Loc Doc Filming the hand grabbing scene

We needed to have the hand grabbing scene from below and we decided to film it in a quick shot in a location close to all of us, we got a friend to stand in for Conner since we didn't want to call him out only to be there for 3 minutes where we only needed his arm, luckily she was small enough to fit into his coat

we wanted a similar low shot to the Conner scenes but in a different perspective, we wanted more gutter than Georgie and the background to be clear enough to pass for it, luckily it was a clear day so we were able to go ahead

we had to position the camera in a more turned style because of the original footage's look and way it came across, as well as telling our friend exactly where to put her hand and when, luckily we didn't catch any large details of Conner's hand so we could easily pass our friends hand off as his

Here we are using Simon to play Pennywise's hand since you see nothing lower than his chin in the scene, it was a simple enough shot so we could quickly take out equipment out and just film quickly and get it done and polished off

We didn't use sound for this one since it was too loud outside due to wind and people so i decided as the editor as well that the sounds i already had i could just run over so it could be used to be put over this scene, I was sensible enough to get an audible test before each shoot just in-case the original footage's audio is unuseable

Script writing draft of 3 stories

Eat at?
At first glance the resteraunt that had been mentioned in the newspaper a few times on occasions, mainly the grand opening and the special events they had on. This article was different however, different in a bad way, in a way that made skin tremble against bone and goosebumps fear too arise. Their eyes dart across the article, the fear building and intensifying, the article said that under the new damnation of the resteraunt that the builders who were supposed too turn up to the site to demolish the now condemned building were mauled inside by some sort of large animal and then thrown through the front door; during their late shift to scout out the interior. The article at that point lost all reliability and seemed like hog wash. Placing the newspaper down on your stool as you stand up and look at the interior pillar that the previous workers had planned on destroying. Gripping the sledge hammer on your right with both hands and swinging back to make the first dent, the lights come on to your left and the music plays from that stage, you place the hammer down as you stare and walk closer in bewilderment. As you come too a halt and the song dies out you get the warm, moist, animalistic breath against the nape of your neck.

Wilbur
Waking up to sore eyes and a runny nose, Wilbur awoke to the sound of silence, something he wasn't used too, his house is usually filled with a screaming baby sister, arguing parents, music being blasted by his neighbours next door and the construction on the pavement outside. Today there was nothing, no jackhammer, no music, no  yelling, not even birds tweeting.
He slung his legs out of bed, his legs dangling over his bed, almost touching the floor. He was always told by his father when he was sober that "Wilbur was a naturally small boy" but his father would look at Wilbur straight in the eyes and speak softly "but that just means the gap between your feet and your floor is the distance you has from greatness and at some point you'll plant your feet firmly down upon that floor Wilbur" that always made Wilbur smile. He slid off of his bed and into his slippers to head downstairs for some allergy tablets, Wilburs cold didn't seem to be getting any better, only worse.
He went down stairs, even the floor boards were silent, the floor boards were never silent. This freaked Wilbur our too much so he ran down the rest of the stairs clutching onto the railings. He reached the bottom and turned too run into the kitchen but there were his Mam and Dad, Wilbur felt a wave of release flow over him as he walked toward his parents.
This was weird, his parents were talking but he couldn't hear them, their lips were moving but no sound at all was coming out.
He ran over too his Dad too hold onto his leg but his dad went toward the stairs where Wilbur just saw the face of his sister peer over the banister and say something to his Dad which must of been important because his Dad ran up the stairs as fast as Wilbur had ever seen him run. Wilbur was still worried about the no noise problem he had but he just put it down to his cold. He wandered upstairs back to his room just in case his Dad and sister were going too jump out and scare him like all those other times but they weren't hiding anywhere because as Wilbur came into the doorway of his room he saw his Dad knelt over his Bed with his sister holding onto him. Wilbur was confused but then a cold, thin hand placed itself onto his shoulder as a voice from behind him said "so, you had a cold then Wilbur?"

A warriors choice
The warrior grabbed his sword from it's sheath, brought out so he could admire it's beautiful shine and it's bone slicing sharpness. This, this is the sword that shall taste the blood of the evil and free those innocent souls trapped inside. Having the sword that could cut a feral tiger in two from a single twist of the wrist, no he had to have the determination but also the control too weild all of those raw emotions into specific swings so too still protect the innocent. Harming an innocent was one of his biggest fears, upon the injury of an innocent a warrior must throw themselves upon their own sword to show compassion and sorrow. He was not brave enough for that too happen but he also wasn't so naive as too run away, he'd be killed onsite, no remourse, no explanation, just death. So too make a decision, to kill the evils and under his own hand maybe harm an innocent and then himself or too take his chances at running

Loc Doc Shooting the Pennywise scenes

We needed an actor and so we got one, my dad was due a visit so I made sure to ask if he wouldn't mind being in a project of mine and since he's always been in my projects and been a good actor I trusted his skills, he is a huge film fan so I knew he would of either seen the film already and know a few quotes or not gotten round to it but be able to l;earn his lines quick

We made sure to have the make up artist that is living with me apply the make up with some help from John and myself, John mainly working on the base white, our artist working on the details and me working on touching up the details a little more

With the pennywise shoot I got the actor to sit in the chair getting his makeup done while we set up the shoot, we were waiting on the director when he messaged us saying he couldn't turn up, so I as the camera man, the lighting and sound technician John and the producer Simon all took a third in the responsibilities of the shoot that day, we got the make up artist too apply the makeup all the time I was making sure to direct her and say where needed to be touched up and making sure the actor was okay and fine.

This was the finished product and i was extremely proud of it since the actor looked massively like the character he intended to be 

Simon helped with the documentary and John helped me set up the back prop, we placed a Matt black curtain over the television so as to seem like he was in the dark gutter and we put a flood light on him to act as the daylight, we got the actor to sit on the floor and read his lines from a hug e piece of paper so it was easier for him. I will admit that we did need to direct his eye movement but we were all too busy making sure that the lighting was okay and that the sound was okay.

I made a special request for my Dad to not brush his teeth for about a week just too get the grime yellow color for his teeth a big ask I know but I gave him a caramel lollipop that I found out through personal experience  turns your teeth brown which exactly the look we wanted

Overall i think the entire shoot was good but I believe that if the director was there it would have gone more smoothly but it is done now and I have the clips I need

Loc Doc Wig and make up

trying to find the costumes was separated between us, I personally was in charge of the wig. i was the sole searcher for the wig because I refused the rest of the crew to buy a less accurate wig that would not look like the character evebn though it was already pre-red and white skinned

This was the wig i found in a little costume shop around the local town, I was searching for hours and couldn't find any other good substitutes until I found this one, right next to it however was exactly what I needed to make it Pennywise's hair

2 bottles of cheap hair spray were on sale just next to the wig and I felt it was a sign, to buy it there and then, so later on I got to work making my Pennywise scalp

This was the wig straight out of the bag, not very impressive nor very Pennywise like either, so it seemed that the wig needed just more work and some make up so that it would be just right

I did a small test of the red on a piece of cardboard and wasn't impressed however when I applied it to the wig it came out to be a perfect clown red, all it needed now was a few more sprays so it was fuller and looked more like a killer

I had to create a balancing act so that the wig dried evenly and securely and wouldn't be disturbed

I added these two pictures after the shoot just too show how it ended up turning out, with adding a layer of make up and having it on the actor made it really come too life

However i do believe when taking the wig off Pennywise was much scarier

Loc Doc shooting Georgie's scenes

The boy who we got to act for Georgie is Connor Perry, Simon and Steven as the director and producer both went to go audition at the school for preforming arts and we found he could learn his lines and put on a reasonably good American accent.

We quickly ran down the script so that Conner could read what he needed to read easier, we took Conner and his mum to the location and set up the gopro, it had to be propped up on a box because we needed the angle to be looking up as Conner would be looking down toward us

We chose this location because if we angled the camera just right and got the gopro in the correct position then we could get nothing but sky behind Conner instead of having roof tops and peoples heads as they walked by, luckily no one did so it was easy enough o capture the lines and shots we needed for this shoot

This was taken just as a car was going down the road as we were filming so we had to pause and and just wait until it passed, unfortunately the shoot was right next to a road so we did have some interference with car noises and  with the doogle on we didn't have much trouble from the wind but it wasn't a perfect situation, we made due with what we had though

I made sure John was sat next to me since he was both the lighting and the sound operator so he could look over my shoulder and check see if the lighting was good enough and so the headphone cable wasn't stretching to far from the camera itself

After the shoot we thought we ask a friend of ours who is the owner of a film themed restaurant called "Flix" if we could shoot the interview for the documentary in his cinema room, we unfortunately couldn't ask Conner nor his mum to stay since he had a schedule to keep and had some other buisness but in the interview I talked about the shoots we'd done so far and how editing might go. I believe it went well as i talked for a good period of time about how I was to balance everything in my roles

loc doc Make Up test

We bought red noses for the Pennywise actor but we decide we need to test the make up we already had just to make sure that it looked good on camera in case we needed to buy a different type, Simon volunteered to have the makeup tested on him and to see if it worked well with the camera.

This was the waay we were told that the noses had arrived on time

We got John to apply the make up since he was the one with the most experience with makeup and applying it to others

This is what Simons make up looked like on screen which is exactly how we needed it to look like on camera 

We had a flood light focused on Simon's general area because that is the kind of light we'd want to do later on

So with all the makeup done and by using the red nose we had with us this was the finished product, I for sure am proud of it and think that it looks good as a whole

Production Skills-Some Camera Skills/techniques

Angles and camera shots communicate the feelings and ideas that the director wants too portray to the audience, gets the camera angles exactly correct is very important because having a different shot too what the director wants will mean redoing the shot at the right angle. for example a MCU (medium close up) would be goof for showing basic emotions because you see the facial features but a shot like an XCU (extreme close up) is better for the more intense emotions and structure of the actors face.

The 180 degrees rule is the rule that while two people are talking face too face the camera cannot go more that 180 degrees from it's origin point of the shot, this is because that when you have an over the shoulder shot and the go too the opposite shoulder of the other character, the audience will become disoriented. This rule is mainly applied to "over the shoulder shots" which is a shot that while most commonly appear during a dialogue scene of importance or a static scene with a lot of dialogue as they are the most popular style of shot when two characters are in a linear pathway too each other.

When establishing a scene it is always wise too maybe start with a wide shot, it establishes the scenery and the shot area for the later cuts or you could do a Bravura shot technique (example from "Touch of Evil") which is a continuous shot with no breaks or cuts for the entirety of the shot; it is a long tracking shot which is hard too pull off, even harder too pull off when all of the extra's in shot have too be perfectly timed.

The order when filming on set is as following:

"Quiet on Set" from the Director

the Director must make sure that all of the crew, actors and extras are all quiet so the beginning of the sound recording is blank so it is easier to edit later on

"Roll Sound" from the Director

the sound is rolled first because the actual film was more expensive so if you were too start filming first you'd be burning money away

"Sound rolling" from the Sound engineer/recordist

the sound operator needs to notify the Director directly so that with the quiet on set they can hear any orders or problems straight away

"Roll film" from the Director

this is the instruction from the director to the camera operator too start rolling the film

"Camera speed" from the Camera operator

this means that the camera is rolling and any movement is caught on the camera

"Marker" from the Director

this is an oprder from the director too the clapper, so that when the clapper sounds both the sound and the camera capture the clapper noise to signify the start

"Shot/take" Clapper sounds, starts the shot

the clapper board has the ability to capture visually and audibly

"Action" from the Director

this is so the actors know this is when too practically start

bibliography

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yg8MqjoFvy4

Planning maybe a set build plus equipment

i decided to create a few sketches on maybe how we could recreate the gutter since we're not in american so finding a curb that large is going to be nearly impossible

With this I was thinking if we got the pennywise actor to kneel and the child actor to stand over a bow with the top to look like the road it could maybe work but I ran into some issues being that it wouldn't be structurally sound nor would it be safe for either actor so i had to scrap this idea

With this particular sketch I thought I could maybe make the gutter piece itself and then set build around this. My plan was to have it made out of a plastic box as the diagram show, I would have used half too create the gap where pennywise would appear and use the log side of the opposite side of the box to create the grate of the grate, I chose a plastic box just so it was water proof and easily acquirable.

This is the camera we will be using, it films onto DV tapes which can then be taken and captured onto the edit suites, the tech demonstrations we had had on the equipment has helped me get used to holding and using it, we will also be using the Rode rifle mic and XLR cable to lead into the extension on the back, a rode boom pole, a pair of headphones for the sound operative  and a tripod, I know not to use the on board mic however, usually the quality is terrible so the rode mic will capture it

script writing

Using life experiences in your script writing is important because you can tap into the feelings you had when that event occurred so having a primary source that was first hand experience is good for reference to what a character may be feeling or using the people around you when the event happened as a reference for maybe one of your characters to react  to a stimuli.

Bullying is something that 87% of people go through during their life whether it be mentally, physically or verbally bullying has a large effect on a person and so it may also have a large effect on one of your characters. Bullying can lead too many different emotions which if you yourself were bullied can tap into those emotions and feelings that you yourself felt and apply them to the character you want, remember the fact that you created their world and you can make your characters bend to your will.

Making your character feel negative feeling is good for development and the reasoning for them feeling or thinking that way is completely up to you but the initial idea is that you stress and pull your characters to their breaking points and thinking how they would react to a stimuli as that happens. however bullying is a steady deterioration or a steady build of defense for a character so they can either break or become stronger for it either choice you make for them will determine their reactions later on in your story.

However making your character feel incredibly lucky or feel good will affect them differently for example if your character gets the date with that person they have been lusting over, they could react in a way that they are happy because everything else had been nothing but bad, they could be confused because they are an over thinker and run through every little detail, they could become overly clingy to the person because of their past. Their reaction is up to you, the writer but you have to have a reason for why they feel that way.

As a test I write down a bunch of negatives so that they could maybe be put into my character aty some point during the development

-I'm a stutterer
-I'm a creator
-I am open minded
-I am more concerned with others happiness
-I am too forgiving
-I am uncomfortable with who I am

Now with those in mind you can probably make a good character base and back story with reasons of your own customization.

As part of a task we were told to combine different features that we had previously written down to make a short story, I gave myself about 10 minutes to write this so it can be modified but that is where all great stories come in

I combined the feeling of "I am too forgiving" with "past with an object, for me it was jellybeans" and the main flaw feeling we as people have which I chose as "hate"

Randy walked down the hallway, it was the same hallway that he'd walked down so many times over his first year. Each footstep taking longer to make contact with the ground as he walk toward the door, the door Randy was walking toward was the door that behind it held "those people" and "That past". Randy knew that as soon as he opened the door, he'd hear the same things he always heard with a small turn on it from the previous time. Randy could't blame them, they were immature and stupid but they would grow out of it; for now though Randy knew he had to open the door and become the easy target he was to them, Randy justified it to himself because if it wasn't him it'd be someone else for some other insignificant reason, he couldn't blame them, I mean how could he? They most probably didn't know how each word hurt and wounded him or how each punch they threw that was followed by a laugh not only left a bruise on his skin but also on his mind and heart. Randy cared fro humanity and believed there was good but when those people discovered a small fact about me that Randy believed to be unworthy of even mentioning, they latched onto it and wouldn't let go. So every lesson Randy would be pelted with jelly beans, they threw jelly beans after they realized that Randy couldn't have jellybeans at all, so they stuck with it and it slowly wore Randy down but he stayed strong because he believed that it would get better, Randy couldn't be mad at them because he knew that if he forgave them he could deal with another day worth or beatings and another person will be saved the hassle and the bullying torment and they will be safe. The other people weren't his friends nor did he talk to them, Randy just knew that he didn't want them to be hurt. Randy stopped and looked forward, there was the door, all he had to do was reach out and turn the handle and it would begin again till he got home and in his room. Randy readjusted his blazer and straightened his tie, he reached his hand out and prepared to forgive his bullies for one more day. As he gripped the handle tightly he muttered "I am Ranna Duranni and I am a bullied Muslim".

Now there are obvious tweaks and changes I could make to this story but it was a quick story I came up with and really felt it came together however this was an experiment on how to stretch a characters belief and I think I did quite well.

Loc Doc

Continuity?
Continuity is a hard thing to keep under control but as long as the basic are taken care of you should be able to get away with a few slip ups, just make sure the costumes are the same style and cleanliness as the last time time thy were shot, for example if you have 3 shots left, 1 being at the end where the costume gets dirty and the other 2 are before that scene, film the 2 first then get the costume dirty, if a scene has the destruction or dirtying of any area of the costume film that last so you still have the clean costume for all the other shots.

For example Pulp Fiction, this movie has a lot of mistakes but some don't notice it straight away because they were so engrossed in the film, it's only when re-watching the restaurant scene you can tell the difference with the actresses smoking habits, in some shots that could of been avoided but with these she has a barely smoked but lit cigarette one angle then when it flips she has smoked half already. On big productions there are people who set certain length cigarettes out so that during a certain scene the actress/actor can have it the same length but the one thing that cannot be changed is the smoke that comes from it it can very trickily be changed in editing but it takes a professional at this day in age to do so, we were recommended not to have smoking characters during a scene where the camera angle will flip or move in a way that is not in 1 shot or a pan

I helped script the scene with the sound editor John by listening to a line or so and telling him exactly what was said and how so the actors will know when on set not only what to say but how to say it, that is the real importance

We were given a site so we could look for actors and contact the, when contacting them we would obviously have to tell them that we could put toward their travel with the budget we would have but we would hopefully be looking for someone who wouldn't mind doing it or free. The two actors we would need to look for is a middle age man with no facial hair, someone who isn't allergic to make up and can learn and get close enough too Tim curry's accent but the most important attribute for that actor is to have a voice with no obvious accent that would trow any of our audience off and too at least look like he is an older man.
With the child who will be playing for Georgie we will need someone who can do an american accent and is confident with speaking his lines

Script writing 9th oct

The Narrative Structure

Aristotle was a Greek philosopher, however in films context he means a defined narrative,a form which has a begining, a middle and an end. Including the chain of event's and cause and effect elements that drive the story and push it from the begining till the end.

A non narrative structured piece of media is usually that of documentaries or logical/persuasive adverts, the term non narrative film is very similar too the meaning of non fiction in comparison too fiction as genres.

narrative form story begins of a pre-narative/disruption of stability, chain events and cause and effect, then solution too disruption then closure

cause and effect events in a narrative must chronologically make sense, the reason your character has too be chosen is because they need to have something special about them otherwise, who would want too watch an ordinary Joe sit around?

A beginning of a story is not just a start; the stories beginning provides you as the audience with a basis for what is to come later in the film as the chain of events cause a cause and effect domino effect but the beginning usually follows the heroes journey which says that in the beginning there will be a call too adventure or a disruption of peace.

An ending however is not where the story finishes, the peace is restored for now and the problems that arose have been dealt with for now and all is stable. As part of the heroes journey by John Campbell nearing the end the hero goes home or where ever the peace has been settled after the trouble of the resolution.

http://wes1energymasterkey.files.wordpress.com/2014/02/herosjourney.gif

The middle of a story is where all of the action, romance, comedy happens along with the climax near too the end of the middle and the beginning of the end as well as having character development throughout the story so the audience learn too love your characters

A character as the "ordinary man" to try and relate to the audience does not work as well as planned as the idea of having an ordinary man play the main role is so that the audience can relate that he/the main character is more relate-able but the problem with that theory is that the ordinary man has nothing special about him, nothing to focus on in the movie/series yes sure the hidden ability too have something planned about him to reveal does override this however just having an ordinary character does not make them interesting, to develop a character you they must be special in some way or another.

Temporal order is is the presentation of events
Temporal duration is the fact that in a movie if it spans 21 years, it will not take 21 years too tell the story. Simple really but a good tool to have in your head.
Temporary Frequency however is the frequency of actions and events. The plot can repeat events and things however for example Ground hogs day

Diegesis is a world for the characters to live and play in, in this world you are the creator, you play god because you create these characters, you control what happens too them, you create their back story and their future. Creating one that is structurally sound however is like baking a cake, you just need to make the factors on that world as real as they would be in reality, so as too make it more believable to the audience. If you make a slightly larger step (for example a less believable additive to the story but still conceivable) when you make a larger step the next time it too will be conceivable enough too be believable.

Planting objects 

Loc Doc first attempt

To begin with we assigned ourselves to each project we thought we would prefer to do, I choose to be on the IT recreation team so that I could recreate something I knew and believed was easy enough so it could be accomplished but had enough difficulties so that it wouldn't be just plain sailing, because the idea of the recreation is to get used to working in teams and learning what areas you want to be apart of and see your strengths as well as looking at the original footage and getting as close as you and your team can possibly make it.

The main problems initially we had too look at was the grate, It was written by Stephen king as a book and then made into a movie however the movie was made in america and the difference between Americas grates and British is a very large difference. so we will have too look for an alternative way of filming the scenes that involve the grate.

Another problem straight off the bat is where we are going to find an actor to compete with Tim curry's acting masterpiece, but another slight issue is finding a child with an american enough accent to be able too pull off the lines and be convincing enough not to be seen as even slightly British or any tell tale signs of a strong accent.

The costume will be easy enough to reconstruct since the viability of Pennywise the clown is very little, the audience see a frame from the top of his head till the begining of the collar bone end of neck area so all we'd need to do is buy a wig/or a bald cap if the actor has long enough hair, white face make up, some fake sharp teeth and a white silk glove.

Loc Doc My pitch perks of being a wallflower

I pitched a scene from the movie "the perks of being a wallflower"
it was the scene where the crew are sat around the table playing truth or dare (till 1:56) and I was silly enough not to check the brief because the scene I pitched had a screen change which wasn't allowed so I accept it probably won't be picked however I felt as though my pitch was justifiable but exceedingly difficult since the scene was heavily Americanized so it would be difficult to recreate in a British environment and me being the nit picking director I would be I felt as though I could do it but it would be constant hard work that would cost more than the budget would be.

I stood up and pitched the scene with pride but didn't realise that the ideas that i had were yet again difficult unless i had those extra special connections