on. Or, perspective on phones & using phones like a map of London by following people's day-to-day. Or, a split screen concept where we follow 3-4 different people's lives in London from the moment they wake up to bed. Maybe following people working at TFL? OR a more sensory experience of London.
I already feel really enthusiastic about this project, & look forward to presenting our ideas to Anna & Peter soon.
5/11/18
Treatment & idea reviews.
We presented a few treatments today for our different ideas. We went with SONDER.
6/11/18
Technical workshop with Luc Wilkinson
8/11/18
Today we set out to find materials for building our set. We have to build the lift since Anna Rhodes advised us that filming in an actual lift is actually quite challenging & it's hard to find an unoccupied lift for filming. This project is ambitious but I believe that we can all pull through. Gabby & Matilde are in charge of this. I've been writing the script. Shelley has started a storyboard for our film.
12/11/18
Raven Smith & Anna Rhodes reviews & feedback. We showed them our developed treatment & set design including my revised script. Gabby & I have also been busy looking for a cast & we will probably have to pay for professional actors.
Raven advised that the imagination scenes were too stereotypical, for example a "drag queen" doesn't have a shock effect anymore as it isn't considered unusual in today's society. Anna was happy with our progress but advised that we must create posters to put up in the lift to refer the scenario back to London. We must push more on what their secret lives are, as our choices are too obvious. We need a different kind of surprising. Raven suggested we play around with the idea of the girl becoming a bull-fighter, or the man becoming a magician or a bell-ringer. Basically we have to go back to the drawing room and redraw the characters, but remember to convey our message. Maybe a yoga granny would be fun. Stepping into fetishising the characters takes away from the purpose of the film.
13/11/18
Oscar Hudson Tuesday Talk
The best Tuesday Talk EVER. Oscar Hudson is an extremely talented director & his music videos are phenomenal. He's done the likes of Young Fathers "Holy Ghost", Loyle Carner "Ottolenghi", Bonobo "No Reason", Col3trane, radiohead & many more. Seeing behind the scenes & his genuine notes was class. He has a dream job.
I've created a timetable for us to follow. Planning is everything with this project. I've also written a new script.
Our new moodboard beautifully designed by Gabs to go with our new vision.
I've written a new props list. We've booked our equipment for the shoot.
15/11/18
Today has been hectic. We caused quite the havoc transporting our set through uni. Building it was down to Matilde & Gabby, painting it will take a while longer to complete but the first coat is on. My muscles hurt, a lot.
Here are the measurements for our set & a few pics of the day.
16/11/18
Our cast is booked. We've hired actors - Marco De Marlo, Nichollette Yardley-Moore & Emma Petersson. I've updated the timetable & we're looking to start shooting on Tuesday.
I've also created a shot list for us to make the most of the little time we actually have to shoot. It's colour coded for the 4 different scenes & it'll be easier for me to read from on the day of shooting. I'm excited to be directing the film.
Shelley has created a storyboard.
Ghia has created a colour grading presentation.
16/11/18
I've ordered the Matador Costume & it has ended up costing £50 but it'll hopefully be worth it because of the quality. We've also used today to finish painting the set & test our lighting choices. I think blue film over Shelley's LED lights will create the perfect mood for the yoga scene. I've also been writing countless lists on the countdown to our first day of shooting.
Unfortunately, we were told that there is no monitor available for us to use during filming, therefore we will have to resort to using the tiny screen on the black magic camera. I'm apprehensive that we might miss little details during filming due to the small monitor & scared that we'll only pick up on these after filming.
17/11/18
Today Gabs & I went shopping around Tooting for props & knitwear for the knitting scene.
19/11/18
Final day of test shots & practicing with the dolly before we film with Nicholette tomorrow. Thanks Valentine, Gabs & Shelley for being the guinea pigs.