Week 1:

This week I have got a lot done. The most important is the screenplay, which you can have a look at in the pre- production page. The screenplay I am happy with. I captured what I wanted, but I have a feeling that I might be making it too easy for myself. However, I did integrate what I wanted - references to my other movies - in a truly embedded way - the audience won't be able to tell they are references. The entire plot is a reference to my previous short - "Secure-inity". Other references are from my first short film, which is "lost legs", and "Mania", which was the narrative project.

I even managed to film a few scenes. I was pretty happy with those scenes. During the recording, I managed to squeeze in some discussions about the project. At class we managed to discuss a bit more, which I recorded. I will add that here. The scenes I recorded were the opening scenes, and a scene were the protagonist sniffs some mud of a straw. I managed to edit those scenes together and they are looking pretty good. I will upload screen grabs.

Discussion:

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As you can tell, Joe was already aware of a few things prior to the recording. This is because of what I stated above - we have already discussed a bit of the project during filming of week 1. However, I think it's good to refresh your memory, and I had thought this recording could help with my evaluation.

Screen grabs:

Through the screen grabs, you can see the footage I managed to record. You could, also, see that I played with overlays and colouring to differentiate the P.O.V footage and the normal footage.

Week 2:

This week I focused on my research. This made me have a lot more faith with my project because I could see ways to develop skills. I had thought - to integrate references of my past few projects, in a seamless fashion, will require more skill then I had thought. Overall, I have a more clear idea on who my audience are, and what my plot is.

In terms of influence and stylistic looks, I had looked at The Grand Budapest. And, obviously, I re-watched my previous projects. Also, I looked at dark comedies that showed a clear case of inappropriate humour. What I found out was there was not any clear case of this humour from the footage I had got or from the entire screenplay. The only point where there is a sense of this humour is when Joe sniffs the mud, but this part, I thought, was too cryptic. Therefore, I decided to make what was occurring in that scene a bit more obvious with using the text: "I am a degenerate and I know no better.

After, I had looked at the sound. I had a few tracks lined up that I wanted to test out. Most of the tracks were royalty-free tracks. I had the scenes planned out in my had prior to recording with the type of sound I wanted. I know that I can not get exactly what I wanted, therefore settled with sounds that were close to the ones I imagined. These main two tracks were "5" by blacksona and "Everything you forgotten" by Paul White. I adjusted the the track from blacksona a little. I added a little reverb to allow it to sit with the scene better. I had, also, adjusted the sound to make it weirder when a new character was introduced. The stranger was introduced, therefore I wanted the sound to change to show a discomforting change.

For the other scenes, I plucked the strings of my violin to make a progressive sound. I had then experimented with the sounds I got from violin, myself and Paul Whites - Everything you have forgotten. I must add, I am very new to music. I had bought violin at December, as an impulsive buy, when looking for newer hobbies. This is my first instrument. For some reason, a lot of concepts of music is still foreign to me, therefore it is quite hard to create something that can sit with the film.

Screen grabs:

Adjustments of audio, music and screen grabs:

blacksona orginal:

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blacksona edited (last ten seconds):

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Anchor 1

Snippets I used of Paul Whites - Everything you forgotten.

You can hear that I used some sounds from Ab-souls - "Soulo Ho3"

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Week 3:

This week I have been focusing on location scouting, and having more of a dialogue with my actor as a whole. Before I write more, I must add that the actor is a peer from class, which is why he is open to a lot of help. The actor's house looks like a great location for most the filming. He said that I would be able to film there. The main things I liked were, how cramped his room was. I do, also, like the natural warm colours of the living and dining room. This, I will enhance with lighting.

Furthermore, I looked at some outside locations that can be used. I had added in potential extra scenes in my screenplay, which showcases the relationship between The Stranger and Joe in a more direct light. During these scenes, The Stranger will try to, almost, peer pressure Joe into doing things Joe will disagree with. However, I am not sure if these scenes would be needed. If I am to film these scenes, I will probably need another actor. Or a DP.

After this, I had talked to the actor and the boom operator. I updated them with script. They all seemed on board. I had told the actor that if a wording in my screenplay seems off, compared to the way he usually speaks, let me know. However, he said all was good. He was a bit unsure with how his character should act, therefore I did explain to him that he is a typical "loner" character. I tried to find some characters that he may have been familiar with such as Ricky Fitts from American Beauty. He had not seen American Beauty. However, I did explain clearly the type of character he was. The only scenes were the actor have to stray a little away from the typical persona was when he is under influence of drugs and the dreamlike scenes. And, the opening scene.

Week 4:

I actually filmed the entire film this week. However, there were multiple problems right from the beginning. The first was that one of the equipment I booked was unavailable. This lead for the need for a stabiliser, but since I did not have enough time to re-evaluate what equipment would be a suitable replacements, I settled with a DSLR kit and a zoom kit. The problem with this was that the P.O.V shoots would probably be more shaky than I want. The other shots, I will need a stabiliser or tri-pod. The actor had a tri-pod.

While shooting, a few problems with my initial ideas came up. One was, a few stylistic shoots I could not capture due to the size of the bedroom. The only way I could capture the shot was if I left the door open and shoot from the outside of the room. I could use a different pair of lens, but I did not have access to them. The shot was going to utilise the golden ratio to illustrate the relationship between Joe and The Stranger.

Due to the lack of these dynamic shots, the pacing of the film was changed. This was one the things i was very unhappy with because I wanted the pacing of the film to be more dynamic. However, I stuck with what I learnt through previous projects, and I made use of the shots I knew would give a weird, disorienting feel. This did help amplify the weird nature of the narrative. However, I felt, through the process of filming, I did not learn as much as I did with other projects. I definitely did take a safer route with this project, which did backfire with my development.

Working with the actor was easy and pleasant. He followed instructions well. And, he did surprise me with his acting a few times. However, there were obvious parts where he broke character. I had re-shoot a few of these scenes, but the dipping in and out character was reoccurring. I must have missed how obvious this was in the second last scene because I struggled to find a scene where this did not happen.

Another problem was, the boom we had received was faulty. Therefore, we had too put the zoom mic into places where we could possibly get good audio. The boom operator was still managing the zoom. However, now, he was stuck with managing the lighting. We managed to get audio that I could work with. I had to mess with noise reduction with Adobe Audition, but after that it was fine. I am planning to voice-over The Strangers dialogue because decision I made with voice seems wrong. My voice was jagged and too obnoxious. I will fix that with a voice over.

Screen grabs:

Lighting example:

Week 5:

I am now in the post-production stage. I have made a rough cut that I shared with my tutor for some feedback.

Feedback:

I realised that I will have to make some of the choices I made more obvious. For example, that we are watching from the cameras P.O.V. I will add some sound effects during the parts were I put a "SD card refreshing" overlay. I made this overlay through a black matte with the overlay down, and text stating that the SD card is refreshing. I added these sound effects.

Also, I did blur the parts were Joe broke character. I used blur as a transition as well. It emulated the camera turning off when Joe finds the cannabis in his sock. Regarding the colouring, I did have a few attempts at using the colour pink to set the scene and evoke a sense of make belief.

For music, I am sticking with what I intended with. The music works well with the scenes. However, I do want the music to abruptly stop for the final scene. I am struggling with making this work. I want the sound of the material hitting an object to clash with the music, but this is not working. I probably will need to try something else. Maybe, look at third part sounds that are royalty-free.

Screen grabs:

With the 6th picture, you should see that I used a white matte to create a transition. I felt, that this transition will be most appropriate. This transition will allude to the spiritual side of the short film. The scene I used this transition on was not a scene that was actually happening within the film. You can make this assumption because the characters were smoking cannabis prior to the scene. You should also see my colour grading decisions, as well as how I made the SD card captions.