24.09.12

Production Meetings

24.09.12

We had our first production meeting today. Everyone made it and we actually managed to get a lot done. We started by establishing the rules that our film has to abide by

Theme: love

Title: 'Something New' (Must include dream sequence & period piece)

5-7 Minutes including titles. 

IDEA(S)

(AVOID CHEESE) Merge period scene & dream sequence together - 

LIAM  

1. Two little boys (70's - tale of friendship continued in future)
2. Two For Joy (Boy sees a magpie "one for sorrow" and makes it his mission to find a second magpie "two for joy" - instead he finds the love of his life (joy/love)

 ALEX 

1. Love Bed (You love your bed, what if your bed loved you),

2. Walkie talkie - two friends, childhood friends - one dies (car crash perhaps), one day the living boy hears his walkie talkie, his dead friend speaks (late 80's/early 90's). 

HANNAH 

Receiving new computer (Elderly person introduced to technology - finds family tree, reunited with old relative)

RACHEL 

Premonitional dreaming (Speaking with the dead when dreaming - attached to dead lover 

(climactic reveal),

The idea we all agreed to expand and explore - KEY IDEA - (ALEX) - Walkie Talkie boys. 

"Two boys (70's) childhood friends, they frequently speak via walkie-talkie regardless of being neighbours - we see them play and develop a relationship - one of the boys dies (car crash, illness, falling from tree), the surviving boy distraught - desperately, tries to talk in his walkie talkie - to his amazement, his friend speaks...... 

His friend speaks for a while, eventually - the batteries in the device run out, so does his continuing relationship with the voice. 

Years pass by and the surviving boy is now an adult - he is married with kids and moving into a family home - as he is unpacking (moving) boxes, he discovers the walkie-talkie - he smiles, curiosity takes the better of him and tries new batteries - the walkie talkie emits white noise. 

The Camera cuts" (written by Liam Swann)

My idea was chosen as the back up.

Incorporating love: Traditional, rom-com, Bromance, unconditional, couple, affair, romantic, family, break-up. 

Film References

Mystic River, Stand By Me, (500) days of summer, The Road, Waiting for Godot, The Man Who Fell From The Moon, Eternal sunshine of the spotless mind,

The division of Gravity (love this short - here's the link

25.09.12

Today's production meeting was quite short. We only met up to discuss our film idea in more detail.

It was agreed that Liam would write up a rough draft of the script then hand it over to Ben for approval, who would then hand it to me to edit. So it's basically become my job to say what I think we can shoot and what we can't. FUN.

We also established what each crew member was responsible for and how long we had to get each task done. I took it upon myself to put this information on a spreadsheet.

26.09.12

Today's meeting was again short. We all seem to know what we're doing now and mainly keep in contact over facebook.

We also came up with a Log-Line for 'Something New'

'A young boy is amazed when the voice of his recently dead friend speaks to him through a toy walkie-talkie'

What I Did This Week

I did quite a few things this week. I started by getting everyone's availability and putting it into a colour coded sheet. This made it easier for me to see when various crew members were available. I discovered that our schedules are a bit all over the place. It might be quite challenging to sort out shoot days.

I also created a 'task' spreadsheet. This showed what part of Pre-production each crew member was responsible and how long they had to get things done. I find it easier to read things when they are on a spreadsheet and it's so convenient to have one sheet jam packed with so much information. Makes it easier to compare documents.

More paperwork - I also created a rough production schedule for the meeting with the Execs on Thursday. I understand that as we identify more issues and things move forward it will change. But it's nice to have something rough to refer to.

I wrote my back - up script for 'Something New' and have it ready in case our first plan falls through. It's a nice simple idea which can easily be produced in a few days. I'm quite happy with the story idea and Webster has spoken to me about possibly shooting it at the end of 2nd year.

The script was sent out early this week. I think I did about 3 re-writes this week. I didn't change the story, just cut out scenes I felt were unnecessary and other just would just not be possible to shoot within our budget and time limit (ie - a funeral set in the 70s, Young boy coming home to an ambulance outside his house. I also cut down on a lot of the dialogue some of it was really 'on-the-nose'. I didn't cut everything I had in mind because of Ben and Liam's objections but we all compromised and agreed on the final product.

Now that I have what seems to be the 'final version' of the script, I can start breaking it down with Ben. Discovered some great Breakdown sheets on this online site I found for Film production paperwork templates - http://www.docstoc.com/search/film-production?catfilter=1

I've also broken down the script a little without Ben. I just divided the scenes up into Days and Nights.  

Thoughts of The Week

I was very happy with my performance this week. I managed to stay on top of all my work and even had time to help others with theirs. It's good to get off to a good start because you get an instant confidence boost. I feel like I'm finally proving my worth. It's nice to complimented by course mates.

 It was a bit disappointing in the exec meeting when Chris thought we had set the bar quite high for ourselves and could possibly fail. We are all very determined to make this film great. We work well together and the presentation of what we have done so far should have been more than enough to convince the Execs that we're very prepared for this. I love how excited they were about the walkie talkies, had never seen Chris Leonard smile that much before.

I think for the first time I'm really connecting with my peers. We all want the same thing as this point (Make a great pitch film + get preferred role for feature) and that makes it easy for us to relate to each other. I think we're going to do quite well with this film - I have a good feeling.

Overall it was a great week which kind of foreshadowed what is to come. If we continue working this hard, I have no worries about actually shooting this film. 

17.09.12

How I feel before my pitch

I must say I'm feeling quite excited about my pitch, as well as nervous, scared and daunted. So more negatives than positives, but hey, it's been a while since I've anticipated something so much. I've written my pitch and to me it sounds really plastic and fake but that's how I honestly feel and I don't know how else to put it. I did think about singing it but then I'm sure no one wants to hear me sing. I definitely wouldn't get the role. Sometimes I get thoughts in the back of my mind telling me that I'm selling out. That I should have gone for Director instead. It's like a part of me, the ambitious part, is insulting me for being too scared to go for what I actually want. But I don't listen to that because I really want to be a First AD and I'm sticking to that decision. I've already changed my mind and I'm not doing it again. 

Just before entering the room I felt really nauseas. A voice in my head kept telling me that I would end up as clapper or caterer. But hey, at least with those roles I get to be on constantly. And that's exactly where I want to be - where the action is. 

After the Pitch

So I think my pitch went ok. There was a lot of pressure. I panicked every time Chris went to write something down. Ended up going off track a bit but think I pulled it together in the end. Thank God I know how to speak properly. I was told it was 'articulate' wasn't sure if I should have taken that as a compliment or a criticism. Of course I feel relived, I'm glad it's finally over, but now it's another waiting game to see if I get First AD for the pitching films. I've gone over the pitch so many times in my head trying to think of how I could have made it better. This is still a problem I have - over thinking. It's really not good for my health, but I can't seem to help myself. I'm always trying to perfect things, even when it's over and done. I need to stop striving for perfection, because sometimes it's not about the result but rather the process. 

RESULT

I can't believe I got the role for the pitch films. I saw the list, read my name, then ran downstairs to tell Santa who hadn't seen it yet. After realising we had both gotten what we wanted we started dancing around in ours rooms. Yes it's not for the actual feature but I feel like I'm in a race and I was first to jump over the last hurdle so now I have the best chance of winning. Cheesy I know, but I got a ridiculously huge confidence boost reading my name. Because at least I've been given the opportunity to show what I can do and boy am I ready to show it. This is exactly what I've been waiting for, a chance to put everything I have into something and await the outcome. And if the outcome is good and positive, then I can breathe a sigh of relief and be satisfied knowing that I haven't wasted the last year of my life. It's strange that I think like this, because I learnt so much about myself during the first year of the course so it can't have been a waste. But in the back of my mind I always kept thinking that maybe Film Production wasn't for me. To me this isn't just about doing well, it's about rediscovering a part of myself I thought I had lost a long time ago. A chance to finally stop doubting myself and be confident about my ability to achieve something great.

First Steps

The first thing I did after discovering that I had been chosen as a First Ad for pitch film was create a facebook group for everyone in our CineCitta Production team. (researched Cinecita - discovered it's a real Italian production company). Facebook is the easiest form of contact for most people. It's free and you can use it as long as there's internet around. Everyone joined the group within a day and we starting discussing ideas straight away. The next thing I did was set up a Production meeting for the next Monday the 24th after finding out everyone's availability. I then booked a study room in the library for us so we could have some peace and quiet while working.