reflectcreatively

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Blog #5: Finally Started Filming, Too Many Props, Reflections on Assessment

Introduction

Welcome to the final week of my blog ‘Reflect Creatively’. This week, although we did not manage to film all of the scenes that we wanted, we finally made a start on filming, and I will make a few reflections on how this assignment was for me personally. 

Lights, Camera, Action

During our tutorial on Tuesday, the lads plus Hayley finally made a start on filming our short film ‘Oh Fang’. We filmed most of our scenes on the premises of University House, starting with the opening scene where Ronald comes home to take a nap then wakes up as a vampire. We then filmed the scene where he runs into his bathroom to prepare for the date, by filing down his vampire teeth, which we filmed in a secret bathroom in UNH (that was pretty cool). Finally, we went across the road to Civic Park to film a scene where Ronald is on his way to the date and he walks past two guys who notice that Ronald’s teeth have grown back, which Ronald reacts to by starting to sprint in order to not get noticed by anyone else. Although we managed to film these scenes, they were not all that we had planned to do, as there were a few that we could not film because we didn’t have the necessary props, including the one with Ruby (Ronald’s date). We hope to film these and wrap up filiming next week.

Prop Overload

The day before, I went over to Shindigs in Lambton to buy some props for the film, including fake vampire teeth, face paint, and fake fingernails. However, we only ended up using the vampire teeth, as no one was really keen on making a mess with the other props. It sucked because the lady at Shindigs said that the items were non-refundable, but oh well, I may get to use them in the future.

Assignment Reflections

Having never done a group assignment at University before, I initially worried about the collaborative component of this assignment, however, I have found this to be easier than I thought because you can realisitically only catch up with the group once or twice a week to discuss and work on the assignment; most people are in the same place in terms of how busy their extra-cirricular schedule is, due to work and family commitments. I’ve also enjoyed getting to know my fellow group members better, and who knows, we may be yet to work with each other again in group assignments in the future.

References

Lilley, C. (2019). Joyce’s Museum Tour - EXTENDED SCENE - Lunatics. [YouTube thumbnail of Joyce walking through her museum]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LmrY_0-PBkE

Queensland Symphony Orchestra (n.d.). [Photograph of operating movie camera]. https://www.qso.com.au/events/2021/education/lights-camera-action

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Blog #4: Ready to Rumble

Introduction

This week, we finalised everything for the film, now we actually need to start filming! This included sound effects, itinerary list, and the absolute final story (I swear it will be the last change). Although we are currently seeking an additional crew member for the goth character, but if that doesn’t work out, one of ours will play it instead.

Sound Effects

Joe said that he had managed to find pretty much all of the sound effects required for the film by simply browsing on the internet. It is now a matter of implementing them into the film once we are in the post-production stage, which me and Nathan plan to supervise when Joe edits it.

Tools Please

We figured out that we already owned most of the props that were needed, including Ronald’s jacket, bathroom supplies, and tripods. Although for the props that we didn’t own, we figured we could just purchase them from Shindigs when we got the chance. I plan to go out and buy some props next Monday.

The Final Story (Actually)

After a bit of discussion on how the story should be told, we finally all came to an agreement on it. It is still the same general story that was described in the previous blog, but we decided to retain what I had envisioned in the original story. I am thankful for this plus I am also thankful for the input that everyone else had into it so that it wasn’t all my handiwork.

Conflict of Schedules

I must admit, this task has been pretty challenging when you take into account the fact that every one of us has different schedules, either because of how far away we live or when we are rostered on for work. Because of this, we have only been able to meet up face-to-face once a week during our tutorial time of 10am-12pm on Tuesdays.

Hello, are you there?

Another challenge of this task is keeping in contact with Nathan. Because he does not have Facebook, Discord, or any other popular messenger application, the only way that I have been able to contact him is through his phone number. Earlier, I sent him a couple of texts, but he did not reply, so I tried to ring him, but it went to voicemail. Thankfully, he did respond to a text that I sent him on Thursday asking how he was going with his work, so hope is not lost (whew).

References

Johnson, C. (2021). [Photograph of a room with movie props]. Music Gateway. https://www.musicgateway.com/blog/how-to/movie-props

Lucid Samples. (n.d.). [Photograph of blue sound waves on a black background]. https://www.lucidsamples.com/blog/sound-effects/find-best-sound-effects-sfx-2018/

Parker, J. (2015). [Screenshot of schedule with clashing events]. All Things Loud. https://www.allthingsloud.com/lowlands-announces-time-schedule-which-clashes/

With My Ex Again. (n.d.). [Photograph of woman holding an iPhone 6 to her ear]. https://www.withmyexagain.com/blog/should-i-call-my-ex/

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Blog #3: Another New Member, Character Design & ‘Re-Vamped’ Story

Introduction

Welcome to Week 3 of ‘Reflect Creatively’. I hope you have enjoyed the journey so far! This week, the lads and I welcomed another new member to our crew, who was instrumental in helping us plan for the film as she helped design the characters. We also re-adjusted the story, reviewed the risk assessment, created a Google document for posting our ideas, and finalised the script.

And Another One

A girl by the name of Hayley joined our crew this week. As she had previously been unassigned to a group and we had only three in ours, she fit right in. She was happy to take on the roles of art director and camera girl, and as we’ll see in the next section of this post, she was particularly instrumental in art directing.

Designing the Characters

Part of Hayley’s role as the art director is that she had to design the characters. Her illustrations looked amazing; she was able to accurately use what I had described to her and implement it into the character’s appearance. Here are the designs below:

This is Ronald, the main character. He is an accountant who plans to go on a date with a girl after coming home from a long day of work. He takes a nap only to turn into a zombie afterwards.

This is Ruby, the girl that Ronald plans to date, with her dog. She becomes scared when she sees Ronald as a vampire, running away from him with her dog in hand.

This is the Goth looking male. He resolves Ronald’s problem of being unable to go out with Ruby by suggesting that he go out with him instead, which Ronald accepts.

Story ‘Re-Vamped’

There were a few improvisations that were made to this story in order to make it coherent. One of the major changes was that Ronald is no longer having a dream about looking like a vampire, but instead he actually is one. We also re-shuffled the clock tower scene so that it was placed before the date instead of after and improvised it so that he showed his vampire symptoms while walking to the date, only to be distracted by the ringing of the clock tower. Lastly, we scrapped the scene where Ronald sees a goth girl at a tram station and replaced it with him seeing the goth guy at the picnic location.

References

TPG Singapore. (2020). [Illustration which says “Work in progress. We are undergoing a revamp to serve you better”]. Facebook. https://www.facebook.com/tpgmobilesg/photos/a.897820347249924/1295022130863075/?type=3

Wiebe, D. A. (2020). [Photograph of man signing a record contract]. Music Industry How To. https://www.musicindustryhowto.com/record-label-contracts/

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Blog #2: New Member, Final Story, & Risk Assessment

Introduction

Welcome to Week 2 of my blog ‘Reflect Creatively’. This week the boys and I worked on our risk assessment, finalised our story (with the help of our tutor Sally), and recruited a replacement crew member. We also formulated ideas for costumes, discovered the challenges that are going to come about with filming, and discussed where we were going to film.

Welcome Aboard

Unfortunately, Aden left our group because he wanted to be in the same group as his girlfriend, and she is his most reliable form of transport. However, we did welcome a replacement, whose name is Joe. He was happy to take on the roles that were originally assigned to Aden (cinematographer/editor). He also added valuable input into the development of the story.

The Finalisation

The previous night, I had formulated a pitch for a story. The next day, the boys, my tutor, and I made some changes. Basically, it is about a guy named Ronald who takes a nap before going out on a date. He then wakes up to discover he is a vampire and reverting back to human is inevitable. Deciding to proceed with the date, he arrives and Ruby runs away with her dog. Ronald pleads with her to stay but gets rejected.

He starts to walk by himself in sorrow and sits down at a tram station. Sitting next to him is a girl reading a vampire book. She sits next to him and leans in for a kiss on the cheek, but suddenly, Ronald wakes up and realises that it was all just a dream. He checks his phone and discovers he missed out on the date in real life.

Risky Business

Nathan showed us the risk assessment plan that he originally developed for the first assessment, which was an individual 30-second movie. It was 9 pages in length, and it included everything from COVID-19 to reactions from allergies. We added more risks to coincide with the equipment that we would be using for our film, including reactions to chemicals when applying white face paint.

A Difficult Reality

After agreeing on the risk assessment and story, it was now a matter of how we would pull it off. Firstly, implementing all the required scenes meant we had to improvise the story. Secondly, we discovered that Nathan barely has any means of communication (except his phone number). Thirdly, working out our availabilities was difficult considering when at university everyone has different schedules.

References

Doyle, A. (2019). [Photograph of man shaking hands with a woman]. The Balance Careers. https://www.thebalancecareers.com/welcome-aboard-letter-for-a-new-employee-2064230  

Jolt Support. (n.d.). [Smartphone screenshot outlining how to notify organisation one is unavailable to work]. https://support.jolt.com/s/article/Set-Availability-and-Preferred-Working-Hours   

Sarah W. (2008). Twilight- Edward Cullen (Robert Pattinson) After Drinking Animal Blood [Online Image].  Flickr. https://www.flickr.com/photos/31014171@N04/2925432576

Willis, R. (2018). [Cartoon image of person with magnifying glass standing over the word ‘risk’]. Your Project Manager. https://yourprojectmanager.com.au/develop-prince2-risk-register/ 

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Blog #1: Group Formation & Story Development

Introduction

Hello,

Welcome to my blog ‘Reflect Creatively’. My name is James Wetherall, and I am currently in my first year of Communication at The University of Newcastle. This blog is about the process and development of a short movie that I am making as part of an assessment for the subject ‘Creative Collaborations’ in conjunction with two of my classmates, Nathan and Aden.

Primitive Beginnings

In our tutorial class last Tuesday, we were split into groups for our ‘short movie’ group assessment. I was put with Nathan & Aden. We all decided on different filmmaking roles; me as the director/screenwriter, Nathan as the art director/sound desginer, and Aden as the cinematographer/editor, however these are only provisional as we expect more people to join us.

We gathered to formulate ideas for our story. I developed the idea of someone faliing into a dream and suddenly he sees drama everywhere he looks, including explosions, aliens, and protests. I guess the inspiration for this came from the kids television show ‘Arthur’, because every episode contains a wacky dream from a certain character, and ‘World War Z’, because it is about a zombie apocalypse. 

Nathan developed two ideas, one of which was ‘Vampire Speed Dating’ (I forgot what the other one was). I decided we should combine these ideas together, so the story was about someone who fell into a dream and suddenly, he was a vampire looking for a date; a combination of romance and horror. Although Aden did not develop a concrete idea for our film (as far as I can remember), he added valuable input into how Nathan and I’s ideas could be tweaked and implemented.

Despite the combination of these ideas, there was a lot of silence in our group. I spent a long time trying to formulate new ideas for this story, but whatever ideas I developed I didn’t share because I was unsure if it would fit into the storyline. This meant that there was not much further development of the story. Nathan spoke up and added a few more details, but apart from that, there was no addition of great significance.

Conclusion

The first group meeting was more about what roles would be assigned to each person rather than a rough developement of the story. This was discussed prominently among us as we worked out our strengths and weaknesses in different areas of filmmaking. I would like to see constant communcation about our ideas between us as we continue to meet together throughout the semester.

References

Explore Business Ideas. (2020, April 9). [Photograph of man looking at ideas on a noticeboard] https://www.bloomdocking.com/blog/How-to-Brainstorm-Business-Ideas-for-Your-Online-Business 

IndigoStars ASMR (2015, February 27). [YouTube thumbnail of smiling vampires in close-up view]. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i1i21iATCBQ

PeopleImages (n.d.). Person sleeping on his bed with his hands under his head [Stock image]. Getty Images. https://www.gettyimages.com.au/photos/black-man-sleeping?phrase=black%20man%20sleeping&sort=mostpopular

Rosenbaum, R. (2016, March 27). [Photograph of people reading movie scripts at a table]. https://www.stage32.com/lounge/screenwriting/Table-Reads-2

Thompson, B. (2018, May 31). [Photograph of notepad, pencil, film strips, and clapperboard]. https://www.actionvfx.com/blog/how-to-successfully-plan-out-your-film-project-part-one