Broken Bubbles

I wasn’t looking forward to the final and third production, “Broken Bubbles. I had just come back from Edinburgh International Film Festival and I was weary and tired from the non-stop weeks before. After reading the script alarm bells went off in my head, “SIX INCH… FAIRY,” Wow (it’s not what your thinking). This means green screen and because we have limited budget and not many of us have used green screen, I immediately thought cheap, nasty, and impossible. Again I didn’t have to worry about these problems.

I was the camera operator on Broken Bubbles I wasn’t looking forward to it at ALL. But as soon as I stepped on set there was an excitement that came over me. I looked at the set and it looked professionally crafted, it was a whole different world. The first lighting set up was done the Red camera was on and after a few adjustments I decided that this film was going to look phenomenal. After the first day we were behind schedule, there were heck loads of shots but I was determined, everyone was. The 2nd day was even better out on location the sunset, natural lighting, the Pride and Prejudice silhouettes it was terrific and overwhelming. In my opinion this film looked and felt more special than the other two, possibly because I had a higher responsibility than my previous two jobs. The 3rd day was even better the performance was stunning. We were filming the film’s climax. I was hand held on the Red and was physically shattered but the moment the scene was finished I fully understood why I love filmmaking. I looked at the playback I thought it was beautiful, I’m not boasting even though I loved my camera work, I loved the lighting, the set, the performance, the blocking, absolutely brilliant. You could see that everyone on set was passionate about making this film. Everyone did extremely well.

I have never enjoyed myself in a production this much, I really enjoyed it, it was magical and it was a good story. I still have doubts on the green screen so I hope that in the editing of the film there will be the same magic that was on set. I’m really looking forward to seeing the end product.

Breathing Room

“Breathing Room” was the 2nd short film of DFTV 2 end of year films. The film was written and directed by Graeme Deacon. My initial thought of the “Breathing Room” script was it would be a production nightmare. It did have the main lead smashing a window and a dog leaping through it. I thought to myself how would this work, as we wouldn’t have the budget to make it look realistic. We would need to remove the real window and fit in a fake. We would need a professional medical person if the lead were to smash a window into a thousand pieces. If that were going to happen then a stunt double would be needed and so on. That seemed like the easiest part. The animal I thought would be the most difficult of the production because it was one of the story’s main characters and the dog had to go through some difficult and complicated actions. But it wasn’t my job to worry about.

I was assigned to be the gaffer, the D.P’s right hand man on the production. I’d be receiving instructions from Paul what lights to use and where to position them. Before the 1st shooting day, I received a small tutorial on Amps, Watts and circuits from one of the 4th years. It was understandable. I took a little note on set of how many Amps each light had. This would be the first time gaffering for me. Paul was going for a naturalistic look, as most D.P’s tend to go for. Even though he had little time to prepare his head was screwed on and he knew what he wanted most of the time. The first thing I did when I was on set was to organise the lights and accessories. At the start of each shooting day I set up the lights we were most likely to use throughout that day. We moved on to the first set up, which was outside so I didn’t need to do much. I was holding reflector in one hand and a poly board in the other trying to bounce light from the sun to highlight the actors face.

The interior scenes was where the lighting set ups got a little more complicated. Through out the shoot I made sure that I didn’t blow a circuit and I didn’t. I also wanted to be quick at setting up lighting for each scene and was fairly efficient in doing so. I hope I made a good contribution to the production of Breathing Room. Even though I had doubts of when I first read the script, the production and dog scenario came together. My superiors on the production did a good job of making the director’s vision become real life. I just hope in the cutting room it will look realistic…

One thing I might add, the day after the film was wrapped we returned the kit back to the Academy but we were missing four items, three that were part of the lighting department. I didn’t make my own kit check list but in future productions I will. Though I found it hard to understand why at least one of these items went missing as it stands a metre and a half off the ground and can be even extended taller than me.
Next time I will take care of the kit and where it is stored at the end of the day by making daily check lists.

Sole Mates

My role on the production Sole Mates was a focus puller. I have never been a focus puller before. The focus puller on the graduation film Room 9 shared a lot of her ideas and tips, which I found helpful. The role of the focus puller is basically to keep focus on a certain subject or subjects in the shot, change lenses, build and calibrate the camera and be around the camera at all times. The first day on Sole Mates was a little hectic. It was raining heavily, runners had umbrellas over it constantly but even then the camera was getting splashed. Changing the lens was difficult in these circumstances because the lenses had to be changed in the car. The crew moved to the interior afterwards and that was when the Red was broken. A single pin was broken inside the media card compartment. My heart truly sank. There seemed to be a curse that swarmed us that day. The intimidation of the Red came back. I believe I treated this extremely expensive camera with care but obviously I hadn't or the Red would have been running for the rest of the shoot. These things happen but it was extremely inappropriate but on the first day, come on! Next time I'll handle the camera with care and will take all the time I need to ensure it is safe. For the rest of the shoot I worked as a 2ND camera assistant simply because we replaced the Red with a 550 d. The 550d is built for one person but if two people were to be around it, the whole process will slow down. The focus puller baton was handed to the camera operator. The whole experience was exhausting and shattering but I loved it. The more experience I get on set the better I will become.

Red Camera Training

Week Beginning: Monday 31st May

The Red Camera training started with a overview of; what each part of the kit was, what it did and where it belonged. (I was a 2ND camera assistant on the 4Th year graduation film shoot of "Room 9", where I was in the shadows of the Red camera, there seemed to be many different parts. I found the camera slightly intimidating because of the time took to set it up and generally the expense of each part. I doubted myself thinking that I would need a fair amount of training before I could set it up hence I wanted to use the 570 for or end of term films.) After some training on where parts attached, assembling the Red Camera was easier than I thought. The intimidation of the Red left me. The next level of the Red was to configure the settings which you require. This is where it became a little complex for me. After been given printed sheets of how to customise the settings, it is was simpler. What I need to do is to continually use the Red for me to store information in my brain. Later in the week marking lenses was the next stage. We had to learn the system of how to attach and detach the lenses safely, I had the experience of this on Room 9. Marking the lenses were straight forward but was a little time consuming. I need to learn more behind the theory of when, where and why use them.

Realism

In TV content class we covered the construction of the documentary and styles; Expository; most documentaries are filmed in this style. They build towards an event or such with narration over the story. Fly on the wall; The camera and crew are invisible and ethics are out the window to a point. Though it depends on whether or not the person filming wants or needs to break the unknown relationship between the subject and the camera. Poetic; a use of visuals and imagery put together to make a story. Performative; undercover style where the filmmaker creates moments challenges and situations to create a story. Participant style; the filmmaker interacts with the subject matter. Reflexive; asks most self-conscious questions. Observational (fly on the wall); non intervention, they rely on editing to enhance real time.

We also covered the intentions of the documentary film making, which is to explore, probe and reveal the subject matter which most interests the filmmaker.

We watched a documentary and followed the step outline (script) given which seemed to differ in most areas.

Documentary making seems, dangerous and would require months and months of research for it to be of value, it is a slow process and requires a lot of effort, the editing process seems to be the pinnacle of the story creation. During filming there are no clear boundaries of where it is going to go and could turn out extremely different from the original concept.

Principles of directing was on Wednesday we briefly went over reminded ourselves of directing action. We created a small action sequence and storyboarded them in groups which was testing our abilities on bringing the principles of action together. I loved this interaction as I 've said before it gives me great understanding in doing.

Later the theme of realism in film & documentary carried through from the start of the week, we looked at the properties of realism in film and documentary.

A few weeks ago each half of the class worked on recreating a scene from The Street television series. Thursday we watched the 2 original version of the episodes these scenes were from. The Street is a drama series that takes a realist look of the working class and dramatising issues that take place in this type of society. We analysed the episodes simply stating if we liked them or not and why.

Both episodes were severely depressing, the cinematography and performance excelled in both. The actors seemed almost perfectly cast and gave a performance to suit the characters which gave me a sense of real people living these situations appose to just actors. This made me believe in the stories. The way the actors appearances were, wearing normal bog standard clothes, and physically their faces looked like everyday people. You could feel the pain through their glazed eyes and expressions of their face.

The cinematography added to this realism using mostly natural lighting making it look like what the naked eye sees. There was a range of dynamic shots which had a grey toned wash that added to the dreariness and pain of the story.

Though challenging and depressive the 2 stories develop to give us a sense of relief and happiness at the end. It would be a series which I would watch a few episodes of and watch once simply because of the negative emotions fueling the stories. These episodes definitely effect and possibly challenge the audience emotionally.

I was part of the crew who recreated the 'You've got a son scene,' which was from an episode about an alcoholic man trying to bond with his 16 year old down syndrome son. The man's ex-wife informs him but battling with his alcoholism his ex-wife regrets letting her son visit his hopeless downtrodden father who knows he can't look after himself never mind his son.

The 'you've got a Son scene that we recreated was similar to the original though the lighting was different and the actors looked different the emotion was expressed similarly.

Neo Realism

Monday we were learning about Neo realism, new realism started from France in the middle of the 19th century, when the world had a greater understanding in Philosophy, science and the arts. Neo realism in terms of film is when the films are shot on location and independent of the studios with unprofessional actors and most of all reflect true life of the working class. After the 2ND world war, filmmaker Roberto Rossellini introduced the world to Neo Realism film with Rome, Open City. Italian Neo Realism influenced directors of today Martin Scorsese, Mike Leigh, Ken Loach and many more.

Neo Realism films, giving true life reflection, seem to be highly depressive but impact lives. Films I can think of watching influenced by this is Boyz in the Hood, which I thought was shocking and very in your face. These films educate everybody from the working to rich class giving a fairly real view of what life in some places are really like. Neo Realism I believe have the ability to change a society.