samuelohare-bafilm

[samuelohare-bafilm]

FILM PROJECT

Our final film in its completed form.

[samuelohare-bafilm]

Film Project

The Film is DONE! David completed the edit the other day and Andy finished the sound design yesterday. I went in today to do the colour grading. Michael was in Screen Academy and gave me a very brief introduction to DaVinci Resolve that helped a lot. I firstly corrected all the colours, then added a very slight touch of red to each shot - as per Beth’s request. For the murder room scene everything looked very red but more bright than dark. Michael showed me that by adding a touch of blue to each of the murder room shots it made all the reds darker, especially the dried blood stains. It has been a great process working on this film and I am now looking forward to shooting a graduation film next year.

[samuelohare-bafilm]

Film Project

DAY 3 - REAL SAUCE

Today has been a great day. The set design looked amazing. All crew members helped to create the murder room and did a great job at it. Rhona and Helen’s set design tied it all together and made it look very authentic.

 I am very pleased with how the last few days have gone and look forward to overseeing some of the edit. I will also be doing the colour grade on the film, something which I have not yet done at University. I’m looking forward to that as I have wanted to use DaVinci Resolve for a while.

[samuelohare-bafilm]

Film Project

DAY 2 - REAL SAUCE

Day 2 has been just as good as the first day, if not better. I feel that all three of the actors are very good and convincing in their roles. We also ran ahead of schedule today so I added a few extra shots just to get extra coverage of things. 

Tomorrow will be the more exciting day, with everyone helping to set up the ‘murder room’ st Screen Academy. I have seen the props that Rhona and Helen are making and they look very convincing.

[samuelohare-bafilm]

Film Project

DAY 1 - REAL SAUCE

The first day of shooting was way better than I expected. We ran on time for the whole day, got every shot we needed (including a few extra ones), and everyone worked so well in their roles. 

Feeling very confident about the next two days now. I’ve included a couple of photos from today below.

[samuelohare-bafilm]

Film Project

Shooting for Real Sauce begins tomorrow. Everything has fallen nicely in to place and I am excited to see how it will all turn out. I am confident with all of my proposed shots and the logistics of them. Fingers crossed that we’ll all pull it off!

[samuelohare-bafilm]

Film Project

I have just finished helping on Jack’s shoot. The whole shoot was excellent. We were running ahead of schedule each day and I have certainly improved with my lighting abilities. Bogu was a great DOP to work with, always helping if I had any questions about light placements etc. She was happy for me to set up the lights where I felt they would work, then we would chat and make slight changes so we could achieve the best lighting possible.

The shoot was very stress free, although I had been panicking a lot about Real Sauce during the first two days until I got the email from Louise about the room availability. The whole crew all acted professionally and it was a great working environment. 

I got to try lighting setups that I had never previously had the chance to do and also work with sparks from other years that were all excellent. I will certainly take my new knowledge of lighting with me and implement it in the future.

[samuelohare-bafilm]

Film Project

Was way too happy when I received this email.

We have managed to secure our location on Wednesday and all three actors have confirmed they can attend on the days and times we need them. We have picked up our equipment and now finalising props and extra things we need for the shoot.

A lot of the stress has now been lifted and we can all focus on our roles on the shoot and look forward to our shoot. I am now feeling confident that the shoot will go smoothly and without anymore stress.

[samuelohare-bafilm]

FILM PROJECT

The first two days shooting schedules that Alex made from the shot list and storyboard. There will not be a shooting schedule on the third day as we are going to get as much footage as we can fit in once we have all set up.

[samuelohare-bafilm]

FILM PROJECT

This last week has been a nightmare. We have not managed to secure a location for the murder room scene, our actors have not replied with their availability and we are due to shoot tomorrow.

I’ve been frantically emailing potential locations but many say its not possible or forward me to another person who does not reply. 

I’ve proposed cancelling our Friday - Tuesday schedule and have our shoot Monday - Wednesday instead as I feel this would give us more time. The rest of the crew are on board with this but I will need to see what the actors availability is.

Helen and I did the casting this week for the two female leads. Becky and Niamh were excellent at the audition and Helen and I were happy to have them in the film. We sent the footage to Beth and she agrees also.

I’ve been very stressed and trying to sort a lot of issues out so that the production can go ahead. So far I've confirmed that out flat location is free to use on Monday and Tuesday, so we would just need a location to be sorted for Wednesday. I’m going to e-mail Louise Fawns again asking if studio 2 at Screen Academy is available on that day. I’m hoping it will be as it is the Easter break for the university. 

I’ve sorted out a second 1st AD (Claire) to help when our main AD (Alex) can not help out. She is also going to be helping out as a general production assistant on the other days.

With the proposed shooting days for Monday - Wednesday I have found enough people to help out on odd days, just so we have a big enough crew to operate successfully. Hopefully everything goes our way and we can shoot with no more issues.

[samuelohare-bafilm]

FILM PROJECT

The shot list Heather (the producer) made from my storyboard.

This will be the shot list we will be working from. I will send it to the first AD, along with an updated image storyboard.

[samuelohare-bafilm]

FILM PROJECT

Basic storyboard drawings.

[samuelohare-bafilm]

Film Project - Semester 2

This semester we have been tasked with creating a six minute short film that captures an essence of Edinburgh as a City. 

I will be helping on two shoots. My main role is DOP on Helen’s film ‘Real Sauce’. My secondary role is as a Gaffer on Jack’s film ‘Jokes On’

I’m looking forward to beginning the pre-production stages on Real Sauce and to give gaffing a go for the first time.

[samuelohare-bafilm]

Film Project Behind the scenes photos of Real Sauce

[samuelohare-bafilm]

Film Project

I’ve been watching films that Helen has recommended to me that she wants Real Sauce to take inspiration from. I enjoyed Basket Case and Evil Dead II. I did some online research about the filming methods of these films and found a few useful websites and videos, two of which I have linked below. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gD45zfarp1Y http://www.tested.com/art/movies/454928-low-budget-camera-tech-sam-raimis-evil-dead/

[samuelohare-bafilm]

FILM PERFORMANCE PROJECT THE FIFTH KIND

[samuelohare-bafilm]

FILM PERFORMANCE PROJECT

The Fifth Kind

Pre Production:

Before production started I attended crew meetings where Jack told us the vision he had for his film and how he wanted it to be constructed. I took notes from him and had him send me some clips from films that he was taking as inspiration for his film. This was really helpful as it allowed me to draw up a storyboard that would hold up to Jack’s ideas as well as having it as something to aim for when It came to the shoot. I explained to Jack that I’d never been D.O.P on a shoot before but that it’s something I've always had an interest in. I also mentioned that I had a few ideas for special shots in the film and he was more than happy for me to try them out and include them in the storyboard.

By the third draft of the Storyboard Jack and I were both happy with how it looked and decided that we would make the shot list from it. We had a meeting with Beth (producer) and drew up a shot list that adhered to the storyboard and one that was most practical to work with on the day of the shoot. On a location scout Jack took photos of crew members sitting in for actors in the flat we were filming at using the storyboard frames as guides, allowing me to see the frames and spaces I had to work with. I found this very helpful as I couldn't attend that day due to work. I took the Black Magic camera out the day before the shoot to allow myself to get familiar with the controls and lenses, and also to figure out how to work the slider as we were using it for two shots.

Production:

The shoot was a great day. Everything ran smoothly and we got all the footage we required. The slider shots worked out better than I had hoped for and I was pretty happy with this. There was a height difference between the actors when they were sat down and I feel I may have got the framing wrong for the over shoulder shots of Harry but apart from this I feel the rest of the shots were composed well. I decided to use prime lenses and avoid using the zoom lense that comes with the black magic. The prime lenses were really good and worked perfectly in our favour for the wides, medium close-ups and close ups. Jack was always watching my framing through the monitor and made points of what he wanted to be happening in the frame but left me to make the final decisions of framing. I felt like it was a lot of responsibility at the time but it also gave me confidence in what I was doing and helped make my first main D.O.P role enjoyable.

Reflection:

I certainly learnt a lot from ‘The Fifth Kind’ shoot and now have gained a greater understanding of cinematography and blackmagic cameras. Jack was a great director to work with and I hope to work with him again on further films. I was nervous at first about taking the position of D.O.P but after attending crew meetings and discussing ideas with jack it definitely made me feel much more comfortable with what I was undertaking.

I've learned about different lenses and their functions and how to set up slider shots and how to perfect them (after many takes on the moving hand shot) and also how to set up shoulder rigs, which I learnt for my 10% grade as Joint D.O.P on Andy’s shoot. I've also learnt how to work with having two AC’s who were a great help on set, always assisting with set ups and giving information and advice with regards to the process.

The final film worked better than I had expected, mainly because I was skeptical how the ‘transformation scene’ would look after being edited. The scene actually looked great in the film and all the crew were happy with the final outcome.

I also really enjoyed being on Andy’s set for his film. Sharing the DOP role was a fun experience and Huw, Michael and I all seemed to be on a similar thinking path when it came to style and framing. It was also really enjoyable to experiment with over the top shots and extreme zooms and pans to mimic similar shots from Indian Soap Dramas. Andy gave us mostly free reign on choosing and setting up shots and we just took it turn about to film shots, so we all had an even role in the filming process. The final film was great and the shots worked well with the over the top effects.

Critique Review & Feedback:

Not much was said in regards to the cinematography of the film but I did get the chance to explain my creative ideas and explain that as the film progresses and the characters start to become distant and angered the framing goes from both of them being in shot to just close ups and single character shots. This was a technique I found that had been used in many films to show two characters, who in the space of a scene, go from being comfortable and friendly with each other (sharing the frame) to feeling betrayed and angry at each other (single character in frame). I was told that this was a good technique by Catriona.

It was noted that a ‘beginning’ that would establish the relationship of the characters was missing from the film. There was a shot that covered this beginning and introduction of characters but it had to be cut to allow the film to sit on the three minute mark.

Overall the film received mostly positive feedback and Catriona and Zoe seemed to be pleased with the film.